Page - 66 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

66 chapter 2 privileged treatmentof the roleof consciousnessdidnotatall imply inde- terminismconcerningtheeconomicsphere.46 2. Economic relations are not forces that influence humansmechanically – economic regularitiesmerely illuminate themain tendencies of historical development. Theway inwhich this developmental process evolves (and how quickly) depends on the activities of individual social groups and classes.47 Bauerhighlighted the role ofmassmovements,which iswhyhe adopted aposition close to the anti-naturalists on this subject, arguing in favourofrelativelyautonomoussocialconsciousness.Thispositionalsojus- tifiedhisviewoftheclassstruggleasthedecisivedrivingforcebehindsocial change. 3. Needsandideasareconditionedbythemodeofproductionandcanonlybe realisedinthematerialsphereofhumanactions,eveniftheyactasexternal forcesinrelationtosocialbeing.Notindividuals,butthemassesarecarriers of ideas. Bauer thus understood the socio-historical process as a permanent andpro- gressivedevelopmentofforcesofproductionandrelatedeconomicconditions that develop in the course of our conscious struggle to dominate nature for thesakeof satisfyingourneeds.Thisprocess,accordingtoBauer, is synonym- ouswith theevolutionofhumankind itself. If individuals activelyparticipate inthecollectivesocialproductionofgoodsthroughtheirownproductiveactiv- ities, then not only can they grasp the prevailing laws and regularities, but theycanalsousetheknowledgeacquiredtohelpshapetheirownhistory.The question arises as towhether Bauer considered the subjective andobjective factorsofhistoryequally significant. Sinceheassumed–analogously toMarx andKautsky–thateconomicfactorswerepredominantanddeterminedsocial andpolitical factors, he evidently didnot give equalweight to both subject- ive andobjective factors. It is no accident that Bauer invariably appealed to so-calledobjective conditions to justifyhis andhisparty’s anti-revolutionary stance.Evenso,Bauer’scriticsunjustlyaccusedhimofconstruingMarxismin 46 GeraldMozetičpassesthesamejudgement–seeMozetič 1987,p. 115. 47 AccordingtoBauer,historicalmaterialismdiscoveredthelawsofsocialdevelopmentand signpostedawaytoachievethegoalsofthepracticalorder,whichledtoaparticularsocial politics. However, historicalmaterialism is based on applied theory in practice, rather than just being a theoretical hypothesis. According toBauer,Marxismdoesnot, in and of itself, containany ideological claimsbecause it is aneconomic theoryof society. It is here that thescientisticperspectiveof separatingtheory frompracticeandscience from social interestsbecomesobvious.