Page - 293 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the question ofwar in bauer’s thought 293 proletarian revolution inGermany. Ultimately, they believed that the divide in the internationalworkers’movement could be overcomedespite existing differences.Theirpositionwasnotmetwithapprovalwithinthelsi.Friedrich Adler, whowas the lsi secretary at the time, rejected thewar theses, as he didnot consider the lsi ready for aunified statementon the imminentwar. LéonBlumandthe ‘NeuBeginnen’group likewisecriticised the theses.Bauer directlyrespondedtothisinhisDecember1935articleinDerKampf andinthe bookZwischenzweiWeltkriegen,whereheoutlinedthreedistinctworking-class attitudestowardswar:(1)patriotism,whichaimstokeepthepeaceandinvolves thesubordinationof theproletariat to thegovernment(GermanyandAustria duringWorldWari); (2) revolutionarydeviationism,whichaimstotransform the war into a socialist revolution under any socio-political circumstances, eventhedefeatofone’scountry(theZimmerwald left); and(3)defendingthe fatherland and attempting to use themasses’ readiness for war in order to seizepoliticalpower(theleftwingofthelsi).34Baueridentifiedthefollowing main reasons for war: in the foreground, the interests of American, British, FrenchandJapaneseimperialisminAfrica,theMiddleEast,FarEastandChina; nationalconflictinvolvingminoritiesthatresultforthenewdivisionofEurope afterWorldWar i toasecondarydegree;and lastly, theeconomiccrisisas the reason for the victory of fascism inGermanyand Italy. Bauerwas convinced that the capitalist countries’ war objectiveswere directed firmly against the socialistcountries–i.e.theSovietUnionandChina–irrespectiveofanysigned agreements,suchasthatbetweentheSovietUnionandFrance.Inaddition,he believedthatthecomingwarwouldbeaconflictbetweentwodifferentsocio- political systems.Therefore,hemaintainedthat itwouldbenecessary for the SocialDemocratstoco-operatewiththeCommunistsifwarweredeclared,and called on the French, British andRussian proletariat to unite. However, due tomutual feelingsofdisregard, thelsihadnointerestwhatsoever in forming aunited frontwith theComintern. True, it passed a resolutionuponBauer’s request (17November 1935) thatgrantedeveryaffiliatedparty the right toco- operatewith theCommunists–butevenso, co-operationdidnotmaterialise dueto insurmountablemutualprejudice.Likewise,Bauer’sattemptstoentice the Social Democrats into supporting the popular front in Spain (February 1937) and allowing the Russian trade unions to affiliate to the International TradeUnionConfederation remained fruitless.Disappointedwith the stance of the lsi, Bauer accurately observed at the endof his life that the isolation oftheSovietUnionsignificantlyweakenedtheinternationalproletariat inthe 34 CompareLöw,p.219.