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Karl Marx and Party Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Klaus von Beyme
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Extract

PARTIES ARE THE LINK BETWEEN EXISTING POLITICAL STRUCtures and the rocesses which lead to new political institutions. No wonder, therefore, that parties play an important role at the centre of many revolutionary theories. Nevertheless the theory of parties is not as decisive to Marx's social and political theory as one might imagine. Some introductions to Marx's thought do not even mention the catchwords ‘party’ or ‘parties’ though they concentrate on the sphere of his political ideas. In most books hints at a theory of parties are hidden away in remarks of marginal importance under the topics ‘praxis’ or ‘revolution’. Only those comprehensive studies which emphasize the continuity between Marxism and Leninism, because they defend the Marxist position, deal explicitly with the theory of parties. The same is true for those authors who overemphasize the continuity of Marxist thought, to a degree which almost identifies the theoretical positions of Marx, Engels and Lenin, for the purposes of anti-Marxist polemi.

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Article
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , 01 January 1985 , pp. 70 - 87
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1985

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References

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After this article was written a monumental contribution on the topic appeared: Gojko Stanič, Razvoj Marxove in Engelsove Teorije Partije. Ljublana, Czdo Kommunist, 1984.