Read more
Marx, Revolution, and Social Democracy argues that Marx should be understood as a social democrat. In response to claims that Marx is either totalitarian, utopian, or not a democrat, Philip J. Kain presents a four-fold argument concerning the relationship between Marx and social democracy: that Marxian socialist society is compatible with a market economy (as long as markets are controlled to eliminate alienation), that markets can be controlled democratically, that Marx accepted a democratic electoral theory of revolution, and that Marx and Engels worked actively with the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
List of contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- I. Marx and Marxisms
- II. Terminology
- Chapter One: Marx and Markets
- I. Markets and Fetishism
- II. Ending Fetishism
- III. Post-capitalist Stages
- IV. Socialist Inefficiency
- Chapter Two: Marx and Democracy
- I. Political Alienation
- II. Paris Commune
- III. Democracy
- IV. Dictatorship of the Proletariat
- V. State as Battleground
- VI. Proletarian Minority
- Chapter Three: Marx and Minority Revolution
- I. Minority Revolution
- II. Permanent Revolution
- III. Russian Revolution
- Chapter Four: Marx and Majority Revolution
- I. Majority Revolution
- II. Historical Materialism and the Categorical Imperative
- III. Compatibility of Models for Revolution
- IV. Political Revolution and Social Revolution
- Chapter Five: Marx and Social Democratic Revolution
- I. Social Democratic Revolution
- II. Industrial Proletariat Never Becomes a Majority
- III. Social Democracy and the Categorical Imperative.
- IV. Social Democracy and Historical Materialism
- V. Marx and the Social Democratic Party of Germany
- Chapter Six: Marx and Social Democracy
- I. Characteristics of Social Democracy
- II. The Meidner Plan
- III. Planning
- IV. Social Democracy and Capitalism
- V. Polarization and Immiseration
- VI. Concluding Remarks
- Bibliography
- Index
About the author
Philip J. Kain is Professor of Philosophy at Santa Clara University. He has taught at the University of California Santa Cruz and Stanford University, and has authored books on Marx, Hegel, and Nietzsche.
Summary
Many people think Marx a totalitarian and Soviet Marxism the predictable outcome of his thought. If one shows them the texts-proves to them that Marx was a radical democrat--they often flip and think him utopian. Totalitarian or utopian--for many those seem to be the alternatives. How might one combat this completely mistaken image?
To establish the connection between Marx and social democracy, philosopher Philip J. Kain argues four main points. First, economy if markets are controlled to eliminate alienation, socialist society for Marx is compatible with a market. Second, markets can be controlled democratically. Third, Marx had a theory of revolution compatible with a democratic electoral movement engaged in by a social democratic party. And fourth, from the late 1860s on, Marx and Engels worked with the German Social Democratic Party of Liebknecht, Bebel, Bernstein, and Kautsky--which eventually became the largest party in Germany and the largest socialist party in the world.
If social democracy is a true expression of Marxism, then Marx cannot be called a totalitarian. There is nothing remotely totalitarian about social democracy. Nor is it utopian. It exists all over Western Europe. Moreover, social democratic parties have always opposed the undemocratic tactics of Soviet Marxism. Drawing on these four points, Kain argues against the depiction of Marx as either utopian or totalitarian, and instead makes a case for Marx as a social democrat, whose strongest legacy is found in Western Europe.
Additional text
Recommended. With reservations. General readers through faculty.
