Page - 42 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

42 chapter 1 Uponemigrating,BauerandDeutschfoundedtheForeignOfficeofAustrian Socialists (alös) with Bauer as chair.99 It served to support the families of fallen Schutzbundmembers and the illegal socialist movement forming in Austria financially. Out of this emerged a party, the Revolutionary Socialists of Austria (rs).100 The Arbeiter-Zeitung andDerKampf, both relaunched by Bauer,were the advisory organs of thismovement, and the first issue of the Arbeiter-Zeitungwaspublishedasearlyas25February1934.Bauergreetedthe initialisation of the new party with enthusiasm andwithout attempting to act as a decisive influence in this organisation.Heperceivedhimself to be a defeated leader: although theyoungparty consideredhimamoral authority, hedemanded that it – if not consistentlyuntil theend– issueanewgeneral line anddisassociate itself from themistakes ofAustromarxism.101His study from this period,Die illegale Partei (The Illegal Party), offered a new system of judgement, a critical assessment of the old party, and a draft for illegal work close to the Bolshevikmodel.102 The necessity to change the forms of internalparty life, educatemembers, andestablishconspiratorialmethodsof actiontookcentrestage.ThetextnotonlytestifiedthatBauerre-evaluatedthe old doctrine and expandedhis political consciousness, but also contained a revolutionarymessage.Baueradvocatedthatthedictatorshipoftheproletariat be rehabilitatedunder theexistingbalanceof social forcesand theapproach totheCommunistmovementbemodified.103 Bauerhadalreadyattendedtothequestionofdraftinganewstrategyforthe internationalworkers’movement intheearly 1930s.However,onlywhenana- lysinghisexperiencesandmistakesinexiledidheconcludethatunitedaction ofdifferentworking-class tendenciesalonehadthepotential toovercomefas- cism.Theconceptof‘integralsocialism’asoutlinedinBauer’stext,BetweenTwo 99 UponimmigratingtoCzechoslovakia,Bauerseveredhis tieswithRenner,whohadrejec- tedhisproposal to collaboratewith the illegalmovement. In 1934,Bauer vigorously cri- ticised one of Renner’s articles from the NeueWiener Tagblatt, in which Renner had endorsedHitler’sannexationofAustria. 100 Among itsmemberswereOscarPollak,ManfredAckermann,OttoLeichter, JosephBut- tinger,RosaJochmann,RomanFelleis,KarlHoloubek,FritzRauscherandKarlSeiler. 101 In 1934, he wrote to the Revolutionary Socialists from Bern: ‘There is no doubt that we committedmistakes… I can confess tomymistakes evenmore because I do not incriminate anybody else. For I ammore responsible for themistakes that have been committed thananybodyelse’ (our translation)–Singer 1979, p. 125. SeealsoBraunthal 1976n,p. 14. 102 ItwasposthumouslypublishedbyFriedrichAdler in1938. 103 Bauerappealedtoanestablishedreality:backinAustria,therepresentativesoftheformer party lefthadarguedinfavourofaunitedfrontwiththeCommunistsasearlyas1934.