Page - 37 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

otto bauer andhis time 37 Thecrisis exaggeratedanti-democratic sentimentsamong the representat- ives of big capital, aristocratic landowners, petty bourgeoisie and peasantry. Carl Vaugoin, head of government sinceApril 1931, inflamed the anti-demo- craticpoliticaldirection.TheCatholicChurch, too,advocatedabanonSocial Democracy from the political stage – it believed aChristian corporate state withoutSocialDemocracyorcivilwarweretheonlytwoalternatives.85 Inthe faceofarealthreatoffascisisationin1931,whichneitherBauernorRennerfully acknowledged,Seipelofferedthesdapthechancetoformacoalitiongovern- menton19June1931.HesuggestedBauerforthepostofvicechancellordespite notholdinghimingreatesteemasapolitician.The leadingpoliticiansof the sdap–Bauer, Renner, Seitz andRobertDannenberg– rejected this offer for ideological reasons, thussquanderingthe lastopportunity tochangeAustria’s domesticandforeignpoliciesandpreservethesocialgainsoftherevolutionary period.Withfullconfidenceinworking-classresistance,theymerelyconvened the fourth congress of theLabour andSocialist International (lsi) inVienna from25July–1August1931.Bauerdraftedtheresolutionadoptedbycongress.It announcedthenecessityfortheworkingclassofWesternEuropeancountries, mainlyGermanyandAustria, to takerevolutionarymeasures inorder toavert thedangeroffascism.Whendesigningthisresolution,Bauerbeganfromafalse premise.BecausehebelievedthattheGermanproletariatwouldnotallowfor the fascisisationof its country, he envisaged theworking class as leading the struggle againstNational Socialism.Furthermore, hehoped that theGerman workerswouldco-operatewiththegovernmentandthuspreventAdolfHitler fromtakingpower.86 In view of themarginal practical significance of the resolution passed at the fourth lsi congress, the sdap leadership announced in 1932 that it was preparedtoformacoalitiongovernmentwiththebourgeoisparties.Although with72of165seatstheSocialDemocratswerestillthemostsubstantialforcein parliament,basicpremisesforacoalitiongovernmentwerenon-existent:right- winggroupswere incontrolof thebourgeoisparties, andon6May 1932Karl Buresch’spowerlessgovernmentresigned.EngelbertDollfuss,whorepresented therightwingof theChristianSocialParty,wasentrustedwith forminganew government.On25May1932,agovernmentconsistingoftheChristianSocials, the Landbund and the Heimatblock, which was backed by the Heimwehr, was formed.87 The support of theHeimwehr,whose leaderEmil Feybecame 85 SeeSchöpfer1929. 86 SeeBauer1976o,p. 164. 87 TheLandbund(countrysidealliance)emergedoutoftheGerman-AustrianPeasantParty