Karl Kautsky, a leading socialist theoretician in the late 19th century.
A Reply to Eric Blanc
Kautsky and the Parliamentary Road to Socialism Rob Rooke
W
e are living through a dramatic period in U.S. history. While the Trump presidency has emboldened the right, we have also witnessed the re-emergence of strikes, the growth of a new left with DSA, Alexandria Occasio Cortez’s stunning rise to the center of American politics, and now the possibility of a Bernie Sanders presidency. Eric Blanc’s recent article in Jacobin on “Why Kautsky was Right” (4/2/19) is clearly aiming to help newer activists grapple with how socialists’ electoral successes can add up to system change and ending capitalism. The article argues for going beyond running candidates to the importance of building movements and for the need for a Marxist current to be built within DSA. All of this is enormously positive. The recent experience of the left coalition Syriza government in Greece and the possible election of a Corbyn government in Britain makes a discussion about the road to socialism, and the role of a left party in parliament, a vital one for activists. That is
why Socialist Alternative welcomes this discussion. For much of the last century almost half of the world lived in societies that had overthrown capitalism. This process began with the working class taking power in Russia in 1917. Despite the USSR’s political degeneration, the crisis of capitalism during the 20th century continuously drove working people towards revolution. It is critically important for those fighting for a democratic, socialist society today to be familiar with those revolutionary processes to help us understand how the working class tests its own organizations based on its victories and defeats, and the role a Marxist current and party can play. Blanc rightly criticizes those ultra left groups who oppose participation in parliaments “on principle” and reduce revolutionary strategy to the question of “taking power”. However by counterpoising Lenin to Kautsky, and the Russian to the Finnish Revolutions, Blanc asks the reader to choose between two wrongly polarized conceptions. Missing the most important lessons of each revolution, the article’s conclusions are unbalanced and
