Page - 183 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the ‘thirdway’ to socialism 183 In1918,as theHabsburgEmpirecollapsed,spontaneouslyemergingrevolu- tionarygroupssetaboutbuildingworkers’ andsoldiers’ councils,withrevolu- tionaryfervourspreadingintotheranksof thearmy.31Thesocio-politicalcon- ditionsof themomentwere favourable to the formationof a soviet republic. Asstatepowerwaswaning,thebourgeoispartiesshowedscarcewillingnessto takecontrol.Thelossofrawmaterialandforeignmarkets,whichwerenowloc- atedoutsidetheAustrianstatebordersduetothedisintegrationoftheempire, weakened thebourgeoisie.32 In lateOctober 1918,workers took to the streets demandingadefinitivedecisionwithrespecttothepoliticalstatusoftheAus- trian state.33 Thebourgeois parties hadnochoicebut to formagovernment capable of bringing the revolutionarymovement under control. The Social Democrats, on theother hand, had theoption to either implement aprolet- arian dictatorship or vouch for a bourgeois-democratic republic. Remaining true to the Austromarxist political doctrine, the Social Democrats accepted theproposal to formacoalitiongovernment submittedbyagroupofAustro- Germandelegates of the provisional national assembly of 21October 1918.34 AllthreegroupsprovedtooweaktoleadtheGermanworkingclasstovictory.Incontrast, theAustrianleftcalleduponworkerstogobacktowork. 31 CompareDuczyńska1975,p.25. 32 SeeLöw,MattlandPfabigan1986,p.21. 33 On29October 1918,aviolentprotestof radical-democraticbourgeoisgroupsdemanding theAnschluss toGermanytookplace inVienna. Inresponsetoansdapappeal,a 10,000- strong crowddemonstrated for the proclamation of the republic in the town centre of Vienna on 30 October. Soldiers joined the demonstration; red flags were flying from houses. 34 The first coalition government consisted of delegates from the threemost important political groups, i.e. theSocialDemocrats,ChristianSocials, andGreaterGermans–see StenographischeProtokolle…1919,p.8.On12November1918,some150,000peoplewaited in front of parliament and in the town centre for the Provisional National Assembly’s decisionconcerninganewstate.Whenthepresidentof theProvisionalNationalAssem- bly, Franz Dinghofer, stepped before the crowd at 4pm to proclaim the republic, and red,white, and redbannerswere hoisted outside the parliament building, Communist leadersurgedthecrowdtoreject theproclamationandintroducethedictatorshipof the proletariat.CommunistsandRedGuardistsattackedtheparliamentbuilding, thepolice opened fire, and the crowd dispersed. According to Botz, the skirmishes left some 10 peoplewithheavyinjuriesand32withlightinjuries–seeBotz1976,p.35.TheCommunist putschdidnotsucceed. Let us add a few brief comments here. The First Republic emerged as a result of masspressurefrombelow,althougheventhemasseswereoverwhelminglyunenthusiastic about the necessity to formanew country. Norwas the establishment of the republic desired by any of the three big political parties. TheGreaterGermanpartywished for