German Social Democracy’s Marxism was colored by Social Darwinism from the 1880s.

Evidence

With this, Grünberg identified himself with the materialist conception of history coloured by Social Darwinism, which had been publicized in countless Social Democratic pamphlets and speeches ever since the 1880s. Was this open profession of Marxism as an optimistic variant of historical determinism not an open rejection of the scholarly demand for scientific objectivity? — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 93

Categorization

• XREF: The Social-Darwinist cast of orthodox Social Democracy connects to later Frankfurt critiques of positivism and of determinist ‘orthodox Marxism.’ — connects to: German Social Democrats were intellectually Marxist yet programmatically Ricardian in economics — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 529; German Darwinism turned natural selection into an artificial tool of applied eugenics; German social democracy abandoned Marxism more slowly than its rivals — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at…, 568
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: how exactly did Social Darwinist ideas enter canonical Social Democratic Marxism before 1914?

Broader Connections

• German Social Democrats were intellectually Marxist yet programmatically Ricardian in economics #complicates (0.75) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 529
• German Darwinism turned natural selection into an artificial tool of applied eugenics #expands (0.70)
• German social democracy abandoned Marxism more slowly than its rivals #complicates (0.70) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 568