Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T21:52:55.115Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Karl Marx and Party Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

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.

Type
Article
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Avineri, Shlomo, The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx, Cambridge Up, 1968 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 1970; Sanderson, J. B., An Interpretation of the Political Ideas of Marx and Engels, London, Longmans, 1969 Google Scholar; Euchner, Walter, Karl Marx, Munich, Beck, 1982 Google Scholar. Gilbert, Alan, Marx’s Politics, Oxford, Martin Robertson, 1981, pp. 239ffGoogle Scholar treats it at least in the title.

2 Schleifstein, Josef, Einführung in das Studium von Marx, Engels und Lenin, Munich, Beck, 1972, pp. 139 Google Scholar.

3 Löw, Konrad, Die Lehre des Karl Marx. Dokumentation — Kritik, Vienna, Signum, pp. 317 Google Scholarff.

4 Hartmann, Klaus, Die Marxsche Theorie. Eine philosophische Untersuchung zu den Hauptschriften, Berlin, De Gruyter, 1970, pp. 498ffCrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 Meyer, Alfred G., Leninism, New York, Praeger, 1957, p. 19 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 Kandel, E. P., Marks i Engel’s ‐ organizatory soyuza Kommunistov ‐ Iz istorii bor’by za sozdanie revolyu tsionnoy partii proletariata, Moscow, Polidit, 1953, p. 268 Google Scholar.

7 Nicolaevsky, B., ‘Toward a History of “The Communist League”’, International Review of Social History, 1956, pp. 234–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar; ‘Polemics with Kandel’, in Idem: Who is Distorting History?’, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1961, pp. 209–36.

8 Wermuth/W. Stieber, Die Communisten — Verschwörungen des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, Berlin 1853/1854, 2. Vols.

9 Friedrich Engels, Zur Gesckichte des Bundes der Kommunisten. Einleitung zum neuen Abdruck von Marx’ Enthüllungen über den Kommunisten‐Prozeβ zu Köln (1885). In Marx, Karl/Engels, Friedrich, Werke, Berlin, Dietz, 1969, Vol. 8 (577–593), p. 590 Google Scholar (henceforth cited as MEW with the number of the volume).

10 Lenin, V. I., Polnoe sobranie sochineniyi, Vol. 11, Moscow, Politizdat, 1960, p. 129 Google Scholar.

11 MEW, Vol. 1, p. XXIV.

12 Leonhard, Wolfgang, Sowjetideologie heute, Vol. 2, Frankfurt, Fischer, 1965, p. 47 Google Scholar.

13 Sabine, George, ‘What is a Political Theory?’ in Gould, James A. and Thursby, Vincent V. (eds), Contemporary Political Thought, New York, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1969 (7–20), p. 12 Google Scholar.

14 cf. Klaus von Beyme: ‘Partei, Faktion’, in Brunner, Otto et al. (eds), Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe. Historisches Lexikon zur politisch‐sozialen Sprache in Deutschland, Stuttgart, Klett‐Cotta, 1978, Vol. 4, pp. 677733 Google Scholar; Fad, Erwin, ‘Verfemung, Duldung und Anerkennung des Parteiwesens in der Geschichte des politischen Denkens’, Politische Vierteljahresschrift, 1964, pp. 6080 Google Scholar.

15 MEW, Vol. 4, p. 474.

16 Bauer, Edgar, ‘Die Parteien’, Politische Revue, Heft 3, 1849, p. 6 Google Scholar.

17 MEW, Vol. 12, pp. 503–506.

18 MEW, Vol. 37, p. 326.

19 MEW, Vol. 4, pp. 474, 493.

20 Similarly Haufschildt, Ulrich, Partei und Klasse bei Marx und Engels, Phil. Diss., Frankfurt, 1965, p. 69 Google Scholar.

21 MEW, Vol. 6, p. 579.

22 MEW, Vol. 7, p. 244.

23 MEW, Vol. 7, p. 309.

24 Sieferle, Rolf Peter, Die Revolution in der Theorie von Karl Marx, Berlin, Ullstein, 1979, p. 80 Google Scholar.

25 MEW, Vol. 7, p. 310.

26 Schieder, Wolfgang, ‘Bund der Kommunisten,’ in Kernig, C. D. (ed.), Sowjet‐system und Demokratische Gesellschaft, Freiburg, Herder, 1966. Vol. 1 (899–909). p. 906 Google Scholar.

