Page - 10 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

10 chapter 1 With respect to social policy, theAustromarxists advocatedprogress in vari- ousspheresof thesciencesandarts.Theyfought forsocial legislation,general accesstoculture,andthereformoftheeducationalsystem,includingthrough sports. They succeeded in raising the political consciousness of poor social layersandchangedtheir lifestyles.Fromtheoutset,Austromarxismasapolit- icalmovementpolarisedopinions,dependingonthepoliticalfaction,different interpretationsofMarx’sdoctrine, andthestrategicobjectivesof the respect- ivepartiesandsocialgroups.23Theleftoftheinternationalworkers’movement (Lenin, Trotsky) beratedAustromarxism for its right deviationism, pacifism, and politics of compromise towards the bourgeoisie. Conversely, the parties of the rightand theCatholicpressdenounced it asAustro-Bolshevism, Julius DeutschandOttoBauerasdespots,andFriedrichAdlerasamurderer.24 AsBaueracknowledgedinhismemoirs,hespentthebestyearsofhis life in thecircle,DieZukunft,whereheenjoyedaclose friendshipwithKarlRenner, 11 years his senior. Theymanaged to preserve their friendship despite later quarrelsandpolitical slander, includingwhentheypartedwaysduringWorld War i, asRennerwasastrongadvocateofwar imperialism.25BauerheldMax Adler inhighesteem.Hesharedhisvisionofanewcultureandnewman,and 23 Specialist literature from 1970–2014 containsdivergent viewsonAustromarxism.To list themallwouldexceedthe limitsof thiswork; instead it ispractical tocite themaincur- rentsonly.UpuntilthecollapseoftheEasternbloc,SovietandEastGermanresearchers,as wellasthePolishauthorMarekSobolewski,referredtoAustromarxismasavariantofrevi- sionism,anopportunisticmovementthatcombinedradicalsloganswiththerenunciation ofanyrevolutionaryperspective. InWesternhistory, twointerpretationsprevail; theonly pointtheyhaveincommonisthattheyregardAustromarxismaspartoftheMarxistcentre oftheSecondInternational.Thefirstinterpretationclaimsatheoreticalunityofthisintel- lectual tendencyexistedbetween theyears 1901–14; the secondviews thewaryears asa transitionalperiodbetweenthefirst (1903–14)andsecond(1918–39)developmentstages ofAustromarxism,basedonitspositionsonWorldWari,theOctoberRevolution,andthe transitional stages betweendifferent political and social formations.Myview is doubt- lesslyaminorityposition: Idenythe ideologicalandtheoreticalunityofAustromarxism fromitsveryinception.Austromarxism’sattitudetotheoryandpracticeisanothercontro- versialpoint–therearethreedistinctresponsestothismatter.Thefirstclaimsunity, the secondclaimsseparation,andthethirddeniesthattheformerproponentsofAustromarx- ismcanbe consideredpart of this current after becoming supporters of other political trends. 24 See Lenin 1993, p. 38; Trotsky 2011, pp. 229–30;DasNeueReich, p. 198; Kaff 1931. Böhm commentsonthis inBöhm1974,p.35. 25 In 1930, Bauer published an article dedicated to their friendship in Der Kampf. The theoreticalandtacticaldifferencesbetweenthetwofriendsescapedtheattentionoftheir comrades.