Page - 160 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

160 chapter 4 provoked fears of slavicisation of ancient German territories among ethnic Germans.TheCzechswatched the trendofmigrationwithdispleasure, quite justifiably regarding itasacause for theeconomicandpoliticalweakeningof theirnation.Thenotionthatnational-culturalautonomywasatooltoincrease migrationofnon-GermangroupswasanimportantreasonastowhytheCzech SocialDemocratsvieweditwithcaution.93 Understandably,Bauer’sconceptionofassimilationandtheconclusionshe drewfromitonlyreinforcedtheCzechsocialists’ fears.Bauergaveassimilation adistinctlyGermanflavourandmadeitpartofhisprogrammetopreservethe monarchy.While hedidnot dedicatemuch theoretical attention to it,many ofhis statementsatpartycongresses testifiedtohisgreathopeofovercoming nationalconflict throughassimilation.Hetied thisnotonly toautonomyasa programmefortoday,butalsotothemergingofnations inthefuture. Bauer only undertook a sociological analysis of the assimilation process ina 1912 article entitled ‘DieBedingungendernationalenAssimilation’ (‘The ConditionsofNationalAssimilation’). It iswherehisdifferenceswithKautsky becameapparent.Kautskydepicted the foundationsof assimilation ina sim- plifiedmanner, i.e. a relatively straightforwardprocesswhereby the language ofanethnicmajority isadopted. IncontrasttoKautsky,Baueremphasisedthe complexityof assimilation. Forhim, itwas a longandcomplicatedhistorical processduringwhichdivergingnationalcharacteristics,personalitytypes,cul- ture and customs had to be considered. Bauerwas aware that therewas no cleardividinglinebetweenassimilatingandsurrenderingone’snational iden- tity.Hence, hewrote that ‘national assimilation, aswehavedemonstrated in our fifth assimilation law, is always assimilation only to fellowmembers of thesameclass.Nationalcoercion is thesubjugationofoneclass to thewillof another, regardless ofwhether the ruling class uses economicor statepower todoviolence toaminority’ (our translation).94Bauerbasedhis sociological assimilationlawsontherelationsinAustria-Hungary: theytestifiedtothesin- gular,one-dimensionalcharacteroftheassimilationprocess,whichamounted totheincorporationofanethnicminority intothemajority ineachrespective class. 93 CompareMommsen1979b,p.211. 94 ‘Die nationaleAssimilation ist, wiewir in unserem fünftenAssimilationsgesetz gezeigt haben, immer nurAngleichung anKlassengenossen, die nationaleNötigung ist Unter- werfung einer Klasse unter denWillen einer anderenKlasse, sei es nun, dass sich die herrschende Klasse ihrer wirtschaftlichenMacht oder dass sie sich ihrer Staatsgewalt bedient,umderMinderheitGewaltantun’–Bauer1980d,p.621.