Austro-Marxism: The Ideology of Unity Austro-Marxist Theory and Strategy

563 Pages·2015·2.01 MB·English

by  Mark E. Blum

Austro-Marxism:TheIdeologyofUnity
Historical Materialism
Book Series
EditorialBoard
SébastienBudgen(Paris)
SteveEdwards(London)
JuanGrigera(London)
MarcelvanderLinden(Amsterdam)
PeterThomas(London)
volume109
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/hm
Austro-Marxism:
The Ideology of Unity
Austro-MarxistTheoryandStrategy
volume1
Editedby
MarkE.Blum
WilliamSmaldone
leiden | boston
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Austro-Marxism(Brill)
Austro-Marxism:theideologyofunity/editedbyMarkE.Blum,WilliamSmaldone.
volumescm.–(Historicalmaterialismbookseries,ISSN1570-1522;109)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Contents:Volume1.Austro-Marxisttheoryandstrategy
ISBN978-90-04-21756-0(hardback:alk.paper)–ISBN978-90-04-30634-9(e-book)
1.Austro-Marxistschool.2.Socialists–Austria.3.Socialism–Austria–History.I.Blum,MarkE.,editor.II.
Smaldone,William,editor.III.Title.
HX253.A9752015
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2015030756
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Contents
Preface ix
part 1
Introduction
Introduction 3
part 2
OverviewofAustro-MarxistTheoreticians
MaxAdler 19
OttoBauer 39
KarlRenner 56
FriedrichAdler 66
OttoNeurath 77
RudolfHilferding 84
part 3
TheTranslatedTheoreticalTextsoftheAustro-Marxists
MaxAdler 93
‘TheNewConceptofSociation’,inLehrbuchderMaterialistischen
Geschichtsauffassung(1930) 93
‘TheSocialAPriori’,inTheEnigmaofSociety(1936) 102
‘The“Given”asLivingConsciousness’,inTheEnigmaofSociety
(1936) 111
‘TheActivityofConsciousness’,inTheEnigmaofSociety(1936) 115
‘SocialBeingandSocialScience’,inTheEnigmaofSociety(1936) 135
vi contents
‘ExcursusonAnarchism’,inDieStaatsauffassungdesMarxismus,
Marx-Studien,Vol.4,Part2,Chaptersxv,xvi,xvii,andxviii
(1922) 156
‘WhyWeAreNotUnderstood’,inDieStaatsauffassungdes
Marxismus,Marx-Studien,Vol.4,Part2,Chapterxix(1922) 226
‘BeliefasanEpistemologicalConcept’,inDasSoziologischeinKants
Erkenntniskritik:EinBeitragzurAuseinandersetzungzwischen
NaturalismusundKritizismus(1924) 230
‘TheGiveninEthics’,inDasSoziologischeinKantsErkenntniskritik:
EinBeitragzurAuseinandersetzungzwischenNaturalismusund
Kritizismus(1924) 241
OttoBauer 255
‘TheConceptofNation’,inTheQuestionofNationalitiesandSocial
Democracy(1907) 258
‘RemarksontheQuestionofNationalities’,DieNeueZeit,Vol.xxv
(1908) 281
‘MarxismandEthics’,DieNeueZeit,Vol.xxiii(1906) 295
‘IntervalsinHistory’,DerKampf,Vol.3(1910) 315
‘TheEquilibriumofClassStrengths’,DerKampf,Vol.17(1924) 323
‘TheTransitionfromtheCapitalisttotheSocialistSociety’,in
EinführungindieVolkswirtschaftslehre(1927–8) 339
KarlRenner 368
(Synopticus),StateandNation:AConstitutionalInvestigationofthe
PossiblePrinciplesofaSolutionandtheJuridicalPrerequisitesofaLaw
ofNationalities(1899) 369
‘LegalInstitutionsandEconomicStructure’,inTheInstitutionsof
PrivateLawandTheirSocialFunctions[DieRechtsinstitutedes
PrivatrechtsundIhreSozialeFunktion](1929[1904]) 403
‘EconomicDemocracy:TheProgrammeofEconomicSelf-Help
AmongtheWorkingClasses’,DerKampf,Vol.19(1926) 426
‘EconomicDemocracy’,DerKampf,Vol.19(1926) 437
FriedrichAdler 455
‘FriedrichEngelsandNaturalScience’,DieNeueZeit,Vol.xxiv
(1906–7) 456
‘WhyDoWeNeedTheories?(originallyinDerKampf,March,1909)’,
inTheRenewaloftheInternational[DieErneuerungder
Internationale](1919) 478
contents vii
OttoNeurath 489
‘SociologyasPhysicalism’[SoziologieimPhysikalismus],in
Erkenntnis,Vol.2(1931) 489
‘ProtocolStatements’[‘Protokollsätze’],Erkenntnis,Vol.3
(1932–3) 500
RudolfHilferding 508
‘Preface’,FinanceCapital,AStudyoftheLatestDevelopmentof
Capitalism(1910) 508
‘TheWorkCommunityoftheClasses?’,DerKampf,Vol.8(1915) 513
Bibliography 527
Index 538

