La cuestión de las nacionalidades y la socialdemocracia

by Otto Bauer

Until now, The Question of Nationalities and Social Democracy was the only remaining work of classical Marxism not fully translated into English. First published in German in 1907, this seminal text has been cited in countless discussions of nationalism, from the writings of Lenin to Benedict Anderson's Imagined Communities." "The issues Bauer addressed almost a century ago still challenge current debates on diversity and minority rights. In this prophetic text, Bauer foreshadowed current ethnic conflicts in the Balkans and in the former Soviet Union and advocated an early concept of multi-culturalism. Attempting to reconcile Marxism with nationalism, Bauer called for a system of self-determination for ethnic communities in which extensive autonomy would be granted within a confederal, multicultural state - in Bauer's words, a "United States of Europe," with remarkable similarities to the contemporary European Union.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History

728 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

1881-1938

Austrian Social Democrat who is considered one of the leading thinkers of the left-socialist Austro-Marxist grouping.

He was also an early inspiration for both the New Left movement and Eurocommunism in their attempt to find a "Third way" to democratic socialism.

Reviews

[Bill]

As in-depth of a crack at the national question as you'll ever read from the Marxist perspective. I don't agree with Bauer on every point, but he approachsd the topic with nuance and puts in the work to present a very compelling look at the national question.

[Brandon Lighty]

Wow. What an incredible read by an author who shouldn’t be as unknown as he is. For the past year I’ve been working through with the podcast The Regrettable Century and being able to slowly work through this text has really allowed it to become timeless.

The questions Bauer asks about the multinational state, especially one that is simultaneously a crumbling empire, is incredibly prescient today in the context of not just the United States but also the EU and to a lesser extent: China, Indonesia, and the Russian Federation. His analysis of the process of national creation is miles more useful and rigorous than anything gracing the pages of most academic journals today, many who have simply fallen back on reactionary and racist biological-essentialist understandings of nation and language.

The true tragedy of this book is that it wasn’t taken seriously enough at the time to establish a thorough critique which both highlighted its shortcomings (particularly his blind spots when it comes to imperialism) while building on what he was right about.