Abstract

In the course of its formation and expansion the German social-democratic party witnessed the growth of a strong reformist fraction among their rows which proposed the rupture between the party's practice and the Marxist theory. The reception of these revisionist ideas, enunciated by Eduard Bernstein in the beginning of the twentieth century, was marked by a clear ambiguity. In spite of officially rejected in the texts and Congress of the German social-democracy, the practice adopted endorsed a moderate and antirevolutionary political posture. This article intends to present some of the main aspects of the Bernstein-Debatte, analyzing the position supported by the party's leadership in the dispute and its repercussion for the directions taken by the social-democracy.