Page - 25 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

otto bauer andhis time 25 the Social Democrats assumed three important areas of responsibility: Karl Renner becameChancellor, Otto Bauer becameForeignMinister, and Julius DeutschbecameDefenceMinister. Inaddition, theSocialDemocratschaired most offices inVienna–Karl Seitz, for instance, becamemayor. Fearing that therevolutionaryfervourmightgrowandasovietrepublicbeinstalled,ashad justoccurredinneighbouringHungaryandBavariainMarchandAprilrespect- ively, theSocialDemocratsandChristianSocialsmade jointefforts toexpand democracy, introducesocialsecurity legislation,andimprovethelivingcondi- tionsofallworkingpeople.63On14March1919, theNationalAssemblyformed asocialisationcommitteechairedbyBauerandtheprelate IgnazSeipel,who would later becomeoneof Bauer’smost loathedpolitical opponents. There- after, Bauer establisheda socialisationprogramme. Its fundamental ideawas the gradual socialisation of highly developed production branches, large estates,andforestsandpasturelandinreturnforanadequatecompensation.64 Theprogrammewassofarfrombeingradicalthatitevenfoundthesupportof Seipelandbourgeoiscircleswhohopeditwouldstifletherevolutionarymood of theworking class. The bourgeois campdid not overestimate the implica- tions of Bauer’s demand tobuild industrial councils. Itwas aware that these wouldnot shake the foundationsof the capitalist economic structure. In the spring of 1919, parliament passed a range of socialisation laws,which largely continuetoapply inAustria.Hightaxes imposeduponthewealthywereused for the development of social welfare, cultural and educational institutions, and housing. The socialists’ local government policies, which benefited not only theworking class, but also officials and parts of the peasantry, gained theworkers’ support.Given the situationof theworkingmasses in theHun- garianandBavarianrepublics,whichhadbeencrushedbycounter-revolution, 63 HansHautmannoffers useful informationon social changesheraldedby thebourgeois revolution.Among thesewere the ‘dismissal and, finally, expulsionof the lastmonarch from the country, the dismissal of all members of the ruling dynasty by virtue of the Habsburglawof3April 1919, theabolitionofallaristocraticprivileges, theremovalof the militarycasteanddisappearanceof theold imperial army, thedissolutionofanybodies basedonpoliticalprivilegesuchas theHouseofLords, theabolitionofclassandcensus suffrageintheregionsandcommunes,andtherestorationandexpansionofcivilliberties’ (ourtranslation).Hautmann2007,p.95andp.97. 64 In1919,BauerpopularisedthisprogrammeinaseriesoftenarticlesintheArbeiter-Zeitung. Theywere republished as a collection entitledDerWeg zumSozialismus (TheRoad to Socialism)inthesameyear.Thefactthattherewasgreatinterestinthisprogrammeacross theSecondInternational isevidencedbythe fact that 12editionswerepublishedwithin twoyears.Mostof themweretranslatedintodifferent languages.