KAUTSKY, KARL (1854-1938), German Marxist and his torian of Socialism, was born on Oct. 16, 1854, at Prague. In 1883 he founded the socialist paper Die Neue Zeit, issued at first (1885-88) from London and later (189o-1917) from Stuttgart. He was a friend and disciple of Marx, and after the death of Engels universally regarded as the most important interpreter of Marx's philosophy. Kautsky, who was one of the creators of the Erfurt programme of 1891, took the lead in the resistance to the modification of Marxian doctrine by Eduard Bernstein, under the title of "revisionism." Bernstein, arguing from the increase of small fortunes (due largely to the increase of shareholding in joint-stock companies), deduced that the concentration of capital and the intensification of class conflict were not proceeding as Marx had predicted, and in consequence he advocated a reformist policy. Kautsky dissented from his interpretation of the figures and defended the thesis of the necessity of revolution. At the outbreak of war in 1914 Kautsky took up a pacifist attitude and in 1917 joined with Hugo Haase in organizing the Independent Social Democratic Party. But he was strongly opposed to the Russian Revolution, and declined to follow the majority of his party into the ranks of the United German Communist Party (V.K.P.D.). He eventually, with others, rejoined the Social Democratic Party. Kautsky, who had settled in Vienna, was still regarded as the most distinguished theorist of the party. Of his considerable controversial literature against Lenin, Trotsky and others, the most important is his Dictatorship of the Prole tariat (1918, Eng. trans. 1920), in which he attacks the Leninist doctrine and the application of the dictatorship of the proletariat and claims that the Russian Revolution is only a "bourgeois" revolution whose chief achievement is the importance of the transfer of land to the peasants. He agreed that the new Russian organization of industry may pave the way for Socialism.
Kautsky was joint editor of official documents in 1919 that tried to show the war guilt of the kaiser and exonerate the new Gov ernment from charges of continuing the pre-war policy. (See The Guilt of William Hohenzollern, 1920.) In 1934 Kautsky became a citizen of Czechoslovakia, but he continued to live in Vienna and direct activities of the Austrian Socialist Party. He barely escaped to Czechoslovakia when the German Army entered Austria in March 1938. The Nazis, however,
imprisoned his two sons. Six months later, when Germany was about to absorb the Sudetenland, he was obliged to flee once more, this time to Amsterdam, where he died in poverty Oct. 17, 1938.
His other works include Der Einfluss der Volksvermehrung auf den Fortschritt der Gesellschaft (188o) ; Thomas More and seine Utopie (1887, 6th ed. 1926) ; Karl Marx, 6konomische Lehren gemeinver stiindlich dargestellt (1887) ; Das Erfurter Programm in seinem grundsatzlichen Teil erliutert (1892, 17th ed. 1922) ; Bernstein and das sozialdemokratische Programm (1899) ; Der Ursprung des Chris tentums (1908, 13th ed. 1923) ; Der Weg zur Macht (1909) ; Vorlaufer des Sozialismus (4 vols. 1909-21) ; popular edition of Das Kapital (1913) ; Der politische Massenstreik (1914) . (FR. BR.) KAVA (Cava or AvA).—An intoxicating, but non-alcoholic beverage, produced principally in the islands of the south Pacific, from the roots or leaves of a variety of the pepper plant (Piper methysticum). The method of preparation is somewhat peculiar. The roots or leaves are first chewed by young girls or boys, care being taken that only those possessing sound teeth and excellent general health shall take part in this operation. The chewed ma terial is then placed in a bowl, and water or coconut milk is poured over it, the whole is well stirred, and subsequently the woody matter is removed by an ingenious but simple mechanical manipulation. The resulting liquid, which has a muddy or café appearance or is of a greenish hue if made from leaves, is now ready for consumption. The taste of the liquid is at first sweet, and then pungent and acrid. The usual dose corresponds to about two mouthfuls of the root. Intoxication (but this appar ently only applies to those not inured to the use of the liquor) follows in about 20 minutes. The drunkenness produced by kava is of a melancholy, silent and drowsy character. Excessive drink ing is said to lead to skin and other diseases, but per contra many medicinal virtues are ascribed to the preparation. There appears to be little doubt that the active principle in this beverage is a poison of an alkaloidal nature. It seems likely that this substance is not present as such (i.e., as a free alkaloid) in the plant, but that it exists in the form of a glucoside, and that by the process of chewing, this glucoside is split up by one of the ferments in the saliva into the free alkaloid and sugar.