Preface
The present volume is part of a two-volume set that aims to bring a wide-
rangingandrepresentativeselectionoftheworksofAustro-Marxism’sleading
thinkers,includingsuchfiguresasOttoBauer,KarlRenner,RudolfHilferding,
MaxAdler,FriedrichAdler,andOttoNeurath,toanEnglishspeakingaudience.
Such a project is long overdue. Often referred to as members of the ‘Austro-
Marxistschool’,theseactivistsandthinkersplayedadecisiveroleinshapingthe
politicalandintellectualhistoryofCentralEuropeduringthefirsthalfofthe
twentiethcentury.1Whiletheirtheoreticalcontributionsandpoliticalpraxis
addressed the full gamut of socio-economic, political and cultural problems
facingEuropeduringthattumultuousera,manyoftheirexperiencesandideas
alsoremainpertinenttoday.Coalescingasagroupwithinthemultiethnicand
multinationalAustro-HungarianEmpire,theAustro-Marxistsworkedtocon-
struct a unified social-democratic movement grounded on mutual trust and
co-operation.Inapolitywrackedbyclassstrifeandethno-nationalistdivisions,
theireffortsultimatelyfailedtoholdtheempiretogetherasAustria-Hungary,
like Germany, collapsed in the fall of 1918. Taking the reins of power in their
defeatedandtruncatedhomeland,leaderssuchasBauerandRennergrappled
withAustria’spoliticalandeconomicisolationinaregionnowpopulatedbyan
arrayofsmall,independent,andoftenhostilestates,whileHilferdingbecame
amajorpoliticalfigureinmuchweakenedGermany.InthenewAustrianand
GermanRepublicsoftheinterwarera,theAustro-Marxistsworkedtorealise
theaimsofdemocraticsocialismthroughthepromotionofdemocraticsocial,
economic,andpoliticalreformsathomeandgreaterco-operationandinteg-
rationabroad.Operatinginacontradictorycontextofintensifyingglobaleco-
nomicandpoliticalrivalries,growinginternationalinterdependenceand,after
1929,deepeningeconomiccrisis,aswellasfacingthegrowingthreatoffascist
counterrevolutionathome,theAustro-Marxistswereengagedinstrugglesnot
unlikemanyfacingthecontemporaryworld.Theirdefeatdoesnotdiminishthe
richnessoftheirthoughtorthevalueoftheirexperienceforunderstandingthe
issuesofourowntime.AsRichardSaagehasrecentlynoted:
Occupying oneself with the Austro-Marxists … is quite apart from but
one more nostalgic flight from the real problems of globalized capital-
ism and its neo-Liberal hegemony at the beginning of the 21st century.
1 SeeBottomore’sintroductioninBottomoreandGoode1978,pp.1–2.
x preface
IfonelosesamemorialawarenessofwhatSocialDemocracyaddressed
initsownhistory,ourcontemporaryidentitysuffers,particularlytowards
thehumanitytowhichwewouldcontribute.InthelightoftheAustro-
Marxist experience in its rise and fall, in its innovations and failures, a
relevanceforourowntimeistobefound.2
TheculturalmilieuoftheAustro-Marxists,thearguablysupranationalsociety
intowhichtheywereborn,contributedtotheiraimofachievingwhatAustrian
culturalhistorianshavecalled‘unityindiversity’.3Examplesofearlierpolitical
efforts to achieve this ‘unity in diversity’ can be found in the attempt of the
KremsierConstitutionof1849,andinthatguidedbyCountBelcrediin1867,
who counseled Franz Joseph to conceive of his role as that of Emperor of
a supranational state. Franz Joseph’s installation of the Hohenwart ministry
whichsoughtgreaterparticipationandauthorityfortheSlavicpeoplesofthe
Empire,andthesubsequentgovernmentundertheleadershipofCountEduard
vonTaaffe–whoalsomadeconcessionstotheCzechsandothernon-German
nationalities – reflected his effort to greater federalise the national ethnic
demandsofCisleithania.4BalancewasneverfullyachievedbeforeWorldWari
because of the countervailing demands of the Magyars who wanted a dual,
ratherthanafederal,politicalstructure.5TheAustrianSocialDemocraticParty
followedasimilarvisionoffederalismwiththeirBrünnProgramof1899.6
GrasslandSmitharguethatjustasthepoliticiansoftheAustro-Hungarian
Empirewerecompelledtodeveloppoliciesthatcouldaddressthecentrifugal
tendenciesofagrowingnationalandethnicstrivingforautonomywithout-
reachtowardsthesedifferenceswhichcouldsomehowgenerateandmaintain
interdependent co-operation, thinkers and artists were intuitively drawn to
suchframeworksofthoughtintheirowndisciplines.New‘unitiesindiversity’
might be achieved to better accommodate interpersonal realities. Causation
heremightbeseenastheroleofcommunityintheshapingofthought,akin
toAristotle’sunderstandingofthehumanasazoonpolitikonwhoseframeof
reality is the polis in its structuring of interdependent realities. The signific-
anceofhowcommunalwholesbetweenpersonandpersonwereformedcould
vary; indeed, understanding this possibility of changing structures became a
newmetacognitivegroundforthepioneeringthoughtofAustrianminds.For
2 Saage2009,p.63.
3 SeeGrasslandSmith1986,pp.11–30.SeealsoBlum2003,pp.131–42.
4 SeeBeller2006,pp.143–5.
5 Beller2006,pp.145–7.
6 SeeKulemann1979,pp.120–6.