Source: ? Published: Originally in "Lichtstrahlen", 1915 Transcriber: Collective Action Notes (CAN) HTML: Jonas Holmgren
"Until now, the philosophers have
only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to change
it."
Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach
Scientific theories do not emerge from the pure and dispassionate
thoughts in men's heads. These theories serve practice, and are established in
order to clear the way for men's essential practical tasks. They even arise as a
result of practical needs, and change their form if the environment, society or
needs change. For this reason, the same doctrine can assume completely different
colorations over the course of time. What a great difference there is betwee... (From: Marxists.org.) 1. Our Differences
For several years past, profound tactical disagreement has been developing on
a succession of issues among those who had previously shared common ground as
Marxists and together fought against Revisionism in the name of the radical
tactic of class struggle. It first came into the open in 1910, in the debate
between Kautsky and Luxemburg over the mass strike; then came the dissension
over imperialism and the question of disarmament; and finally, with the conflict
over the electoral deal made by the Party Executive and the attitude to be
adopted towards the liberals, the most important issues of parliamentary
politics became the subject of dispute.
One may regret this fact, but no party loyalty can conjure it ... (From: Marxists.org.) Written: 1942; First Published: in English in the American journal New Essays, Vol VI No 2 Fall 1942; Transcription\HTML Markup: by Andy Blunden, for marxists.org 2003. Source: John Gray's Archive.
I
The evolution of Marxism to its present stage can be understood
only in connection with the social and political developments of the period in
which it arose. With the coming of capitalism in Germany there developed
simultaneously a growing opposition to the existing aristocratic absolutism. The
ascending bourgeois class needed freedom of trade and commerce, favorable
legislation, a government sympathetic to its interests, freedom of press and
assembly in order to fight unhindered for its needs and desires. But the
bourgeoisie f... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: ? Published: Originally in "Der Kommunist" (Bremen), No. 27, 1920 Transcriber: Collective Action Notes (CAN) HTML: Jonas Holmgren
When the material situation is conducive to revolution, but the
masses remain passive and are not at all inclined to revolt, doctrines then
arise which seek to attain their goal by other means than the political
revolution of the proletarians. So it was in France where, prior to 1870, the
names of Proudhon and Blanqui were associated with two tendencies which, in
different and opposed ways, elaborated the theories of the first seeds of future
movements. Associated with the name of Proudhon, the petit-bourgeois critic of
big capital, were those parts of the rising workers movement that sought ... (From: Marxists.org.) The middle class is the one which stands between the highest and
the lowest strata of society. Above it is the class of great capitalists; below
it the proletariat, the class of wage-workers. It constitutes the social group
with medium incomes. Accordingly, it is not divided with equal sharpness from
both of the other two classes. From the great capitalist the small bourgeois is
distinguished only by a difference of degree; he has a smaller amount of
capital, a more modest business. Therefore the question as to who belongs to
this small bourgeois class is difficult to answer. Every capitalist who suffers
from the competition of still greater capitalists denounces those above him and
cries out for help on behalf of the middle class.... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: The New Review, vol. 3, no. 2. February 1915. Transcription/Markup: Micah Muer, 2017.
More than a conference of delegates from the Socialist parties of the neutral
nations is needed to re-organize the International. Such a conference cannot
even be an instrument for peace, for now that all the high-sounding resolutions
of the Social-Democracy have become mere empty talk, no one feels any respect
for its power.
Even if the leaders of all Socialist parties should meet when the war is
over, fall about each others' necks and forgive each other their nationalist
sins, their "International" would be nothing more than an International of
Leaders for the protection of common interests. An International that obediently
fal... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: The Communist International, vol. 1, no. 2. June 1919. p. 165-170. Transcription/Markup: Micah Muer, 2017.
I.
Four years of war have wrought a decisive change in the nature of the world.
A new world is surrounding us, thought but few of us have yet realized what it
is that has changed.
The proletarian world revolution has begun. Everybody is aware of it. The
bourgeoisie sees it or guesses at it, — panic-stricken, it tries to save
what can be saved and endeavors with all its might to keep its old power to
build it up anew. The vanguard of the revolution forthwith accepts the
challenge, and large masses of working men get ready for the fight, though not
as yet clearly seeing, only instinctively feeling that ... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: International Council Correspondence, vol. 2, no. 7. June 1936. Transcription/Markup: Micah Muer, 2017.
I.
