Eduard Bernstein

German social democratic leader and writer. Bernstein was born in Berlin and educated at Berlin University. In 1872 he joined the Social Democratic Party and from 1881 to 1890 he and the SPD leader, Ferdinand Agust Bebel, jointly edited the newspaper Sozialdemokrat ("Social Democrat").

While living in voluntary exile in London from 1888 to 1901, Bernstein became acquainted with the German Marxist Frederich Engels, and studied the theories developed by Engels and Marx dealing with the nature of a capitalist society and the establishment of socialism.

Bernstein rejected the arguments by Marx and Engels for the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism. Instead, he developed his own theory (derided as "revisionism"), emphasizing evolutionary rather than revolutionary methods to bring about a socialist society.

In 1901, soon after his return to Germany, Bernstein was elected to the German Reichstag parliament, of which he would remain a member from 1902 to 1906, plus 1912-1918, and 1920-1928. He believed that the parliamentary system could peacefully bring about socialist change. His book, Evolutionary Socialism (1898) presents his criticisms of the Marxist system.

During the internal fighting within the Social Democratic Party during the 1910's, Bernstein served as the conservative wing of the party, directly opposing the policies of radical Marxists such as Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Kautsky. He also supported World War I, enraging many SPD members. This caused numerous splits in the SPD, including the formation of the Spartakusbund and the Independent Social Democratic Party.

Bernstein died in 1932, shortly before the fall of democracy in Germany to the right-wing Nazis. Today, he is criticized for beginning the course of events which has made the SPD one of the most conservative social-democratic parties in Europe. The current German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, is a member of the SPD.