Page - 139 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the national question 139 evant theories – the aforementioned statements contained threeportentous insights: Firstly, the participation of themasses in culture helps to integrate themasses intothenation.Secondly,whether thenationprevailsdependson whethertheliberatedclassescultivatetheassetsoftheoldculture.Thirdly,the culturaleducationofthemasseswillbeasinseparablefromthesocialistorder asthepublicappropriationofthemeansofproduction.Bauerthoughtthatthe socialisationof labourwasthemost importantelement inthetransformation process. ThePolishphilosopher andcultural critic StanisławBrzozowskihad similarideas:anationcouldonlybecomeaself-containedculturalcommunity if it firstbecameacommunityof labour.Theliberationfromreified labour,an essential factor insatisfying intellectualneedsandfostering thedevelopment ofculture,wouldleadtotherealisationofacomplete, realnation. Based on this, Bauer established that the proletariat was the executer of thenational ideaandthedriving forceofprogress in the realmofculture.He wasdeeplyconvincedthatonly theruleof theworkingclasswouldcreate the conditions for a nation in the full sense of the term, as it would strengthen thedevelopment towardsan intellectuallyunifiedcivilisation.Bauerbelieved that the taskof themodernproletariatwas tobuilda socialist stateandcon- quernationalculture for thebenefitof theentirenation.Bauer’s initial senti- mentswere: ‘The international struggle is ameans thatwemust use to real- ise our national ideal’.40He therefore disagreedwith Luxemburg andLenin, whoarguedthatthenationalmovementwasanobstaclefortheclassstruggle. They feared that nationalismwould spread if the proletariat pursued cross- classobjectives. Inresponse,Bauersuggestedthattheconsolidationofprolet- arian social consciousnesshadaclass character anda simultaneousnational essence. Viewedwith thebenefit of historical hindsight, the veracity of his further statements isquestionable.Bauerclaimedthat thepositionof theproletariat within the class hierarchy had far-reaching implications for its position on thenationalities question. Theproletariat, he proposed,would only support thenational idea ifnationalaspirations for independencecoincidedwith the struggle for class liberation. Bauer frequently emphasised the class character of the national struggle for sovereignty, pointing to the integral connection betweenclassdivisionsanddivisionswithinthenation.Thisbeliefwaswidely held in the Second International. If the proletariat succeeded in abolishing classantagonisms, thiswouldalsoendnationaloppression.Thiswastheonly convergenceofBauer’s viewswith theofficialpositionof theSecondInterna- tional. 40 Bauer1975,p.32.