Reform or Revolution

<p>2021 Reprint of the 1937 Edition.  <em>Reform or Revolution</em> is the classic statement of the position of scientific socialism on the questions of capitalist development 'historical necessity ' social reforms the State democracy and the character of the proletarian revolution. It was written in criticism of the ideas presented by Eduard Bernstein a proponent of more gradual change or reform as opposed to orthodox theories of revolution as espoused by Marx and Luxembourg. At the age of twenty-seven she had established herself as a major figure in the <em>Second International</em> by offering one of the most comprehensive criticisms of Bernstein's revisionist call to prioritize the method of reform over that of revolution. A close friend and collaborator of Engels a Marxist of impeccable credentials but also a pioneering advocate of gay rights Bernstein was also the first to articulate a non revolutionary path to socialism in what is widely considered the founding text of modern social democracy: <em>The Preconditions of Socialism and the Tasks of Social Democracy</em> (1899).  At stake in Bernstein's dilemma she argued was not just a tactical choice a mere discussion about this or that method of struggle; it was the very existence of the Social Democratic movement as a distinctive force in the struggle against capitalism.</p>