Anton Pannekoek (1873 - 1960)

Thu Jan 02, 1873

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Antonie Pannekoek, born on this day in 1873, was a Dutch astronomer, philosopher, Marxist theorist, and socialist revolutionary.

A respected Marxist theorist, Pannekoek was one of the founders of council communism and a main figure in the radical left in the Netherlands and Germany, active in the Communist Party of the Netherlands, the Communist Workers’ Party of the Netherlands and the Communist Workers’ Party of Germany.

Pannekoek is perhaps best known for his writing on workers’ councils. He regarded these as a new form of organization capable of overcoming the limitations of the old institutions of the labor movement, the trade unions and social democratic parties.

Pannekoek was a sharp critic of anarchism, social democracy, and Leninism. During the early years of the Russian revolution, Pannekoek gave critical support to the Bolsheviks. In later analysis, however, Pannekoek argued that the Bolsheviks crippled the workers’ soviets, and formed a new ruling class of their own party.

Unlike other progressive thinkers of his time, Pannekoek was also highly critical of Social Darwinism, derisively calling it “bourgeois darwinism”.

“Public ownership is a middle-class program of a modernized and disguised form of capitalism. Common ownership by the producers can be the only goal of the working class.”

- Antonie Pannekoek

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• Date: 1873-01-02
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.marxists.org, www.workerscontrol.net.
• Tags: #Communism, #Labor, #Marxism, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org