Page - 5 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

otto bauer andhis time 5 ment,thestruggleforpoliticalandsocialreformswithinthelegalframeworkof theexistingstate,andapoliticsofcompromisewiththebourgeoisieandaristo- cracy.Adler’sgoalwastotransformtheempireintoademocraticmultinational state.Hismeanstothisendwerethestruggleforuniversalsuffrage,theconsol- idationof theparty’spositionby legalmeans,and, later,winningthemajority of seats in parliament. According to the Social Democrats, the prerequisites forthevictoryofsocialisminthedistant futurewerethedevelopmentofclass consciousnessandgreaterhistoricalmaturityofthemasses,theirwill totrans- formtheconstitutional order, andadvancedeconomic conditions. Theparty wantedapeacefulrevolutionthatwouldpreservethedemocraticandcultural gainsofthecapitaliststate.Thepoliticaltrajectoryandinterpretationofsocial- ist ideologysuggestedbyAdlerat the 1901congress securedthesdapsupport from theworking class and the sympathies of the progressive intelligentsia. Its electoral victories garnered the attentionof students – inparliament, the sdapcamesecond toKarl Lueger’sChristianSocial Party,which represented thebourgeoisie,pettybourgeoisie,andpeasantry. At ViennaUniversity in the early 1890s, the philosopherMaxAdler foun- dedtheFreeAssociationofSocialistStudentsandAcademics,whichcounted thefutureAustromarxists,KarlRennerandRudolfHilferding,amongitsmem- bers.16In1894,thisgroupmergedwiththeacademicdebatingsocietyVeritas,in whichAdlerandErnestPernersdorferwerealsoinvolved.Undertheinfluence of the Social Democrats, the FreeAssociation became a powerful centre for self-education.In1894–5, itsmembersbegantocollaboratewiththeacademic historiansLudoHartmannandKarlGrünberg,withwhomthey founded the Sozialwissenschaftlicher Bildungsverein (Social Sciences Education Society). Bauer joinedbothorganisations.Hewasnotonlymotivatedbymoralconsid- erationswhen joining the socialistmovement.His studyofMarxism,Capital inparticular,persuadedhimthatMarx’shistoricalmaterialismwastheoretic- ally correct and illuminated thepath forhistorical and social development.17 He joinedtheso-calledBernsteindebateanddefendedMarx’sbasicpremises againsttheattacksofrevisionists.ThreelegaciesinspiredhisMarxistpositions on the socio-economic phenomenaof the time: the philosophy ofKant; the methodologicalpremisesofpositivismandscientism;andtheAustrianschool ofpoliticaleconomy, includingtheviewsofEugenBöhm-Bawerk,whosesem- inarheparticipatedin. 16 HaussmanngivesdateswithrespecttothebeginningsofthesocialistmovementatVienna University–seeHaussmann1979,pp. 180–2. 17 CompareMozetič 1987,p.23.