HISTORY 357 Assignment 2

History 35700/European Socialism

Essay – Classical Marxism vs. Marxism-Leninism

Instructions:

Write an essay of approximately three to four double-spaced typed pages addressing the question below. Be through in your response using specific information from the assigned texts. Be sure to carefully proof-read your work before submission for grammar, content and spelling, etc.

The development of European Marxian socialism between the death of Fredrick Engels in 1895 and the eruption of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia of 1917-21 saw the emergence of competing interpretations of Marx's legacy that eventually produced a split and deep enmity between Social Democrats and 20th century Communists over issues of democracy, authoritarianism and how socialism could be built. Examine each of the readings below focusing on the authors' views on the relationship between socialism and political pluralism. Identify the different ideas about revolutionary politics and about what “true” democracy consists of that these writers present and what reasons each gives for his or her views. Also identify what you see as strengths or weaknesses in the arguments of each writer and why. Be specific in your analysis and the reasons for your conclusions while using specific references from the assigned writings.

E. Bernstein, Preface to Evolutionary Socialism, 1899

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bernstein/works/1899/evsoc/preface.htm

V. I. Lenin, What is to Be Done? 1902 (excerpts)

https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1902lenin.asp

Rosa Luxemburg, Organizational Questions of Russian Social Democracy, Section I, 1909

https://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1904/questions-rsd/ch01.htm

Leon Trotsky, The Principles of Democracy and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, 1918

https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1918/xx/principles.htm

Karl Kautsky, The Moscow Trial and the Bolsheviks, 1923

https://www.marxists.org/archive/kautsky/1922/xx/twelve.htm