MODERN SOCIALISM AND THE MARXIAN THEORIES
Cahan, Abraham
modern Socialism And The Marxian Theorie Abraham Cahan, In Second Article of Series, Sees Parties of European Labor Revising Orthodox Socialism By Abraham Cahan IL IHAVE said, that Socialist...
...Then at open the tenement roof alone...
...The shop, the school, the Bbrary...
...The Uteught ef parr base always frosted htos...
...The bmw's a mirror far th* foppish son...
...DM leaders know haw every Ghetto ehfld Was something sacred that bad been defiled...
...Moreover, much of th* essence of his philosophy will always be of great value as a raiding star to the Socialist thinker...
...The nights When shepherd poets scribed thatr rods Upon tha skies aad traced the tale of red...
...Th* few who cam* to vadt left aad said, "These books be learned . . . they must have cracked his head . . . "Pear gay, he needs a woman . . . maybe that Waal set him right...
...Now, Russia, with its one hundred and twenty millions of peasants, with the medieval state of her industries, and to a very large extent of her life in general, Is the last country in the world ready for the abolition of private property...
...Aa able writer on social topic* wkekaj departed from orthodox Marxtom mas absolution ta the Marxian doctrtnt.si self...
...That it is surrounded by a welter of cheap politics and insincerities is beside tbe issue...
...Parting with a long-ch*rlab*d tradition 1* a painful operation...
...history of Socialism and the labor movement, or, indeed, of human progress...
...And now a knout Went patting leaded sod* against kto brain...
...The most important anti-Marxian work published during the last few years and which is one of the most valuable books in the entire range of Socialist literature is by another Belgian Socialist...
...Blinded, drenched With sweat, he stumbled hastily...
...It cannot be made to order...
...These softened selves . . . live entities Of speech and appetite . . . and how can these Was scheme within their sanctums stadteuaty On how to keep their sinecures ta fee Find lutoui > to recall hew one* they came Lake unto haa...
...Beyond the factory easement leered the hemes Of an these ogres and their gnomes...
...The learned and gifted Karl Karrtsky Is bravely holding the fort ss the leader of Marxian thought...
...Mow Tsiilsajjm Bernstein* Bernstein...
...original theoretic system, as it tosued from the genius of Karl Mask, has undergone radical change...
...He turned Away from utterance, the while bit senses burned...
...Marx has given us solid ground to tread upon...
...Is there bap* ta hunger...
...As for Germany, the cradle of Marxism and where the "revision'' of Bduard Bernstein was for many years met wish storms of religious indignation, the movement there bow follows precisely the same practical lines ss does the Labor Party of England, The fact of the matter is that the number of ardent orthodox Marxians among the Socialist thinkers of Germany and Austria la at present extremely small, although those who have revolted against some important articles of the old faith are loathe to avow it...
...Child-birth may occur with or without a midwife...
...A clairvoyance bad come spaa his brain: The watt, the park, the "L," tha subway train Were thronged with paBM hantreasas a-cbase, Each bow-and-arrowed with a tinted face...
...Culled from the street whatever sprigs of truth A ratter aad a sMewabi show te youth, Feaad friendship, lave aad all the tenderness The depths can drape in sentimental drees...
...e e e "We're going te strike . . . bete sav* th* union...
...Throw the boat sat...
...And these they religiously parade as Marxism...
...At first a aassaeeed lava bested aad soared Out of bis entered Bps...
...Ttosogbt seared In furious steam...
...For him The hall became a haunt wherein a graa Hanger lolled her hydra-heads about And frightened arm heroics tote doubt...
...The city's drone StiB burrowed through the night The wet wash flapped Against the notices air...
...And bite into his lips te choke a cry: And dully mutter, "May they always die...
...There was a time when Socjahst literature In Germany was full of theory, an Marxian...
...The soundest theory may be open to revision and modification in the light of newly discovered phenomena, and the core of the Marxian doctrine, its baste ideas, if taken as a general tendency, are certainly sound...
...He winced at smudgy Hps, And scorned the innuendo ef tha hips...
...His forecasts, particularly those identified with some of the salient features of Us philosophy, bare failed to stand the test of time...
...And shaded eyes...
...and every west The leaning raised became a phrase be felt Too utterly for sound st once, toe fierce and young In flame for sane coherence with his tteigae The meetings crowded eat the days...
...The meetings crowded eat the weeks...
...Manhood cam...
...Hi< sense Had clutched upon a fierce experience...
