Bernstein, Eduard

Bernstein, Eduard (ā`därt bĕrn`shtīn), 1850–1932, German socialist. From 1872 he was actively associated with the Social Democratic party. In 1878, antisocialist legislation sent him into exile. In 1898, he aroused controversy among German socialists by critiquing Marxism, denying that the collapse of capitalism was imminent, and maintaining that the bourgeoisie was not wholly parasitic. He saw socialism as the final result of liberalism, not revolution. Returning from England to Berlin in 1901 he became the leader of revisionism, opposed by Karl Johann Kautsky. Bernstein protested his party's support for war by resigning in 1914. He rejoined the party after World War I, leading it as a popular reformist party. He served briefly in the government (1919), and later opposed the Nazis. His most important book setting forth criticisms of Marxism is Evolutionary Socialism (1898, tr. 1909).

Bibliography

See his reminiscences, My Years of Exile (1921); P. Gay, The Dilemma of Democratic Socialism (1954); J. W. Hulse, Revolutionists in London (1970).

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Bernstein, Eduard

(born Jan. 6, 1850, Berlin, Prussia—died Dec. 18, 1932, Berlin, Germany) German politician and writer. He joined the German Social Democratic Party in 1872, then spent years in exile as an editor of socialist journals. In London he met Friedrich Engels and was influenced by the Fabian Society. Returning to Germany in 1901, Bernstein became the political theorist of the revisionists and was one of the first socialists to modify such Marxist tenets as the imminent collapse of capitalism. He envisaged a type of social democracy that combined private initiative with social reform. As a member of the Reichstag (1902–06, 1912–16, 1920–28), he inspired much of the reformist programs of the Social Democrats.