Page - 85 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

thematerialist view of history 85 respect, his judgementwas close toMarx’s: as longas theeconomiccompul- siontoworkpersisted, therecouldbenotalkof full freedom.75Bauerreferred toaHegelianmotive thatwasalsopresent inMarx: freedomasaprerequisite fortherealisationofsubjectivity.Socialismwas,accordingtothisconcept,not just a political order underwhich social and class inequality hadbeenabol- ished, thedivisionof labourhadvanished,andaprosperoussociety indulging in consumer goods (à laLafargue)hademerged. Itwas also a socio-political order that returned freedomto the individual– that is, freedominaKantian sense inthesphereofethics,andfreedomasademocratic ideal in thesphere ofpolitics: WemustcounterPrussianismwithadifferentstateideathatisgenuinely, radically opposed to it: a socialism rooted in the individual’s urge for freedom, originating in the self-activity of themasses, and aiming for theself-governmentofallworkingpeople…Nothingismoreessential to Germansocialismthananelementoftruedemocracywithindividualistic roots,whichseeks its realisation in theEnglishnotionof industrial self- government, i.e. social transformation through theself-activityandself- educationofthemasses.76 ourtranslation Bauer, likemanysocialistsofhistime,facedaseriousdilemma:howcouldone preserve thecultureanddemocraticachievementsofanearlierperiod,while at the same time supporting the proletariat’s struggle to shake off its socio- politicalyoke?Marx’stheory,whichmadeapointofthenecessityofrevolution- aryviolence,wasatoddswith thebasicpremiseof its ethical standpoint, i.e. thedefenceof individual freedom.Asolution to thisdilemmawascontained inthe ‘third’waytosocialism,thekeycomponentoftheAustromarxistnotion ofrevolution.Wewill investigatethis inthefifthchapter. 75 Marx1959,p.820. 76 ‘WirmüssendemPreußentumeineandere, ihmwirklichradikalentgegengesetzteStaat- sideeentgegenstellen:einenSozialismus,dessenWurzelderFreiheitsdrangdesIndividu- ums, dessenQuelle die Selbsttätigkeit derMasse, dessen Ziel das selfgovernment aller Werktätigenist.(…)NichtstutdemdeutschenSozialismusdringendernotalseinEinsch- lag jener echten, aus individualistischerWurzel entsprossenenDemokratie, die imeng- lischenGedanken des industrial selfgovernment der sozialenUmgestaltung durch die SelbsttätigkeitundSelbsterziehungderMasse, ihreVerwirklichungsucht’–Bauer 1976c, pp.356–7.