Page - 145 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the national question 145 noideahowtolinktheideaof internationalismwiththeprincipleofnational self-determination.55 For someSocialDemocrats, the sheer linkbetween the national principle and the notion of statehood was incomprehensible. Not infrequently, they assumed that historical development would lead to the ‘absorption’ of smallernationsby largeronesandstressed the significanceof assimilation processes – Rosa Luxemburg, for instance, attempted to prove theemergenceof supra-national states.OnlyLeninwarnedthe leadersof the International that thedevelopmentof capitalismwouldawaken thenational consciousnessofall classesandunite themintheirambitionto foundnation states.However,hiswarningsweredismissed. The positions put forward by the classical Marxists and their successors in the Second International were not particularly helpful for the Austrian SocialDemocratsforsolvingthetenserelationsbetweentheAustro-Hungarian nations. The political situation demanded aprogramme for present circum- stances, and socialismstill seemeda longwayoff in the latenineteenthcen- tury. From its inception, the Austrian Social-Democratic movement aimed to create a unified organisation that represented the interests of thewhole Austro-Hungarianworkingclassandmaintainedthisunity.Hence, theformu- lationofapragmaticnationalprogrammewasfundamentaltothemovement’s existenceandeffectiveness.Because socialist theorydidnotoffer theAustro- marxists anymodels to follow, they considered it their task to dealwith the so-calledAustrianproblemontheirown. Indeed, Social-Democraticcircles– strictlyspeaking,RennerandBauer–proposedthemost interestingsolutions toAustria-Hungary’snationalquestion intheearly twentiethcentury.Forour purposes,Bauer’stheoryanditsconsequencesforthepoliciesofthesdapisthe keyissue.GiventhatitgrewoutoftheSocial-Democraticmovements’political practiceand, inturn,co-determinedthispractice, itseemsappropriatetopre- face our detailed assessmentwith anoutline of thenational question in the politicsof thesdap. 2.1 SocialDemocracyandtheNationalQuestion Authors suchasMommsen,Konrad, Leser, KulemannandRauscher all offer thoroughaccountsof thisquestion.56Hence, it appearsunnecessary towrite thehistory of thenational question in thepolicies of the sdap anew–even more sobecause themain focusof this sub-chapter isnot thenationalques- 55 CompareMommsen1963,p.202. 56 SeeMommsen 1963 and 1979b; Konrad 1976 and 1977; Leser 1968; Kulemann 1979; and Rauscher1995.