Page - 236 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

236 chapter 5 Bauerwaswell aware that thenew turn inRussiahadnot resulted froma change in the Bolsheviks’ programmatic line, butwas forced upon themby economicandpoliticalcircumstances.155HetookLenin’sdecisionasvalidation ofhisearliertheories,especiallyhisviewthattheattempttobuildsocialismin abackwardcountrybymeansofcompulsionwouldresult inanutter fiasco.156 InanassessmentofRussiaheconstructed in theearly 1920s,henarrowedhis focus to threeaspects: thedependencyof the countryon foreigncapital, the creationofacapitalist frameworktopreservethetransitionalcharacterof the state,and,most importantly, thenecessity toadaptsocio-political relationsto the new economic conditions. These remarkswere all based on the notion that the dictatorship had served its historical purpose and was harmful to thedevelopmentofproductive forces.As anaside, Bauer’s statement caused uproar in theBolshevikcamp. Inhis reply toBauerat theFourthCongressof theComintern,Trotskymadeitclearthatheconsideredthepersistenceofthe Bolshevikpartydictatorshipasakeybulwarkagainsttheunfetteredgrowthof capitalism. Aslateas1925,BauerremainedfaithfultohispositionontheNewEconomic Policy, yethe limitedhis judgement to thenep’s economiceffects. In this, he markedly strayed from the path ofMarxist orthodoxy, aswell as revised his own1921thesisof thenecessityofcapitalistdevelopmentinRussia,proposing instead amixed economicmodel thatmight assist the country in overcom- 155 The civilwar inRussia claimed countless lives and causedheavy economic losses. The economiccrisis,exacerbatedfurtherbythepeasants’ resistanceagainstwarcommunism policies suchas forced fooddeliveries, increased thediscontent in the cities andcoun- tryside.TheBolshevik rule lostpopularapproval.Furthermore, thesubordinationof the tradeunions to thestate ledtopolitical controversy in theparty itself andthreatenedto split it.Against thebackgroundofstrikesandunrest inthecountryside,asailoruprising occurred inKronstadt inMarch 1921. The sailors demanded the restoration of political liberties,newelections, theabolitionofwar levies in thecountryside, and the introduc- tionofa freemarket.Theeconomicallyandpoliticallyconditionedtensionsconstituted a serious threat to theBolshevikmodelof rule. Theparty saw itself as forced todiscon- tinuewarcommunismpoliciesandrestoremechanismsofmarketeconomy.WhenLenin introducedtheNewEconomicPolicy,hedidnothidethefactthattheBolshevikPartythus admittedtoitsdefeat(thepolicyessentiallycamedowntoreplacingfoodconfiscationby contingents,restoringfreetrade,privatisingsmallenterprises,grantingconcessionstofor- eigncapital,anddevelopingco-operatives).Heregardedtheretreatasanecessarytactical changerather thanamatterofprogrammaticprinciple.Evenso, the liberalisationof the economywasnotaccompaniedbyanyrelaxationof thepolitical framework(freedomof thepress, ruleof law). 156 SeeBauer1979,p.280.