Series:Social Democracy as Orthodox Marxism: What Does It Truly Mean?

Starting today, I will begin posting an irregular series titled Series: Social Democracy as Orthodox Marxism — What Does It Truly Mean?

This series represents the first attempt to reconstruct social democracy in its original sense as orthodox Marxism, and is written for readers entirely unfamiliar with this tradition. Its purpose is to explain the theory plainly and from the ground up.

In many parts, the series inherits not only the insights of Marx and Engels but also the systematic development provided by Karl Kautsky. Moreover, because scientific progress up to the present day has further strengthened the theoretical foundations, I include newer findings wherever necessary.

However, the movement itself is still in a process of reconstruction, and the extent to which the descriptions offered here are realistic—or historically accurate from the standpoint of source criticism—should continue to be debated in the future.

The name itself is not essential, yet “orthodox Marxism” was originally our own designation, and we wish to reclaim the term social democracy as the clearest expression of our guiding principles.

For that reason, please understand that the “social democracy” discussed here is entirely different from what is commonly called social democracy today—namely, the reformist currents within capitalist politics.

Authorship

This article is written by the chief editor, Kainos Anokomes.