Australian Left Review

Article Title

Revolution Not Reform

Authors

Ray Southall

Abstract

Ray Southall sketches the influence of Marx in the nineteenth century. Following on from the Paris Commune of 1871 a distinct split emerged in socialist groups involving reformist and revolutionary tendencies. Southall argues that this split helps us understand the present-day division betwen the right and left in the labour movement and that in 1983 Marx's insistence on rejecting notions of a peaceful transition to socialism have been amply justified.