...it to apt to be of a iastute which August Babel or wnheha T towknoi 111 would ban braaSBd a* anti-Marxian...
...modern Socialism And The Marxian Theorie Abraham Cahan, In Second Article of Series, Sees Parties of European Labor Revising Orthodox Socialism By Abraham Cahan IL IHAVE said, that Socialist theory, aa we preach at, is aa obsolete doctrine...
...A radiance framed his face When be weald stead before a vetemed raw...
...There waa a time when the philosophy to which we adhere aa* rMaaaamatad as th* official program of our comrade* in those countries, tout it Is no more...
...He did net felly know, bat beauty played A pagan tat* within...
...And none was fair as Helen . . . sadly none Was even reed MIy te leak upon...
...He has bulk the foundation for our new religion of Humanity...
...v* The tender mid . . . "and tt w* tote...
...Just the contrary is the ease...
...tt g*wraDy corresponds to the policies of th* non-Marxian Jaures or Ramsay MscDonald...
...Tha mask Bayed HI* seal te shreds and pounded deafening dram* For all the sodden children of the slams . . . Te him...
...Groups of middle-class women are also working for women's suffrage...
...Yet ta bis latest contribution to the Marxian Hterature, tax the light of new economic developments—a work as brilliant and instructive ss tt is voluminous—he makes a aeMsrxtea point of view...
...j| Leon Blum, the present leader of ft Socialist Party In Prance, is weH dispari toward the Marxian school, but to si case It mean* little more than a Plata* desire to reconcile It with anti-Marsba For Comrade Blum is an ardent dlsck*) of the great Jaures who was one if as leading and most influential opponents d Marxian thought, although he was «*> vent in acknowledging the greetnea 4 Karl Marx and, as we shall set, If paid him a motet felicitous trass for the service he had rendered th* ease of humanity...
...He teamed te vault bis thought Beyond the wash-hung yards into the nooks Of classic dreams...
...a Ghetto eaiM Was sssaethfag saintly that bad been defiled...
...Were one with this aad btos wba raised a staff Of hsytlrsmssi, and board the sasae gads laugh...
...He's studying far states*** . . . " half a sneer In envy settled on the shop...
...But his Ideas regarding th* relationship between Socialism and trad* unionism have been borne eat most effectively...
...T* bias a crystal ganttag en the skies...
...And wh» a god ef righteousness and good Allowed them breath, he never understood...
...It a not the ktod sponaored by th* Labor Forty at w»g>.wtr by the Socialist Party of Prance, or even by the Social-Democracy of Germany...
...revolutions of recent years have ghat us infinitely richer material than EM Marx possessed...
...be mattered en Until this phrase shot 'spinning from his head: "The moon and I are definitely dead...
...He called and courted, toved them serf by seat...
...ta* para ob Sundays reading into dark...
...Since everything was creased, aad smooth, and soft...
...He leaped upon the speaker---half a blew With open hand, and ha stead there Before a ihtmind faces aB aetaro...
...They are the soul of both movements and a mighty connecting fink between them...
...At this It must be borne In mind Sat the phenomena which constitute the s*V ject of physics are arrays the taw (whereas economic and social aJtoaSsl are not the samel...
...Also, by similar artificial means, they expect to bring about tbe social revolution In an other countries, in each of which they support, at a far greater expense than Russia can afford, a branch of the Communist International...
...It to Infinitely larger In the number of it* followers sad mightier ss a factor ta the public affairs of Europe than it ever waa before...
...The declamatory passages of the "Communist Manifesto," those that stand in no organic relation to the theory which that historical document enunciates, are being "played up" by the Communists, as if it were the heart and soul of what is known ss Marxism...
...Bat tj to say that the 1 ton am clock to *Agj| out would be as far front the truth g|| insist that none of Us parts bad M| replaced or sspaareec ' When Bduard Bernstein first ptaubfji Ids "acres***" la ism, Kautsky toda_ crussda against haa...
...Bat, as a general thing, one to ta no harry to proclaim one's apostasy from the boos* tops...
...So that when women sailed baa *a the street, Hi* heart kept Pronging to the ueaal seas...
...Aad tkes kept spinning dtesfly to hto bead . . . "Th* sseen aad I are definitely dead...
...Aad there a strident threat rasped eat . . . "He's off...
...He had no ear Far them They were forgotten prefaces...
...A flight Beyond his mind would shake him through the night...
...This has nothing to do with the question of Marx's place In the...
...What they are actually endeavoring to carry out Is certain of Karl Marx's utterances on the subject of revolutions —c e r t a i n because some of his sayings under that head have absolutely nothing to do with the logical structure of his theory...
