Marxism and Nationalism: Theoretical Origins of a Political Crisis - Report Example

Austro-Marxism Austro-Marxism was a theoretical school of thought that was propagated by Victor Adler, Otto Bauer, Karl Renner and Max Adler all of whom belonged to the Austrian Social Democratic Workers Party. This was an offshoot of Marxism which was predominant in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and after the fall of the former, in the Austrian Republic which succeeded it. It was a theory which attempted to merge the divergent issues concerning nationalism, empire and socialism in such a manner where it would be possible for all of these concepts to exist within a single social framework. In addition, it was a means which the people mentioned above thought would be able to deal with all the diverse peoples, nationalities, and ethnic groups which were constituents of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in a manner which brought them together instead of dividing them (Lekas, 1996). Austro-Marxism was meant to keep all the disparate peoples within the empire from agitating for their own nation states and instead work towards making their different nationalities productive parts of the empire. This form of Marxism propagated the belief that it was the only means through which all the workers within the Austrian empire could be able to achieve a status where they could be treated equally and in a manner which would allow them to gain their social objectives. Moreover, it was believed that through the bringing together of all the workers from the entire empire, it would be possible to make sure that all the people within it were treated equally and this would be done in a manner which would ensure that both nationalism and socialist ideals were advanced side by side, hence preventing any conflict within the Austro-Hungarian society (Smith, 2013). This was therefore a principle which was concerned with the bringing together of all the people of the Austrian empire, no matter their nationalities and geographical locations, so that they could be able to associate with one another and advance the cause of the workers among them. In this manner, it would be possible to remove the dangerous nature of nationalistic agitation within the empire and instead ensure that the Austrian nation came to encompass all its peoples, hence being considered a non-territorial association. Austro-Marxism was a Marxist manner of thinking which made an attempt to address the problem of nationalism which was prevalent in the early twentieth century Austria-Hungary. This was done in a manner whose line of thought included the need to ensure that nationalistic agitation was put in the background in favour of the agitation of the rights of workers within the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Smith, 2013; Russell & Cohn, 2012). It can be said that Otto Bauer’s work was instrumental in the development of the theories related to it, especially one that agitated for the bringing together of the people of different nationalities that fell within the Austrian empire (Mattl, 2013). It can further be said that despite the little currency which it was given among other Marxist thinkers, especially the Orthodox ones, this was a new form of thinking which ensured that there was an expansion of Marxist thought beyond only the economic sphere of life. This was a form of writing which was set in a context of nationalism in a multinational state so that it was necessary to develop concepts which ensured that all the people within the state were included. In addition, it was set in a social and political situation where it was direct influence from Austrian social democracy which demanded that all of its adherents worked towards the unity of the state over the national interests within it (Gulick, 1948). Thus, the ability of thinkers such as Bauer to consider and write about Austrian Marxism in the orthodox manner would have been unacceptable considering the fact that the Austrian empire not only included Austrians but a large number of other ethnic groups such as Hungarians, Serbians, Bosnians, among many others, and these could not be excluded from the Marxist agenda of the Social Democratic Party because of their nationalities (Franz & Cernek, 1996). Therefore, it was important for Marxist thinkers in the Austrian empire to develop theories which were above nationalist politics and instead promoted the interests of all workers in an all inclusive manner, hence in a state level. The greatest influence of the Austro-Marxist thought was the social democratic movement of the Austrian empire which sought a middle ground between the social democracy which had lost viability and the radical communist current which had taken root in Russia. This line of thought came to develop mainly because of the fact that the national tensions within the empire pod a threat to the workers’ movement within the state and if this were not stopped, then there was the possibility that workers all over the empire would be losers. In addition, for a long time, especially just before the beginning of the twentieth century, many social democrats in Austria had taken a laid back approach to nationalism within the state, believing that it was not a strong enough force to disrupt the workers’ movement (Johnston, 1996). This, according to Bauer, was a naive view of the real situation on the ground, because nationalism was indeed