Page - 265 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

state, democracy, socialism 265 In the 1930s, under the impression of historical events such as the defeat of theAustrianworkers’ insurrection, thedemiseof theparty, and theestab- lishmentofanauthoritarianstate,Bauermodifiedhisviewofthedictatorship of theproletariat. Even so, he consistently opposed the implementationof a proletariandictatorship,merely accepting it as a provisionalmeasure in the working-classstruggle forstatepower.Bauerwrote: Thedictatorshipoftheproletariat isnotandmustnotbeanendinitself. It is only ameans that theworkingclassmustuseon itshistorical road toabolish classdivisions in society and thus create theconditions for a socialistdemocracy.Thedictatorshipoftheproletariatcanthereforeonly be the constitution of a transitional stage in the development towards socialistdemocracy.32 ourtranslation Bauer’s notion of a ‘democratic dictatorship’was not indistinguishable from Lenin’s theory of dictatorship. Violence is permitted as ameans to initiate the transformationof thepolitical order, yet suchmeasures areonly tactical. Once the task of depriving the capitalists of power has been achieved, the dictatorshipmustbe immediatelyabolishedandreplacedbythe foundations of full democracy. Bauer opposed thedictatorshipof theproletariat as a sys- temof government until the endof his life.What ismore, the only political order thathewished todefendwasbourgeois democracy.As late as 1936, he stressed: Foras longasthebalanceofclasspowerinEuropedoesnotconfrontthe peopleswithachoicebetweenbourgeoisdemocracyandproletariandic- tatorship, theproletariat in itshistoricalpracticemustdefendbourgeois democracy against fascism in thedemocratic countries and attempt to win back themost basic democratic freedoms in the fascist countries. Until then, thestruggle fordemocracy in thesecountries–that is tosay, bourgeois democracy– is the real, daily practice of theworkers’move- 32 ‘DieDiktaturdesProletariats istnichtSelbstzweckundkannnichtSelbstzwecksein.Sie istnurdasMittel,dessensichdieArbeiterklasseaufihremgeschichtlichenWegebedienen muss,umdieKlassenscheidungderGesellschaft zubeseitigenunddamitdieVorausset- zungeneiner sozialistischenDemokratiezuschaffen.DieDiktaturdesProletariatskann also nur die Verfassung einer Übergangsepoche zur sozialistischenDemokratie sein’ – Bauer1980w,pp.391–2.