Page - 154 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

154 chapter 4 thetransformationofthemonarchyintoademocraticmultinationalstate.His propositionwasbasedonfourkeypremises: 1. Thenationis,aboveall,acommunityofculture; theunityofeconomicand social interestsplaysasecondaryrole forthenation. 2. Thenationhasnosignificancefortheprocessofstateformation.Thisthesis servedto justify the introductionof thepersonalprincipleasadistinguish- ingcriterionofthenation.78 3. Thedevelopmentofcapitalismleadstotheformationofvaststateandeco- nomicterritories.Hence, theexistenceofsmallnationstates isananomaly. 4. The nationalities question is solved gradually in the course of the funda- mentaldemocratisationofthelegalsystemandstateorder. Rennerpaidparticularattentiontoissuesconcerningthelegalsystemandstate order. He incorporated an outline for a two-dimensional federalism into his proposal:thestatewouldbesub-dividedintoprovincesofgreaterethnichomo- geneity and communities basedon thepersonal principle (according to this principle,allcitizensofagivennationalitybelongedtothatnationirrespective of where they lived). The community would serve the protection ofminor- ity rights– tobe sure,Rennerprimarilyhad the rights of dispersedGermans acrossnon-Germanterritoriesinmind.79Inhisvision,ethnicallyhomogeneous autonomousterritorieswouldsimultaneouslyconstituteabasicelementofthe federal stateandthe federationofnational states.Thenationalassociationas awholewouldpreserve its right to full cultural autonomy, representation in thenationaladministration,andself-administrationbyvirtueof itsstatehood. Theautonomyprinciplerestedonthreepremises:unityoforganisation;distri- butionof legal responsibilities; andtypeof federalisation. It is significant that Renner, contrary tohispremise, considered theunityof economicandsocial interests to be a foundation for creating autonomous countries. Onemight rightly accusehimof introducing thepersonal alongside the territorial prin- 78 CompareKonrad1976,p.90. 79 Heexplicitlywroteabout this in ‘GrundlagenundEntwicklungsziele’ (‘Foundationsand Development Aims’): ‘We do not want to divide or dominate anybody –wewant the national aspect to be separated from the political aspect; Whether dualism, trialism … pentarchy … or chiliarchy … from a national standpoint, they are all the same to us. Nonetheless, all Germans between Bodenbach andOršava ought to form a legally recognisedcultural co-operative thathas the sovereignty to impose individual taxation, and thepower tobuildprimary schools, secondary schools, andhigh schoolswherever theGermanswantandneedthem’(ourtranslation)–Renner1906,p.239.