Page - 38 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

38 chapter 1 vicechancellor,was imperative forDollfussbecausethenewgovernmentwas formedwithamajorityofonlyonevote.Dollfusshadremainedfaithful tohis promisetotheHeimwehrandtheforcesofbigcapitalthathewouldtransform Austria intoanauthoritarianstate.88 In thenewcorporatestate, ideologically basedonthepapalencyclical,Quadragesimoanno, bourgeoisdemocracywas completely annihilated. A number of repressivemeasures led up to the fall of democracy: abanon regional elections; restrictionson the freedomof the press and independence of the judiciary on 7March 1933; the dissolution of parliamenteffectedbyDollfussandthepoliceon15March1933;abanonthe operationsof theSchutzbundon30March1933; thearrestofkpöleadersand theliquidationoftheirpartyon26May1933,thebanofthensdapinJune1933; theweakeningof thepositionof thesdapintheself-governingsocial security bodies from February 1933 onward; and the abolition of industrial councils formed in 1920. Its basewas theprotestant peasantry. TheLandbund stoodout among nationalpartiesbecause itwas ideologicallyhomogenousandput forward itsownslate. It also tookupcoalitionworkwithparties thatwishedtopreserveparliamentarydemo- cracy–intheFirstRepublic, thismeantco-operationwiththesdap,aswellastheChris- tianSocialsandGreaterGermans.TheLandbundwashostiletotheHeimwehrandnsdap. ItquicklyidentifieditsparticipationintheDollfussgovernment,whichpursuedanopenly anti-democraticpolitics,asamistake.Consequently, it left thepoliticalstagein1933. 88 UlrichKlugeidentifiedfivedevelopmentstagesof theFirstRepublic: 1918–29: consolidationof thebourgeois parties at homeafter a transitional revolu- tionaryperiod; 1929–33: thestate-presidentialstage; 1933–4: thestageofconstitutionalandsocialcorporateorder; 1934–6: an autocratic state based on the corporate constitution coupledwith the Heimwehr’s immanentextremism; 1936–8: anautocraticstatesketchilybasedonthecorporateconstitutionincoalition withAustrianNationalSocialism. CompareKluge 1984.According toGerhardBotz, anexpertonAustria’speriodof fascis- isation,onecandistinguishfourphasesof theAustrianStändestaat (corporatestate): i. Phaseofthelateparliamentarygovernment(May1932–March1933); ii. Phase of the authoritarian semi-dictatorship and increasing fascisisation (until January1934); iii. Phaseof thedevelopedsemi-fascistauthoritariandictatorship(untilOctober 1935 ormid1936); iv. End phase of partial de-fascisisation and bureaucratically ossified corporatism. CompareBotz1984,p.320.