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Karl Kautsky
Historical figureGermany1854-1938

Karl Kautsky

Leading theorist of the German Social Democratic Party · Editor of Die Neue Zeit

Orthodox Marxist theorist who helped write the SPD's Erfurt Program, fought Bernstein's revisionism and then broke with Lenin by insisting that socialism must rest on democracy.

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Profile on 12 axes9 of 12 documented
ECONOMYSTATESOCIETYWORLDOwnershipMarketsWelfareAuthoritySecurityStructureMoralityReligionTechnologyCultureTradeForeign
Where they stood

Karl Kautsky, axis by axis

  1. 01Ownership-80
    PublicPrivate

    He wanted the means of production to be socialized, yet he warned that nationalization alone is not socialism and that a new ruling class can emerge.

  2. 02Markets-70
    PlannedFree
  3. 03Welfare-70
    SharedSelf-reliant
  4. 04Authority-65
    DemocraticStrong leader

    He insisted that democracy is essential to socialism and denounced the Bolsheviks for dissolving the Constituent Assembly. Lenin called him a renegade for it.

  5. 05Security-50
    LibertyOrder
  6. 06StructureNo clear record
    LocalCentral
  7. 07MoralityNo clear record
    ProgressiveTraditional
  8. 08Religion-45
    SecularReligious

    The Erfurt tradition treated religion as a private matter and his outlook was materialist.

  9. 09TechnologyNo clear record
    EmbraceCaution
  10. 10Culture-40
    MulticulturalNational identity

    He was an internationalist in the Marxist tradition.

  11. 11Trade-50
    GlobalProtected
  12. 12Foreign policy-80
    CooperationStrength

    He suggested in 1914 that SPD deputies abstain on war credits and later joined the antiwar USPD.

3 axes have no clear record, so matching leaves them out.

Who was Karl Kautsky?

Kautsky was born in Prague in 1854 and became the leading theorist of German Social Democracy. In 1891 he co-wrote the Erfurt Program with August Bebel and Eduard Bernstein. He edited the party journal Die Neue Zeit and defended Marxist orthodoxy against Bernstein. In 1914 he proposed that SPD deputies abstain on war credits, and in 1917 he left the party for the antiwar USPD. After the Russian Revolution he accused the Bolsheviks of dictatorship, and Lenin answered in 1918 with a pamphlet calling him a renegade. Kautsky rejoined the SPD in 1920 and died in Amsterdam in October 1938 after fleeing Austria.

Political views

  • The 1891 Erfurt Program, which he co-wrote, was strongly Marxist and revolutionary in tone, yet encouraged members to work through existing political institutions.Source: newworldencyclopedia.org
  • He denounced Bernstein's revisionism, arguing that stress on socialism's ethical basis opened the way to an alliance with the progressive bourgeoisie.Source: newworldencyclopedia.org
  • In 1914 he suggested that SPD deputies abstain on war credits. In 1915 he joined Bernstein and Hugo Haase in an appeal against the party's pro-war leaders.Source: newworldencyclopedia.org
  • He argued that democracy is essential to socialism, because the working class needs it to mature and to prove its maturity.Source: marxists.org
  • He read the dictatorship of the proletariat as rule of a class on the basis of democracy, not a regime that disarms opponents by removing their vote, press and right to organize.Source: marxists.org
  • He accused the Bolsheviks of dictatorship after they dissolved the Constituent Assembly and abolished universal suffrage.Source: newworldencyclopedia.org
  • He held that nationalizing the means of production did not equal socialism, and saw Soviet Russia as a society where a new class ruled over the majority.Source: newworldencyclopedia.org
  • He wrote that the path to power would differ by country, noting that Marx thought a peaceful route possible in England and America.Source: marxists.org

Legacy

Admirers see Kautsky as an early and clear defender of democratic socialism, who warned that Bolshevik rule would harden into one-party dictatorship. His Erfurt Program stayed the SPD's official program through the imperial period. Lenin attacked him as a renegade, and critics on the left said he had abandoned revolution. He opposed the war while the SPD's leaders backed it, and he left the party in 1917. Kautsky died in exile in 1938 after the Nazi annexation of Austria.

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Karl Kautsky: questions

Was Karl Kautsky a communist?

He was a Marxist, but he opposed Bolshevik rule. He argued that socialism requires democracy and that Soviet Russia was ruled by a new class. Lenin called him a renegade.

What did Kautsky think of Eduard Bernstein?

He denounced Bernstein's revisionism in the late 1890s, saying its stress on ethics invited an alliance with the progressive bourgeoisie. They still co-wrote the Erfurt Program in 1891.

What did Kautsky say about the dictatorship of the proletariat?

He read it as the rule of a class on the basis of democracy, not as a government that strips opponents of the vote and the press. He concluded it could only mean rule resting on democracy.

Sources