Page - 64 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

64 chapter 2 Bauer started fromMarx’swell-knowndictumthatpeoplemake theirown history, albeit inmaterial conditions not of their own choosing. This thesis promptedquestionsabout theways inwhichhumanactivitywasdetermined bypre-existingmaterial conditions (andtowhatextent), thescopeofhuman influence,andthedegreetowhichhumanscouldgivepurposeanddirectionto theevolutionofsociety.LikeFriedrichAdler,BauerwasoneoftheAustromarx- istswhoadoptedadeterministic,monistposition,i.e.heregardedtheunityand generaldeterminacyofnaturalphenomenaandthesocialworldasanontolo- gical principle.42Hedrew twoconclusions fromtheassumptionof a general determinacy:bothtypesofregularityhadacausalcharacter,and,whatismore, the causal relationshipwasunequivocal. Bauerwas therefore convinced that thelawsofsocialdevelopmentcouldbegraspedastightlyasthelawsofphys- ics.ReferringtoCapital,heclaimed: ‘Thus,Marxgaveusthefirstmathematical lawofmotionofhistory’(ourtranslation).43Bauerfullyacceptedthehistorical- materialistthesisthatthesocialprocesswasself-containedandimmanent.He alsobelievedthatitproceededaccordingtoobjectiveandconsistentlaws.Nat- urally,hedidnot linkhisdeterminismtoadialectical theoryofdevelopment. Onthecontrary,heeliminatedanydialectics fromthehistoricalprocess,veer- ingtowardsanevolutionist interpretation. Inmostofhiswritings,hereduced theMarxianrelationshipbetweenbaseandsuperstructure toaone-waycon- currency: ‘As the scientific and social living conditionsofhumanschange, so do their modes of thought, their customs, their moral values, the sciences, art, andreligion’ (our translation).44Bauerconceivedof theproductive forces not fully aware that thekey thesesofhis analysiswere contradictory.As Ihave stressed earlier, not evenMarx could avoid this paradox, and his faithful students perpetuated the incoherenceof thisdoctrine.This alsoapplies to the theoriesofBauerandKautsky, althoughthethesesthatBaueradoptedwerenotasblatantlycontradictory. 42 Of all Austromarxists, FriedrichAdler placed the strongest emphasis on the biological necessityofthehistoricalprocess.Indeed,heassumedthatitconstitutedaplainextension ofthelawsofnature.SeeF.Adler 1918b,p.62. 43 ‘So gibt unsMarx das erstemathematische Bewegungsgesetz der Geschichte’ – Bauer 1979f,p.937.Bauer’s familiaritywiththeworksofMarxwassomewhat tenuous.Presum- ably, he usedmany ofMarx’s concise expressions without looking into their essence. When passing judgement on Capital, he referred to the preface of Critique of Political Economy, whereMarxwrote that thematerial upheaval of the economic conditions of productioncouldbemeasuredwith theprecisionofhard science.AsP. Śpiewak rightly pointsout, theMarxists’ attemptsatestablishingasocial sciencebasedonthemodelof thenatural scienceswereharshly criticisedbyAntonio Labriola, AntonioGramsci and GeorgesSorel–seeP.Śpiewak1977,pp.48–50. 44 ‘Mit denwissenschaftlichenund sozialenLebensbedingungenderMenschenverändert