Research On The Ethical Socialism Tendency Of The Second International Theorists

This dissertation is a study of the history of socialist thoughts.It mainly discusses the tendency of ethical socialism of three theorists who were members of Second International,namely Eduard Bernstein,Jean Jaures and Otto Bauer.Ethical socialism refers to a school of socialist thought that demonstrates socialism from the perspective of ethics and morality.To them,socialism is some kind of value to pursue.The tendency of ethical socialism refers to the partial or complete acceptance of ethical socialism.After defining the connotations of the Ethical Socialism and tendency of Ethical Socialism,this thesis analyzes the expression of their tendency of Ethical Socialism,and compares it with scientific socialism.Finally,the evaluation of their tendency of ethical socialism and its influences is given.The selection of this topic is for three reasons.Firstly,ethical socialism has had a prominent influence on the history of socialist development in the 20th century.The development of the European Social Democratic Party in the 20th century has shown a clear trend that their tendency of ethical socialism have become increasingly prominent and they have increasingly emphasized the ethical attributes of socialism instead of the institutional ones.Research on issues related to the tendency of ethical socialism can help us understand the development of socialism in the 20th century from a macro perspective.Secondly,Socialist theories in the Second International period played an important role in the history of European socialism.The debates between various socialist schools during this period involved many major issues about socialism.The answer to these issues are still of important reference value for us today.The tendency of ethical socialism is a new perspective to explore the interaction of various schools of socialist thoughts at that time.Thirdly,the choice of the three theorists was mainly due to their influence and representativeness in the socialist theoretical circles at that time.Besides,they came from Germany,France and Austria.These three countries had a significant impact on socialist theory and movement in Europe at that time.At the transition period of the Social Democratic Party to ethical socialism,they participated in the major debates between socialists at that time.Closely related to Marxism,affected by ethical socialism in varying degrees,they were showing different degrees of tendency of ethical socialism.They provided theoretical and ideological resources for the European Social Democratic Party's turn to the ethical socialism in the 20th century.The methodological premise of Ethical socialism is the idealist view of history and subjectivism.Ethical socialism mainly criticizes real capitalist system from the ethical perspective.It regards socialism as the moral pursuit of all people,advocates unity instead of class struggle,and advocates transformation rather than revolution.The ethical socialism has an abstract view of state.In its view,the state is the reality of ethical concepts.It denies or minimizes the class nature of the state,and advocates the utilization and transformation of existing states to achieve socialism.The reason why they have tendency of ethical socialism is mainly due to the existence of eclecticism in their ideology to some degree.Influenced by the Kantian philosophy and neo-Kantianism more or less,they accepted idealism and subjectivism.In terms of view of socialism,they all emphasize socialism as a pursuit of some kind of value and advocate ideological pluralism.Bernstein criticized Marx's main theories and opposed to the establishment of socialism based on economic necessity.He defined socialism as a movement for the pursuit of justice,the realization of legal power relations,and the establishment of cooperative system.He believed that socialism is the "orthodox successor"of liberalism in terms of chronological order and spiritual content.Jean Jaures attributed the origin of socialism to German classical idealist philosophy and Marx's economic materialism.He tried to reconcile these two ideas and combine them into a unified socialism.In his opinion,socialism itself is a morality.The expansion of the republican system from the political domain to the social and economic fields is socialism.Bauer's socialist view can be seen from his disagreement with Bolshevism.He emphasized that dictatorship of the proletariat is only a transitional period.The realization of socialism needs economic conditions.He believes that socialism is primarily a moral goal and a way for humanity to live together.We must protect personal freedom and spiritual freedom.In a socialist society,all the major values of humanity can be fully realized.The tendency of ethical socialism has exerted an influence on their strategies of realizing socialism.To Bernstein,reformism in social evolution and gradual realization of socialism through democracy is advocated.Jaures differed from Bernstein on the tactics,but he also advocated class cooperation,emphasizing the realization of socialism through gradual democratic strategy.Bauer is optimistic about democracy.He believes that under democracy,the working class can seize power through legal democratic means.He acknowledged the necessity of dictatorship of the proletariat and stressed its temporality.He proposed to build a socialist society through planned and organized work gradually and opposed to the possession of enterprises by violence and deprivation of capitalists.All of them are influenced by ethical socialism,attempting to demonstrate socialism from an ethical perspective.To them,socialism is the pursuit of some ideal values.It must fully protect and realize individual freedom.Dictatorship,violence,and coercion are opposed.Active participation in capitalist democracy and progressive realization of socialism in a gradual manner is advocated.The difference between them is that Bernstein is obviously closer to the right,and his tendency of ethical socialism tends to be the most obvious one.Jaures is more like in the middle,trying to reconcile the idealistic concept of history and historical materialism,scientific socialism with ethical socialism;Bauerbelongs to a Kautsky school of Middle Marxism.He emphasizes the ethical dimension and value diversity of socialism.To evaluate the three theoreticians,we compare their thoughts with scientific socialism and find a clear distinction between them,especially in the way of thinking,the attitude towards capitalism,the view of socialism,and the tactics of realizing socialism.However,from the perspective of the actual influence of their thinking and the development of social democracy as a whole,what they had at the time was only the tendency of ethical socialism rather than ethical socialism as a whole.Judging from the history of European socialist ideology,they were just at an important turning point,that is,the period of transition of social democracy from Marxism to ethical socialism.In essence,the tendency of ethical socialism demonstrated a spirit of eclecticism and moderation,attempting to compromise between scientific socialism and ethical socialism.Compared to the revolutionary theory of scientific socialism,their thoughts are less radical.This is because they were demonstrating transforming strategies,not revolutionary ones.Meanwhile,the deeper reason is that they pay attention to the continuity of civilization,the inheritance of culture and moral evolution.The tendency of ethical socialism are justifications for the reform and a road to socialism gradually.This has profoundly affected the development of the Social Democratic Party.It has not only experienced the ideological transformation but also transformed from Party-for-one-class to Party-for-all-people.