During the world war small groups in all countries arose, convinced that out
of this ordeal of capitalism, a proletarian revolution must ensue, and they were
ready to prepare for it. They once more took the name of communists, forgotten
since the old times of Marx in 1848, to identify themselves from the old
socialist parties. The Bolshevik party, then having its center in Switzerland,
was one of them. After the war had ceased, they united into communist parties
standing for the proletarian revolution, in opposition to the socialist parties
who supported the war politics of the capitalist government; and repre... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: Modern Socialism, no. 2, pages 7-10. Winter 1941. Transcribed: by David Walters/Greg Adargo, December, 2001. Proofed: and corrected by Megen Devine, July 2011; Micah Muer, 2017. Note: A very close variant of the 1936 texts "Party and Working Class" and "The Party and the Working Class".
The old labor movement is organized in parties. The belief in parties is the
main reason for the impotence of the working class; therefore we avoid forming a
new party—not because we are too few, but because a party is an
organization that aims to lead and control the working class. In opposition to
this, we maintain that the working class can rise to victory only when it
independently attacks its problems and decides its own fate... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: International Council Correspondence, vol. 2, nos. 9-10. Pages 43-47. September 1936. The article was unattributed and was given the title "The Party and the Class" in the issue's table of contents. Transcription/Markup: Micah Muer, 2017. Note: A very close variant of the 1936 text "Party and Working Class" and the 1941 text "The Party and Class".
The first traces of a new labor movement are just becoming visible. The old
movement is organized in parties. The belief in parties is the main reason for
the impotence of the working class; therefore we avoid forming a new party --
not because we are too few, but because a party is an organization that aims to
lead and control the working class.
In opposition to this, we m... (From: Marxists.org.) Written: 1936; source unknown. Transcribed: by David Walters/Greg Adargo, December, 2001. Proofed: by Micah Muer, 2017. Source: Kurasje Council Communist Archives. Note: A very close variant of the 1936 text "The Party and the Working Class" and the 1941 text "The Party and Class".
We are only at the very earliest stages of a new workers' movement. The old
movement was embodied in parties, and today belief in the party constitutes the
most powerful check on the working class' capacity for action. That is why we
are not trying to create a new party. This is so, not because our numbers are
small -- a party of any kind begins with a few people -- but because, in our
day, a party cannot be other than an organization aimed at directing ... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: Left, no. 156. May 1950. Pages 6-11. Transcription/Markup: Micah Muer, 2017.
I.
THE COMMUNIST PARTIES give the name People's Democracy to their dictatorial
governments in Russia and its satellite states in Eastern Europe. What does that
word mean? Grammatically it is a pleonasm (an overdose of names). Democracy,
literally translated, means people's rule, and was always thus understood; hence
people's democracy means people's people's rule, or demodemocracy. It might seem
that, since nobody in the world believes that a dictatorship may be called
democracy, the imposed misnomer is accentuated by repetition so that it may be
more easily swallowed. Just as in mathematics doubling of the negative sign
produces a positi... (From: Marxists.org.) From: Persmaterial van de Groep van Internationale Communisten, No.7, March 1933; Written: 1933; Transcription\HTML Markup: Greg Adargo; Source: Collective Action Notes
The burning of the Reichstag by Van Der Lubbe, reveals the most
divergent positions. In the organs of the communist left such as (Spartacus, De
Radencommunist), the burning is approved as an act of a communist revolutionary.
To approve and applaud such an act means advocating its repetition. Hence it is
necessarily good to fully appreciate its usefulness.
Perhaps the fire's meaning could only be to affect or to weaken the dominant
class: the bourgeoisie. Here, there can be no question. The bourgeoisie is not
in the least affected by the burning of the Reichstag; i... (From: Marxists.org.) Written: 1952; First Published: in French in La Révolution Prolétarienne, Aug-Sept 1952; Transcription\HTML Markup: by Andy Blunden, for marxists.org 2003. Source: John Gray's Archive;
Introduction by Révolution Prolétarienne: Circumstances beyond our control delayed the publication of the following article by Professor Pannekoek: loss of a first manuscript between Holland and Paris, then difficulties of translation. However this delay may have an unforeseen advantage worth being announced: the comrades who publish the weekly socialist paper De Vlam in Amsterdam have formed a committee to commemorate the twenty fifth anniversary of the death of Gorter and they are publishing Pannekoek's article at the same time... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: International Council Correspondence, vol. 2, no. 6. May 1936. Transcription/Markup: Micah Muer, 2017.
I
The power of the capitalist class is enormous. Never in history was there a
ruling class with such power. Their power is first, money power. All the
treasures of the world are theirs, and modern capital, produced by the ceaseless
toil of millions of workers, exceeds all the treasures of the old world. The
surplus value is partly accumulated into ever more and new capital; partly it
must be spent by the capitalists. They buy servants for their personal
attendants; they also buy People to defend them, to safeguard their power and
their dominating position. In capitalism everything can be bought for money;
muscles... (From: Marxists.org.) First Published: International Socialist Review, Vol X, No 11, May 1910; Translated: by Wm. E. Bohn. Transcribed: by Adam Buick HTML Markup: Andy Blunden.
