Page - 84 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

84 chapter 2 socialism.Bauerdidnotstrivefororiginalityinaddressingthisquestion.Noting thattheproblemhadalreadybeensolvedconvincinglybytheMarburgianneo- Kantians,hesimply reiteratedtheir statements.Essentially, theyclaimedthat the content of the categorical imperativewas congruentwith the content of thesocialistideal:duringthestruggleforsocialism,theworkingclassaspiredto attainthegoalssetbyKantianethics.However, itwouldbewrongtoconclude thatBaueradoptedtheMarburgianethicalpositioninitsentirety.Whathehad incommonwiththeneo-Kantianswasthenotionofadichotomybetweenthe formalandmaterialelements inethics,andtheethical justificationforsocial- ism, includingtheclaimthatvalueshadthestatusoftranscendental ideas.On whether therewas a historical necessity to socialism, however, Bauer took a different view.He rightly noted that theMarburgian concept lacked aunify- ing elementbetween theuniversal, super-temporal ideal and reality – itwas thepriceatwhichtheyhadabandonedthedualismofbeingandoughtattheir verypointofdeparture.Bauerstartedwiththesameassumption,yetunlikethe neo-Kantians,hewas tooweakaphilosopher torealise that itwas impossible tointegrateformallydefinedgoals intosocial life.Hebelievedthat itwouldbe enoughfortheworkingclasstorecognisethatthecrownofhistoricaldevelop- mentindicatedbyMarx,thesocialiststateorder,embodiedtheKantianideals. Thisway, itwoulddiscover inKantianethicstheprinciplestowardswhichthe socialistmovement shouldorientate itself in theclass struggle.Bauerdidnot wishtoacknowledgetwoproblems.Firstly,forMarx,communismwasacondi- tionthatsocietywouldusherin.Ratherthanbeinganidealaccordingtowhich realitywouldbe shaped, itwasa realmovement thatwouldabolish thecap- italist systemdue to the objective laws of historical development. This also included ideas to the extent that themasses identifiedwith them. Secondly, Kant’sethicsaffirmedtheidealsofenlightenmenthumanismanddidnothave a specifically socialist content.Moreover, their formalist perspectiveboreno relationtothefundamentalassumptionsofhistoricalmaterialism.Bauer’swas aproverbial attempt tounite fireandwater: twodifferentperspectivesbased ondifferentpremisesanddifferenttheoreticalandphilosophicalassumptions. Hisattempttoprovidethefoundationsforanormativeethics inMarxismwas notparticularly fruitful. Let us consider another important element in Bauer’s theory: his desire to incorporate Kantianism intoMarxismwas linked to a judgemental inter- pretationof socialism.Heregardedthesocialistorderas twofold: sociological (a classless society of producers) and axiological (a social order that grants individuals general and equal participation in social, political, and cultural life).Bauergaveabsoluteprioritytothelatterdimension.However,hedidnot assumethat thesocialistorderwouldemancipatehumanscompletely. In this