Page - 229 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the ‘thirdway’ to socialism 229 onymHeinrichWeber just before theOctober Revolution, entitledDie russ- ischeRevolutionunddas europäischeProletariat (TheRussianRevolutionand the EuropeanProletariat, 1917), and a book published three years later, Bols- chewismusoderSozialdemokratie? (BolshevismandSocialDemocracy). Inboth of these early treatises, the author cast doubton the legitimacyof a socialist revolutioninapoliticallybackwardcountry fromaclassicalMarxistperspect- ive. At the time, Bauer echoed the sentiments foundwithin thework of the ‘fatherofRussianMarxism’,GeorgiPlekhanov,alsoheldbymostSocialDemo- crats of his time: InRussia, capitalist developmentmust precede revolution. Secondly, theweaknessofthedomesticbourgeoisie,arepercussionofRussia’s dependencyonforeigncapital, impliedthat it shouldbeledbytheproletariat inalliancewiththepeasantry.Thirdly,theresultoftheRussianRevolutioncan onlybeademocratic republicwith thebourgeoisie inpower.Afterhis return fromimprisonmentinRussia,shortlyaftertheoutbreakoftheOctoberRevolu- tion,Bauerwrote: Russia is an agrarian countrywhere theworkers are aminority of the population. TheRussianRevolution cannot culminate in adictatorship of theproletariat; it cannot establish a socialist social order. Even if the RussianRevolutionovercomes all the dangers itwill have to dealwith, theresultcannotbeanythingbutabourgeoisdemocraticrepublic.140 ourtranslation BauercriticallyevaluatedLenin’sAprilThesesstartingfromthisbasicposition. Incontrast toLenin,hemaintainedthat itwasnecessary for thesoviets toco- operatewiththeprovisionalgovernmentandthattheparliamentaryplatform mustbesustained.As isevident fromhis28September 1917 letter toKautsky, he essentially adopted the sameposition as theMenshevik-Internationalists (FyodorDan, JuliusMartov)whoemphasised the limitationsof theworking- class struggle in a semi-feudal country.141 This strugglewas directed against boththeMensheviks’coalitionwiththebourgeoisieandtheBolsheviks’prolet- ariandictatorship.Furthermore,theworkersdemandedthattheSocialRevolu- tionariesengageinapactwithdifferentSocial-Democratictrendsandentrust thestrongestparty intheconstituentassembly. 140 ‘RusslandisteinAgrarland,indemdieArbeitereineMinderheitderBevölkerungsind.Die russischeRevolutionkannnichtmitderDiktaturdesProletariats enden, siekannnicht einesozialistischeGesellschaftsordnungaufrichten.AuchwenndierussischeRevolution alle ihrdrohendenGefahrenüberwindet,wird ihrErgebnisnichts anderes seinkönnen alseinebürgerlichedemokratischeRepublik’–Bauer1917,p.26. 141 Letter fromOttoBauertoKarlKautsky,28September1917.