Footnote on socialist history

Justin Schwartz jkschw at hotmail.com
Tue May 14 13:23:22 PDT 2002



>I don't think Bernstein every rejected the downfall of capitalism.

Luxemburg thought he rejected the inevitablte downfall of capitalism, anyway.


>The
>question was whether socialism could be achieved through reform of
>capitalism or whether a revolutionary reconstitution of society was
>necessary.

Not unrelated.


>Only if
>the working class is in control of the state making the laws. Bernstein
>thought this could be done through the electoral process.

Something of a misrepresentation. B saw a lot of the functions of the state shifted toworker woned coops. What he rejected was the model of depression + armed insurrection. Quite right too.


>Luxemburg,
>following Marx, thought the existing state had to be broken up and
>reconstituted in a form

B never denied that a socialist sattew ould be different from a capitalist one.

jks

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