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Karl Kautsky: A Revolutionary's Journey from Hope to Disillusionment

Jaime Mitchell

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Published in Karl Kautsky And The Socialist Revolution 1880 1938 (Verso Modern Classics)

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Karl Kautsky and the Socialist Revolution 1880-1938 (Verso Modern Classics)

by T. J. English

4.6 out of 5

Language	:	English
File size	:	739 KB
Text-to-Speech	:	Enabled
Screen Reader	:	Supported
Enhanced typesetting	:	Enabled
Word Wise	:	Enabled
Print length	:	382 pages

Karl Kautsky was one of the most important figures in the history of socialism. A close collaborator of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, he played a leading role in the development of Marxist theory and the international socialist movement. This book, first published in 1938, is a biography of Kautsky that traces his life and work from his early days as a young revolutionary to his later years as a disillusioned and embittered old man.

Kautsky was born in Prague in 1854. His father was a tailor and his mother was a seamstress. Kautsky attended the University of Vienna, where he studied economics and history. In 1875, he joined the Social Democratic Party of Austria. Kautsky quickly became one of the party's leading theoreticians and organizers. In 1883, he was elected to the party's central committee. In 1889, he became the party's chairman.

Kautsky was a prolific writer. He wrote over 100 books and pamphlets on a wide range of topics, including Marxist theory, the history of socialism, and the international working-class movement. Kautsky's work was translated into dozens of languages and he became one of the most influential socialist thinkers in the world.

Kautsky was a strong supporter of the Second International, a worldwide organization of socialist parties. He believed that the Second International could help to coordinate the international working-class movement and bring about a socialist revolution. However, Kautsky's faith in the Second International was shaken by the outbreak of World War I in 1914. The majority of the socialist parties in the Second International supported their own governments in the war, which Kautsky saw as a betrayal of socialist principles.

After the war, Kautsky became increasingly disillusioned with the socialist movement. He saw the Russian Revolution as a betrayal of Marxism and he believed that the socialist movement had become too bureaucratic and reformist. In 1918, Kautsky left the Social Democratic Party of Austria and joined the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany. In 1922, he joined the Communist Party of Germany. However, Kautsky was soon expelled from the Communist Party for his criticisms of the Soviet Union.

Kautsky spent the last years of his life in exile in Austria and Czechoslovakia. He continued to write and publish on socialist topics, but he never regained the influence that he had once enjoyed. Kautsky died in Amsterdam in 1938.

Karl Kautsky was a complex and contradictory figure. He was a brilliant theorist and a tireless organizer. However, he was also a dogmatic and sectarian thinker. Kautsky's life and work is a reminder of the challenges and contradictions of the socialist movement. It is a story of hope and disillusionment, of revolution and betrayal.

Karl Kautsky and the Socialist Revolution 1880-1938 (Verso Modern Classics)

by T. J. English

4.6 out of 5