The political struggle now going on in Germany is the heart of
the whole European situation. Since the Revolution tumbled Russia from her
predominance, Germany is not only the strongest military power on the continent
but the greatest force in the European reaction. And it is in Germany, likewise,
that the socialist-labor movement is strongest. Here the forces of revolution
and reaction stand facing each other armed to the teeth; here will take place
the first fateful battles of the revolution.
I. Landed Nobility and Bourgeoisie
What distinguishes Germany from America and We... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Western Socialist, November 1947; written in English; Transcribed: by Adam Buick.
The acknowledged aim of socialism is to take the means of
production out of the hands of the capitalist class and place them into the
hands of the workers. This aim is sometimes spoken of as public ownership,
sometimes as common ownership of the production apparatus. There is, however, a
marked and fundamental difference.
Public ownership is the ownership, i.e. the right of disposal, by a public
body representing society, by government, state power or some other political
body. The persons forming this body, the politicians, officials, leaders,
secretaries, managers, are the direct masters of the production apparatus; they
direct and regul... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: annex to Workers Councils; Translated: by Adam Buick; HTML Markup: Andy Blunden.
Religion is the oldest and most deeply rooted of the ideologies
which still play a role today. Religion has always been the form in which men
have expressed the consciousness that their life was dominated by superior and
incomprehensible forces. In religion was expressed the idea that there is a deep
unity between Man and the world, between Man and nature, and between men and
other men. With the evolution of labor, of the various modes of production, and
of knowledge about nature, as well as with changes in society and the evolution
of the relations between people, religious ideas changed.
Today’s religious ideas were mainly formed f... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: Left, no. 156. May 1950. Pages 22-24. Transcription/Markup: Micah Muer, 2017.
The Editor, "LEFT"
In his article "Accent on Equality" Wigham quotes a sentence written by
Engels in his Anti-Dühring, and he derives from it that Engels
was against equality of pay in socialist society. It must he remarked first that
when Marx or Engels gave their ideas about the future this is no indication of
what the workers will have to do under socialism; predictions are no
prescriptions. And secondly that here Engels does not speak about socialist
future but on the ideas, the demands, and the platform of the working class
under capitalism. Against the confused expositions of Dühring on equality
as an "eternal truth" he e... (From: Marxists.org.) Panic pervades the intellectual layers of American society.
Whereas the peoples of Europe were used to war and damage, to destruction and
insecurity in life, Americans felt safe in being separated by oceans from
dangerous foes, until the atom bomb fell upon Hiroshima; the first scientists,
realizing what it meant, called themselves "frightened men."
There is no secret; and there is no defense. Within some few
years Russia and many smaller countries can have their installations ready to
make atom bombs by the hundreds, just like America. Atom bombs are the cheapest
means of town-destruction; General H. H. Arnold computed that destruction per
square mile by means of B-29 bombs cost 3 million dollars by means of the
Hiroshima bomb ... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: International Council Correspondence, vol. 2, no. 8. July 1936. Transcription/Markup: Micah Muer, 2017.
The chief characteristic of fascism is that of organizing the petty
capitalist and middle class with their narrow-minded spirit of private business
into a mass organization, strong enough to check and beat the proletarian
organizations. This class, squeezed in between the capitalist and the working
class, unable to fight capitalism, is always ready to turn against the workers'
class struggle. Tho it hates big capital and puts forth anti-capitalistic
slogans, it is a tool in the hands of capitalism, which pays and directs its
political action towards the subduing of the workers.
Its ideas and theories are directed... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: New Review, vol. 1, no. 17, June 1913. Transcription/Markup: Micah Muer, 2017. Many attempts have been made to explain the causes of Roosevelt's
reappearance upon the political stage and the formation of the Progressive
party. In these attempts emphasis has mostly been laid upon the increasing
resistance of the lower strata of the bourgeoisie to the rule of the Trusts, as
well as upon the necessity of catching the workers with social reforms; but it
must be plain to everyone that the characterization of the new party as
"petty-capitalistic" is inadequate. In the formation of this new party we have
to do not only with a split of the old historic parties — for similar
tendencies are found in the Democratic party as w... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: ? Published: First published as a pamphlet under the pseudonym K. Horner in Hamburg, 1919; also later published in the KAPD journal, Kommunistische Arbeiterzeitung, in 1927. This translation is based on the latter version. Transcriber: Collective Action Notes (CAN) HTML: Jonas Holmgren
Contents:
Social Democracy and Communism
1. The Road Followed by the Workers Movement
2. Class Struggle and Socialization
3. Mass Action and Revolution
4. Democracy and Parliamentarism
5. Proletarian Democracy, or the Council System
1
The Road Followed by the Workers Movement
The world war brought not just a violent revolution in all
economic and political relations; it also completely transformed socialism.