a strong force which could easily lead to the crumbling of the working class movement as more members of this movement within the empire took up a nationalistic attitude towards the movement (Nimni, 1991). It was therefore important to ensure that instead of preaching the message of fraternisation between the different nationalities that were part of the workers’ movement, it was important to develop a culture of workers viewing their cause not from a national perspective but from one which considered the state to be transcendent over the different nationalities within it. In this manner, the predominant role of the German speaking members of the workers’ movement within the empire would have to be reduced so that members of other nationalities within the movement could be given a platform upon which they could be able to air their views and become active participants within it. This would also provide the Social Democratic Party within the Austrian empire with the means through which it could be able to provide a common analysis of the conflicts based on nationality which took place within the empire and in this manner come up with united guidelines to solve the issues within the workers movement all over the empire. The work of Austro-Marxist theorists was founded on the belief that the nation was a derivative of the process of the development of the economy. This was a line of thought which propagated the idea that it was the economic development of individuals which made them form communities that led to the changing of social structure, the development of classes, and finally the advancement of economic development in a manner which was based on the need to ensure that all the people within the society were influence by it. There is massive criticism of the belief in the national spirit among these thinkers, and this is mainly because of their way of thinking that it was detrimental to the society and its development. The fact that the idea of the national spirit existed meant that most of the people within the Austrian empire were influenced by it and this led to the failure of the workers’ movement within it from making any viable steps towards the advancement of their cause. Thus, Austro-Marxism raised the belief that since nationalism was the condition where all human beings were bound together through their having a common destiny, this could also be replicated only towards the state. In this manner, all the workers within the Austrian empire could unite to further their cause through the development of a consciousness which was based more on the state than on their diverse nationalities. In addition, it would provide a platform for there to be active participation within the movement by members of all the nationalities in the empire amidst a reduction of the influence of the German speaking Austrians within the party. In this manner, the workers’ movement would be a success and with this success would come more cohesion within the empire as workers within it would put aside their nationalist tendencies and instead devote more time to the development of a powerful force to promote the cause of workers. A basic part of the Austro-Marxist thinking was the massive criticism that was levelled at the concept of national spiritualism. The latter was a concept which considered the nation as a container of the spirit of its people and in this manner, had power over them since it determined their destiny. Austro-Marxist thinkers such as Bauer rejected this way of thinking and this was done through the absolute rejection of the psychological theories that had been developed concerning the nation. Instead, they felt that the nation did not necessarily contain the spirit of the people and it instead contained the shared history of their people and this in a manner which ensured its uniqueness as well as its peculiarities and this acted as a uniting factor for the people. Therefore, in order to deal with this issue in the Austro-Hungarian context, it was necessary for all the workers of different nationalities within the state to be united through their shared history as part of the empire and in this manner create a state-based bond rather than one based on nation, because the latter would prove divisive (Lekas, 1996). It was also important for the workers’ movement to work towards the development of an understanding of the different components that made up different nationalities and in this way, it would be possible for the falsehood of what made up nationalism to be revealed and therefore removed as a hindrance to the workers’ movement. Because of the need for there to be a united front of the workers’ movement within the Austrian empire, Austro-Marxists believed that it was essential for workers from all nationalities within the empire to unite and in this way, they would be able to move above nationalism which only served as a hindrance for their achieving their social objectives. In this way, the worker movement would be able to survive in multinational society without any fear that it would be hindered from performing its duties towards the achievement of a balance within the society. For Austro-Marxist thinkers, there was the belief that the nation was a product of history. One of the main reasons for this was the fact that the material content of the nation itself was a historical happening and because of this, the national character of its members can be considered to be a