Page - 63 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

thematerialist view of history 63 2 HistoriosophicalReflections Bauer’sadoptednaturalistandscientisticperspectiveshadaneffectonhishis- toriosophicalviews.Beforeweexaminethem,itisworthnotingthatBauerwas ahistorianwho, inspiredbyMarxism,brokeawayfrommerelypresentingthe historyofdynasties,wars,ideas,and‘greatmen’,i.e.thetraditionalAustrianway ofhistorywriting.40His treatises linkedtheanalysisofeconomic lifewith the historyofhumanaction(i.e.massmovements),althoughhedidnotdevelopa clearconceptofhistory.Forhim, thehistoryofhumankindwasnomorethan thehistory of class struggles. Bauer appliedhistoricalmaterialism,whichhe understood as amethodological guideline, to investigate theways inwhich various formsof spiritual life– ideological consciousness inparticular–were determinedbythedevelopmentoftheeconomicstructure.Thisbeingthecase, hepaid little attention to some fundamentalquestionsofhistoricalmaterial- ism: thenatureof social laws; their relationtothe lawsofevolution innature; andthequestionofprogressinhistory.Norwashe–incontrasttoMaxAdler– interested in the rationality andpurposiveness of the historical process as a subjectofindependentreflection.Infact,hetriedtoevadereferencestophilo- sophical traditionsaltogether.Thiswasparticularly true for thehistoriosophy ofHegel, whichwas incomprehensible to him.Of the broad range of issues that historicalmaterialismaddressed, he only took interest in twoproblems intrinsically linkedtotheSocialDemocrats’party-politicalpractice: firstly, the questionofdependencybetweeneconomicsandconsciousness,whichBauer oftenidentifiedasideology.Secondly, theviewofclassstruggleasanobjective lawanddriving forcebehindhistoricaldevelopment.Bauer’sconclusionscan beputdowntotwoopposingclaims.Oneofthemwaslinkedtonaturalismand evolutionism;theotherwasbasedontheMarxianpremiseofsocialchangeas revolutionaryprocess. Thetwoclaimsmightbesummedupthus: – Theeconomic factor ispredominant in thehistoricalprocess, significantly reducing its arbitrary and contingent character. This economic factor is genetic andprimarily functionalwith regard to social and individual con- sciousness. – The direction that the social process takes is decisively influenced by the struggleofclassesthatstriveforsocialandpolitical liberation.41 40 Hanisch investigates thedifferencesbetweentheVienneseschoolofhistoryandBauer’s historicalmethodindetail.SeeHanisch2011,pp. 181–91. 41 Whenadvocating this interpretationof the socio-historicalprocess,Bauerwascertainly