Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Modern theories regarding the dynamics of capitalism and global economic development have been profoundly influenced by the perspectives of Karl Marx and others attempting to utilize those perspectives. Not only are the realities being analyzed quite fluid and complex, however, but there have been significant divergences among those employing Marxist perspectives. For example, the revolutionary theorizations of such figures as Rosa Luxemburg and V. I. Lenin were sharply challenged by conceptions of Karl Kautsky , generally perceived as the leading theoretician of the German socialist movement and as “the Pope of Marxist orthodoxy” (although some have argued that the notion of “orthodoxy” is inconsistent with the dialectical, non-dogmatic quality of Marx's own thought). The so-called “orthodox” Marxist approach typified by Kautsky and his Russian counterpart Georgi Plekhanov tended to see history (as Kautsky wrote in his classic The Materialist Conception of History ) as involving an “evolution to ever higher forms” in a manner that “operates independently of men's volition and knowledge and, rather, determines their direction” – that is, “special laws of the development of society … that do not contradict the laws of natural evolution, but form, one can say, their natural extension.” History was seen as involving a succession of stages of society, each leading to a higher ... log in or subscribe to read full text