Those who grew up w... (From: Marxists.org.) The party-school in Berlin which was established last year by the committee
of the Social Democratic party, did not spring up by chance; on the contrary, it
is a quite necessary product of the conditions, into which, through its
developments, the German party has come. In the beginning, when the labor
movement was still small, and when it was comprehended only by a few chosen
enthusiastic persons, the study of the scientific principles of socialism was
eagerly pursued by them. They had time for it, and it was necessary for them, if
they would win for the cause the mass of their comrades who either pinned their
faith to bourgeois parties, or were indifferent; the bourgeois teaching had to
be refuted, and the indifferent workingmen a... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: The Call, 10 June 1920, p. 2 Transcribed: Ted Crawford HTML Markup: Brian Reid Note: A slightly different translation is also available. Public Domain: Marxists Internet Archive (2007). You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source.
I
During the first months that followed the German Revolution of
November, 1918, there arose a cry of “Socialization.” It was the
expression of the will of the masses to-give to the revolution a social meaning,
and not to let it stop at reshuffling of persons, or at a simple transformation
of the political system. Kautsky warned the public against a ... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: The Call, 17 June 1920, p. 8 Transcribed: Ted Crawford HTML Markup: Brian Reid Note: A slightly different translation is also available. Public Domain: Marxists Internet Archive (2007). You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source.
It goes without saying that legal expropriation will also take
place during the transition from capitalism to Socialism. The political power of
the proletariat will take all the measures that are necessary for the
suppression of exploitation. It will not content itself with limiting the former
employers right of free exploitation by regularizing wages, hours of lab... (From: Marxists.org.) Written: 1919; Version: Originally published as 'Die Sozialisierung' in Die Internationale, vol. one, nos 13-14, September 1919, pp. 254-259. French translation published in Le Phare (The Beacon) No. 7, 1st March 1920. This French translation reprinted in (Dis)continuté Issue 7 July 1999, from which this translation has been made. A slightly different translation is also available; Transcription/HTML Markup: Greg Adargo.
Le Phare Introduction: Anton Pannekoek is one of
the best theorists of international socialism. He belongs to the Dutch
Communist Party. We are publishing a translation of one of his most
recent and topical articles which appeared in German in the Marxist
journal Die Internationale, founded by Rosa Luxemburg a... (From: Marxists.org.) 1. THE SOCIAL IDEAL.
When we read the books of the official professors of social science on the
subject of Socialism and Anarchism, we are astonished to find how little the
sociologists, even those friendly to us, understand of the great scientific
revolution which Engels called the Development of Socialism from Utopia to
Science, a revolution now more than half a century old.
Scientific Socialism, as established by Marx and Engels, combined into a
harmonious unity two things which from the bourgeois point of view appeared to
be irreconcilable opposites: on the one hand dispassionate objectivity, science
indifferent to ideals, and on the other hand the passionately sought subjective
ideal of a better society. Those who do not ... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: The New Review, vol. 1, no. 18. July 1913. Transcription/Markup: Micah Muer, 2017. In the working class movement there are great differences of opinion in
regard to tactics, in regard to the best method of conducting the struggle for
the emancipation of the proletariat, and these differences often express
themselves in acrimonious discussions and embittered internal conflicts. These
differences can be cleared up and settled only by a thorough discussion of the
fundamental principles of the class struggle.
The question involved is this: how can the proletariat conquer political
supremacy? Those who do not concern themselves with this question, who do not
consider it necessary for the workers to carry on a struggle for t... (From: Marxists.org.) I
If we try to find a key for the mutual relation of socialism and
religion in the practical attitude of socialist speakers and writers and
religious spokesmen, we are easily led to believe, that the greatest
misunderstanding, confusion, and internal contradictions reign in this regard.
On one side we see that numerous laborers, when joining the ranks of the
socialists, also throw their theological faith overboard and often combat
religion fiercely; moreover, the teachings, which form the basis and strength of
present-day socialism, and which together form a entirely new world conception,
stand irreconcilably opposed to religious faith. On the other hand, we see
faithful adherents of Christianity, even priests, demanding sociali... (From: Marxists.org.)