The Road to Power: Marxism in Germany an

Before Marxism was an academic theory, it was a political movement, but it was not led by Marx. This course examines the years in between, when a new generation began the task of building the organizations, practices, and animating theories that came to define “Marxism” for the twentieth century. Two of the most important such organizations were the German and Russian Social Democratic Parties. Responding to dramatically different contexts, and coming to equally different ends, they nevertheless developed organically interconnected. This course selects key episodes from the road to power of both parties, from their founding to the Russian Revolution— what might be called the “Golden Age” of Marxism. This course is open to all undergraduates who have completed Contemporary Civilization.