German social-democratic Marxist theorist and politician
1850 CE
to 1932 CE
Eduard Bernstein (January 6, 1850 – December 18, 1932) is a German social-democratic Marxist theorist and politician.
A member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Bernstein had held close association to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, but he sees flaws in Marxist thinking and begins to criticize views held by Marxism when he investigates and challenged the Marxist materialist theory of history.
He rejects significant parts of Marxist theory thatare based upon Hegelian metaphysics and rejects the Hegelian dialectical perspective.
Bernstein distinguishes between early and mature Marxism.
'The former, exemplified by Marx and Engels's 1848 The Communist Manifesto, he opposes for what he regards as its violent Blanquist tendencies, embracing the later holding that socialism can be achieved by peaceful means through incremental legislative reform in democratic societies.