Eduard Bernstein
Eduard Bernstein | |
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Member of the Reichstag from Brandenburg | |
In office 7 June 1920 – 20 May 1928 | |
Constituency | Potsdam (Teltow-Beeskow-Charlottenburg) |
Member of the Imperial Reichstag from Silesia | |
In office 13 January 1912 – 10 November 1918 | |
Preceded by | Otto Pfundtner |
Succeeded by | Reichstag dissolution |
Constituency | Breslau-West |
In office 31 October 1901 – 25 January 1907 | |
Preceded by | Bruno Schönlank |
Succeeded by | Otto Pfundtner |
Constituency | Breslau-West |
Personal details | |
Born | Schöneberg, Kingdom of Prussia | 6 January 1850
Died | 18 December 1932 Berlin, Free State of Prussia, German Reich | (aged 82)
Political party | SDAP (1872–1875) SPD (1875–1917) USPD (1917–1919) SPD (1918–1932) |
Philosophy career | |
Era | Modern philosophy
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Region | Western philosophy |
School | Socialism |
Main interests | Politics, economy, sociology |
Notable ideas | Social democracy Revisionism |
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Socialism |
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Eduard Bernstein (German:
Early life
Bernstein was born in Schöneberg (now part of Berlin) to Jewish parents who were active in the Reform Temple on the Johannistrasse whose services were performed on Sunday. His father was a locomotive driver. From 1866 to 1878, he was employed in banks as a banker's clerk after leaving school.[3]
Bernstein's political career began in 1872, when he joined a
In the
Bismarck's strict anti-socialist legislation was passed on 12 October 1878. For nearly all practical purposes the SPD was outlawed, and it was actively suppressed throughout Germany. However, it was still possible for Social Democrats to campaign as individuals for election to the Reichstag, which they did in spite of severe persecution. The party actually increased its electoral success, gaining 550,000 votes in 1884 and 763,000 in 1887.
Exile
The vehemence of Bernstein's opposition to the government of Bismarck made it desirable for him to leave Germany.[5] Shortly before the Anti-Socialist Laws came into effect, Bernstein went into exile in Zurich, accepting a position as the private secretary of Karl Höchberg, a wealthy supporter of social democracy. A warrant subsequently issued for his arrest ruled out any possibility for him to return to Germany, and he was to remain in exile for more than 20 years. In 1888, Bismarck convinced the Swiss government to expel a number of important members of German social democracy and so Bernstein relocated to London, where he associated with Friedrich Engels and Karl Kautsky. It was soon after his arrival in Switzerland that he began to think of himself as a Marxist.[6] In 1880, he accompanied Bebel to London to clear up a misunderstanding concerning his involvement with an article published by Höchberg that was denounced by Marx and Engels as being "chock-full of bourgeois and petty bourgeois ideas". The visit was a success, and Engels in particular was impressed by Bernstein's zeal and ideas.
Back in Zurich, Bernstein became increasingly active in working for
In 1895, Engels was deeply distressed when he discovered that his introduction to a new edition of The Class Struggles in France, written by Marx in 1850, had been edited by Bernstein and Kautsky in a manner that left the impression that he had become a proponent of a peaceful road to socialism. On 1 April 1895, four months before his death, Engels wrote to Kautsky:
I was amazed to see today in the Vorwärts an excerpt from my 'Introduction' that had been printed without my knowledge and tricked out in such a way as to present me as a peace-loving proponent of legality quand même (at all costs). Which is all the more reason why I should like it to appear in its entirety in the Neue Zeit in order that this disgraceful impression may be erased. I shall leave Liebknecht in no doubt as to what I think about it and the same applies to those who, irrespective of who they may be, gave him this opportunity of perverting my views and, what's more, without so much as a word to me about it.[9]
In 1891, Bernstein was one of the authors of the
Return to Germany
In 1901, Bernstein returned to Germany after the end of the ban that had kept him from entering the country. He became an editor of the newspaper
Death and legacy
Bernstein died on 18 December 1932 in Berlin. A commemorative plaque is placed in his memory at Bozener Straße 18, Berlin-Schöneberg, where he lived from 1918 until his death. His grave in the Eisackstrasse Cemetery became a grave of honour (German: Ehrengrab) in Berlin.
