Marxism and Revolution: Karl Kautsky and the Russian Marxists, 1900-1924

This book offers a new interpretation of the origins of Russian Marxism, placing it firmly within the folds of the western European socialist movement. Moira Donald argues that the chief theoretician of German Marxism, Karl Kautsky, was a primary influence on Lenin and the Russian Social Democratic Party, and that only the revolution of 1917 severed the Bolsheviks from mainstream orthodox Marxism.

Donald contends that Lenin's thought was neither original nor especially significant in the de...