Page - 210 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

210 chapter 5 alisation gradually onto other branches of the economy. As a stopgap solu- tion forbranchesof industry thatwerenot ready for socialisation,he sugges- tedcartels similar to the industrial associationsmodelledon thecentres and associations developed in the FirstWorldWar. Thepeak of the socialisation processwould be the expropriation of banks and establishment of a central bank.99 Bauer excluded individual farming and small industrial and trading enterprises, citing thedetrimental consequences of expropriationdecrees in theHungarianSovietRepublic, suchas thedisruptionof theeconomiccycle, growingexpensesoftradingtransactions,andalackofskilledmanagersinthe workingclass. Bauer’s programmeprovidedaclearblueprint as tohowthemixedmodel would function during the transitional stage of nationalisation. Onemight wonderhowsocialist industries couldbemaintained in a capitalist environ- ment. Bauer cites two essential conditions for this: (1) division of labour, an increase in productivity through lower production costs and increasedwork efficiency; (2) implementingsocialisationataninternational level ratherthan inpoliticalandsocial isolationashadbeenthecase inRussia.100Thisprocess was tooccur initially in economically autarkic countries, and later spread to lessdeveloped lands.Aworldwideplannedeconomywas toemerge fromthe subsequentstagesofsocialisation.AsMärzandWeberobserved,aninnercon- tradictionwas immanent toBauer’sproject:ontheonehand, itwasdesigned exclusively forpostwarAustria; on theother, theAnschlussofAustria toGer- manywasmandatoryforittosucceed.101TheeconomicaspectoftheAnschluss wasdecisive, asGermany fulfilled the required criteria for socialisationcited by Bauer to a far greater degree. As a bigger economic territory, its produc- tionwas additionallymore concentrated than inAustria.Oneparticular vir- tue of Bauer’s programmewas not the notion of gradual socialisation, but his specific standard for nationalised industries.102 Bauer categorically rejec- ted thenationalisationofpropertyandproductionmanagementby the state 99 Bauerwas referring toHilferdinghere.Note thathehaddoubts aboutnationalising the banks, ashe feared that this actmight infringeupon international capital relations.His projectofnationalisingthebankswasmetwithapprovalfromKätheLeichterandRenner. SeeSteiner1973b,p.423;Renner1924,p.372. 100 Karl Kautsky, who in his works stressed the link between socialisation and increasing productivity, exerted great influence over Bauer’s views of socialist economy. Compare Bauer1919,p.664. 101 SeeMärzandWeber,p.81. 102 Thisprojectfoundthemostsupportintheinternationalworkers’movements’discussion onsocialisation.