Opinions
Opposition to violent revolution
Die Voraussetzungen des Sozialismus (1899) was Bernstein's most significant work. Bernstein was principally concerned with refuting
As to Marx's belief in the disappearance of the middleman, Bernstein declared that the entrepreneur class was being steadily recruited from the
Looking especially at the rapid growth in Germany, Bernstein argued that middle-sized firms would flourish, the size and power of the middle class would grow and that capitalism would successfully adjust and not collapse. He warned that a violent proletarian revolution, as in France in 1848, produced only reactionary successes, which undermined workers' interests. Therefore, he rejected revolution and instead insisted the best strategy to be patiently building up a durable social movement working for continuous nonviolent incremental change.[16]
In his work, The Quest for Evolutionary Socialism: Eduard Bernstein and Social Democracy,
Bernstein's views under attack
Bernstein was vilified by the orthodox Marxists led by Karl Kautsky as well as the more radical current led by Rosa Luxemburg for his revisionism.[18] Nonetheless, Bernstein remained very much a socialist, albeit an unorthodox one as he believed that socialism would be achieved by the advancement of capitalism to social democracy and so on, not by capitalism's destruction (as rights were gradually won by workers, their cause for grievance would be diminished and consequently, so too would the motivation for revolution). During the intra-party debates about his ideas, Bernstein explained that for him the final goal of socialism was nothing; progress toward that goal was everything.
Luxemburg argued that socialism has its end in social revolution and revisionism "amounts in practice to the advice [...] that we abandon the social revolution—the goal of Social Democracy—and turn social reform from a means of the class struggle into its final aim".[19] She says revisionism has lost sight of scientific socialism and reverted to idealism and therefore lost its predictive force. Since reformists underestimate the anarchy of capitalism[citation needed] and say it has adaptability and viability, by which they mean that the contradictions of capitalism would not of historical necessity drive it to its doom, Luxemburg said they would abandon the objective necessity for socialism and give up all hope for a socialist future. The movement would collapse unless revisionism is repudiated. Trade unionists, who could see the successes of capitalism and the improvement of working conditions and who wanted to improve working conditions through parliament, generally followed Bernstein while those who were more orthodox generally followed Luxemburg.[20]
Foreign policy
Foreign policy was Bernstein's main intellectual interest between 1902 and 1914, with many articles in the Sozialistische Monatshefte (Socialist Monthly). He advocated policy positions for Germany that were aggressively nationalist, imperialist and expansionist.[21][22]
Bernstein considered protectionism (high tariffs on imports) as helping only a selective few, being fortschrittsfeindlich (anti-progressive) for its negative effects on the masses. He argued Germany's protectionism was based only on political expediency, isolating Germany from the world (especially from Britain), creating an autarky that would result only in conflict between Germany and the rest of the world.[23] Bernstein wanted to end Germany's protectionism and argued that tariffs did not increase grain production, did not counter British competition, did not increase farm profits and did not promote improvements in farming. Instead, it inflated rents, interest rates and prices, hurting everyone involved. In contrast, he argued that free trade led to peace, democracy, prosperity and the highest material and moral well-being of all humanity.[24]
Bernstein rejected reactionary bourgeois nationalism and called instead for a cosmopolitan-libertarian nationalism. He recognized the historical role of the national factor and said that the proletariat must support their country against external dangers. He called on workers to assimilate themselves within nation-states, which entailed support for colonial policies and imperial projects. Bernstein was sympathetic to the idea of imperial expansions as a positive and civilizing mission, which resulted in a bitter series of polemics with the anti-imperialist Ernest Belfort Bax.[25] Bernstein supported colonialism as he believed it uplifted backward peoples and it worked well for both Britain and Germany. Bernstein supported such policies in an intensely racialized manner, arguing in 1896 that "races who are hostile to or incapable of civilisation cannot claim our sympathy when they revolt against civilisation" and that the "savages [must] be subjugated and made to conform to the rules of higher civilisation".[26] However, he was disturbed by the Kaiser's reckless policies. He wanted strong friendship especially with Britain and France and protection against the Russian threat to Germany. He envisioned a sort of league of nations.[27][28]
Zionism
Bernstein's views on Jewish matters evolved. He never identified as a
Homosexuality
Bernstein is also noted for being "one of the first socialists to deal sympathetically with the issue of homosexuality".[31]
Works
- Ferdinand Lassalle as a Social Reformer. Eleanor Marx Aveling, trans. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1893.
