Page - 170 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

170 chapter 5 berejected.Thiswasderivedfromtheantinomicalviewofhistory.Attheheart of it were two premises. The first was that the reformist and revolutionary roadsweretwosidesof thesamesocialprocess.Secondly, inthechangedeco- nomic,political, andsocialcircumstancesof theearly twentiethcentury,only parliamentarismanddemocratic legislationcouldsafeguardandadvancethe interests of theworking class. Amore thoroughdiscussionof thephilosoph- ical, historical and political premises of the Austromarxist peaceful road to socialismwould requirewider analyses thatwould exceed the scope of this text.However, it is important toacknowledge that thepremisesemerged ina climateofscepticismtowardsMarx’srevolutionaryperspective.Bernsteinand hisco-thinkers,whogrewincreasingly influential in thecourseof theSecond International, did not agreewithMarx on this. Similarly, the greatestMarx- istauthorityof the time,Kautsky,alsodidnotacquiesce to it.Evenduringhis revolutionaryperiod,hewrote: TheSocialistparty is a revolutionaryparty,butnota revolution-making party.Weknowthatourgoalcanbeattainedonlythroughrevolution.We alsoknowthatit is justaslittleinourpowertocreatethisrevolutionasit is inthepowerofouropponentstoprevent it. It isnopartofourworkto instigatearevolutionortopreparethewayfor it.3 Itiscommonknowledgethattherejectionoftherevolutionaryperspectivewas largely inspiredbytheclassicalMarxists,evenif thathadnotbeentheir inten- tion(andindeed,itwouldbedifficulttoblameMarxforthis).TheSocialDemo- crats tookMarx’s 1872statement toheart: inhighly industrialised,democratic countriessuchasBritainandtheUnitedStates,heargued,apeacefulsocialist transformationwouldbepossible.4 Engels’s 1895 statement that theworkers’ parties could adopt peaceful democratic strategieswasmetwith evenmore enthusiasm–theSocialDemocratstookitas legitimisingtheirreformistprac- tice.5ThefactthatEngels’srejectionoftherevolutionarytacticsof1848didnot implyaradicalbreakwiththe ideaofproletarianrevolutionwasoverlooked.6 TheSocialDemocrats,especiallytheGermansandAustrians,tookEngels’shint forachangeof strategyandmade it thebasis for theirpolitical activity.They believed that their outlookwasobjectively supportedbychangingeconomic conditions such as rapid industrial development, improving social policies, 3 Kautsky1909b,p.50. 4 SeeMarx1872. 5 SeeEngels 1990,pp.520–2. 6 Hans-JosefSteinbergwritesaboutthis inSteinberg1972,p.71.