Otto Bauer (1881–1938) Historical Materialism Book Series Editorial Board Sébastien Budgen (Paris) David Broder (Rome) Steve Edwards (London) Juan Grigera (London) Marcel van der Linden (Amsterdam) Peter Thomas (London) volume 121 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/hm Otto Bauer in 1931 Otto Bauer (1881–1938) Thinker and Politician By Ewa Czerwińska-Schupp Translated by Maciej Zurowski leiden | boston This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the cc-by-nc License, which permits any non-commercial use, and distribution, provided no alterations are made and the original author(s) and source are credited. Published with the support of Austrian Science Fund (fwf) First published in German by Peter Lang as Otto Bauer: Studien zur social-politischen Philosophie. © by Peter Lang GmbH. Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften, Frankfurt am Main, 2005. 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This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner. † To my late husband, Walter Schupp, for everything that has been, and still is beautiful in my life. ∵ Contents Introduction to the English Edition xiii Foreword xxv Prof. Norbert Leser Acknowledgements xxxiii Illustrations xxxv 1 Otto Bauer and His Time 1 2 The Materialist View of History 45 1 Scientistic Marxism 45 2 Historiosophical Reflections 63 3 Marxism and Ethics 73 3 A Contribution to the Theory of Imperialism 86 1 Imperialism as a Necessary Stage of Capitalism 89 2 The Socio-Political Context of Bauer’s Observations on Imperialism 97 3 The Question of Crises in the Capitalist Economy 102 3.1 Conjunctural Crisis and the Theory of Overcoming Crises 103 3.2 Structural Crisis and Ways of Overcoming It 110 3.3 Rationalisation Crisis 113 4 Socialism and the Theory of ‘Organised Capitalism’ 114 4 The National Question 118 1 The Nation and National Culture 118 1.1 The Essence of the National Character 120 1.2 The Peculiar Quality of National Consciousness 123 1.3 Thinking in the Categories of National Values 126 1.4 Cultural and Natural Community 128 1.5 The Determinants of Modern Nation-Forming 134 1.6 The Nation as a Real Community of Culture in a Future State 138 2 The Nationalities Question in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy 141 2.1 Social Democracy and the National Question 145 2.2 Bauer’s Position on the So-Called Nationalities Question 150 2.2.1 Position on National Conflicts 150 2.2.2 The Programme of National-Cultural Autonomy 153 2.2.3 Remarks on National Assimilation 159 2.3 The Programme of the Left and the Demise of the Monarchy 162 x contents 5 The ‘Third Way’ to Socialism 168 1 The Vision of Peaceful Revolution and Its Realisation 168 1.1 Parliamentarism and the Revolution 169 1.2 Practice in the Service of Theory 181 2 The Theory of Social Upheaval During the Post-Revolutionary Period 194 2.1 The Programme of Linz 194 2.2 ‘Integral Socialism’ 201 3 The Question of Revolutionary Allies for the Working Class 205 3.1 The Socialisation Programme 207 3.2 The Agrarian Programme 218 4 The Gradual Development of Attitudes toward Revolution and Bolshevik Practice 226 4.1 The Doctrinaire Perspective: Chances of Socialist Revolution in Russia 228 4.2 A Doctrinaire-Pragmatic Perspective: The New Economic Policy 235 4.3 A Pragmatic Perspective: Stalinism 238 6 State, Democracy, Socialism 246 1 The State as ‘Balance’ of Class Power 248 2 Parliamentary and Social Democracy 253 3 Democratic Socialism 263 4 Coalition Work 268 7 The Question of War in Bauer’s Thought in Light of sdap and lsi Policies 277 1 The sdap Position until the Outbreak of World War i 277 2 Bauer’s Opposition to the sdap Position on World War i 283 3 Bauer on a Future Armed World Conflict: Fears, Hopes, and Plans 288 8 The Spectre of Fascism 295 1 Harbingers of Fascism 295 2 Bauer’s Theory of Fascism 302 2.1 Fascism Theory Based on the Notion of Bonapartism 306 2.2 Austrofascism as a Special Sub-Variety of Fascism 316 2.3 The Theory of Fascism as Imperialism 323 3 The Anti-Fascist Uprising of Austrian Workers 327 4 Austrian Social Democracy and the Triumph of Fascism 333 contents xi 4.1 Austrian Social Democracy’s Relationship to Strategic and Tactical Concepts of the Workers’ Movement During the Period of Fascist Reaction 333 4.2 Oppositional Activity of the Social-Democratic Movement at Home and in Exile after the sdap Ban 338 Closing Remarks 351 References 357 Index 384 Introduction to the English Edition Let us for a moment go back to the history of the 1960s and 1970s leftist