Page - 43 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

otto bauer andhis time 43 WorldWars,wasbasedonapositive,butalsoidealisticandwishfulassessment of the trajectoryof social transformationandtheconstructionof socialismin the Soviet Union. Bauer did not approve of the general drift to the right of partiesthatbelongedtotheLabourandSocialistInternational,nordidheshare theirconcernsaboutco-operatingwiththeThirdInternational.Admittedly,his proposalofco-operationbetweenthetwotendencieshadlittlehopeofsuccess. TheCommunistswereoptimisticthattheworldeconomiccrisiswouldinitiate theworldrevolutionandfallofcapitalism,thusprovingtheSocial-Democratic strategywrong. Indeed, they laid the blame for the social and political con- sequencesoffascismonthelsiparties.In1924,theyhadcoinedthememorable phrase ‘social fascism’todescribeSocialDemocracy.Theconferenceofthelsi internationalfrom13–16November1935rejectedmutualparticipationwiththe Communist International in support of theworkers’ struggles in Spain. They also refused Bauer’s suggestions to instigate contact between the respective executiveand formaunitedstruggleagainst fascismoutof fearofapotential Germanattack against the SovietUnion.104 To justify this, it evokedconcern thatbroadersocial layersmightchangesidesand jointhe fascistcamp.Bauer wasambiguousonthecontroversiesbetweenSocialDemocratsandCommun- ists. On the one hand, at the lsi conferences he attempted to convince its leaders to initiate co-operationwith theComintern.On the other, he feared thatthelsimight lose its ideological identityandorganisationalunity. AfterHitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia and the dissolution of the alös, BauerwasforcedtoleaveBern. InMay1938,hetookaplanetoParisalongside the leader of the kpö, JohannKoplenig.105 At the time, JuliusDeutsch,Otto Leichter,OscarPollakandJosephButtingerwerealreadystaying inParis, and theForeignOfficeofAustrianSocialistswas foundedupontheir initiative.At thepartycongress inBrussels, theRevolutionarySocialistsdecidedtoentrust Bauerwith the leadershipof thers.106 InParis,Bauer foundedanewjournal, DersozialistischeKampf,with three issuesproducedunderhisdirection.Two days before his death, he participated in ameeting between confidants in theMontmartredistrict. AsBerczeller remembered, thehoary andapathetic 104 CompareLöw1980,p.205. 105 Bauerwent toPariswith great reluctance. Leichter remembered thosemoments as fol- lows: ‘AswedrovefromBrussels toParis inearlyApril, I sensedthisdeepsadness inhim. I triedtodistractbyhintingat thebeauty. “It isnotasbeautifulashome”,Bauersaid(…) “Youwill see itagain”, I triedtoconsolehim. “Iwillneverseemyhomeagain”,hereplied, “doyoureallybelieve Icouldpickupwhere I leftoffon 12February 1934?”’ (our transla- tion)–seeLeichter1970,p. 15. 106 SeeWeinzierl 1984,p. 10.