Page - 261 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

state, democracy, socialism 261 democracycomprisedtwotypesofmicro-democracy:democracyatthelevelof groupsororganisations,anddemocracyintheworkplace.Inrelationtodemo- cracyasstateorderandpoliticalprinciple,thesetwotypesofdemocracyplayed asubordinate role, and it isnotpossible todefine themconclusivelybecause Bauer’sstatementswereimprecise.Evenso,it isfeasibletoattempttodescribe thembylookingattheconstitutivetraitsoffunctionaldemocracyandthetasks theyweredesignedtoserve. Baueremployedtheterm‘industrialdemocracy’whendiscussingthesocial- isation programme for the society of the future and outlining its economic structure.Hismodelswere largely basedonwritings by Sidney andBeatrice Webbandtheguildsocialists,particularlyGeorgeDouglasHowardCole.28For Bauer, the termhadnotonlyaneconomicbutalsoapolitical dimension.He understooditprimarilyasworkers’directinvolvementintheadministrationof productionthroughself-management inthefactories,andancillaryparticipa- tion throughdemocratically organised tradeunions, industrial councils, pro- fessionalassociationsforpublicservants,workers’andpeasants’co-operatives, andconsumerassociations.Moreover, the termwasassociatedwithproducer self-management in the industries.29 As to the structure of industrial demo- cracy, Bauer implieda transition fromdemocratic internal regulations in the 28 Theterm‘industrialdemocracy’waspopularisedattheturnofthenineteenthandtwen- tiethcenturiesbySidneyandBeatriceWebb–seeWebb1897.Thecreatorsofguildsocial- ism,gdhCole,SamuelGeorgeHobson,AlfredRichardOrageandArthurPenty,adopted it.TheyelicitedtheideasofMarxism,syndicalismandFabianism.Theemergenceofguild socialismrefers to thearchitectArthurPenty’sbook,TheRestorationof theGuildSystem (1906)–popularisedinNewAgemagazinefrom1908onwards.Thecoreprinciplesof this were theorganisationof thedomestic systemof co-operativeproduction, changing the formofremuneration,andtransformingthetradeunions intoorgansofproductionself- management. The trend gained influencedue toCole’s 1913 book,TheWorldof Labour, which aimed to put themedieval idea of guilds at the service of themodernworkers’ movement.Colepresentedamodel thatwouldexclude thecapitalists fromtheproduc- tionprocessandreconciletheinterestsoftheimmediateproducersandconsumers.Itwas tobebasedonadecentralised formofeconomicorganisation: guilds– i.e. tradeunions converted intoproduction associations –were to regulate the economyautonomously. Meanwhile,acentralpoliticalorganisationwouldownthemeansofproductionasaunit- arystatepowerandrepresent the interestsofconsumers.Atconsumerrequest, itwould alsocontrol theeconomicpoliciesof theguilds.Theprinciplesof internaldemocratisa- tion,socialcontrol,andself-managementwereintrinsictothismodel. 29 Bauerdidnotconcealthefactthatfull industrialdemocracycouldonlybeachievedifthe working class assumed statepoweror at least significantlyparticipated in government. Hewasalsoawarethattheworkerswereneitherpreparednormatureenoughtomanage production.Thiswas the reasonwhyhestressed theextra-economic significanceof the