Page - 68 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

68 chapter 2 subject, according toBauer.That iswhyhe–unlike theother representatives ofAustromarxism,MaxAdler andKarl Renner –didnot define theworking class as a term, but pointed to subjective and objective economic, sociolo- gicalandpolitical factorswhichdeterminedthepositionofaclass insociety.51 Themost crucial among these factors, according toBauer,were theposition of a classwithin the production process anddistribution of goods, its num- bers,strength,intensityanddegreeoforganisation,levelofeducation,political activity, and, ultimately, its ability to conceive an ideology.52 In the 1926Pro- grammeof Linz, Bauer drewon twodistinctmeanings of the term ‘working class’.Heuseditmorenarrowlytodenotethelarge-scale industrialproletariat (thisusecanalsobe foundinthewritingsofMarx,Engels,LeninandLuxem- burg), andmorebroadly to encompass allwagedworkers.53 Interestingly, he didnot commenton thediversificationof theworkingclass intovarious lay- ers. Inmyview, therewasan ideological reason for this: theeffort topreserve beforetheproletarianmassesthenotionofaunitedlabourmovement.Nordid Bauerexplorethepreconditions for theformationofclasses.LikeotherMarx- istsofhis time,he focusedhisattentiononthe ‘class for itself’, i.e. aclass that is consciousof its distinct interests, develops its own ideology, andbuilds its 51 MaxAdlerregardedsocialclassesasasocio-historicalcategory.Bythis,hemeantagroup ofhumansconscious that they forman interest group; theirposition in thesocial struc- ture is definedby their participation in the social process of production– seeM.Adler 1925, pp. 63–5.KarlRennerused the termas follows: ‘Individuals of the sameor related socialstatus,whomweatfirstconceiveindividually,aredriventogetherbythesimilarity oftheirconditions.Theygraduallylearntoself-perceiveasacommunity,andfinallyestab- lish a commonorganisation. Inorder todifferentiate them,wecall themsocial groups, and,as soonas theycomeintohostileconflictwitheachother, socialclasses’ (our trans- lation).Original: ‘IndividuengleicheroderverwandtersozialerStellung,vorerst jedes für sicherfasst,werdendurchdieGleichartigkeitderLagezusammengetrieben, lernensich allmählichalsGemeinschaftfühlenundgebensichzumSchlusseinegemeinsameOrgan- isation.WirnennensieunterscheidendsozialeGruppenundsobaldsiegegeneinanderin feindseligeAbgrenzunggeraten,sozialeKlassen’ –Renner 1952,p. 111.Renner’sdefinition hadasubjectivepsychologicalcharacteranddidnotcompriseeconomiccriteria. 52 Bauer1976c,p.346. 53 Theterm‘workingclass’isunclearinMarx’swork.Kołakowskinoticedthis,and,according toAndrzejFlis, sodidStanisławOssowski,BertellOllmanandSidneyHook.Hookwrites: ‘Marxuses the term“class”ambiguously…Insomeinstances, thecriterionofdifferenti- ation is the role in theproductionsystemexercisedbyagroup. Inothers, it is thegroup members’entirewayof life– includingtheircultureandtradition–their sourceor level of income,profession,or, incaseofunemployment,thelackofanyprofession’(ourtrans- lation)–compareFlis 1990,p.30.