Page - 89 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

a contribution to the theory of imperialism 89 data, ismostcertainlyahistoricalone,althoughsomeofBauer’sprognoses appearpropheticandrelevanteventoday.Inhishistoricalperiod,itwasnot simplyBauer’s insights thatmattered,butprimarily thegoals theywere to serve,whichwerecrucialtodiscussionswithinthecirclesofEuropeanSocial Democracy.Asmentionedearlier,oneofBauer’sgoalswastorefuteLuxem- burg’stheorywithhishypothesisofa‘self-defensive’capitalisteconomy–to be sure, an outmoded idea in today’s economic science. Anotherwas the defence of Austria’s national interest, which involved the preservation of Austria’ssovereigntyandindependencethroughprotectionism.Thesegoals alsoinfluencedBauer’s ideasonthetransitionfromcapitalismtosocialism. What ismore, theyshapedhisviewsofhowthesocialiststatemodelwould function in theeconomic sphere, i.e. as part of a centralisedplannedeco- nomy. 1 ImperialismasaNecessaryStageofCapitalism WiththeexceptionofMaxAdler,adeterministviewofhistorywastypical for Austromarxists.Accordingtothisperspective, socialismwouldemergedueto theobjective lawsofhistoricaldevelopment,whileSocial-Democraticpolitics couldonlyaccelerate thishistoricalmoment. Informedbytheanticipationof capitalism’s inevitablebreakdown, thisviewwaspopular in theSecondInter- national,butcontroversial inGermanSocialDemocracyinparticular.Accord- ingtoZenonaKluza-Wołosiewicz,9 its rootsare inMarx’s theoryofaccumula- tion.Marxdrewthewidely recognisedconclusion that there is an immanent tendency in capitalism to develop growing contradictions, which are detri- mentaltodevelopmentandultimatelyleadtoitsdemise.10AccordingtoMarx, capitalism’s fundamental contradiction is the concentrationof themeans of productioninthehandsofasmallgroupversusthesocialcharacterofproduc- tionitself,andits inevitableconsequenceisasocialistrevolutioninwhichthe proletariat becomes capitalism’s gravedigger. For ideological rather than sci- entificreasons,Marxdidnotquestiontheinevitabilityofrevolutionanywhere inhiswork.However, it ispossibletofindremarkswarningagainstamechanic interpretationof thedevelopmental tendencyofcapitalism,andevendoubts overMarx’sownprognosisofaprogressivecentralisationofproduction.11 9 SeeKluza-Wołosiewicz1963,p.78. 10 SeeMarx1990,p.929. 11 SeeMarx1959,p.246.OnehastoagreewithPaulM.SweezywhenhesaysofMarx’seco-