- Evolutionary Socialism: A Criticism and Affirmation. [1899] Edith C. Harvey, trans. New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1909. This book has also been translated into English as The Preconditions of Socialism.
- Cromwell and Communism: Socialism and Democracy in the Great English Revolution. H.J. Stenning, trans. London: Allen and Unwin, 1930.
- My Years of Exile: Reminiscences of a Socialist., trans. Bernard Miall, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Howe, 1921. online free
- Selected Writings of Eduard Bernstein, 1900–1921. Prometheus Books, 1996.
- Marius S. Ostrowski (ed.), Eduard Bernstein on Social Democracy and International Politics: Essays and Other Writings. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
- Marius S. Ostrowski (ed.), Eduard Bernstein on the German Revolution: Selected Historical Writings. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
- Marius S. Ostrowski (ed.), Eduard Bernstein on Socialism Past and Present: Essays and Lectures on Ideology. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021.
Primary sources
- Tudor, Henry Tudor and J. M. Tudor, eds. Marxism and Social Democracy: The Revisionist Debate, 1896–1898. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
References
- ^ Berman, Sheri. Social Democracy and the Making of Europe's Twentieth Century. Cambridge University Press, 2006. pp. 38–39.
- ^ Michael Harrington. Socialism: Past and Future. Reprint edition of original published in 1989. New York, New York, USA: Arcade Publishing, 2011. P. 251.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. .
- ^ The Preconditions of Socialism Eduard Bernstein
- ^ a b Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). Encyclopedia Americana. .
- ^ Berstein, Sozialdemokratische Lehrjahre, p.72; Berstein to Bebel, 20.10.1898, Tudor and Tudor, p.324.
- ^ This influence is particularly evident in Bernstein's My Years of Exile: Reminiscences of a Socialist (London, 1921).
- ^ Bernstein to Bebel, 20.10.1898, Tudor and Tudor, pp. 325-6.
- ^ Engels, Friedrich (2004). Collected Works, Volume 50. New York: International Publishers. p. 86.
- Jahrbuch für Forschungen zur Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung, No. I/2002.
- ^ New International Encyclopedia(1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
- ^ "Bernsteins Kampf für die Anerkennung der deutschen Kriegsschuld" [Bernsteins Fight for Recognition of German War Guilt]. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, digitale Bibliothek (in German). Retrieved 16 September 2016.
- ^ a b Die Voraussetzungen des Sozialismus (1899)
- ^ Service, Robert. Comrades!. Harvard University Press. p. 49.
- ^ Kolakowski, Leszek (2008). Main Currents of Marxism. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 433–435.
- ^ Richard A. Fletcher, "Cobden as Educator: The Free-Trade Internationalism of Eduard Bernstein, 1899-1914." American Historical Review 88.3 (1983): 563-68.
- ^ Steger, Manfred (1997). The Quest for Evolutionary Socialism. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. pp. 236–237.
- ^ Peter Gay, The Dilemma of Democratic Socialism: Eduard Bernstein's challenge to Marx (1952) p 258ff
- ^ Gay, The Dilemma of Democratic Socialism: Eduard Bernstein's challenge to Marx (1952) p 259
- ^ Gay, The Dilemma of Democratic Socialism: Eduard Bernstein's challenge to Marx (1952) p 260
- ^ Roger Fletcher, "In the interest of peace and progress: Eduard Bernstein's socialist foreign policy." Review of International Studies 9.2 (1983): 79-93.
- ^ Roger Fletcher, "Revisionism and Wilhelmine Imperialism" Journal of Contemporary History (1988) 23#3 pp 347-366. online
- JSTOR 1864587.
- ^ Fletcher, "Cobden as Educator" 563-69.
- ^ Bax, Ernest Belfort. "E. Belfort Bax: Our German Fabian Convert (1896)". www.marxists.org. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
- ^ Mcgeever, Brendan, and Satnam Virdee. "Antisemitism and Socialist Strategy in Europe, 1880–1917: An Introduction." Patterns of Prejudice 51.3-4 (2017): 229
- ^ Roger Fletcher, "Revisionism ad Wilhelmine Imperialism" Journal of Contemporary History (11988) 23#3 pp 347-366.
