Origins in 1875 In
The Communist Manifesto,
Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels wrote: Twenty-four years after
The Communist Manifesto, first published in 1848, Marx and Engels admitted that in developed countries, "labour may attain its goal by peaceful means". Marxist scholar
Adam Schaff argued that Marx, Engels, and Lenin had expressed such views "on many occasions". By contrast, the
Blanquist view emphasised the overthrow by force of the ruling elite in government by an active minority of revolutionaries, who then proceeded to implement socialist change, disregarding the state of readiness of society as a whole and the mass of the population in particular for revolutionary change. In 1875, the
Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) published a somewhat reformist
Gotha Program, which Marx attacked in
Critique of the Gotha Program, where he reiterated the need for the
dictatorship of the proletariat. The reformist viewpoint was introduced into Marxist thought by
Eduard Bernstein, one of the leaders of the SPD. From 1896 to 1898, Bernstein published a series of articles entitled "" ("Problems of Socialism"). These articles led to a debate on
revisionism in the SPD and can be seen as the origins of a reformist trend within Marxism. In 1900,
Rosa Luxemburg wrote
Social Reform or Revolution?, a
polemic against Bernstein's position. The work of reforms, Luxemburg argued, could only be carried on "in the framework of the social form created by the last revolution". In order to advance society to socialism from the capitalist 'social form', a social revolution is necessary: In 1902,
Vladimir Lenin attacked Bernstein's position in his
What Is to Be Done? When Bernstein first put forward his ideas, the majority of the SPD rejected them. The 1899 congress of the SPD reaffirmed the
Erfurt Program, as did the 1901 congress. The 1903 congress denounced "revisionist efforts".
World War I and Zimmerwald On 4 August 1914, the SPD members of the Reichstag voted for the government's war budget, while the French and Belgian socialists publicly supported and joined their governments. The
Zimmerwald Conference in September 1915, attended by Lenin and
Leon Trotsky, saw the beginning of the end of the uneasy coexistence of revolutionary socialists and reformist socialists in the parties of the
Second International. The conference adopted a proposal by Trotsky to avoid an immediate split with the Second International. Though initially opposed to it, Lenin voted for Trotsky's resolution to avoid a split among anti-war socialists. In December 1915 and March 1916, eighteen Social Democratic representatives, the
Haase-
Ledebour Group, voted against war credits and were expelled from the Social Democratic Party. Liebknecht wrote
Revolutionary Socialism in Germany in 1916, arguing that this group was not a revolutionary socialist group despite their refusal to vote for war credits, further defining in his view what was meant by a revolutionary socialist.
Russian Revolution and aftermath Many revolutionary socialists argue that the
Russian Revolution led by
Vladimir Lenin followed the revolutionary socialist model of a revolutionary movement guided by a
vanguard party. By contrast, the
October Revolution is portrayed as a
coup d'état or putsch along the lines of
Blanquism. Revolutionary socialists, particularly Trotskyists, argue that the
Bolsheviks only seized power as the expression of the mass of workers and peasants, whose desires are brought into being by an organised force—the revolutionary party. Marxists such as Trotskyists argue that Lenin did not advocate seizing power until he felt that the majority of the population, represented in the
soviets, demanded revolutionary change. They claim he waited until there was no longer supported the reformist government of
Alexander Kerensky established in the earlier revolution of February 1917. In the
Lessons of October,
Leon Trotsky wrote: For these Marxists, the fact that the Bolsheviks won a majority (in alliance with the
Left Socialist-Revolutionaries) in the second all-Russian congress of Soviets—democratically elected bodies—which convened at the time of the October revolution, shows that they had the popular support of the masses of workers, peasants and soldiers, the vast majority of Russian society. In his pamphlet
Lessons of October, first published in 1924, Trotsky argued that military power lay in the hands of the Bolsheviks before the October Revolution was carried out, but this power was not used against the government until the Bolsheviks gained mass support. The mass of soldiers began to be led by the Bolshevik party after July 1917 and followed only the orders of the
Military Revolutionary Committee under the leadership of Trotsky in October, also termed the Revolutionary Military Committee in Lenin's collected works. Trotsky mobilized the Military Revolutionary Committee to seize power on the advent of the
Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which began on 25 October 1917. The
Communist International (also known as the Third International) was founded following the
October Revolution. This International became widely identified with
communism but also defined itself in terms of revolutionary socialism. However, in 1938 Trotskyists formed the
Fourth International because they thought that the Third International turned to
Marxism–Leninism—this latter International became identified with revolutionary socialism.
Luxemburgism is another revolutionary socialist tradition. Emerging from the Communist International but critical of the post-1924
Soviet Union, the Trotskyist tradition in Western Europe and elsewhere uses the term "revolutionary socialism". In 1932, the first issue of the first Canadian Trotskyist newspaper,
The Vanguard, published an editorial entitled "Revolutionary Socialism vs Reformism". Today, many Trotskyist groups advocate revolutionary socialism instead of reformism and consider themselves revolutionary socialists. The Committee for a Workers International states, "[w]e campaign for new workers' parties and for them to adopt a socialist programme. At the same time, the CWI builds support for the ideas of revolutionary socialism". In "The Case for Revolutionary Socialism", Alex Callinicos from the
Socialist Workers Party in Britain argues in favour of it. == Philosophy ==