Page - 182 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

182 chapter 5 TheAustrian government rejectedRussia’s proposals for peace. In protest against thisdecision, theAustrianworkers tooktothestreets inwhatbecame thebiggestmasseventoftheAustrianworkers’movement,thestrikecommen- cingon15January1918.27Giventheobviousrevolutionarysituation, itbecame clear thatAustria lackedaparty capableof leading the strike: the sdap lead- ershipdidnotapproveof itandvehementlyexpresseditsopposition.28Victor Adler,Hilferding,andBauer’sadverseattitudes to thegeneral strikewerepart of the reason. For them, it was a formof protest and political pressure, and Bauer argued that economic formsof strugglewere ineffective.All the same, theeconomicnatureof thestrikers’demandscouldnotconceal thetruechar- acterof thestrike– itwasno less thanapoliticalandrevolutionaryprotestof theproletariat.Thepartyleadershiplimiteditselftostatingthata ‘pacification oftheworkingmasses’wasonlypossible if thefollowingconditionsweremet: (1)improvementsinthefoodsupply;(2)aguaranteefromthegovernmentthat itwouldpreservethenationalborders innegotiations; (3) suffragereform;(4) demilitarisationoftheworkplaces.29Thesdapleaderssupportedthedemands oftheworkers,hopingthestrikewouldsoonend.Meanwhile, thediscrepancy between the strugglingmasses’ demands for statepower and theparty lead- ership’s passive reaction did not escape the attention of Social Democracy’s opponents. Trotsky in particular sharply attackedBauer andRenner for fail- ing to takeadvantageof therevolutionarysituationat theendofWorldWar i anderectadictatorshipoftheproletariat.30 27 Theworkers’protestsbeganwithanindustrialstrikeinWienerNeustadton14January.On 17 January,93,000participated inViennaalone,andover thenextdays, 100,000 inLower Austriaand25,000 inStyria.On18 January, theworkersofBudapest supportedthestrike (150,000), andon20 January, theworkers of Prague followed suit (50,000). In thewhole ofAustria, some700,000workerswentonstrike.Source:Notesof theImperialandRoyal Ministry of the Interior, State Police Bureau from 19–21 January 1918, Vienna 1918, pa i, p.818. 28 On17 January 1918, theparty leadershipexplained in theArbeiter-Zeitung that thestrike had begunwithout its agreement or that of the trade unions. On 18 January 1918, the Arbeiter-Zeitungpublishedanappeal fromthesdapleadershipcallingupontheworkers toendthestrike.Formoredetailsontheroleofthepartyleadershipinstiflingtheprotests anditscollaborationwiththegovernment,compareRosdolsky1973. 29 SeeArbeiter-Zeitung, 17 January1918. 30 SeeTrotsky 1929. Itwasacharacteristic featureof theAustrianworkers’movement that theLeft,whichrepresentedthepositionsofthepartymajority,supportedthepartyleader- ship.ThreegroupsoriginatingintheleftwingoftheSocial-DemocraticPartyofGermany (spd) ledthestrikesof January 1918 inGermany: theSpartacusLeague, theLichtstrahlen group,andtheArbeiterpolitikgroup, the latter twonamedafter their respective journals.