Jan Waclav Machajski — usamljeni radikal
Jan Waclav Machajski - The Lonely Radical

Summary/Abstract: Machaevism is an almost unknown left radical stream from the beginning of the 20th century. The author examines the sources, the key theses, and the influence of J. W. Machajski's theory and that of his partisans on the revolutionary climate of their time. The sources of Machajski’s theory are Marxism (Marx), Anarchism (Proudhon, Bakunin, Kropotkin), Syndicalism, and Anarcho-Syndicalism. Receiving his influences with critical detachment, Machajski formed his doctrine; its basic categories are »the workers' revolution«, »the socialization of knowledge«, »socialist science as a new religion«, »the new middle class«, etc. These have been established in contrast to the concepts of Machajski's sources. The author believes that Machaevism should be primarily understood as an expression of a feeling that it is not possible to avoid the dangers facing the West European, and in particular the Russian workers’ movement. The decisive weak ¬ nesses of the Machaevists were largely the complications within their program and a lack of organization.

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