Page - 289 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the question ofwar in bauer’s thought 289 gradually worked towards seizing state power. Further to constituting the greatest threat to democracy, theywere generally believed to entertain alli- anceswith imperialist circles inGermanyand Italy. This suggested that they might implicateAustria inawar.From1927–9, thesdapfocusedontheques- tionofwhether peace couldbepreserved inEurope. Bauer reproachedMax Adler,whohadsetthetoneofthisdebate,withaharshrebuttal.Withinthespd, thediscussionaroundtheSocial-Democraticmovement’spositionontheGer- manarmy (Reichswehr) andprotractedarmamentplans (e.g. thenewbattle- ship Panzerkreuzer a) inspired this particular disagreement. Much like the leftoppositioninGermany,MaxAdlerprotestedagainstfurthermilitarisation, advocatingastandpointclosetoLenin’s:every imperialistwarshouldbeused toawakentherevolutionaryconsciousnessofthemassesandturnthemagainst theirrespectivegovernments.28Forhim, ‘socialisteducation’alreadyprovided asufficientimpedimenttoimperialistwarpolicies,aswellasaninstrumentfor transforminganongoingwarintoasocialistrevolution.Interestingly,Adlerdid notconsideranylegalorinstitutionalprocessforhistheory,andassuchBauer’s accusationsof idealismwerequite justified.Bauerhighlighted the impractic- ality andutopiannatureof theSocial-Democraticwarprogrammedrafts. Yet atthesametime,hefellvictimtoadifferentextreme,whichcouldbeascribed tohisunflinching loyalty toMarx’s theory. LikeMarx, he regardedpolitics as merelyinstrumentalincomparisontoeconomics.Thiswasbasedontheunder- standingthat theentirepoliticsof theworkers’partyhadtodo justice toeco- nomic,social,historical,andclassconditions.Forhim,itwastheseelements– rather than the raisond’ étatornational interests – thatdetermined thewar character. Itwouldbe fair to say thatBauerdifferentiated, even if hedidnot mentionthisexplicitly,between ‘just’and ‘unjust’wars–adichotomyharking backtotheclassicalMarxistsandassumptionswidespread intheLabourand Socialist International.What ismore,heseconded Jean Jaurés’s viewthat the workingclassshouldparticipate inwarstodefendtheirownnational territor- iesandresist imperialistwarsofconquest.This is implicit inhisnegativeview ofapaperexploring the functionand roleof theGermanarmysubmittedby the spd left – or,more specifically, theKlassenkampf (Class Struggle) group aroundMax Seydewith, Kurt Rosenfeld, Paul Levis andMaxAdler. Stressing theimperialistqualityofallwars, thepaperadvocatedGermany’s fulldisarm- ament.Bauerobjectedtothis,convincedinsteadthatSocialDemocracyhadto establish itspositionsonanalysesof theinternationalandpoliticalbalanceof forces.Inaddition,thedisarmamentofonesidealonewouldrenderdefending 28 SeeAdler1981b,p.41.