Page - 73 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

thematerialist view of history 73 3 MarxismandEthics BauerandtheAustromarxists’viewswerecharacterisedbyaspecificapproach toethicsthatdevelopedattheturnofthenineteenthandtwentiethcenturies. Twoopposingperspectives onevaluative assumptions and theses inMarxist theory influenced it. The first was that ofMarburgian neo-Kantians, as the ethical socialistswere also called. The secondwas theperspective coinedby Kautsky,authorof the 1906paperEthicsandtheMaterialistConceptionofHis- tory.Notably,anarchistattemptstopropagatea‘socialismwithoutethics’inthe 1870s–seeMikhailBakunin’sCatechismofaRevolutionary–andtheMarxists’ neglectof theethicalquestion,whichremainedapparent intothe1890s,both fedintothenotionthatMarxhadwhollyabandonedtheaxiologicalperspect- ive.55 For the Social-Democraticmovement, however, the ethical legitimacy ofsocialismwasof fundamental ideologicalandpractical importance.That is why theneo-Kantianprojectofuniting thephilosophiesofKantandMarxat anethical levelwaswelcomed inSocial-Democratic circles.56Nevertheless, it provoked a sharp reply fromKautsky,who took to defending the axiological neutralityofsocialism.Bothpositions–Kautsky’sandtheneo-Kantians’–will be the subjectof closer investigation.The reasons for this are, firstly, that the Marburgianperspectivestrongly influencedBauer’sviewsontheplaceofeth- ics inMarxism,andsecondly,becauseBauer’spropositionevolvedinresponse toKautsky’snegativestancetowardsmoral theory. TheMarburgians–HermannCohen,KarlVorländer,RudolfStammler,Lud- wigWoltmann, Franz Staudinger, andConrad Schmidt – espoused the view thatMarxhadnotentirelythoughtthroughhisbasicaxiologicalassumptions. Theirdoubtsastowhetheritispossibletointegrateindividualaspirationsinto asystemofclassgoals,orofsocietyasawhole,werenotwhollyunjustified.The Marxistambitiontoliberatehumanitythroughrevolutionaryviolencewasalso metwith resistance. TheMarburgians all agreed thatMarxismcontainedno imminenttheoryofvaluesthatmight justify thenecessityofsocialism.Inand of itself, thehistorical inevitability of socialismas derived from the assump- tionsofMarxist theory saysnothingabout itsmoral value. It isnot clearwhy 55 It is not the subject of thiswork to decide if, and towhat extent, such aperspective is immanent inMarxism.However, Iaminclinedtotheviewthatanevaluativeorientation isafundamentalcomponentoftheMarxiantheoryofsocio-economicprogress. 56 At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, numerous articles about the socialistpositiononethicsand the relationshipbetween the theoriesofMarxandKant werepublished.Onthe100thanniversaryofKant’sdeathin1904,theroleofhisphilosophy wasparticularlyemphasised.