Page - 240 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

240 chapter 5 economicandsocialbackwardness.Thislineofargumentledhimtothelogical conclusion that the industrialisationandcollectivisationof theSoviet repub- lichad laid the foundations for the futuresocialist socialorder.Note that this didnot amount to anyprofoundevolutionofhis theoretical views. Yet, even so, therewasonlyanostensiblecontradictionbetweenhisdenial thatanon- capitalistRussiacouldexist inthemid-1920sandhisconcessionthatsocialism tooknational formsandcouldberealised inonecountry.Bauer lookedat the newstageofdevelopment inRussiaasa ‘progressive formof statecapitalism’ andbelievedthat theCommunistParty’sdrivetofast industrialisationrepres- enteditscapitulationtothelineestablishedbytheclassicalMarxists,whohad coupledtheemergenceofsocialismwiththerisingtideofproductiveforces. Bauer’s evaluation of the endurance andnecessity of Stalin’s dictatorship representedasignificantchangeofposition.Inthe1930s,Bauernotonlymain- tainedhisconstructiveviewoftheroleofthepartydictatorshipfortheprocess of industrialisationthathehaddevelopedinthe1920s,hevirtuallypaiddefer- encetoStalin’s regime. In1931,hewrote: Thisunprecedentedtransformationisoccurringunderaterroristdictat- orship, and it canonlyoccurunder suchcircumstances.Onlya terrorist dictatorshipcanforceanationof150millionpeopletoacceptsuchhard- shipinthepresent forthesakeofagreater future. ourtranslation163 Hewas evenmore explicit in 1933when justifying his positionwith fear of reactionarycounter-revolution: ‘Democracyiscertainlyunthinkableintoday’s Russia’.164 Infact,Bauer’sattitudetowardstheStalinistdictatorshipwasambi- valent.Ontheonehand,hestresseditsefficaciousroleinfurtheringthetrans- formation of social and property relations in Russia. On the other, he con- demneditsdistinctwaysofexercisingpower.165 163 ‘Diese ganzebeispielloseUmwälzungvollzieht sichunter einer terroristischenDiktatur undkannsichnurunterihrvollziehen.NureineterroristischeDiktaturkanneinVolkvon mehrals150MillionenMenschenzwingen,umeinergrößerenZukunftwillensoschwere EntbehrungeninderGegenwartaufsichnehmen’–Bauer1931,p.218. 164 Bauer1980v,p.328. 165 Bauer’scomparisonof fascistandStalinistdictatorshipsservedasasuccinctreflectionof thisdissonance inevaluatingthehistorical significanceofStalinism. In 1936,hecontras- ted the twodictatorshipsas follows: ‘Of course, there is anessential differencebetween thetwomodernformsofdictatorship.Thefascistdictatorshipdestroys theresultsof the politicalemancipationoftheindividualinordertopreventthesocialemancipationofthe