Karl Kautsky (1854–1938) was the leading theoretician of the German Social Democratic Party and one of the most prominent public intellectuals of his time. However, during the twentieth century a constellation of historical factors ensured that his ideas were either gradually consigned to near oblivion or downright reviled. Not only has his political thought been dismissed in non-Marxist historical and political discourse, but his ideas are equally discredited in Marxist circles.
This book aims to rekindle interest in Kautsky's ideas by exploring his democratic-republican understanding of state and society. These essential works from different points in his career demonstrates how Kautsky's republican thought was positively influenced by Marx and Engels—especially in relation to the lessons they drew from the experience of the Paris Commune.
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“Lewis’s book and his continuing work on translating texts of the Second International are of crucial help in rediscovering the continuity between Marx and Engels, the Second International and the Bolsheviks. Only if we go back and understand what these ‘old’ thinkers were saying and doing can we put the revolutionary strategy of actually practised ‘Leninism’ to the test and investigate what went wrong, what went right, and how we can use it as socialist revolutionaries.”
—Andreas Chari, rs21
“At a moment when there is an increasing interest in Kautsky across some parts of the Left, this volume is a welcome addition to our understanding of his democratic and republican thought, as well as his divergence from Bolshevism in his own words.”
—Rida Vaquas, Prometheus