- ^ Roger Fletcher, "An English Advocate in Germany. Eduard Bernstein’s Analysis of Anglo-German Relations 1900-1914." Canadian Journal of History 13.2 (1978) pp: 209-236.
- ISBN 9780814742136. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
- ISBN 9780307530851. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
- ^ "The Eduard Bernstein Internet Archive". marxists.org. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
Sources
- Fletcher, Richard A. "Cobden as Educator: The Free-Trade Internationalism of Eduard Bernstein, 1899–1914." American Historical Review 88.3 (1983): 561–578. online
- Fletcher, R. A. "In the interest of peace and progress: Eduard Bernstein's socialist foreign policy." Review of International Studies 9.2 (1983): 79–93.
- Fletcher, Roger. "A Revisionist Looks at Imperialism: Eduard Bernstein's Critique of Imperialism and Kolonialpolitik, 1900–14." Central European History 12.3 (1979): 237–271.
- Fletcher, Roger. "Revisionism and Nationalism: Eduard Bernstein's Views on the National Question, 1900–1914." Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism 11.1 (1984) pp 103–117.
- Fletcher, Roger. "World Power without War. Eduard Bernstein's Proposals for an Alternative Weltpolitik, 1900–1914." Australian Journal of Politics & History 25.2 (1979): 228–236.
- Fletcher, Roger. "An English Advocate in Germany. Eduard Bernstein’s Analysis of Anglo-German Relations 1900–1914." Canadian Journal of History 13.2 (1978): 209–236.
- Gay, Peter, The Dilemma of Democratic Socialism: Eduard Bernstein's challenge to Marx. (Columbia UP, 1952. online Archived 28 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine
- Gustafsson, Bo. "A new look at Bernstein: Some reflections on reformism and history." Scandinavian Journal of History 3#1-4 (1978): 275–296.
- Hamilton, Richard F. Marxism, Revisionism, and Leninism: Explication, Assessment, and Commentary (Greenwood, 2000) online Archived 16 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine
- Hulse, James W. Revolutionists in London: A Study of Five Unorthodox Socialists. (Clarendon Press, 1970.
- Ostrowski, Marius S. "Bernstein, Eduard." In Mortimer Sellers and Stephan Kirste (eds.), Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (Springer, 2021) online
- Ostrowski, Marius S. "Eduard Bernstein and the Lessons of the German Revolution." In James Muldoon and Gaard Kets (eds.), The German Revolution and Political Theory (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019): 137–158. online
- Ostrowski, Marius S. "'Reform or revolution, redux: Eduard Bernstein on the 1918–19 German Revolution." Historical Research 95.268 (2022): 213–239. online
- Ostrowski, Marius S. "Social Democracy and "positive" foreign policy: The evolution of Eduard Bernstein's international thought, 1914–1920." History of Political Thought 42.3 (2021): 520–564. online
- Pachter, Henry. "The Ambiguous Legacy of Eduard Bernstein." Dissent 28#2 (1981). pp 203–216.
- Rogers, H. Kendall. Before the Revisionist Controversy: Kautsky, Bernstein, and the Meaning of Marxism, 1895–1898. (Routledge, 2015).
- Steger, Manfred B. The Quest for Evolutionary Socialism: Eduard Bernstein and Social Democracy. (Cambridge UP, 1997).
- Steger, Manfred. "Historical materialism and ethics: Eduard Bernstein's revisionist perspective." History of European Ideas 14.5 (1992): 647–663.
- Thomas, Paul. Marxism & Scientific Socialism: From Engels to Althusser. (Routledge, 2008).
External links
- Works by Eduard Bernstein at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Eduard Bernstein at Internet Archive
- Eduard Bernstein Archive at Marxists Internet Archive
- Bernstein on Homosexuality, Articles from Die Neue Zeit, 1895 and 1898
- Evolutionary Socialism: a Criticism and Affirmation: (Die Voraussetzungen Des Sozialismus und Die Aufgaben Der Sozialdemokratie) (Google Books)
- Archive of Eduard Bernstein Papers at the International Institute of Social History
- Newspaper clippings about Eduard Bernstein in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW