Page - 138 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

138 chapter 4 Withfinalregardstothehistoricalformsofthenationanditsprerequisites,it isworthmentioningthatBauer, inhishistoriosophicalpositionontherebirth ofpeoples, onceagain referred to the roleof culture in theprocessofnation forming. He alluded to the specific cultural mission of historic nations in relation to non-historical nations.37 As Bębenek demonstrates, this notion originatedinHegelianhistoriosophy.38 1.6 TheNationasaRealCommunityofCultureinaFutureState In the course of his reconstruction, Bauer distinguished three basic types of national community of culture (while identifying the four different types of nation):(1)theclancommunity;(2)theantagonisticclasssociety;(3)thesolid- aristiccommunityofthefuture, i.e. thesocialistsociety.Bauer’sclassifications hadanunambiguouslyevaluativecharacter:hiscriterionwasaccesstonational culture and possibilities of participation. The choice of this decisive factor logicallyresultedfromtheauthor’soverallconception. AccordingtothecriteriaBauerhadestablished, theclanorder, inwhichall memberswere carriers of society’smaterial and intellectual culture, repres- entedanexemplary formof thenation. It lost this form in the feudal age, as class contradictions intensified. Thepopularmasseswere excluded fromthe national community, and anypossibility of participating in thepolitical and culturallifeofthenationwasconfiscatedfromthem.39AccordingtoBauer,the processof integrationinthefeudalandearlycapitalisterasonlyunifiedanar- rowsocial group intoacommunityof culture,namely thepropertiedclasses. Thecultural assetsonlybecamethepropertyof thewholenationas thecap- italist systemevolved. Yet inBauer’s view, this systemalso excluded thepos- sibilityof fully realisingthenation. Iterectedmaterialbarriers thatprevented thenation’s various classes and social layers fromequally participating in its gains.Bauerargued that itwouldonlybecomeanationagainundera social- ist constitution: in the future state, the socialisationof themeansofproduc- tion, socialcharacterof labour,andfinalabolitionof inequalityandprivileges would facilitateparticipation inculture.WithoutdissectingBauer’s viewson thesematters – after all, thiswould alsonecessitate investigatingMarx’s rel- 37 BauerwasparticularlyconcernedwiththeculturalmissionoftheGermannationtowards theSlavicpeoples.SeealsoButterwegge1990,p. 131andHanisch2011,p.98. 38 SeeBębenek1987,p.35. 39 It is certainly remarkable thatBauer’s analysisbypassedslaveholder society.He thought of itas irrelevantandnotclearlydistinguishableintheevolutionofthenation.Thisview canbeattributedtothefactthatslaveryhadneverbeendominantamongthenationsthat heanalysed.