Founder of Marxist revisionism and evolutionary socialism, author of The Preconditions of Socialism
"I have extraordinarily little interest in what is called the 'final goal of Socialism.' This aim, whatever it be, is nothing to me, the movement everything." — Response to critics (1899)
German SPD theorist and politician. Engels's literary executor and editor of Der Sozialdemokrat, Bernstein began as an orthodox Marxist before his 1899 The Preconditions of Socialism challenged Marx's predictions of capitalist collapse, class polarization, and revolutionary necessity. His dictum "the goal is nothing, the movement everything" laid the foundation for social democracy's reformist, parliamentary turn, creating the schism between revolutionary socialism and evolutionary social democracy. He broke with the SPD's pro-war majority to co-found the anti-war USPD during World War I, and spent his final years defending Weimar parliamentary democracy, dying six weeks before Hitler took power.
Career timeline
- 1872Joined SDAP (Eisenachers); delegate to 1875 Gotha unification congress
- 1881–1890Editor of Der Sozialdemokrat in exile (Zurich, then London); close collaborator of Engels
- 1891Co-drafted Erfurt Programme with Kautsky; named Engels's literary executor (1895)
- 1899Published The Preconditions of Socialism — launched revisionism debate that divided the international socialist movement
- 1902–1928Reichstag deputy (Breslau-West, later Potsdam II) — specialist in taxation, trade, and constitutional law
- 1915–1917Turned against war credits; issued peace manifesto with Haase and Kautsky; co-founded the anti-war USPD
- 1918–1928Assistant secretary in Weimar Treasury; defended parliamentary democracy; died 1932
Chief theoretician of orthodox Marxism in the Second International, founding editor of Die Neue Zeit, editor of Marx's Capital Vol. IV
"Socialism as a means to the emancipation of the proletariat, without democracy, is unthinkable." — The Dictatorship of the Proletariat (1918)
Leading Marxist theoretician of the Second International. He authored the Erfurt Programme, refuted Bernstein's revisionism, and after the Russian Revolution critiqued Bolshevik rule, creating the defining point of divergence between social democracy and Leninism.
Career timeline
- 1875Joined Austrian SDAP; published Darwin and Socialism
- 1880–1883Moved to Zurich, met Bernstein; travelled to London and befriended Marx and Engels
- 1883–1917Founded and edited Die Neue Zeit for 35 years — leading Marxist theoretical journal of the Second International
- 1885–1890Worked closely with Engels in London; began editing Marx's Theories of Surplus Value
- 1891–1892Authored theoretical section of Erfurt Programme and commentary The Class Struggle — defining SPD Marxism
- 1899–1909Led orthodox Marxist counter-attack against Bernstein's revisionism; published The Road to Power
- 1917Broke with SPD over war policy; co-founded Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD)
- 1918–1922Published The Dictatorship of the Proletariat criticising Bolshevik rule; provoked Lenin's polemical reply
Co-founder of Western Marxism, the German philosopher who challenged Marxist orthodoxy with Marxism and Philosophy
“If we get a few more of these Professors spinning out their theories, we shall be lost.” — Zinoviev at the 5th Comintern Congress, 1924, attacking Korsch and Lukács
German Marxist philosopher and revolutionary who, alongside Lukács, laid the foundations of Western Marxism. In Marxism and Philosophy (1923) he applied the materialist conception of history to Marxism itself, arguing for the revolutionary recovery of the Hegelian dialectic, a move that drew fierce denunciation from the Comintern. Served as Justice Minister in the 1923 Thuringian workers' government and as a KPD Reichstag deputy before his expulsion as a left-oppositionist. Fled the Nazis for American exile, where his scholarship left a deep imprint on Brecht, Benjamin, and the Frankfurt School.
Career timeline
- 1906–1910Studies law and philosophy at Munich, Geneva, Berlin; doctorate in law, University of Jena
- 1912–1914Legal research in London; joins the Fabian Society
- 1914–1918German Army service — refuses to carry weapons; awarded the Iron Cross twice for bravery
- 1917Joins USPD; elected delegate to soldiers' soviet
- 1920Joins KPD with the USPD left wing; lecturer at University of Jena
- 1923.03Publishes Marxism and Philosophy; becomes target of fierce Comintern criticism
- 1923.10–11Justice Minister, Thuringian workers' government — collapses after 27 days under Reichswehr intervention
- 1924–1928KPD Reichstag deputy; delegate to 5th Comintern Congress
- 1926.04Expelled from KPD; forms the Resolute Lefts (Entschiedene Linke) opposition faction
- 1933Flees Germany the night of the Reichstag fire; passes through Denmark and England
- 1936–1961US exile — Tulane University, Institute for Social Research; teaches Marxism to Brecht
- 1938Publishes Karl Marx; deeply influences Benjamin's Arcades Project
- 1950Ten Theses on Marxism Today — declares break with orthodox Marxism
