Page - 40 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

40 chapter 1 topaythepriceofconcessionsandendurethecorporatestate.90InMarch1933, Dollfuss took upnegotiationswithHitler. Bauer feared an alliance of Chris- tianSocials,theHeimwehrandthensdapagainstSocialDemocracy,aswellas civilwar,andurgedtoresolvetheconflictpeacefully.LikemanyfellowAustrian politicians,hewas takenbysurprise: after failednegotiationswithHitler, the Dollfussgovernment’s foreignpoliciestookasharpturnwhenitsoughtBenito Mussolini’s support inApril 1933.Asacondition, the ItalianDucedemanded thatDollfussestablisha fascistdictatorshipandendtheMarxistperil. Swiftly reacting tothis request, theHeimwehr,whichhadstrongbases inUpperAus- tria,Tyrol, Styria,VorarlbergandBurgenland, increasedsearchoperations for weapons,which led to thedestructionof printingpresses anddemolitionof Social-Democratic party offices. Theparty’s emergency congress,which con- venedinOctober1933,provedpolitically irrelevantduetothedivisionswithin the party. The right wing with Renner as its principle spokesman regarded the struggle against theHeimwehr and nsdap as political suicide. The left, while sharply criticising the compromising stance inBauer’s address to con- gress, did not displaymuch fighting spirit either. It justified its concessions andwillingness to settle theconflict constitutionallyby insistingontheneed to preserve party unity.91 A psychologically vital factorwas the fact that the party considered theDollfuss government to be a ‘lesser evil’ in comparison toHitler’s assumptionof power inGermany,while theCommunists thought ofbothdictatorshipsasequallydestructive.Thegoals that theparty set itself attheemergencycongresswereunrealistic.Facedwiththefascisisationofthe countryandamoribunddemocraticlife,itdemandedthatpopularrepresenta- tionbereconvened,jobscreatedfor200,000unemployed,freedomofassembly, coalition, and the press reintroduced, and fascist hit squads disarmed.92 An important novelty: all delegates pleaded for an autarkic, neutralAustria and wished to remove thedemand forAnschluss fromthepartyprogramme.The latterwasmerelyof propagandistic andmoral importancegiven thebalance of forces inEurope.Forthecasethat thegovernmentadoptedafascistconsti- tution,banned theactivitiesof thesdapand tradeunions, andestablisheda ‘provisionaladministration’inVienna,thecongressresolvedtoproclaimagen- eral strike. Bauer distancedhimself from the resolution inhis speech.Given theeconomicandpoliticalcrisis,hedidnotthinkthatastrikewouldhaveany chanceof success.Heblamedthedefeatof theworkers’movement inAustria 90 Contrary to the interests of theworking class, Bauer endorsedDollfuss’s ambitions in a seriesof 1933articles intheArbeiter-Zeitung. 91 JedlickaandNeck1975,pp.365–8. 92 SeeBauer1978c,p.695.