Page - 231 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the ‘thirdway’ to socialism 231 berRevolution:lowlevelsofindustrialdevelopmentinRussia,anundeveloped agriculture,andtheimmaturityoftheworkingclasswithrespecttogoverning astate–especiallythediminishingsocialbasefortheproletariandictatorship anditsdegenerationintoapartydictatorship. However, the fact that Bauer constantly stressed the different economic, social andpolitical conditions inRussiaandWesternEuropewasalsomotiv- atedby theobjectivesof sdappolicy.Thiswayhecould justify thevalidityof theSocial-Democraticconceptofrevolution.Byimplyingthat the ‘theoryand practice of the Bolsheviks represent an adaptation of socialism to a country wherecapitalismisstillundeveloped,theproletariatthereforeonlyconstitutes aminorityofthenation,andsocialismadaptstoRussia’seconomicbackward- ness’ (our translation),hevindicatedhis thesis that thereweredifferentroads to socialism, and that theRussian revolutionarymodel shouldnotbe imple- mentedinhighlydevelopedcountries.143Thisalsoservedtoconvinceworkers infatuatedwith the victory of socialism in theEast that itwas impossible to repeat the Russian scenario at home. At the time, Bauer stood in full solid- aritywithKautsky,whoproclaimed that theSocialDemocratsmustdistance themselves fromBolshevik strategy if theywere topreserve the credibility of Social-Democraticpoliticsandsaveinternationalsocialism.Bauerforesawthe consequencesof theBolsheviks’ strategyandrealisticallyassessed theprolet- ariandictatorship’schancesofsuccess: Bolshevism cannot improve the condition of the proletariat because it can only destroy, not raise, production. Ultimately, the ‘dictatorship of theproletariat’willstandinoppositiontotheproletariat.Forthisreason, itmust fail.However, if socialismdoesnot sharplydissociate itself from Bolshevism, then the defeat of Bolshevismwill become the defeat of socialismassuch.144 ourtranslation 143 ‘…TheorieundPraxisderBolschewikidieAnpassungdesSozialismusaneinLandsind,in demderKapitalismusnochunentwickelt ist,dasProletariatdahernocheineMinderheit der Nation darstellt und sich der Sozialismus an die wirtschaftliche Rückständigkeit Russlandsanpasst’–Bauer1980h,p.928. 144 ‘DerBolschewismuskanndieLagedesProletariatsnichtverbessern,weil erdieProduk- tionnichtheben,sondernnurzerstörenkann.ErmußdaherdasProletariatenttäuschen. Die “Diktatur des Proletariats” muß schließlich in Gegensatz zumProletariat geraten. Darummuß sie scheitern. Aber wenn sich der Sozialismus vomBolschewismus nicht scharf scheidet, dannwird dieNiederlage des Bolschewismus zurNiederlage des Sozi- alismusüberhaupt’–Bauer1919,p.666.