Page - 263 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

state, democracy, socialism 263 Thedemand toexpanddemocracy is oneofBauer’smost valuable ideas and deserves tobepopularised incountries thataimtoreinforcetheirdemocratic structures. The principle at the heart of Bauer’s pleawas that hewished to continueprioritisingpoliticaldemocracyasaprerequisite for theexistenceof extra-parliamentaryformsofdemocracy. 3 DemocraticSocialism Bauerdevelopedhis conceptof democratic socialismduring the secondhalf of the 1930s. Itwasbasedonasociological analysis of theways inwhichpar- liamentary formsof rule functioned in thebourgeois stateundergivensocio- political conditions.Considering theexperienceof thecounter-revolutionary period,Bauersawhimself forcedtoadmit that inpractice,democracydidnot necessarilyrespectpopularsovereignty.Thebourgeoisiehadmeansofmaterial andimmaterialviolenceat itsdisposal.Moreover, it succeededinusingpetty- bourgeoisandpeasantparties,whichhadthesupportofbroadmasses,astools toenforceitsoverridingpoliticalandeconomicobjectives.Towardstheendof the 1920s, Bauer surrenderedhis duty to democratise the bourgeois political order. Instead, he began to express his belief in the class character of bour- geoisdemocracy, a conviction thathadbeenpresent inhis texts sincebefore WorldWari, indefinitiveterms.Henowacknowledgedthatformalsafeguards of freedomdidnot offer protection fromeconomic andpolitical ruling-class pressure: if itsclass rulewasunder threat, thebourgeoisiewasquiteprepared torenouncedemocraticprincipleandresorttodictatorship.Whentheautumn of 1930 came, the dissolution of the bourgeois bloc,which effectivelymeant thedemiseofthebourgeoisrepublic,confirmedBauer’spredictions.TheSocial Democrats’ delusions that itwaspossible toengagewith thebourgeois camp ataparliamentary levelhadbeendestroyed.31 Bauerbecameincreasinglyscepticalaboutbourgeoisdemocracyasthefas- cisisation of Austria advanced. The experience of fascist counter-revolution convincedhim that the capitalists had tobe fundamentally deprivedof eco- nomic power if true democracywas to be achieved. However, Bauer’s ideo- logical evolutionwas not particularly profound. His criticisms of bourgeois democracybynomeansimpliedthatheendorsedthedictatorshipof thepro- letariatasanalternative.Onecontentionwhichhadarisenfromhisphilosoph- icalperspectivethatdefinedaspecificaxiologicaloptionwasthefundamental 31 CompareSaage1985,p.28.