Page - 201 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the ‘thirdway’ to socialism 201 TheconstructionofsocialismintheSovietUnionismorecompletethanI hadexpectedin1931. IncentralEurope, fascismhasdefeateddemocracy. Wewould have to be blind toworld historical facts if these two great eventsdidnot influenceourviewsconcerningtheroadtosocialism.83 ourtranslation 2.2 ‘IntegralSocialism’ Bauerregardedco-operationbetweenbothwingsoftheworkers’movementas theprimarytaskinfascistEuroperatherthantheintroductionofdictatorship. Thetheoryof‘integralsocialism’,ardentlysupportedbyMaxAdlerinhispublic speeches,wastoservehimforthispurpose. Itwasanattempttotransformthe splitof the internationalworkers’movement intoreformistandrevolutionary currents.Forthis,newtheoreticalandstrategicprincipleshadtobeestablished specifically to facilitate the struggle for socialismunder conditions of fascist dictatorships and authoritarian governments.While these efforts testified to theauthor’s ideologicalevolutionandhisbroadeningpoliticalconsciousness, theydidnotrepresentaprofoundorsignificantchange.Afterall, theydidnot contain any critique of the strategy of Social Democracy hitherto, norwere they, contrary to all assurances, an appeal to take up armed struggle against therulingregimeintheliteralsense.Rather,Baueraspiredtoovercometherift betweenSocialDemocrats andCommunists, anddesignacommonplatform tofallbackonintheeventofwar.Itwasaprogressiveanddemocraticpremise, evenifitonlyinsufficientlyconsideredtheideologicalbarriersthatdividedthe twocamps,asitdidthedifficultsocio-economicandpoliticalconditionsunder which theworkingclasswas toabolish itsownenslavementandbringanew socialordertopass. Theobjective conditions that conceivedof this concept areworth consid- ering.The ideaof ‘integral socialism’was the result of aneconomic,political, and sociological analysis of the interwarperiod. Theeconomic crisis led toa rise inunemployment and impoverishmentof both theworking andmiddle classes.Oneeffectwastheradicalisationofaconsiderablesegmentofthework- ingmasses;theotherwasthatallsocialclassesbecamemorereceptivetofascist ideology.Atthesametime,theconsolidationofauthoritarianregimesanddic- tatorshipsinEuropeinvokedthethreatofwar,whichledbothSocialDemocrats andCommunists to feelpowerless. Bauer’s theorywas rooted inhis fear that 83 ‘Der sozialistischeAufbau inder Sowjetunion ist vollkommener, als iches im Jahre 1931 erwartethabe,gelungen.DieDemokratieistinMitteleuropademFaschismuserlegen.Wir müßtenblindseinfürweltgeschichtlicheTatsachen,wenndiesebeidengroßenErlebnisse unsereAnsichtenüberdenWegzumSozialismusnichtbeeinflußten’–Bauer1976p,p.270.