Page - 237 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the ‘thirdway’ to socialism 237 ingitseconomicstagnation. Innumerousarticleswrittenfrom1921until 1928, Bauerdidnotfailtomentiontheuncompromisingsideeffectsthataccompan- iedthereversalofBolshevikpolicies: thestrengtheningofthebureaucracy(he nowreferredtosocialisminRussiaasadictatorshipofthebureaucracy),polit- ical terror against former allies in the struggle against Tsarism, anescalation ofsocial tensions,andstrugglesbetweendifferentparty factionssinceLenin’s stroke.157Nevertheless,Bauer,while criticising thesephenomena,objected to thedemandissuedbyTrotskyinTheRevolutionBetrayed forapoliticalrevolu- tion inorder to eradicate thedictatorship. InBauer’s view, sucha revolution would shatter the unstable condition of the ussr and strengthen counter- revolutionaryforceswithinandoutsideofRussia. Bauer thought that the Soviet government itself could dispose of bureau- cracyandputanendtoviolenceandpoliticalandeconomicterrorbyintrodu- cingademocraticnationalconstitutionanddemocratic regulations forwork- places.Heargued in this veinat congressesof theLabourandSocialist Inter- national.While criticising themethodsofBolshevism,he sidedwith theem- battledussrandarguedthattheSovietstatemustbeprotectedagainstimper- ialist intervention.Hispositionwasmanifest in the resolutionadoptedat the lsicongress inHamburgandwasmaintainedat thelsicongress inMarseille andBrussels.158 In1929, thelsiexecutiverejectedamotionsubmittedbyDan andAbramowicz that spokeof the inevitabilityof civilwarandvictoryof the counter-revolutionintheSovietUnion.159 These resolutionsbynomeans implied thatBauerwasprepared tocollab- oratewith theCommunist International, even temporarily. On the contrary, alongwithmostof thelsi leaders,hewashostile to theComintern.Amongst otherdenunciations, heobjected to the rapprochementbetweenBritish and 157 Intheautumnof1923,thegrouparoundTrotskycameintoconflictwiththetriumvirateof Stalin,ZinovievandKamenev.TheTrotskyistoppositiondemandedanendtopartydic- tatorship, internalelections insteadofappointedfunctionaries,andfreedomofcriticism anddebateintheparty.SeeTrotsky1965.Trotsky’sgroupfounditselfintheminorityatthe ThirteenthCongressof theRussianCommunistParty (cited inLöw1980.p. 83). In 1927, Trotskywasexpelledfromtheparty. 158 Theparticipantsof theHamburgcongresspasseda resolution that expressed solidarity withthevictimsofBolshevikterrorandatthesametimecalledupontheworkingclassto resist the interventionof capitalist states in theSovietUnion. It furthermoredemanded that these governments takeupeconomic anddiplomatic co-operationwith theussr. CompareProtocoloftheInternationalSocialistWorkers’CongressinHamburg,21–5May 1923,pp.86–7.Thiswasalso thepositionthat theSocialist Internationaladvocateduntil 1939. 159 Seelsiarchive,348/12–13, ii.s.g.