Crisis of Marxism, also referred to as the crisis in Marxism, was a term first employed in the 1890s after the unexpected revival of global capitalist expansion became evident after the Long Depression that occurred in Europe from 1873 to 1896, which eventually precipitated a crisis in Marxist theory.Eric Hobsbawm, How to Change the World: Reflections on Marx and Marxism, Yale University Press, 2011, p. 215.Terrance McLoughlin, R. T. Drake, "The First Crisis of Marxian Theory and the Bernstein-Kautsky Debate", Praxis, No. 3, 1976, p. 27. The crisis resulted in a series of theoretical debates over the significance of economic recovery for the strategy of the socialist movement,Terrance McLoughlin, R. T. Drake, "The First Crisis of Marxian Theory and the Bernstein-Kautsky Debate", Praxis, No. 3, 1976, p. 26. leading to ideological fragmentation and increasingly sectarian debates.Eric Hobsbawm, How to Change the World: Reflections on Marx and Marxism, Yale University Press, 2011, pp. 252–253. By the 1890s, orthodox Marxists came to believe that the capitalist mode of production was on the "verge of breakdown", while the socialist movement was on the "verge of revolutionary triumph". Due to a renewed burst of capitalist and industrial activity, such interpretations could no longer be maintained in Western Europe.Eric Hobsbawm, How to Change the World: Reflections on Marx and Marxism, Yale University Press, 2011, pp. 252–253.
The first person to introduce the notion of a crisis amid Marxism has been attributed to Thomas Masaryk,Martin Jay, Fin de Siècle Socialism and Other Essays, Routledge, 2009, p. 1. who declared in 1898 that he was observing a "crisis within Marxism".Antonio Labriola, Socialism and Philosophy, Chicago, IL, Charles H. Keer & Company, 1907, p. 197. Recognizing a potential problem, Masaryk professed that socialism would be strengthened considerably "if its leaders will frankly criticize its fundamentals to overcome their defects".Antonio Labriola, Socialism and Philosophy, Chicago, IL, Charles H. Keer & Company, 1907, p. 197. Contemporaries treat these controversies within the Marxist ranks as a "crisis in Marxism", a "crisis of Marxism", or sometimes designating it as a "revisionist crisis".Georges Haupt, Aspects of International Socialism, 1871-1914: Essays by Georges Haupt, Cambridge University Press, 2010, p. 19 Considered the father of revisionism, Eduard Bernstein is regarded the main proponent in precipitating one of the greatest crises in the consciousness of the Marxist proletarian movement, and therefore initiating the "revisionist controversy".David W. Morgan, "The Father of Revisionism Revisited: Eduard Bernstein", The Journal of Modern History, University of Chicago Press, Vol. 51, No. 3, September 1979. The October 1898 Stuttgart Party Conference brought this theoretical crisis into the open, entrenched the main battle lines, and established the principal elements of the revisionist position.Henry Tudor and J. M. Tudor, edited and translated, Marxism and Social Democracy: The Revisionist Debate 1896-1898, Cambridge University Press, 1988, "Preface", p. x.
Crisis in the economic theories of Marxism The debate over the economic dilemmas of Marxism came to the forefront after several articles by Conrad Schmidt in 1897 and Bernstein in 1898 were published in German social-democratic journals. They questioned the validity of some Marxist tenets, pointed to the possible erroneous nature of materialism, and proposed to revise Marxism,Georgi Plekhanov, "On the Alleged Crisis in Marxism", 1898, Selected Philosophical Works, Vol. II, Moscow, 1976, pp. 316–325. eventually asserting that many of Karl Marx’s economic anticipations were not borne out by the expectations presented in Das Kapital and elsewhere.Paul Dukes, World Order in History: Russia and the West, Routledge, 1996, p. 67. Bernstein and other Marxist revisionists addressed a number of issues that focused on the perceived deficiencies of Marx’s economic predictions. One of the first issues addressed was the Marxian prediction that industrial capitalism would lead to concentration and centralization. Bernstein observed that ownership of businesses had become more diffuse instead of being concentrated in few hands.Heather M. Campbell, edit., The Britannica Guide to Political Science and Social Movements That Changed the Modern World, Britannica Educational Publishing, 2010, p. 141.
In his attempt to prove that industrial concentration was not increasing, Bernstein wrote that "it is a well-established fact that in a whole series of branches of industry small and medium-sized undertakings appear quite capable of existing beside the large industries."Eduard Bernstein, Evolutionary Socialism, New York, Schocken, 1961, p. 59. Bernstein also attempted to demonstrate empirically that huge firms were not as profitable as small-scale ones, arguing that all sizes of companies could survive well together.Terrance McLoughlin, R. T. Drake, "The First Crisis of Marxian Theory and the Bernstein-Kautsky Debate", Praxis, No. 3, 1976, p. 28. Bernstein challenged orthodox Marxist theories that capitalism was doomed to fail, commenting that capitalism was increasingly overcoming a number of its frailties, "such as unemployment, overproduction, and the inequitable distribution of wealth."Heather M. Campbell, edit., The Britannica Guide to Political Science and Social Movements That Changed the Modern World, Britannica Educational Publishing, 2010, p. 141. Moreover, Bernstein said that the apparent stabilization of capitalism was not temporary but a permanent feature.Alexander Parvus (Alexander Helphand): "Bernstein's Statement", Sächsische Arbeiter-Zeitung , Feb. 9, 1898, reprinted in Marxism and Social Democracy: The Revisionist Debate 1896-1898, Henry Tudor and J. M. Tudor, edited and translated, Cambridge University Press, 1988, p. 195.
