Abstract

Crisis and the Revolutionary Moment : Marx and 1848 How are we to assess the role played by the 1848 revolution in the evolution of Marx’s thought ?The hypothesis developed here is that the 1848 revolution helped to fill in a “theoretical gap” and toresolve what was a conceptual inconsistency in the Marxian theory of the 1840s. The revolutionarymoment thus contributed to the formulation of a consistent theory of revolution. Marx’s analysis ledto the formulation of two new theoretical principles : that of the link between economic crisis andrevolution, and the concept of “the intensity of the crisis”. This consolidated his analysis of the relation between the cyclical crises of capitalism and the revolutionary moment. The article begins withan attempt to specify the nature of these Marxian theoretical principles. It goes on to examine theprecise implications of the new coherence of the Marxian revolutionary theory. In conclusion, by wayof a confrontation with Althusser’s conception of the revolutionary moment, the article seeks to spellout the theoretical and political implications of this “new theory of the revolutionary moment”