Van Kautsky tot Gramsci: die marxistiese debat in die weste oor politieke strategie

Abstract

This article deals with the debate among Marxist theorists in Europe on political theory and political strategy, a debate which erupted after the October revolution in Russia. The main focus of the article is on the question: How, from a Marxist point of view, should or could capitalism be transformed into socialism?

Three distinct positions in the debate on this question are discussed: the orthodox position on revolution (Kautsky; Luxemburg); the reformist‐revisionist position (Bernstein); the strategic position of hegemonic activity (Gramsci).

The orthodox and revisionist positions represent a fundamental split in Marxist‐socialist revolutionary and strategic theory. It is argued that in the case of Gramsci, who is currently gaining in influence, a more sophisticated combination of political theory and political strategy emerged, transcending the narrow confines of orthodox and revisionist theory.