social movement. Those years revealed a profound crisis of ideological and political values – a crisis that deeply affected the exponents of West European radical Social-Democratic groups, liberalising Eurocommunist factions of the Com- munist movement, and European and American leftist intellectuals. It found expression in the growing strength of various endeavours: First, critiques of the programmatic line of Social-Democratic Parties – such as their eclecticism, ideology of the ‘people’s party’, lack of revolutionary theory, and state mono- poly capitalism – and demands for structural reforms towards internal party democracy.1 Second, the Eurocommunists’ attempt to adjust socialist ideology to the needs of the modern industrial state.2 Third, the appearance of intel- lectuals and groups of radical youth under the banner of the ‘new left’, casting doubt over the theoretical, methodological, and ideological value of Marxism and its practical consequences, such as the principles of party organisation and forming alliances. These movements demanded the transformation of societies through their ideological and cultural realms.3 1 See juso-jahrbuch1968–69, Bonn 1970, p. 41, and HandbuchfürdieJungsozialistenarbeit, Bonn 1971, p. iii/1. 2 The expression ‘Eurocommunism’ was first used by the Yugoslavian journalist, France Bar- bieri, in 1975, and shortly after by the Italian journalist, Arrigo Levi, and by the Catholic philosopher, Augusto Del Noche. The Italian, Spanish, French, Swedish, British, and Greek Communist parties were eventually dominated by the Eurocommunist trend, as were – not entirely logically due to their geographical locations – the Japanese and Australian Commun- ist parties. The tendency, whose adherents were ideologically rather than organisationally linked, was characterised by its open approach towards Marxism and other ideological ori- entations, its critical attitude towards the Soviet model of socialism and the Leninist party concept, its demand for autonomy and equality of Communist parties, and its postulates for a democratic path to socialism and a pluralist-democratic model of socialism in economy and politics. Compare Leonhard 1980. 3 Originally, the ‘new left’ represented an intellectual current. It emerged at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s mainly among academics (philosophers, sociologists, and economists), publicists, and writers drawing on neo-Marxism, existentialism, and social psychoanalysis. Under the influence of the student protests and French ‘gauchism’ of 1968, it transformed into a political movement. Representatives of the ‘new left’ included, among others, C. Wright Mills, Herbert Marcuse, Wilhelm Reich, and Theodore Roszak in the United States, André Gorz, Jean-Paul Sartre, Paul Sweezy, Charles Bettelheim, and Ernest Mandel in France, Oskar Negt and Rudi Dutschke in West Germany, and Rossana Rossanda in Italy. The strengths of the new left were xiv introduction to the english edition These critiques of the conception of socialist revolution and the repressive nature of the power apparatuses in the countries of ‘really existing socialism’, as well as rejections of the proletariat as the driving force of history, were linked to the quest for a so-called ‘third way’ between capitalism and socialism. And although the Western left was ideologically diverse, it was united in one inten- tion: the desire to lead society onto a path that would overcome the deficiencies of both systems. Consequently, the winning tendency was the one that endeav- oured to work out a theoretical model of society that would match the realities of the post-industrial age. In this tendency were underlying causes of a growing interest, in the 70s and 80s, with a current known as Austromarxism, which had played a significant role in the international workers’ movement before World War ii (namely, from 1904–38). In my 1991 book of the same name, I referred to this trend as ‘the tendency of mediation’.In the theoretical realm, its mediation pertained to the relationship between Marxism and the most important philosophical, social, and political tendencies of the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; at a practical level, it concerned choosing a path between reformism and Bolshevism. I also wish to highlight an undeniable achievement of Austromarxism: its represent- atives managed to work out theoretical and political concepts that transcen- ded the interpretations of Marxism common among the groups of the Second International, i.e.