Page - 18 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

18 chapter 1 threeyearsincaptivityinthepowcampofBerezovka-Troitskosavsk(renamed Kyakhta after 1935) at theMongolian border. He foundhis captivity hard to endure. Thismuch is evident from his letters, which betray his longing for party comrades, feelings of isolation, anddesperation for information about current affairs. Bauer dedicatedhis free time to honing his language skills – he learnedRussian,amongother languages,butalsostudiedmathematics.As a pow,hewrotehis only comprehensivephilosophical treatise,DasWeltbild desKapitalismus(TheWorldviewofCapitalism).TakingKantianismtotask, the textexplainedthehistoricaloriginsanddevelopmentofmodernphilosophical ideas fromaMarxistpointof view.After theoutbreakof theRussianRevolu- tion,Bauerwas free to leave thepowcampdue to theefforts ofVictorAdler andinterventionbyHjalmarBranting,chairoftheScandinaviancommitteeof theSocialist International.48 Insteadof returning toVienna,however, hewas resettledtoPetrograd,wherehespent fourweeks.49Duringthis time,hedrew closer to theMensheviks,whichhadan impactonhis lateranalysesandper- spectives for thedevelopmentofRussia,hisattitudetothedictatorshipof the proletariat,andhisconceptof themassparty.HealsofollowedtheBolsheviks withgreatattentionandattendedthemeetingsofworkers’andsoldiers’coun- cils. Inhis 1917–18correspondencewithKautsky,hischange inperspectiveon theOctoberRevolutionandproletariandictatorshipwasnoticeable.Highlight- ing themomentousness of the social andpolitical transformations in Soviet Russia, he distanced himself fromKautsky’s charges against the Bolsheviks, latersummarisedbyKautskyinDictatorshipoftheProletariat (1918)andMarx- ismandBolshevism:DemocracyandDictatorship(1918).50Forinstance,Kautsky criticised the Bolsheviks for building socialism in an economically and cul- turallybackwardcountrywhile restrictingpolitical rightsandliberties.51How greatly theOctoberRevolutionhad impressedBauerwas also evident in the theMilitary ServiceCross, ThirdClass. Formore aboutBauer’s conduct in combat and attitudetowar,seeBotz1978,p.32,compareHanisch2011,pp.80–6. 48 Letter fromVictorAdler toHjalmarBranting, 7May 1917, quoted after Botz 1978, p. 34, compareSinger1979,p. 113. 49 According to Löw, Bauerwas at all times a prisoner, yet hewas granted permission to visit the library and study. Hewas also allowed to go to townwhen accompanied by a detective. Hemoved inwith a Polish socialist, Peter Lapiński, whowas a follower of Martov.Furthermore,hemetMartovhimself andvisitedhis family,his sisterLydia, and her husband Bogdan almost every day, looking after their daughter, whowas ill with tuberculosis,withgreatself-sacrifice.SeeLöw1980,p. 10;compareLeichter1970,p.311. 50 SeeBauer1980l,p. 1040;Bauer1980m,p. 1044;Bauer1979l,p.549. 51 LydiaDan successfully beseeched thewarminister, Boris Savinkov. In September 1917, Bauerwasclassedasawarcrippleanddesignatedforaprisonerexchange–seeLöw1980,