Against Capitalism and Bureaucracy

Manuel Kellner is a member of the Fourth International and its German section (ISO). He is the author of books in German, mainly on Trotskyism, and an introduction to critiques of religion.

Foreword


Introduction


1 Theory and Practice

 1 Occupational Ban and Refusal of Entry 1972

 2 Captured by the Nazis

 3 Role Model Abraham Leon

 4 Political Work in the Belgian Workers’ Movement

 5 Role in the Fourth International and Contribution to Theory


2 Critique of Contemporary Capitalism

 1 Mandel’s Historical-Genetic Critique of Capitalism

 2 Mandel’s Contribution to Marxist Crisis Theory

 3 Late Capitalism

 4 Long Waves of Capitalist Development

 5 Worldwide Inequality


3 Socialism: The Utopian Dimension in Mandel’s Work

 1 The Free Association of Producers: A Stateless, Classless Society

 2 Socialist Council Democracy and Transition to Socialism

 3 The Material Prerequisites for Universal Emancipation


4 Critique of Bureaucracy

 1 Mandel’s Explanation and Critique of Bureaucracy in the Workers’ Movement

 2 Critique of Stalinism

 3 Breaking up Stalinist Monolithism and the ‘Socialist Camp’

 4 The Temptation of Substitutionism: The Roots of Surrogate Politics


5 Socialist Strategy

 1 Prefigurative Forms of the New Society: Mass Strike and Self-Organisation from below

 2 Strategy of Transitional Demands

 3 The Dual Character of the Trade Unions

 4 Class Consciousness and Building Revolutionary Parties

 5 Critique of Reformism and United Front Policy

 6 Permanent Revolution and the International Dimension of Socialist Strategy


6 Emancipation and Social Catastrophe

 1 Mandel on Trotsky’s Theory of Fascism

 2 Mandel and the Holocaust


7 Evaluation and Prospects

 1 Openness and Coherence: A Field of Tension

 2 The Revolutionary Potential of Western Europe

 3 Reaction to Gorbachev

 4 World Historical Rupture 1989–1991

 5 Weaknesses of the Concept of ‘Bureaucratised Workers’ States’

 6 Historical Determinism

 7 Karl Marx’s ‘Categorical Imperative’

 8 Aporias of Marginality: Mandel’s ‘Last Word’ on Sectarianism

 9 The Self-Organisation of the Working Class


Eyewitness Testimony (Tape Recordings from the Author’s Own Archive)

Bibliography

Index