Erfurt Program

The Erfurt Porgram was established in 1891, formulated under the political guidance of Bebel and the ideological tutelage of Karl Katusky. In good Marxist fashion, the program declared the imminent doom of capitalism and the necessity of socialist ownership of the means of production. The party intended to pursue these goals through legal political participation rather than by revolutionary activity. Katsky argued that because capitalism by its very nature must collapse, the immediate task for socialist was to work for the improvement of workers' lives rather than for the revolution, which was inevitable.