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Nathan: > Yours was an honest question and deserves an honest answer from Comrade Rosa, > herself. Hey, isn't that the same Rosa Luxemburg against whom Lenin sided with Kautsky during the mass strike debate?* But in all serious, the indictment of Kautsky rests upon -- what exactly? The pessimistic assessment of the possibilty of socialism in a predominantly agrarian country? That was more or less Lenin's position up to April 1917. And even after October, Lenin and Trotsky knew that the prospects for socialism in Russia would depend upon a successful revolution in Germany. The closer one examines the history of the Second International, the more the differences between its leading theoreticians tend to hinge upon complicated nuances and differences of emphasis, rather than clearly defined tendencies. The "Bolshevization" of the Comintern retroactively created a simplified narrative of "revolutionary continuity", to which self-proclaimed "Leninist" groups have adhered to this day. *(And FWIW, Rosa was right and Lenin and Kautsky were wrong on the mass strike debate) ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