...Who eaa see An end te this, unless the victory Come terribly complete . . . unlaw the end Be to the high beginning...
...For days ha sat within bis umbra room, Aad aaspad himself tat* a plan of deem...
...Bat ta a shamefaced sflence came the fight That Seeded through aad est ale wards aright...
...What is more to the point, hows** is the fact that in his activities as Socialist member of Parliament, Cabinet Minister or member of the League of Nations, Comrade Vandervelde follows policies which Karl Marx would have declared opportunistic and anti-revolutionary, that is distinctly anti-Marxian...
...their wards were lead Against the Mistering chaos in bis head . . . The leaders spoke too weU, in tone too stiff And measured...
...And thrffl to dream what there was yet to know...
...Per years he walked along the common ways Of unectrusivenem aad workaday...
...and file of the movement which he bad has little interest In theories of any ktot While they admire and affectionately fiff tow Comrade Vandetrelde as their da* tain In their political and economic strap gles, the social doctrine which he brif dear to Greek to them...
...lutions of 1789, 1793 and 1mb, Vbj would at present study physics froas text-book written ta 1847 (the year aba Marx and Engels wrote the Commuatt Manifesto), or even ta 1867 (the tha when Karl Marx published hit Capital...
...The city's drone SUn soarowed thraagb the night...
...He feB...
...2) Tbe establishment of Socialism presupposes a high degree of Industrial and cultural development...
...aad cried A ¦weening Incoherence He awoke outside Upon th* watt...
...Why defend An ancient tyranny...
...He choked tote a cough .. . A rude fist mashed has nose...
...What Is relevant at this point is the fact that the Marxism upon which the activities of Soviet Russia are supposed to be built is a flagrant violation of the most vital elements of the Marxian doctrine...
...Is afl the soars worth tost a pinch ef gate...
...He did net Hke their necks, Nor when they flung their gesturing hands aloft...
...But then Soviet Russia, by her very existence in her present form, is a contradiction to the most vital portions of the Marxian philosophy...
...Just the tared pace Of men aware of what there was te face...
...Leaders, labor leaders, dull refrain . . . They made a rhyme that pummelled on bis brain . . . Leaders, laser leaders . . . nods aad becks And whisperings...
...N* warmth, mo tight er purpose ef car own, The moan aad I are asessstlss in stone...
...The stars hang wrapt Upon a white waa dream beneath their eyes...
...Smile VanderveVde, the well kaoB leader of the Belgian Socialists, wb» s an able scholar as well as a great fltsfc er, in faithful Marxian, but the raw...
...Eduard Bernstein, Otto Bauer, and even Ramsay MacDonald or Phillip Snow den, not to mention Karl Kautsky, are Infinitely more loyal to Marxian Socialism than are the followers of Lenin...
...it was no pretty thing this walking eat, No lilt of marching and no shout Against the gods...
...As for their treatment of these concrete iiiiillsaii...
...The odor ef a woman clenched His nostras, choked his threat...
...When we study our sja material It will surely give us results B> like those Karl Marx was In a posttka to obtain from his studies of the ran...
...And upon the whole Socialism of to-day is far less Marxian than It was at the end of the bat century...
...The dbn wash napped Against th* rest!*** sir...
...Bat beaaty bad her devious way and caught Htm unaware...
...The oldest democracy to gradually becoming the most backward...
...The Mote in the Moonbeam An idyl of the American Labor Movement HE sat upon the tenement roof atone...
...On the other hand the theoretic generalisations of Its intellectual leaders on a number of essential questions represent even bolder heresies than did Bduard Bernstein when his "revlslontotle" strictures first saw the light If you ask a German Socialist leader today to what extent he considers himself a Marxist, the chance* are that his answer will be: "We are too busy with the concrete problems of our movement to bother about abstractions or about th* possibilities of a hazy future...
...to different from the ^SccialUstfa the nineteenth century...
...aad spake the word ef Same...
...The leaders spoke and spoke...
...There Is a considerable number of so-, ttve German Barlsttot* who stand fistfooted as non-Marxtaas...
...He thin ted through hit beaks...
...and to htm \t seemed as tf The hydra-headed hanger, row on row Was something they were half-ashamed to knew...
...He learned at Baton, bat her teach was ee*L Be found her staters lodged oa every shelf...
...As X was reading those ample account* it brought to my mind the story of the dock ta Which evoijliriug bad bssa^j nam* -Qranotaihert Clock...
