Page - 173 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the ‘thirdway’ to socialism 173 ter 2 (section 2.2), I assessed thenaturalist, positivist and evolutionist layers ofhis theory,yetwithout fullyconsideringhismechanicunderstandingof the relationship between economic and conscious spheres of social being. I fur- thermore polemicised against those interpretations of Bauer’s historiosophy thathighlightedtheeconomicelementandpointedtoadilemma:thequestion ofhumansocialpracticeblending inwith theobjectivemechanismofhistor- icaldevelopment. Bauer’swritingsonrevolutiongivetheimpressionthatheoverestimatedthe roleofobjectivefactors.Thereisnootherwaytodescribehisstubbornlyupheld thesis–whichNorbertLeserdrawsparticularattentionto–that thedevelop- mentof the capitalist systemgraduallypaves theway for revolution, i.e. that the inner contradictions of the system in themselves lay the groundwork for thereplacementofcapitalistproduction.11Nor is itpossible to findadifferent explanationforhisclaimthatthelackofobjectiveconditionscouldbringforth resultsdifferentfromthoseexpectedbytheworkingclassorleadtothereestab- lishmentof theoldpoliticalorder inadifferent form.Tovindicatehisopinion on the roleof theobjective factor in the social revolution,Bauer citedRussia asanexample:there,thelackoffavourableobjectiveconditionsforrevolution forcedthevictoriousworkingclass toreintroducethecapitalisteconomyand installelementsparallel tothesocialistmodeofproduction. However, amore thorough lookat the relationbetween the two factors in Bauer’s revolutionary theory reveals that the role of the objective factorwas notasclearasonemightassume.Withoutadoubt,Bauerwasconvincedthat socio-economic conditionswould already change under bourgeois rule and lead to socialism. Itwas the coreof his economic theory.However, his belief that the revolutionaryprocesswasobjectivelydeterminedwasnotneutral; it was strictly subordinated to its ideological function. Its rolewas to reinforce themasses’beliefthatsocialismwouldinevitablycometopassandvalidatethe politicsof ‘waitandsee’helddearbythe leadership.Oneis ledtobelievethat Bauerwasaware–ifnot fully–thatthetheoryofaparliamentary-democratic roadtosocialismwastiedtotheassumptionthatsocialconsciousness,ideology andpoliticswererelativelyautonomousfromtheeconomicbase–anelement thatheaccentuatedinhistheoryofstateformation.HeclungtoMarx’snotion that the base determines the superstructure in a purely declarativemanner. It would be justified to state this was a relic of orthodox thinking, caused primarily by his fear of betraying the doctrine. In reality, Bauer understood 11 Leserplacedstrongemphasisonthis thesisofBauer’s inhismajorworkonAustromarx- ism–seeLeser1969,p.33.