Page - 227 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the ‘thirdway’ to socialism 227 up-to-dateaboutBolshevikpolitics.Therewereatleastafewreasonsastowhy his voice in this debatewas decisive for the entire Social-Democraticmove- ment: Bauerwas theonly leadingWesternSocialDemocratwhohadexperi- encedtheFebruaryRevolution first-handbetween1918–23,andwas therefore able tobasehis judgementondirectobservations.Hekept in touchwith the Mensheviks,spokeRussianand,whatismore,draftedatheoryconcerningthe developmentof the SovietRussian state.135 Frankly, his historical analyses of theRussiansituationandBolshevikendeavourswereoftenfairlyuncriticaland inadequate–albeit thiswaspartly due toa lackof detailed informationand Russia’s isolationfromtheinternationalarena. With respect to thewhole of his revolutionary theory, Bauer’s attitude to- wards theOctoberRevolutionandBolshevismcouldbe interpretedas rather secondaryandcomplementary.Itdidnotaddtohistheoryofsocialrevolution, nor did it lead Bauer to abandon his adopted theses. This attitude appears relevant with respect to another aspect: it accurately reflects the tensions betweenloyalties toMarxist theory,Bauer’sownbasic ideological stance,and hisanticipationsoftheSovietexperiment.Leserdescribesthesecontradictions as follows: AmongtheMarxisttheoristswhospenttheir lifetimesengagingwiththe OctoberRevolutionanditshistoricalconsequences…theAustromarxist, Otto Bauer, occupies a special place… because his standpoint during themain period of his activity and work took up amiddling ground between total identification and complete rejection. It thus satisfied a widespreaddesirenot to submit to thenewmasters of theSoviet state, andon theotherhandnot to fully deny themsocialist intentionsnor a Marxist legitimisationoftheseintentionsandactions.136 Bauer’s positions on Soviet Russia, and later the Soviet Union,were so con- troversial that evenSocialDemocratswhootherwise acceptedhis views and 135 His knowledge of historical conditions (three years spent in the pow camp in Russia, fourweeks spent in St Petersburg in 1917), language skills, and status as a leading the- orist of the Labour and Socialist International earned him the reputation of being an outstanding and competent expert on the situation inRussia.Hewas given the role of mainspeakeron theRussianquestionatlsi congresses starting inHamburg (1923)and ending inVienna (1931).Aside fromKautsky,hewasalso theSocial-Democratic theorist most frequentlyattackedbyLeninandtheComintern–compareLenin1974,pp.228–30; Löw1981,p.51. 136 Ourtranslation.Leser1979b,p.95.