27 MEW, Vol. 7, p. 568.

28 MEW, Vol. 8, p. 458.

29 Engels in MEW, Vol. 27, p. 190.

30 Lassalle, Ferdinand, ‘Offenes Antwortschreiben an das Zentralkomitee zur Berufung eines allgemeinen deutschen Arbeiterkongresses zu Leipzig’, Gesammelte Reden und Schriften, Vol. 3, 1919, p. 47 Google Scholar.

31 cf. Friedenthal, Richard, Karl Marx. Sein Leben und seine Zeit, Munich, Piper, 1981, pp. 460ffGoogle Scholar.

32 MEW, Vol. 31, p. 430.

33 MEW, Vol. 16, p. 362.

34 MEW, Vol. 31, p. 54.

35 MEW, Vol. 31, p. 430.

36 MEW, Vol. 16, pp. 196ff.

37 MEW, Vol. 16, p. 12.

38 cf. Braunthal, Julius, Geschichte der Internationale, Berlin/Bonn, Dietz, 1978, 3rd edition, Vol. 1, p. 116 Google Scholar.

39 MEW, Vol. 18, pp. 335ff.

40 MEW, Vol. 17, p. 625.

41 MEW, Vol. 17, p. 362.

42 Levine, Norman, The Tragic Deception: Mum contra Engels, Oxford/Santa Barbara, Clio Books, 1975, p. 230 Google Scholar. cf: Terreil Carver, Marx and Engek. The Intellectual Relationship, Brighton, Harvester, 1983.

43 MEW, Vol. 22, p. 523.

44 MEW, Vol. 22, p. 524.

45 MEW, Vol. 18, p. 160. On USA and Britain in a similar way see Vol. 34, p. 498.

46 Euchner, Walter, Karl Marx, Munich, Beck, 1982, p. 116 Google Scholar.

47 Lavrov, P. L., Izbrannye sochineniya na sotsial’nopoliticheskie temy. Moscow/Leningrad, 1934, Vol. 4, pp. 329, 335fGoogle Scholar. For this controversy cf. Beyme, Klaus von, Politische Soziologie im zaristischen Rußland, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 1965, p. 74 Google Scholar.

48 Perepiska K. Marksa i F. Engel’sa s russkimi politicheskimi deyatelyami, Moscow, Politlit, 1951, pp. 235ff.

49 Bauer, Otto, Die illegale Partei, Paris, La lutte socialiste, 1939 Google Scholar. Reprint, Frankfurt, Makol, 1971, p. 22.

50 MEW, Vol. 16, p. 152; Vol. 17, p. 649; Vol. 37, p. 353.

51 MEW, Vol. 37, pp. 328, 440; Vol. 38, pp. 35f, 94, 517.

52 Löw, Konrad, Die Lehre des Karl Marx, Vienna, Signum, 1982, pp. 325ffGoogle Scholar.

53 MEW, Vol. 18, p. 299.

54 Cortés, Juan Donoso, Obrar, Madrid, Tejado, 1854, Vol. 3, pp. 255ffGoogle Scholar; Stahl, Friedrich Julius, Die gegenwärtigen Parteien in Staat und Kirche, Berlin, Hertz, 1963, p. 2 Google Scholar.

55 MEW, Vol. 19, p. 278.

56 There are books on Marx’s class theory which do not mention the concept of party; cf. Mauke, Michael, Die Klassentkeorie von Marx und Engels, Frankfurt, EVA, 1970 Google Scholar.

57 MEW, Vol. 18, p. 529.

58 MEW, Vol. 8, p. 228.

59 Hartmann, op. cit., p. 503.

60 cf. Löwenthal, Richard, ‘Die Lehren von Karl Marx und ihr Schicksal’, in Flechtheim, Ossip K. (ed.), Marx heute. Pro und contra, Hamburg, Hoffmann & Campe, 1983 (114–133), p. 122 Google Scholar.

61 Dahl, Robert, ‘Marxism and Free Parties’, The Journal of Politics, 1948, pp. 787813 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

62 MEW, Vol. 34, p. 18.

63 MEW, Vol. 16, p. 191.

64 MEW, Vol. 19, pp. 230–37.

65 These parallels have been elaborated in the author’s Die politischen Theorien der Cegenwart, Munich, Piper, 1983, 5th edition, pp. 275ff; Philips, D. C., Holistic Thought in Social Science, Stanford Up, 1976 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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