Page - 147 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the national question 147 settled for stating that ‘The SocialDemocratic party ofAustria is an interna- tionalparty. Itcondemnstheprivilegesofnationsjustasmuchasitcondemns theprivilegesofbirth,propertyanddescent, and itdeclares that the struggle againstexploitationmustbejustasinternationalasexploitationitself’.60Itwas decidedtosolvethenationalquestionthroughaformallyconceivedprinciple ata forthcomingpartycongress. Indeed, fewSocial-Democraticpoliticiansat the timebelieved in thenecessityof equal rightsbetweennations.They took the claims contained in the congress programme, according towhich abso- lute impoverishmentwould soonaffect theworkers andmiddle classesof all Austro-Hungariannationstothesameextent,atfacevalue.Thissituation,they thought,would leadtogreater international solidarityamongworkers, andto workersandthepettybourgeoisierejectingthenationalistmindset.61Theparty leadershipattemptedtodownplaythefactthatnationalismhadlonginfiltrated theranksofthesesocialgroupsandbecomeageneralsocialproblem.Bythen, itwasplayinganever-greaterrole inthepoliticsof thestate. TheunityofthesdapbroughtforthbytheHainfeldprogrammehadaformal rather than programmatic character. It never took shape in reality. Austrian SocialDemocracy–whichwasprincipallyGerman–drewon theblueprints ofGermanSocialDemocracy. It bypassed the traditions of theCzechSocial- Democraticmovement and it did not incorporate the experience of Social- Democraticorganisations inBukovinaorEasternGalicia,whichhadbuilt on progressivepeasantmovements.Onlyduring theperiodof consolidationdid thenationalcentresrefrainfrominfringingontheleadingroleofAustrianGer- mans in the labourmovement. Theparty-internal process of nationalisation involving the Poles, Czechs, South Slavs, Italians andUkrainianswas eating away at the sdap from its inception. Separatist ambitionswere particularly strong in theCzech fraction.62As early as 1878, theCzech socialists founded theCzechSocialDemocraticWorkers’Partywithreferencetothenationalprin- ciple(itobtainedfull independenceon27December1893).Thus, theyopened thedoorformoreandmoreintensequarrelswithintheparty.TheCzechsstar- ted theprocess of national federalisation: their resolutionona federal party structurewaspassed at the sixth congress of the sdap in 1897.63 The federal 60 Berchtold1967,p. 138. 61 SeeKonrad1976,p.48. 62 Berchtold1967,p. 138. 63 By act of this resolution, the Austrians, Germans, Czechs, Poles, Slovenes andRussian sectionsof thepartybecameindependentnationalpoliticalorganisations.Coordination of political activitywas tobe securedby a commongoverningbodywithheadquarters in Vienna, which consisted of delegates from the individual national administrations,