Page - 176 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

176 chapter 5 Indeed,Bauer thought it impossible topredeterminethemeansandmeth- odsbywhich theproletariatwould seizepower–hence,hedidnot consider this to be apertinent question for Social-Democratic politics.What counted wasdefiningtheproceduresandmeasures thatwould facilitate thetransition fromcapitalismtosocialism.Defacto thisamountedtocreatingamechanism ofpermanent reforms inademocratic liberal spirit. Bauermayhave stressed inhispropagandaspeeches thatoneshouldnot lose sightof theoverall goal, yet in reality, theory and strategy took less of a priority than tactics.15 Pre- cisely thishabitofassessingthesituationfromatacticalmindset ledBauerto believethat itwaspossible for theworkingclass,underconditionsofpolitical democracy, towinall progressiveanddemocratic social forces for revolution and gain the necessarymajority in parliament.16 It also led Bauer to one of his fundamental conclusions: preparing theworking class to administer the apparatusesofthestateandeconomywasnolessimperativeforthetransform- ation fromcapitalism to socialism than the seizure of political power. Bauer found it equally essential to ensure ideological commitment to socialismby preparing themasses ideologically, intellectually andmorally for the struggle for the future social order – a sentiment informed by the influence of eth- ical socialism.17Onemayaddthat the significance thatBauer imputed to the claimed that the contemporary capitalist state represented the interests of the whole nation, rendering the struggle for the interestsofonlyoneclassunnecessary.Operating under thedemocratic conditionsofferedby thebourgeois state, the revolutionought to assumeapeaceful,democratic form,especiallysincethe futureruleof theworkingclass was to have such a character. See Kautsky 1927, pp. 44–52; compareWaldenberg 1972, p.377. 15 AsErnst emphasises, the struggle for aparliamentarymajority, accompaniedby talk of the revolutionary goal, was geared to drive fear into the hearts of the bourgeoisie. See Ernst 1979, p. 90.Gulick points out that the SocialDemocrats very consciously utilised thegrowingradicalismofthemassesduringtheAustrianrevolutioninordertoscarethe bourgeoispartiesandobtaintheirownpoliticalgoals.SeeGulick1948,p. 114. 16 CompareLeser1968,p.33.Bauerwasnotaloneinthisbelief.Attheturnofthenineteenth andtwentiethcenturies,mostactivistsandtheoristsoftheEuropeanworkers’movement, includingRosaLuxemburg, shared it. Sheclaimedthatofall revolutions, theproletarian revolutionhad thebest chances toassumeaculturalmodel: ‘A revolutioncanalso take placeonacultural level, and if ever therewere anyprospect of that, itwouldbe in the proletarian revolution, sinceweare the last to takeupviolentmeans, the last towisha brutal,violentrevolutiononourselves’–Luxemburg1899. 17 MaxAdler andGramsci integrated these ideas into revolutionary theory, as didNiedzi- ałkowski,Czapiński,Próchnik, andDreszer inPoland.Bauer’s emphasisaswell as theirs on the subjective aspect of the social processwas a formofpolemic against politicians