Critique of the Gotha Programme

Methodology and Conclusions

In «Critique of the Gotha Programme», Karl Marx employs a methodology of critical analysis of the political programme adopted at the unification congress of the Social Democratic parties of Germany in Gotha in 1875. Marx meticulously analyzes the programme's provisions, identifying their shortcomings and contradictions with Marxist theory. He emphasizes the necessity of a scientific approach to socialism and critiques the compromising formulations that, in his view, distort the revolutionary goals of the labor movement. Marx's main conclusions are that the programme is insufficiently radical and does not reflect the true interests of the working class. He underscores the importance of the dictatorship of the proletariat as a transitional stage to communism and the need to eliminate commodity production. Marx also points to the necessity of international solidarity of the labor movement and warns against opportunism and reformism, which could weaken the revolutionary struggle.