Page - XVIII - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

xviii introduction to the english edition andordinarysdapmembers, itwasBauer,nototheroutstandingSocialDemo- crats suchasKarl Renner orMaxAdler,whoembodied the systemof values thatcrucially shapedAustromarxism.For thesamereasons, the international workers’movementconsideredthesdaptobeBauer’sparty.Formanyintellec- tualsofhis time,Bauerwasanexemplaryhumanist, yetalsoanexceptionally multi-facetedhumanbeingfulloftensionsandcontradictions.10Hisinnercon- flicts came to light inbothhis theoretical concepts andhis political actions. Bauerstillappearsasanextraordinaryphenomenontoday:athinkerandpoliti- cianwhose political errors and contradictionswere visible andwidely criti- cised,butwhostill fascinatedhis contemporaries.Thispeculiarposition that Baueroccupied inhis contemporaries’ consciousness inspiredme toaddress inthisbookanumberofquestionsregardingBauer’s role inthesdapandthe internationalworkers’movement,aswellas thecontentandscopeofhis the- ory.11 What further inspiredme towrite this bookwasmybelief that the solu- tionsAustromarxismoffered to theoretical andpractical questions concern- the interest inhiswork.ThePolishSocialistParty (pps)publishedhisbooks,whichhad avivid impacton thedebatesandviewsofpps theorists.MieczysławNiedziałkowski in particular had great sympathies for Bauer. Compare Śliwa 1980, p. 53. The theoretical works of the pps theorists placed an emphasis on those elements of Austrian Social- Democratictheoryandpoliticsinwhichthesearchfora‘thirdway’betweenCommunism and Social Democracywasmanifest. Under their influence, there emerged in Poland, especially on the left of the pps, a narrow understanding of Austromarxism. The pps left regardedAustromarxismmainlyasatrendthatputforwardpositionsdivergentfrom thosethatwerecommonlyacceptedinSocial-Democraticparties. 10 According to thebiographer,ErnstHanisch,Bauerappeared tobean intelligent, excep- tionally talentedpersonwhopossessed rich knowledge inmany areas, a loner burying himself inwork,almostdevoidofanyprivate life,pronetodepression,softandconciliat- ory,yetviolentlytemperamental.SeeHanisch2011,p. 13andp. 139. 11 Imust abstain fromelaboratingon the relevant literaturedue to its scope. The extens- ive literatureonBaueravailablecontainsbooks,unpublisheddissertations, assessments of individual questions andpolitical actions, and contributions of a historical, sociolo- gical, or economiccharacter. The 1980–88worksof the followingpublicists–published primarily in the journalsDie Zukunft,Wiener Tagebuch,WegundZiel,DieNeueGesell- schaft, andZeitgeschichte–deserve tobementioned:RaimundLöw, JosefHindel, Ernst Wimmers,NorbertLeser,ErnstHanisch,HelmutKonrad, andHerbert Steiner. For some of themost importantworks onBauer, see (a) books:Hanisch 2011; Leser 1968; Butter- wegge 1990;Reimann1968;Leichter 1970;Braunthal 1961; Steiner 1967;Duczyńska 1975b; Löw1980;Albers1983;Böhm2000;Goller2008;Leiße2012;Albers1985b;FröschlandZoitl 1985, and (b) unpublished dissertations: Böhm 1974; Volpi 1977; Kende 1977; andRudz- iński’s typescript,Socjalizmintegralny.