Bernstein contended that the income of the proletariat was rising,Terrance McLoughlin, R. T. Drake, "The First Crisis of Marxian Theory and the Bernstein-Kautsky Debate", Praxis, No. 3, 1976, p. 28. which he said directly contradicted proletarization and the immiseration thesis, Marx's conjecture that workers would become poorer due to capitalism's insoluble contradictions, oppression of workers and oppressed class mold, and profit-based structure.M. Patricia Marchak Ideological Perspectives on Canada, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2012, p. 58. Due to his empirical approach, Bernstein took the position that economic prosperity under capitalism was causing a reduction in class conflict, as well as increasing the differentiation of the working class.Terrance McLoughlin, R. T. Drake, "The First Crisis of Marxian Theory and the Bernstein-Kautsky Debate", Praxis, No. 3, 1976, pp. 28–29. Bernstein predicted that class antagonism would eventually diminish in a capitalist society whereas socialism would evolve peacefully under parliamentary and reformist responses.Harry Van der Linden, Kantian Ethics and Socialism, Hackett Publishing Company, 1988, p. 299.
One of the first serious detractors of Bernstein's reformist socialism and optimistic stance towards capitalism was Alexander Parvus, a Marxist theoretician. Parvus contended that Bernstein was attempting to "overthrow socialism".Alexander Pravus, "Bernstein's Overthrow of Socialism", series of articles in Sächsische Arbeiter-Zeitung that denounced Bernstein, written between January and March of 1898. Reprinted, Henry Tudor and J. M. Tudor, edited and translated, Marxism and Social Democracy: The Revisionist Debate 1896-1898, Cambridge University Press, 1988, Introduction p. 174. In one of his 1898 essays, Parvus critically examined the significance of Bernstein's revisionism, writing: "What would be the point of striving to achieve political power if it only led to a 'colossal defeat'? What would be the point of opposing capitalism if we could not manage without it? Instead we would have to encourage capitalist development, since, if it is not interrupted by general trade crises, it must eventually lead to the prosperity of all!"Alexander Parvus (Alexander Helphand): "Bernstein's Statement", Sächsische Arbeiter-Zeitung, Feb. 9, 1898, reprinted in Marxism and Social Democracy: The Revisionist Debate 1896-1898, Henry Tudor and J. M. Tudor, edited and translated, Cambridge University Press, 1988, p. 195. There were also a number of other economic dilemmas facing orthodox Marxism in the late 1890s. David Ramsey Steele, a former member of the Socialist Party of Great Britain, summed up many of those he saw as the most serious conditions behind the crises that plagued Marxism, stating: "The workers were becoming richer, the working class was fragmented into sections with different interests, technological advance was accelerating rather than meeting a roadblock, the 'rate of profit' was not falling [referencing the falling rate of profit], the number of wealthy investors ('magnates of capital') was not falling but increasing, industrial concentration was not increasing, and in all countries the workers were putting their country above their class."David Ramsey Steele, "The Mystery of Fascism", first published in Liberty, Vol. 15, No. 11, November 2001.
Bernstein and the Precondition of Socialism In his 1899 Precondition of Socialism, Bernstein treated the theoretical parts of Marxist doctrine as "not scientific but doctrinaire", therefore rejecting the fundamental principle of scientific socialism.Eduard Bernstein, Precondition of Socialism and the Tasks of Social Democracy, Raymond Guess, Quentin Skinner editors, Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought, new translation, "Introduction", p. xxiv. Instead, Bernstein evoked Kantian liberal ideals that promoted ethical and moral arguments in favor of socialism.Manfred B. Steger, The Quest for Evolutionary Socialism: Eduard Bernstein and social democracy, Cambridge University Press, 1997, p. 115. As Bernstein highlighted under the concept of ethical socialism, he said that "no action on the part of the masses" could have a "lasting effect without a moral impetus".Manfred B. Steger, The Quest for Evolutionary Socialism: Eduard Bernstein and social democracy, Cambridge University Press, 1997, p. 114, from Bernstein's "The Realistic and Ideological Moments in Socialism", 1898 in MS, p. 240. He also proposed the abandonment of the Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel-derived dialectic and revolution itself, ushered in the first post-Marxism era.Saree Makdisi, Cesare Casarino, Rebecca E. Karl, edit., Marxism Beyond Marxism, chap. 1, Fredric Jameson, "Actually Existing Marxism", Routledge, 1996, p. 21. According to Henry Tudor and J. M. Tudor, Bernstein's rationale to reform Marxism was to secure "the rights of individuals and promoting their material wellbeing without undermining their independence."Henry Tudor and J. M. Tudor, edited and translated, Marxism and Social Democracy: The Revisionist Debate 1896-1898, Cambridge University Press, 1988, "Introduction", p. 16. He believed that the predominant problem of socialism was to "prevent the sheer size of the modern state from submerging the individual and nullifying democratic control".Henry Tudor and J. M. Tudor, edited and translated, Marxism and Social Democracy: The Revisionist Debate 1896-1898, Cambridge University Press, 1988, "Introduction", p. 16.
Breakdown controversy