'This outstanding political biography traces the development of Kausky as a thinker and a Socialist. The author treats Kautsky with respect and affection without minimizing his weaknesses. In fact, this work could serve as a model for political biographies: it is meticulously researched in archives and libraries; it is written in good, clear, declarative sentences, and it avoids the major pitfall of polemicizing instead of enlightening.' -Bernard K. Johnpoll, Labor History

Political Science

This in-depth study refutes the recent claim that socialist theory can be renewed on the basis of classical Marxism.

On the Formation of Marxism analyses Karl Kautsky’s decisive impact on the self-understanding of the Social Democratic movement, from his dispute over Revisionism with Eduard Bernstein to his polemics with V.I. Lenin over the Russian Revolution.

Karl Kautsky on Democracy and Republicanism contains the first English-language translations of important political works by Kautsky. Ben Lewis demonstrates how Kautsky’s programmatic conclusions were positively influenced by Marx and Engels – especially the lessons they drew from the Paris Commune.

In this book, first published in 1992, the author examines the polemic fought by German Social-Democratic Party leaders and intellectuals Karl Kautsky and Eduard Bernstein against what they perceived to be misunderstandings of Marxism propagated by members of the Social-Democratic Federation (SDF) in England and by the socialist leader Wilhelm Liebknecht in Germany. The debate raised basic questions of socialist theory, including whether the program of Marx and Engels called for scholarly study, parliamentary democracy, and gradual social evolution, or for Utopian speculation, economic collapse, and violent rebellion.

In this book, first published in 1992, the author examines the polemic fought by German Social-Democratic Party leaders and intellectuals Karl Kautsky and Eduard Bernstein against what they perceived to be misunderstandings of Marxism propagated by members of the Social-Democratic Federation (SDF) in England and by the socialist leader Wilhelm Liebknecht in Germany. The debate raised basic questions of socialist theory, including whether the program of Marx and Engels called for scholarly study, parliamentary democracy, and gradual social evolution, or for Utopian speculation, economic collapse, and violent rebellion.