Page - 28 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

28 chapter 1 After thesdaphadjoinedtheopposition, threeproblemsweredecisive for Baueras theprinciplearchitectof theparty’s theoreticalandstrategic line: (1) defending the economic and social interests of theworking class during the periodofcrisisandhyperinflation; (2)winningtheparliamentarymajorityby gaining influence in the countryside; and (3) building a platform onwhich all wings of the socialistmovement could communicate. The third question was bound to the necessity of a theoretical perspective justifying the adop- tionofconceptsthatwere,accordingtothetheoreticaltraditionoftheSecond International,contradictory:democracyanddictatorship,peacefulandrevolu- tionarywaystosocialism.ThesewerethequestionswithwhichBauerandthe sdapwerepreoccupiedfrom1920–6. The phenomenadissected byBauer in his 1921 pamphlet,Volkswirtschaft- licheFragen(QuestionsofPoliticalEconomy)–progressivedevalorisationofthe crown since 1918, rising food prices (a threefold increase from July toOcto- ber 1921), andunsuccessful attempts to get international credit – led to riots inVienna from1921–2andwitnessed the fall of twocabinets:MichaelMayr’s on21 June 1921 and JohannSchober’s on 30May 1922. The government crisis allowedthemost intelligentadversaryofSocialDemocracy, theprelate Ignaz Seipel, tocometopower.68SeipelwasaprimeexampleoftheChristian-Social Party’s ‘Vienna trend’. His anti-democratic and pro-monarchy politics were driven by two interlinked objectives: to overcome the crisis in Austria, and to establish a strong bourgeois statewithout the parliamentary influence of Social Democracy. On 4November 1922 in Geneva, Seipel effected a signed agreementbetweenAustriaandthegovernmentsofFrance,England,Italyand Czechoslovakia, by virtueofwhichAustria received650,000Krones in credit to save itseconomy.However, theagreementbore twoadverseconditions for Austria.First,AustriawouldbebannedfromseekingAnschluss forthenext20 years. Second, state financeswouldbe subject to the control of the commis- sarygeneralof theEntentecountries.Theratificationof theGenevaprotocols inparliamenton27November1922garneredtheSocialDemocrats’passionate resistance.AstheconferenceinGenevawasinprogress,Bauermadeapresent- ation about Austria’s political and economic situation, ‘Der Genfer Knech- tungsvertrag und die Sozialdemokratie’ (‘The Enslaving Contract of Geneva andSocialDemocracy’)at thepartycongresson14October 1922. Itcontained adraft forabudgetoverhaulbymeansofso-calledself-help, i.e. thevoluntary self-taxationoftheworkingclassandbourgeoisie.It isnotfornothingthatthis 68 SeipelhadalreadyenteredthepoliticalstageduringWorldWari,whenhewasafollower ofHeinrichLammasch.