Page - 206 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

206 chapter 5 position. In Austria, on the other hand, the interests of the proletarian and peasantclassesoverlappedonlymarginally. Austromarxistrevolutionarytheoryforalongtimelackedagenuineinterest in themiddle classes question. The first reason for thiswas that themiddle classeswere seenaspartial subjects of the revolutionaryprocess – i.e. social groups tobewontotheaimsof socialistpolitics, yetwithoutanactiverole in history. The secondwas that their participation in the struggle for socialism wasdeemedaquestionofSocial-Democraticparty strategyandtactics rather thanatheoreticalone.This tactic focusedonfindingmechanismsthatmight destroytheeconomic,politicalandculturalhegemonyofthebourgeoisie.The SocialDemocratsknewthathegemonywasnotjusttheresultoftheeconomic positionofthebourgeoisie–thepoweroffinancecapital,thesystemofcredits, tariffpolicies–butalsoresultedfromthefactthatbourgeoisgovernmentrelied onmass parties which united themajority of society,made up of the petty bourgeoisieandpeasantry.Forthis reason, theysawitas theirdutyto liberate themiddleclassesfrombourgeoisinfluenceandconvincethemthattheSocial- Democratic partydidnot just represent one class, but that its social policies consideredall thosesellingtheir labourpowerfora living. Toachieve this, theparty’s theoryof socialist revolutionhad toundergoa modification.Its inadequatetendencywasthatitdeclaredtheseizureofpolit- icalpowerbytheproletariatastheconditionsinequanon for thefirststageof socialrevolution.Seizingpowerwithinthedemocraticsystem,inturn,wasnot possiblewithoutwinningaparliamentarymajority, and thatwasnot achiev- ablewithout prior Social-Democratic efforts to transform the capitalist state for thebenefit of thebroadmasses.Only a formula envisioning a revolution intwostagescouldhelpthepartyoutof thisdilemma.Theprogrammesdraf- tedbyBauer,whocomposedTheRoadtoSocialism, offeredsucha formula in the formofhis socialisation andagricultural programmes. Bauerhoped that the realisation of these programmeswould accelerate the process of demo- cratisingsocialrelationsundercapitalism.Thiswould,accordingtotheunder- standing of Social Democracy, amount to transforming the capitalist system in a socialist spirit. He also thought that the programmewould garner sym- pathies for socialism frombroad social layers. One important aspect should notbeoverlooked:neithertheconceptofsocialisation,whichwasunderstood as a transitional stage between capitalism and socialism, nor the draft agri- culturalprogrammewererevisionsofAustromarxist revolutionarytheory,but ratherweremeresupplementsresultingfromthenecessitytosubordinatethe- ory to theneedsofpoliticalpractice.Nevertheless, theyhadfar-reachingcon- sequences for Austromarxist theory: efforts to find socialist solutions under capitalismdivertedtheparty’sattentionfromthestruggletoaccruestatepower