Page - 169 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the ‘thirdway’ to socialism 169 were tactical solutionsbasedonanalysis of thepolitical andclassbalance in AustriaandacrossEurope.Thetheoryhadits strongandweakpoints.Bauer’s assessmentof socio-politicalconditionswascertainlynotwithout ideological considerations,andasaresult, itnotonlyboremanyunconvincingelements, butalsoweakenedtheoverall strategic lineof thesdap.Thestrongpointwas Bauer’s emphasis on the socio-technical form,namely themethodof seizing andmaintaining power during the transitional period, mechanisms to win themiddle classes over to proletarian revolution, and tools for transforming capitalist society.The fact thathis theoryproved ineffectiveunderconditions of amodernbourgeois state, and the fact that it cannotbeapplied in today’s circumstances,donotdiminishitsvalue. 1.1 ParliamentarismandtheRevolution Thevisionofproletarianrevolution inBauer’sworkwasrepresentativeof the Marxist centre of the Second International andhugely popular outsideAus- tria, including in Poland. Bauer had created themodel of a parliamentary- democratic,peacefulroadtosocialism.1Sincethelatenineteenthcentury, this revolutionary theory had becomemanifest in the European socialistmove- menttovaryingdegrees,yet it tookshapewithinAustromarxismandremains animportantcontributiontosocialist theorytothepresentday. Crucially, the suggestion to use parliamentary institutions in the struggle for socialismderived fromaspecific theoretical andphilosophical paradigm, the deterministic-economic conception of history.2 The anticipation of the inevitablecollapseof capitalismjustified thebelief in thehistoricalnecessity of socialism andwas easily reconciledwith the reformist orientation of the workers’ parties. The vision of a gradual revolution – theworking class tak- ingcontrolofeconomicandpolitical institutionsbypiecemeal–wasalogical andnatural consequenceof thedeterministic-economicconceptionof socio- historicalprocesses. The fact thatRennerandothers reliedheavilyon this to backtheirtheoryof ‘growingintosocialism’andeffectivelysupportedthecap- italist orderwere further consequences of thehistorical philosophy adopted at theoutset. ItwasbasedonBernstein’snotion,popularised in theAustrian Social-Democraticmovement, that any revolutionary seizure of powermust 1 FortheinfluenceonPolishsocialistthought–i.e.theviewsofNiedziałkowski,Perl,Czapiński, Próchnik,Dreszer,Langeandothers,compareJeliński1994,pp.130–56;Śliwa1980,pp.191–280; Czerwińska435,pp.418–35. 2 Note that the theoryofpeaceful revolutioncontradicts thisparadigmonseveralquestions, e.g. theevaluationof theroleofpolitics instateeconomicaffairs.Thiswasoftenoverlooked indiscussionsatthetime.