Centrist Marxism

Centrist Marxism is a political tendency that sought to reconcile parliamentary activity with revolutionary socialist aims, occupying a contested position between reformism and revolutionary socialism.

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Karl Kautsky: A leading German Marxist theorist and Social Democratic politician who shaped debates on socialist strategy. His defense of parliamentary socialism made him a central figure in disputes over whether Marxism could remain revolutionary.
Second International: An international association of socialist and labor parties founded in 1889 and dissolved during the First World War. Its parties supplied the organizational setting for arguments between revolutionary doctrine and parliamentary practice.
Reformism: A political strategy that seeks substantial social change through gradual reforms within existing institutions. Centrist Marxists rejected reformism as a final strategy while continuing to use parliamentary reforms.
Socialist International: An international organization of socialist and social democratic parties founded in 1951. Its postwar form reflected the separation of parliamentary social democracy from revolutionary communist movements.
Rudolf Hilferding: An Austrian Marxist theorist and Social Democratic politician known for his analysis of finance capital. His political career connected Marxist analysis with parliamentary strategy and coalition government.
Erfurt Program: The 1891 program of the German Social Democratic Party, combining a Marxist account of capitalism with immediate political demands. Its combination of revolutionary theory and practical reforms exemplified the tension centrist Marxists inherited.
Revolutionary socialism: A socialist tradition that seeks to replace capitalism through a fundamental political and economic transformation. Its insistence on rupture marks the pole from which centrist Marxists tried to distinguish their approach.
Communist International: An international organization founded by the Bolsheviks in 1919 to coordinate communist parties worldwide. Its creation pressured socialist parties to choose between adherence to Bolshevik conditions and independent strategies.
Otto Bauer: An Austrian Marxist theorist and Social Democratic leader associated with Austromarxism. He pursued democratic and parliamentary routes to socialism while retaining a Marxist revolutionary horizon.
Revisionism: A current in Marxist socialism that argued for revising revolutionary expectations in favor of gradual democratic reform. Centrist Marxists resisted revisionism while often sharing its commitment to parliamentary work.