# Rudolf Hilferding and Social Democracy | Pop The Left

tags
: [[Rudolf Hilferding]] [[social democracy]] [[monopoly capital]]

[source](https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/dietsoap/episodes/2020-06-28T23_02_09-07_00)


Rudolf Hilfdering was one of the first Marxists to come up with a theory of monopoly capital

Was involved with the German [[German Social Democratic Party]] along with [[Karl Kautsky]] and [[Rosa Luxemburg]]

Served as German finance minister while SPD was in power

[[Lenin]] and [[Bukharin]] learned their conception of [[imperialism]] (expansion of monopoly capital) through Hilferding

Hilferding though that centers of capital could be brought under control, a mistake modern socialists make as well
    -   Trouble with this is that capital has to valorize, it’s not just a matter of changing who’s in charge
    -   This is a harder problem to solve than it appears