Page - 11 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

otto bauer andhis time 11 endorsedhis belief in the historicalmission of the proletariat. Nevertheless, hecriticisedAdler’s inclination forHegelianwaysof thinking,his inability to recognisetherealbalanceofclass forces,andhisabstractionfromthepolitics oftheday.26AlthoughAdlerwas,fromtheverystart,moreradicalthantherest ofthegroup,heexercisedfriendlyrestraintwhencriticisingBauer’spersonality andactivism.Similarly,whenHilferdingopposedBauer’ssupport forAustrian union with Germany after World War i, this did not affect their personal relationship. Political differences,whichwere alreadyperceptible during the early periods of Austromarxism, intensified duringWorldWar i.MaxAdler assumeda leftistposition,Rennerpositionedhimself on the right, andBauer oscillated between the twowings depending on political struggles.27 These divisionsdidnotaffect theirorganisational ties.AllAustromarxistssupported theideaofpartyunitythatBauerhadinheritedfromVictorAdler. The integralcomponentof thepreservationof themultinational state,had alreadybecomemanifest inBauer’searlyarticlesandtreatises.Asisevidentin hislettertoKautskyofJune1904,hededicatedhimselftothestudyofeconomic historyandeconomiccrises,questionsontariffprotection,andcolonialpolicy at the age of 23. The resultswere published in the formof nine texts inDie NeueZeit. His article, ‘Marx’ TheorienderWirtschaftskrise’ (‘Marx’s Theories ofEconomicCrisis’), inwhichhedefendedMarx’s theoryofvalueagainst the polemics of theAustrian School of Economics, was strongly approved of by Kautsky. Before the age of 24, Bauer had already earned a reputation as an outstandingspeakerandteacher inself-educationcourses.28 In thememoirsofhis colleagues, theyoungBauer isdescribedasa ration- alistwhounderstood reality in theoretical terms, but alsoas a romanticwho wasemotionallycommittedtotheeconomic,social,andintellectualliberation of theproletariat. This conflictingnaturewould laterbe reiterated toexplain the lifelongcontradictionbetweenhis thoughtsandpractice.Evenduringthe early days, Bauer attracted the attentionof scientistswhohad few sympath- 26 SeeBauer1961. 27 TrotskyunfairlydismissedAdler’s leftpositionas‘literaryopposition’.Adlerwasprimarily aman of theory rather than practice. Hewas one of a few to come out in opposition to revisionism as early as the 1901 party congress in Vienna. He foresaw revisionism’s deleteriouseffects for theworkers’movement, suchas its ‘growing into’ thepoliticaland legalstructuresofbourgeoissociety.CompareLöw,MattlandPfabigan1986,p.66. 28 HewasoftenreferredtoasVictorAdler’s ‘prodigy’and‘greatdiscovery’. ‘WhenIjoinedthe socialistmovementintheautumnof1905’,wroteJuliusBraunthal, ‘OttoBauer’sreputation as itsmosteruditeandsharpthinkerwasalreadyestablished.Hewas24yearsoldat the time’(ourtranslation).Braunthal 1964,p.79.