Page - 134 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

134 chapter 4 ingabroadnotionofthenationalcharacter,hedemonstratedthatitpermeated throughall formsofhumanactivitydeterminedbysocio-economiclivingcon- ditions.Hismodelcontainedall theelements thatStalinmentioned,butalso additional prerequisites for nation forming. Bauerwas perceptive enough to stress that features such as national character, national consciousness, and culturewere the specific traits of anation thatdeterminedwhether itwould endure. 1.5 TheDeterminantsofModernNation-Forming TheconceptofthenationservedBauertointerpretthehistoryofcontemporary European nations. Using the example of theGerman nation to conduct his analysisof thepremisesofnation forming,he investigated theprocesses that lead to the emergence of conscious national communities. Furthermore, he studiedclasscontradictionsthatlimitedthecapacityofthesecommunitiesand ways toovercomethem.Bauerexaminedthreeaspectsof thenation-forming process: cultural, economicandclass-related. Seen fromthisperspective, the analysisof anation’shistorybecomesananalysisof the trajectory inwhicha socio-economic construct evolves. The transition froma ‘lower’ to a ‘higher’ stageof thenationis thusconceivedofasageneral lawofhistoricalevolution andcriterionofprogress. AccordingtoBauer,itispossibletodistinguishbetweentwostagesinthehis- toryofanation.Thefirst isboundtotheemergenceoftribalorganisationsand nomadic communities. These communities are self-containedpolitical entit- ieswhosemembers formahomogeneous unity throughbloodbonds, social relationsbasedoncommonownershipof themeansof production, customs inherited fromtheirancestors,moralvaluesand language. In thispure,prim- ordial formof thenation, social life ischaracterisedbytheparticipationofall members in shaping thepolitics, law, andmorality of their community– i.e. theyallhaveanequalsayinthecreationofanintellectualcultureinthebroad- est sense.Bauerput forwardan interestinghypothesis: according tohim, the communitiesofancientGreeks,RomansandCeltsthatemergedintheprimit- iveepochwerebasedonadifferenttypeofassociationfromthosethatemerged inclasssocieties.Asagricultureandsedentarylifestylesreplacednomadicways andGermanictribesmixedwiththepopulationsoftheconqueredlands(Celts andSlavs), theoriginal clancommunityof theGermanicpeople fell apart.At theendof thisprocess, their communityof culturedisappeared.At the same time, theendof thisprocessmarkedabreak in thenation’shistory.Although Bauer referred to this elemental culture as primitive, he did not undervalue its importancefortheGermannation-formingprocess.Heevenreasonedthat Germancommunitycollapseddue to thedivisionof labourandproperty the