Page - 30 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

30 chapter 1 Democracy, 1920) – attracted great interest abroad. Elaborating a so-called ‘thirdway’ to socialism, all of theseworks negated theBolshevik revolution- arymodel,whichBauerrejectedfortheoretical,moralandtacticalreasons.He envisionedaparliamentarydemocraticandsocial revolution,andhopedthat the objective laws of capitalist developmentwould lead to a transformation ofcapitalismintosocialism.Thiswouldgradually leadtothedominationand intellectualhegemonyof theworkingclasswithinthedemocraticstate. Inhis texts,Bauerattachedgreat importance to thequalitativedifferencesbetween the conditions of struggle inWestern democracies and those in semi-feudal Russia. In spite of the different positions of the Russian andAustrian peas- antry, the experience of the Soviet revolution drewBauer’s attention to the alliancebetweenworkersandpeasants.Since its inception,SocialDemocracy had attempted to secure the support of theworking class in the big indus- trial andcommercial territories, leaving thepeasantry to the influenceof the ChristianSocials.Consequently, itdidnothaveanyagrarianprogramme,and policiesconcerning theconfiscationof largeestatesdidnotelicit the interest ofAustrianpeasants.After all, theywere largeestateholdersbyvirtueof the 1848 law,andunlike theRussianpeasants, theydidnotyearn for land.Hence, theSocialDemocratshadlittlechanceofovercomingthedistrustoftheclerical peasantry.Forthem,theonlypossibilitywastowintheagrarianproletariat. In ordertoachievethis,thesdapneededareformprogrammethatcouldacquire tangible economic and social gains. The sdap’s lack of faith in the possibil- ityandenduranceofaworker-peasantalliancewasa furtherdisadvantage for SocialDemocracy.WhileBauerwas also sceptical about suchanalliance, he recognised thenecessity of looking into the agrarianquestion in viewof the upcoming elections. In 1921, he published ‘Leitsätze zur Agrarpolitik’ (‘Prin- ciplesofAgrarianPolicy’) inDerKampf,whichcontainedthe foundations for adiscussioninthesdap.In1924,hesummonedtheconventionoftheagrarian committee,whichwas todesignacomplexagrarianprogramme(itwasonly published in 1926).With reference to collections of legal acts, he prepared a comprehensivesociologicalandhistoricalstudyoftheAustrianagrarianstruc- ture:Der Kampf umWald undWeide (The Struggle for Forests and Pastures, 1925).Aside fromcomprisingahistoryof thedistributionof land,usagerights of forests andpastures inAustria, and the independence struggleofAustrian peasants – held in high esteemby experts – it contained the agrarian pro- grammeofSocialDemocracy.Thetwobasicpremisesofthisprogrammewere thus: stagesbetweendifferenteconomic formations lastavery longtime,and capitalistandsocialistelementscoexist inagriculture.Thiswasnotanattract- iveprogrammeforpeopleinthecountryside:itdidnotpromiseanythingmore toland-owningpeasantsthanwhattheyhadalreadyreceivedinthepast,which