Page - 174 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

174 chapter 5 the significance of subjective conditions in the revolutionary process. The fact thatheplacedgreat emphasis ondeveloping thepolitical consciousness of the proletariat and its allies testifies to this. In addition, he stressed that both conditionsmust be present: an objective tendency and a social will to transformthepoliticalorder. Bauer’sbelief intheactiveroleofpoliticalconsciousnessandhumanaction in terms of social development was directly linked to his blueprints of the structureof revolution.BauersharedKautsky’sviewthateveryrevolutionhas apoliticalandasocialaspect–thetwoaspectsdifferedinduration,objectives, and social reach. Political revolution can be achieved in a day; its aim is to seizestatepowereitherthroughsocial insurrectionorbywinningthemajority in parliament. The change of political rule is a necessary precondition for thebeginningof socialist transformation,butnot theonlyone. Incontrast to political revolution, the term social revolution describes an entire historical epoch. It is a prolonged process, occurring atmany different levels, during which the socio-economic structure is transformed. Its side effects include wars, thedeclineandemergenceofstates,andthedemiseofpolitical systems and governments. It is a result ofmany years of educational and ideological work.Notably,forBauer,revolutionmeantsocialrevolution,i.e.aperiodduring which theworking class inpower attempts to transformthe socio-economic order. Inotherwords, revolutionis thetransitionalperiodbetweencapitalism andsocialism.Capitalistpropertyrelationsaremaintained,yetpoliticalpower is in the hands of theworking class. To be precise, Bauer’s theory of social revolutionwasbasedonaprogrammeofeducationandsocialisation. Bauer decisively rejected anotionupheldbyMarxists suchas Lenin, Lux- emburg and Trotsky, whichwas deeply rooted in the international workers’ movement–namely that theproletarian revolution involveda radical break with existing economic andpolitical relations.Drawing onhis own ‘balance ofclass forces’ theory,heclaimedthataso-called ‘transitionalperiod’marked by equilibrium of political and class forces (e.g. a coalition government or subordination toa state apparatus thathasbecomeautonomous) and socio- economicbalance (coexistenceofdifferenteconomic forms)wasanecessary stageineveryrevolution.ItishardtodenythatBauer’sinterpretationofrevolu- tion called into question the basics of Marx’s theory, to which he referred consistently.Hisunorthodox readingof theclassicsdidnotescape theatten- tionofthosewhowereclosetoBauerandsupportedhisintegralrevolutionary concept.12 12 OttoLeichterwasamongseveral socialists topolemiciseagainstBaueron this.Hispos-