remnant of this historical development (Beller, 1996). In addition, it is a fact that the point of view of the formation of its formal structure was also believed to be a historical development and this was because they bound the nation together by diverse means throughout its history. Thus, the character of a nation is not based on its spirit, but in the manner in which its history has conditioned it to behave and in this way, it can be said that members of the nation are influenced by its history in their character. Moreover, Austro-Marxist thinkers further believe that the character of members of a nation does not remain the same but changes over time and this depends on the circumstances which they are undergoing during a certain period (Lenin, 2001). In this way, it was possible for the workers of the diverse nationalities within the empire to ensure that they worked in cohesion with each other for the greater good. Moreover, this was a means through which all the people of the different cultures within the Austrian empire could come together and form a new history which bound them together in a manner which did not stress their differences and instead brought about their common values so that they could be able to unite within the state. In this way, they would be responsible in the development of a new culture, and perhaps even a nationality, which was based more on their recognition of being a part of a multicultural state where all of them enjoyed equal rights and privileges, hence more unity. According to Austro-Marxist thinking, hatred based on nationalism was one which was a transformation of class hatred. This was the reaction of members of the petty bourgeoisie of oppressed nations, who affected by the numerous changes taking place around them, and the fact that there was the risk that they would lose their power, chose to fan the fires of nationalism to protect their interests (Szporluk, 1994). In this way, class and national struggles were intertwined in a manner which ensured that individuals protected their interests through them. The result was that many of these individuals, especially from the bourgeoisie, worked towards undermining the state in order to achieve their objectives. To counter this phenomenon within the Austrian empire, it was important for there to be more social cohesion where people from all its constituent nations were given a voice within the state so that it was not just dominated by the German speakers (Wistrich, 2002). An example of the latter way of thinking was where a Czech worker feels isolated because the state within which he lives is essentially German, the courts which were put in place to protect owners of property and sentenced the dispossessed into prison was German, and all the sentences given by these courts were written in German (Young, 1988). In such a situation, it is possible for all the people of other nationalities within the state to feel oppressed because almost all activities, social, political, as well as economic, were all conducted and dominated by only one nationality amidst many others (De Villiers, 2012). In this case, only a genuine policy of integration in all aspects of the society would ensure that there was cohesion within the workers’ movement of the Austrian empire and this would provide the movement with the opportunity to be representative of workers from all nationalities and not just those of German nationality. The discussion above has shown that Austro-Marxism was a theoretical school of thought that was propagated by Victor Adler, Otto Bauer, Karl Renner and Max Adler all of whom belonged to the Austrian Social Democratic Workers Party. In addition, Austro-Marxism was a Marxist manner of thinking which made an attempt to address the problem of nationalism which was prevalent in the early twentieth century Austria-Hungary. Moreover, the greatest influence of the Austro-Marxist thought was the social democratic movement of the Austrian empire which sought a middle ground between the social democracy which had lost viability and the radical communist current which had taken root in Russia. Furthermore, the work of Austro-Marxist thinkers was based on the belief that the nation was a derivative of the process of the development of the economy. It was also found that a basic part of the Austro-Marxist thinking was the massive criticism that was levelled at the concept of national spiritualism. Furthermore, for Austro-Marxist thinkers, there was the belief that the nation was a product of history. Finally, according to Austro-Marxist thinking, hatred based on nationalism was one which was a transformation of class hatred. References Beller, S. (1996). The world of yesterday revisited: Nostalgia, memory, and the Jews of fin-de-siècle Vienna. Jewish Social Studies, 2(2), 37. De Villiers, B. (2012). Protecting minorities on a non-territorial basis-recent international developments*. Beijing Law Review, 3(4), 170-183. Franz, C. D., & Cernek, W. (1996). Innovations for the improvement of the urban environment in Austria. Ekistics, 63(379-381), 199. Gulick, C.A. (1948). Austria from Habsburg to Hitler, Volume 2. Oakland: University of California Press. Johnston, P. (1996). Economic democracy: The politics of feasible socialism. Industrial & Labor Relations Review, 49(4), 762-764. Lekas, P. (1996). The supra-class rhetoric of nationalism: An introductory comment. 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