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

Foreword It iswithgreat satisfaction that Ihaveaccepted thehonour towrite theFore- word to Ewa Czerwińska’s work on Otto Bauer. After all, I have supervised the author for over twenty years, for themost part during her scholarship at the Philosophical Institute of Vienna, where I was a Professor of Social Philosophy from 1980 untilmy retirement in 2001. EwaCzerwińska devoted herself intensely to a subject I had first addressed inmy 1968monograph, Der Austromarxismus in Theorie und Praxis (Austromarxism in Theory and Practice), andgradually, throughmany intermediate stages andpublications, progressed to this present book. It earned her a postdoctoral qualification and, subsequently, a tenuredprofessorshipat theUniversity of Poznan, from whichsheoriginatedandtowhichshealways remainedclose.Thebookthus became the crowning glory of her scientific work. Despite my role as her mentorandprotector,sheresearchedherchosensubjectindependently–and, despitemy influenceuponher, arrivedatherownconclusions thatwerenot always in accordancewithmine. Naturally, the fact that she also adopted a generallycriticalstancetowardstheobject–orrather,subject–ofherresearch, Otto Bauer, is not primarily the result of her close scientific and personal relationshiptome.Rather, thesubjectmatter itselfquitenaturallyforcedsuch astanceto thepointwherecertainconclusionsbecameinevitable–anybody devotinghim-orherselftothematerialwiththesamedegreeofintensitywould havearrivedatrathersimilar judgements. In any event, the author’s present work is themost comprehensive, and probablymost in-depth, analysis of Austromarxist theory and practice pub- lishedsincemyown1968book,ZwischenReformismusundBolschwismus (Be- tweenReformismandBolshevism).Ofcourse, itdoesnotcoverthewholescope of its subjectmatter,Austromarxism,but instead focusesonOttoBauer’sper- sonalityandwork.However,sinceitwasOttoBauer(andOttoBaueralone)who wasatthecentreofAustromarxismbetweenthewars–andtosomeextent,also prior toWorldWari–todiscusshimisalsotodiscuss thepoliticshe inspired andorchestrated,namely,Austromarxism. In the first place, the author assesses Bauer as a scientist who penned groundbreakingworkinMarxist theory.Asidefromtheeffect theyhadwithin therealmsofMarxisttheory,thesecontributionsareinterestinginandofthem- selves. This is particularly trueof Bauer’s debut, the 1907 tome,TheQuestion ofNationalitiesandSocialDemocracy.Whenhewasonly inhismid-twenties, the bookmade him famous virtually overnight, and granted him the status of a leading Social-Democratic thinker, brilliant intellectual and, above all,