Otto Maschl (1898–1973), better known as Lucien Laurat, was an Austrian Marxist and author, mostly known in the English-speaking world for his book ''Marxism and Democracy''. He was part of the Anti-Stalinist left. In ''Marxism and Democracy'' Laurat provides an examination into the views of Rosa Luxemburg and her critique of Leninism. He examines the way she describes the changing roles of governing forces away from simply imposing their will to maintain power to a system of enlightening the masses and becoming a function of their collective or a majoritive portion of their collective wills. Laurat was one of the first to argue that Soviet society was neither capitalist nor socialist, but a

bureaucratic The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...

oligarchy Oligarchy (; ) is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, r ...

(see Nomenklatura).

Publications

*
Marxism and Democracy
', London, 1940 * ''Staline: La linguistique et l'impérialisme Russe'' 'Stalin: Linguistics and Russian Imperialism'' Paris: Les Îles d'Or, 1951 * ''Le drame économique et monétaire français depuis la libération'', with , Paris: Les Îles d'Or, Paris, 1953

References

Austrian communists Communist Party of Austria politicians Marxist writers 1898 births 1973 deaths Anti-Stalinist left People from Vienna {{Austria-writer-stub