...The stars" hang wrapt Up*a a white wan dream beneath their eyas...
...The President of the Swiss Social-Democratic Party, Comrade Reinhard, delivered a characteristically eloquent and convincing address in favor of women's suffrage...
...tot them g* . . . One found ss quickly all there was to knew About their manner, tricks, address . . . Their Bare for trade, their madness to pom...
...Hett...
...Ta baa a crystal glinting en the skies...
...be swirled Through a wild eddy, till his settled world Of books and Helens frittered eat Into a windless void...
...Pay aad hears aad pay, and still tha atoms, The bom, the time clock, aad th* crumbs...
...Nor has one's admiration and reverence for the gigantic intellect that evolved the ideas enunciated ta the "Communist Manifesto" and so subtly developed in "Capital" been affected in any way...
...Leaders, labor leaders, th* refrain Their weeks of talk had sounded oa has brain New came to fafl dertotmi...
...The shop agate, the library, the seb—I...
...A new world was born"—Bauer sty*, "a world that Is radically different fiat the one Karl Marx studied and analyst Capitalism of our day, Its range and ea> structloa, is different from the cspas> ism of the time when Marx wrots at 'Capital.' The very working class of w day is different in Its make-up and spm from what it was at the time lip founded the First International...
...Week was a sea to drawn Us pamten to...
...If some of his basic premises have proven to be one-aided and several of his best known conclusions had to be given up as too sweeping, the general method which he introduced in the study of social problems is universally accepted as a scientific achievement of great importance...
...a spurting burst Of sound without a rhythm came at first...
...In Berne they called a mass meeting at which four-fifths of the persons present were women...
...When morning came within the week, be rote Aad honied shape/aid, as a dancer gees Te seine fierce elimination of a spin...
...The same, though in a different way, to virtually true of the leading Socialist Party of Prance since the advent of Jean Jaures, approximately about the dm* when Keir Bardie's Independent Labor Party came to the front on the other Bid* Of the channel...
...Too need a woman, and we but* a place On Hester Street...
...And one of these is to the effect that a revolution is the midwife to a historical situation that is ready to give birth to a new order of society...
...How eaa they understand...
...He has furnished us a great source of ecstasy...
...Bat always harried by, er tamed bis head Lest same romantic saadasss Sail his dread...
...sas«ys on questions of dogma la the perty*i waskaes or monthlto* are few and tax between...
...Are we to coagb the scientific results of 1847 and ltffi a spite of the fact that the experiences tost gave us the material for the histories' and economic studies of those years bap been so vastly enriched and extsnStf The Socialism of the twentieth c:3te...
...why balm Cruel cankers for a tiny calm Until Ike next full surge at pain...
...This abnilie, Indeed, contains in a nutshell all that is really scientific and of everlasting value In Marxism...
...The great Socialist movement that has grown up in the last thirty yean under the'leadership of Keir Bardie, MaeDonaid, Snowden and Sidney Webb is emphatically non-Marxian, If not antiasanian The Marxian Social-Democratic Federation founded by Hyndman and for more than twenty years the sole Socialist organisation in Great Britain was never a power in th* labor movement, much leas ta political life, and all that remains of it is a small lingering group of devotees, scarcely more than a memory...
...They are in the nature of campaign eloquence — impassioned ejaculations or glowing figures of speech dashed off in the heat of a campaign...
...A strange, a curious throng Lifted aba ap apsa bis feet aad asked . . . "What's wrong...
...Ages by, men sat *n lonely heights And thumbed the teases ef thought...
...He shewed no change of pace...
...I am referring to "The Psychology of Socialism," by Henry deMan...
...Marxian Socialism was never a success among Anglo-Saxons...
...In the Communist interpretation of Marxism, however, all that is necessary is the readiness of the midwife to use her professional instruments...
...The great consideration is the female about to become a mother...
...The sound was dim...
...But this to not to say that it la of leas account ta the world...
...Election Day the women distributed a leaflet In the towns and the more Important industrial centres drawing the attention of the Swiss people to the shame of their position and demanding votes for women...
...It caught him in a rust...
...If there is anything in that philosophy which is indisputably sound and which is accepted by opponent and adherent alike, it Is the following two concepts: 1) Every great economic and social change is the result of some Important change in surrounding conditions and must come about as a natural sequence...
...The quirk to part of an otherwise **> vinctag and interesting article wtsa, contains, among other things, a straOj* quotation from a recent paper "to Otto Bauer, accounted one of the kori...
