Paul Mattick

Paul Mattick (German: [ˈmatɪk]; March 13, 1904 – February 7, 1981) was a German-American Marxist political writer, activist, and theorist, associated with the council communist movement. Throughout his life, Mattick was critical of capitalism, Bolshevism, and Keynesian economics. His work focused on the critique of political economy, crisis theory, and the self-emancipation of the working class. Born in Pomerania, Mattick became politically active during the German Revolution of 1918–1919 as an apprentice at Siemens. He joined the Spartacus League and later the Communist Workers' Party of Germany (KAPD), participating in radical actions during the turbulent Weimar Republic. Emigrating to the United States in 1926, he settled in Chicago and became involved with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and later the unemployed movements during the Great Depression. During the 1930s, Mattick was a key figure in the American council communist milieu, editing journals such as International Council Correspondence. He corresponded extensively with European council communists like Karl Korsch and Anton Pannekoek, and was influenced by Henryk Grossman's theories of capitalist breakdown. After a period of relative isolation following World War II, his work, particularly Marx and Keynes: The Limits of the Mixed Economy (1969), gained renewed attention with the rise of the New Left in the 1960s and 1970s, especially in Europe. Mattick remained a prolific writer, analyzing contemporary capitalism, state intervention, and the failures of both traditional social democracy and Leninist vanguardism. He advocated for a classless society based on workers' councils and direct democratic control over production and distribution.