On The Deviation Of Bernstein's Revisionism

During the period of the Second International,Bernstein's revisionism evoked heated discussions among European social democratic parties and led to confusion about the interpretation of Marxism,which definitely had an significant impact at that time.This essay examines various conflicts about Bernstein's revisionism and its self-defense based on Marxist Dialectics and analyzes the core of Bernstein's revisionism.With the help of Lukacs' total dialectics and Lenin's revolutionary dialectics,this essay further discuss the way of criticizing and surpassing Bernstein's revisionism,deepen the understanding of Marxist dialectics and shows the vital force of Marxism.First,this essay examines the historical background of Bernstein's revisionism,excavates its theoretical origin and comprehensively elaborates various conflicts concerning Bernstein's revisionism and its self-defense.Bernstein's revisionism faced the new features of capitalism's new stage and entirely revised Marxism.The main problems of Bernstein's revisionism are regarding Marxism as Eclecticism and Utopian Socialism,confusing the relationship between Marxism and Blanquism,substituting Neo-Kantianism for dialectical materialism and degrading historical materialism to vulgar materialism.Bernstein thoroughly denied the “final end” of socialism and insisted that “movement is everything”.He disagreed with Marx's thought that capitalism will finally break down and insisted that it is possible to enter into socialism gradually and peacefully.There were heated discussions over this theory in and among European social democratic parties and Bernstein tried to justified himself.Only when we stick to the Marxist dialectical viewpoint can the theoretical substance of Bernstein's revisionism be truly revealed.Then,this essay points out that with the help of positivism,opportunism and Neo-Kantianism,Bernstein's revisionism deviated from Marxist dialectics.Fundamentally speaking,it substituted positivism for dialectics,split the entirety into parts and erased the revolutionary character with reformism.Bernstein criticized that Marx had fallen into the trap of Hegel's dialectics and Marx's dialectical way of examining things had become the obstacle of real scientific discovery.Bernstein insisted an intuitionistic way of treating facts and applied the methods of natural science to judgements on social activities,political systems,relationships of law and social ideas.In brief,he substituted positivism for dialectics.Beginning with a Neo-Kantian viewpoint,Bernstein separated pure theories and applying theories.He argued that the former are invariable epistemological principles concluded from all experiences,while the latter are variable practical examples and appearances.This caused the disjuncture between theory and practice.Moreover,he broke the unity of theory and practice so that they become separative parts,which vulgarized the historical materialism.Bernstein objected to class struggle and pinned his hope on capitalist reformative policies.He emphasized on the cooperation of other similar forces other than the competing forces and came up with a series of reformative methods.He insisted that Marx's revolutionary methods had become out of fashion,proposed to realize social reformation through parliamentary democracy and therefore eventually erased revolution with reformation.Finally,this essay discusses ways of criticizing and surpassing Bernstein's revisionism on the basis of analyzing the theory's substantial ideas and appeals to Lukacs' total dialectics and Lenin's revolutionary dialectics.Lukacs revealed the positivism hidden in Bernstein's revisionism theoretically and argued that orthodox Marxism was itself the revolutionary dialectics,namely,the total dialectics based on the unity of the subject and the object of the historical process.Lukacs argued that the proletariat is at the same time the subject and the object of the process of history.Only through the awareness of proletarian class consciousness can this total dialectics be realized,the materialized social relationships be sublated and communism be realized.Lenin criticized the reformative ideas of Bernstein's revisionism practically.He inherited and developed Marxist dialectics and founded the first socialist country through the October Revolution,which successfully justified class struggle and scientific socialism with socialist revolution.Bernstein's revisionism caused the disjuncture of theory and practice while criticizing Marxism's dogmatism.On the contrary,the Communist Party of China leads the people of China to stick to the dialectical unity of theory and practice during socialist revolution,foundation and reformation.It sticks to and develops Marxist dialectics and has blazed a path of socialist development with Chinese characteristics.