Kautsky

[28350]

Who was Kautsky?
What is, if there is such a position, Kautskyism?
What are, if any, some Kautskist groups / movements today?

Yay bullet points.
Thanks in advance.

[Cyberwave]

Who was Kautsky?
What is, if there is such a position, Kautskyism?
What are, if any, some Kautskist groups / movements today?

Yay bullet points.
Thanks in advance.



Kautsky expanded upon Marx and Engels work after Engels death. However, he merely "turned Marx into a liberal" according to Lenin.
There aren't any specific points of 'Kautskyism' because I don't believe such a thing exists in a sense. Kautsky became a rightist social democrat after 1914 as well, so it would deviate from Marxism-Leninism.
There are no Kautskyist movements. Maybe movements that agree with some of his positions, but if there I don't know any or they don't label themselves as Kautskyist.

I highly suggest reading 'The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky' by Lenin. I'd post a link, but don't have enough posts.

[Die Neue Zeit]

Kautsky expanded upon Marx and Engels work after Engels death. However, he merely "turned Marx into a liberal" according to Lenin.

That's just slander. His works after 1909 "turned Marx into a liberal," not before.

For everything else, see the last three points of this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthodox_Marxism


There aren't any specific points of 'Kautskyism' because I don't believe such a thing exists in a sense. Kautsky became a rightist social democrat after 1914 as well, so it would deviate from Marxism-Leninism.

So what about before 1909?


There are no Kautskyist movements. Maybe movements that agree with some of his positions, but if there I don't know any or they don't label themselves as Kautskyist.

Here's a self-proclaimed Kautsky Revivalist right here, courtesy of historian Lars Lih.


I highly suggest reading 'The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky' by Lenin. I'd post a link, but don't have enough posts.

I have a better read. If you are fluent in German and can read Fraktur text, go get Republik und Sozialdemokratie in Frankreich. Unlike Lenin's polemics and half-completed State and Revolution, this work is the complete Marxist take on the state and revolution.

http://www.revleft.com/vb/need-help-republik-t119601/index.html

[28350]

That every open class struggle is a political struggle, as opposed to economist claims.
What does this mean?

[Die Neue Zeit]

This is a polemic against advocates of "spontaneous" mass strikes or "labour unrest" as a means of coming to power. This is because the working class has no concrete political agenda when doing so, and such agenda can only be provided by a political party. Those parties that do exist in such a situation usually don't have majority political support coming from the working class. The notion that lots and lots of immediate economic struggles can lead to more "political" strikes is an illusion.

[Note that political support <> electoral support, the latter including cheap protest votes and the former including the more solid mass membership in a properly functioning political party.]