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Bernstein's views under attack

Bernstein was vilified by the orthodox Marxists led by Karl Kautsky as well as the more radical current led by Rosa Luxemburg for his revisionism. Nonetheless, Bernstein remained very much a socialist, albeit an unorthodox one as he believed that socialism would be achieved by the advancement of capitalism to social democracy and so on, not by capitalism's destruction (as rights were gradually won by workers, their cause for grievance would be diminished and consequently, so too would the motivation for revolution). During the intra-party debates about his ideas, Bernstein explained that for him the final goal of socialism was nothing; progress toward that goal was everything.

Luxemburg argued that socialism has its end in social revolution and revisionism "amounts in practice to the advice that we abandon the social revolution—the goal of Social Democracy—and turn social reform from a means of the class struggle into its final aim". She says revisionism has lost sight of scientific socialism and reverted to idealism and therefore lost its predictive force. Since reformists underestimate the anarchy of capitalism and say it has adaptability and viability, by which they mean that the contradictions of capitalism would not of historical necessity drive it to its doom, Luxemburg said they would abandon the objective necessity for socialism and give up all hope for a socialist future. The movement would collapse unless revisionism is repudiated. Trade unionists, who could see the successes of capitalism and the improvement of working conditions and who wanted to improve working conditions through parliament, generally followed Bernstein while those who were more orthodox generally followed Luxemburg.