Page - 9 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

otto bauer andhis time 9 Thesocialistmovementatthetimewascharacterisedbyalackofdistinction betweenits leaders’ theoreticalandpracticalcommitment.Thisphenomenon wasparticularlypalpable inAustria.TheAustromarxistsactivelyparticipated in party affairs and organised self-education activities. Theywere especially closetoVictorAdlerandhisreformistpolicies.NotfornothingdidYvonBour- det’scharacteriseAustromarxismastheunityoftheoryandpractice–afeature thatBauerproudlyemphasisedduringthe1927partycongress.AsIpointedout inNurtmediacji(TheCurrentofMediation), itwasaveryspecificunity:thethe- orydidnotalwaysfullytakerealityintoaccount,andthepracticeoftenresulted intheoppositeofwhattheauthorsexpected.AlthoughVictorAdlerwasnotan advocateofBernstein,heconcurredthatitwasnecessarytoeschewtherevolu- tionary road topower and concentrate on strengthening theworkers’move- ment.Headheredtoadeterministicviewofthesocialprocessandbelievedin theinevitableself-destructionofcapitalism, i.e. theadventofsocialismbyvir- tueofthe ‘ironlawsofhistory’,whichSocialDemocracycouldonlyaccelerate. Thematerialbasisforthisweresocialpoliciesraisingthelivingstandardofthe working class, the Social-Democratic parties’ electoral successes, particularly in Germany, and the swelling ranks of parties and trade unions.21 The Aus- triansocialists scrutinisedthe fateandstrategiesof theirGermansisterparty, whosecongresses theyattendedbeforebecomingorganisationallyandtheor- etically independent (1869–89). Later, theycontinued their co-operation, e.g. viatheKarlKautskyeditedjournal,DieNeueZeit.Theyalsohadcontactswith socialists in other countries: AntonioGramsci (Italy), Paul Lafargue, Eduard Vallante,HubertLagardelleandAlexandreBracke(France),GeorgiPlekhanov, Pavel Axelrod, JuliusMartov, and TheodorDane (Russia), Emil Vandervelde (Netherlands),HermannGrenich (Switzerland), theGenevaSocialistAssoci- ation, theworkers’ parties of Belgium,Denmark, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, AustraliaandtheUnitedStates.22 BeforeWorldWar i, Austromarxismwas chiefly an intellectual and ideo- logicalmovement.After 1918, it becamemore clearly political, largely sodue to the influence of its real leader, Bauer. His involvement in the communal, cultural and educational policies of the socialist government left a lasting impression onAustria’s cultural andpolitical life. Indeed, it gave birth to an entirelynewandhithertounknownspirit in conservative, bourgeoisVienna. 21 IntheReichstagelectionsof 1890, thespdwon1,427,298votes (about20percent).From 1898–1912 the number of votes doubled, and in 1912 it evenwent up to 4,250,329 (34.8 percent). Thenumberof tradeunionmembers rose from680,000 in 1900 to2.6million in1912.CompareWaldenberg1976,p.26. 22 CompareSeidel 1982,p.9.