...One of the fundamental propav tions of that philosophy, he arguta, as> slsts ta the maxim that the ideas sal vailing at a given period are molded ski governed by the economic conditions M that period...
...And when he baited, fearful ef his place, The Ghetto rase aad spat into bis face, And be recalled hew every gutter ehfld Was something holy that had been denied...
...He bought latease from Helen through, her kin...
...Then He remembered he was one with men Who did net pose to books...
...The surge ef bleed In ban Grew violent and betted...
...sja it is ta keeping with his own rub) (b we declare his ideas out of date, jjsb Ta other words, it Is perfectly Hard, an for our news to be non-Msrsaavl Interesting syllogism, this, but for £ fact that the Marxian rule, as a flak was intended as a principle for an ukm from pre-histortc ages down to th*s of the capitalist system, and not aas for the short period within Marx's-gal sonal observation...
...o o o The only country in Europe where orthodox Marxism is supposed to flourish at the present time is Russia, where it is a subject of compulsory study from the primary schools to the highest seats of learning and where it colors almost every newspaper line of the press and every book published...
...he beard bat showed no trace Of pleasure at the phrase...
...In Berne a Referendum Committee has been set up under the auspices of the Swiss League for Women's Suffrage to prepare the way for an active campaign in favor of votes for women...
...In a broad sense, and so far as general principles are concerned, we all derive our Inspiration from the great teacher who provided a solid foundation both for Socialism and the labor movement...
...And married all the toveUest...
...S. A. DriuVitt...
...And Bstened atsalestiy...
...Is an the dream's worth test an boor ef rest While fear against the years to pi land With all the searing basalt ef a brand Upon each brain...
...the snarl of pain That wound it* sinuous way through talk and teft Among the men, stung a quick Jerk even to his walk As if to swift reply...
...ZURICH—The Swiss elections have taken place on the basis of male suffrage only...
...The sullen tumult to the hall...
...And still he sternly set Wtthin his sombro bearding room Aad whittled eat his eat of doom . . . One night he found the bawdy place / ob Tirol or Street...
...Nothing daunted, however, tbe dictatorial High Council of the Russian Communist Party Issues an order that the vast peasant country become highly Industrialised and converted into a full-fledged Socialist commonwealth all but over night, a ukase which it seeks to carry out at the point of the gun reinforced by its formidable "Cheka" detective system...
...wham hemes Were fall ef spavined trails sad gnome...
...I have not been sals to read the two volumes of WTfttoh tt consists, bat we have bad extensive summaries of them la th* Jewish Dally Forward — altogether amounting to some thirty column* aad at far at I have been able to Judge from these, Kautsky*s present interpretation of fibs toachtags of Karl Marx is broad enough to make them acceptable, ta many instances, to a most outspoken opponent of the Marxian doctrine...
...He bad a gedUke manner in a place Of books...
...The brain weald swim On whelming tides...
...And all this they call Marxism, branding men like Kautsky, Ramsay Mac Donald, Blum and Otto Bauer as "traitors and paid agents of capital...
...What the Communists are doing, however, is to make the midwife try to deliver a virgin...
...Now it la mostly taken up with practical tomes of cut/eat ass...
...tag Marxian thinkers and who to a* head of the Socialist movement hi sav tria...
...How often he weald listen te the mirth Of fathers twitting on a birth...
...And listened aimlessly...
...Some of Karl Marx's ideas regarding revolutions belong to the best known things that bear his illustrous name...
...While I am brakes glass...
...How all the bleary tenements were hunts Of spavined ogres and their spindly gnomes...
...Haw could they Wba mmruTsf out his life In widths ef pay Besasatber ancient hungers, er redeem Fergottea pledges oa a strangled dream...
...I think that the leaders of Soviet Russia are making a sincere idealistic effort to bring about Socialism...
...it was Juaret't taflasii his famous speeches and writings^tb* brought about the rapid decline of tat Ouesdist (Marxist) Party In France...
...His theory of the social revolution aad bow the transition from capttaltom to Socialism is to com* about, has practically been abandoned...
...And whan one doss come serosa a dlsmarton on a topic of this ktad...
...Some of Us most'vital concepts have been relegated to the history of Socialist thought...
...Aad bartered beaaty far a Utile sin...
...So the question, when put point-blank, to usually evaded...
...The women Social-Democrats took advantage of the opportunity offered by the elections for women's suffrage propaganda...
...Now, as the economic imb operating today 'id not exist in Hsm time and ware utterly unknown to...
Vol. 8 • February 1929 • No. 3
