Page - 150 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

150 chapter 4 sodespitethefactthattheirseparatistaspirationswerecondemnedatthe1910 congress of the Second International inCopenhagen. The liquidation of the commonpartyin1911,then,onlyofficiallyconfirmedthesplitbetweenregional organisations that had long been a fait accompli. Already, in 1905, the trade unionshadbeendecentralisedintonationaldepartments.VictorAdler’sgrand achievement, theunificationof theAustrianworkers’movement, fell apart– eventhoughthistime,unlikeintheHainfeldperiod,theSocialDemocratshad a theoretical understanding of the national question, whichwas essentially contained in theworkofRenner andBauer. Their studies offered concrete– inRenner’s case,no less thandetailed72– reformprogrammes for theconsti- tutionalfoundationsofthestate;thus,nationalconflictsinthemonarchywere at leastpartially reduced, ifnotentirelypacified.Moreover, they laid the the- oreticalgroundworkforSocial-Democraticnationalitypolicies. Iwill returnto themlater toevaluatetowhatextent theconditions for their implementation werepresent. 2.2 Bauer’sPositionontheSo-CalledNationalitiesQuestion 2.2.1 PositiononNationalConflicts Bauer’s stance on the national conflicts and decentralist aspirations of the Slavicpeopleswasunambiguouslynegative.Notonlywasthisanexpressionof solidaritywiththeparty leadership’sofficial line,but italsohadanemotional andpsychologicalunderpinning:Bauerwasmotivatedbyhis fascinationwith Germanculture andattachment to themonarchy, inwhose continuedexist- encehebelievedandwhoseraisond’étathedefended. BauerwroteTheQuestionofNationalities…duringtheperiodwhenAustrian monopoly capitalismentered its imperialist phase. Thepropertied classes of Austria andHungary intensified their oppression of classes and nations, for the economically weaker peoples served as cheap labour and ensured sales markets as long as theywere kept in their place. The bourgeois nationalist parties–theGreaterGermansandChristianSocials–borewitnesstoarebirth ofnationalismattheturnofthenineteenthandtwentiethcenturies.National- ism,whichhadpreviouslyresonated,particularlyamongethnicGermanwork- ers, nowappealed to theworkers of othernations inAustria-Hungary. Bauer thoughtthatnationalismswereontherisebecauseaflourishingcapitalismhad aggravatedsocialcontradictions.Heemphasisedtheclasscharacterofnational 72 KarlRennerdevelopedtheminthefollowingworks:Renner1902,1913,1914,1916,1917,1964, and2005.Forourpurposes,Renner’sconceptionsaresecondary.Iwillonlydealwiththem totheextentthattheir impactuponBauer’sprogrammenecessitates it.