Sassulitsch letter
The Sassulitsch letter is a letter from Karl Marx to Wera Sassulitsch , which he wrote on March 8, 1881 in London . The letter is an important piece of writing in the dispute over the interpretation of Marxism .
About Marx and Sassulitsch
- Vera Sassulitsch (1849–1919) was a Russian Narodniki and later a Marxist author and revolutionary . After the split in the "Social Democratic Workers' Party of Russia" ( SDAPR ) she was in the Menshevik camp , she rejected the October Revolution of 1917.
- Karl Marx (1818–1883) was a philosopher , political journalist and critic of civil society. He is regarded as the most influential and controversial theoretician of communism and, together with Friedrich Engels, the founder of Marxism.
The correspondence
Wera Sassulitsch turns to Karl Marx because she asked herself a question about his work Das Kapital . In chapter 24, The so-called original accumulation , Marx describes "the prehistory of (English) capitalism and at the end of this chapter gives an outlook on the future upheaval of the capitalist system."
Sassulitsch now asked whether Marx saw such a development “as a historical necessity, in particular whether the Russian village community ('Mir') based on common property must first be destroyed by the development of capitalism in Russia, or whether Marx was of the opinion that a direct transition to socialism is also possible. "
Marx then wrote three draft responses and ultimately sent Sassulitsch back a fourth, relatively short answer.
meaning
For Elmar Altvater , these letters of reply make it clear “that Marx by no means assumed a determined historical development.” A point of criticism that was often raised against Marx's theories.
Quotes
“The 'historical inevitability' of this movement is therefore expressly limited to the countries of Western Europe. (...) This movement in the West is about the transformation of one form of private property into another form of private property. On the contrary, the Russian peasants would convert their common property into private property. "
“The analysis given in 'Capital' therefore contains no evidence - neither for nor against the viability of the village community, but the special study that I carried out about it and for which I obtained material from original sources convinced me that this village community is the base the social rebirth of Russia is; But so that it can work in this sense, one would first have to eliminate the destructive influences that storm on it from all sides and then ensure the normal conditions of natural development for it. "
“The most serious argument that has been made against the Russian village community comes down to this: go back to the origins of Western societies and you will find common property everywhere; With social progress it had to give way to private property everywhere; so it would not be able to escape the same fate in Russia either. I would only like to take this argument into account insofar as it is based on European experience. "
Web links
- About the correspondence between Marx and Sassulitsch (Elmar Altvater)
- Letter from Marx to Sassulitsch
- Drafts of a reply from Marx to Sassulitsch's letter