Page - 253 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

state, democracy, socialism 253 2 ParliamentaryandSocialDemocracy The rapid transformationofAustria fromamonarchy intoa republic shaped publicopinionondemocracyandpredetermineditsfate.AsPelinkanotes,the newrepublic lackedaparliamentarytradition. In itsearlydays, thecitizensof thenew republic felt no loyalty towards the state, and consequently, society didnotrespecttheprinciplesofthepoliticalorder.14Nordidtheexistingbour- geoispartieshaveanyaspirations toreinforcedemocraticpolitical structures; afterall,theproclamationoftherepublichadnotbeentheculminationoftheir political struggles,butwas forceduponthembythepostwarsituationinAus- tria.Themassesentrustedtheir loyalty to their respectivepoliticalaffiliations before pledging any allegiance to the democratic republic. Since there was nouniversal interpretationofdemocracy, anestablishedway for theparty to functionwithin thesystemofpoliticaldemocracywasequallynon-existent.15 Thus,Austrianparliamentbecameasiteofstrugglebetweencompetingpolit- icalelites.16Incontrasttootherpoliticalgroups,theAustrianSocialDemocrats occupiedadistinctplace: fromtheearliestdaysoftherepublic, theydefended bourgeoisdemocracy. Attitudestowardsdemocracyvariedwithinthesdap,andthisstateofaffairs persisteduntilthepartycongressofLinz.Thefactthatvariousdefinitionsofthe contentious concept coexistedwithin the party further sharpened the exist- ingpolarisation.Dependingonwhoonetalkedto,democracycouldmean, for instance, a system for the commongood, the ruleof ahomogeneouspeople, away topeacefully reconcileopposing interests, or the ruleof themajority.17 Party comrades agreed only on foregrounding universal humanist aims and democraticvaluesmanifest intheprotectionofcivilrightsandhumandignity, andondemocracy’s vital role in thedecentralisationof state power and the political educationof themasses. Thewide rangeof interpretations inspired the party’smain ideologists to discern the theoretical foundations of demo- cracy. As a result of their efforts, however, three different theories of demo- cracyexistedwithinAustromarxistpolitical theory:Bauer’s,Renner’sandMax Adler’s.18Incontrasttotheothertwo,Bauer’stheorycentredontheaxiological 14 SeePelinka1982,p.82. 15 OntheshortcomingsofdemocracyinAustria,compareReimann’s insightfuldisquisition inReimann1968,p. 154. 16 SeePelinka1982,p.84. 17 ComparePfabigan1982,p.221. 18 I wrote on their similarities and differences in Nurt medjacji – see Czerwińska 1991, pp.283–97.