Page - 32 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

32 chapter 1 structuresoftheChristianSocialandGreaterGermancoalitionwereconsolid- atedandenlarged.Byandby, thecoalitionabolisheddemocracyandworked towards the establishment of an autocratic state. Bauer, Braunthal and Seitz evidentlymisjudged the direction inwhich state policieswere heading. The partyleadershipnursedtheillusionthateveryincreaseinmandatesmeantthat theworkingclasswouldsooninevitablyseizepower;despite the fact that the economic andpolitical situation of the proletariat hadworsened every year from1921–5,while theoffensiveof thedomestic enemiesof democracy grew stronger.70 The new economic and social conditions forced the sdap leadership to revise itsprogramme,whichhadbeenuntouchedsincetheViennapartycon- gress of 1901. Significant changes were undertaken at the party congress in Linz from30October–2November 1926.Thetacticalgroundworkwas laid for thepartytocontinueoperatingunderconditionsofthecounter-revolutionary and fascist advance.Thisbasiswasonlyestablishedthrough fierceargument, exposingthebrittle tensionsofparty leaderswhohadbeensocarefullymain- tainingaunitedfronttotheworkingclass.As itnowemerged,partyunityhad beenbut amyth– amyth that Bauer himself firmly believed in at the time. The cause for the argument between the party right, left, and centrewas a divergenceofopinionas towhetherMarx’s thesesandprognosesstill applied inchangedeconomicandpoliticalcircumstances.Tobeprecise, thequestion washowmuchofhisrevolutionarydoctrinecouldbepreservedinviewofthe reformist practice. Bauer’s position at the party congress in Linzwas a diffi- cult one.Hewanted toprevent a split in theparty at all costs.Hence,when therightwingaroundRennerwantedtoerasethedemandforadictatorshipof theproletariatfromtheprogramme,whiletheleftaroundMaxAdlerwishedto preserve it,Bauersuggestedacompromise. It receivedthemajorityofvotesat thecongress.Themotioncontainedtheconceptof ‘defensiveviolence’,which permitted theworkingclass touse forceonly if thebourgeoisparties strayed fromthedemocraticpath.71IgnoringthecreepingdeclineofdemocracyinAus- tria,whichhadbeenanongoingprocesssincetheearly1920s,thedraftdeclared it the vital condition for social upheaval. Certainly, this decision camea few years too late andcouldnot achieve a serious changeof sdappolicies. Even if theparty leadershipwasnot fully awareof it, thiswasmainly because the integrationof reformismintotheorgansof thestatehadprogressedtosucha 70 During these years, the unemployment rate rose fivefold.Meanwhile, real income de- creasedby25percent,andsocialwelfareforworkerswasreduced. 71 SeeBerchtold1967,p.253.