Page - 186 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

186 chapter 5 Bauer’slineofargumentevidentlydisplacedresponsibilityfortheimpossib- ilityofasuccessfulrevolutioninAustriaontotheeconomiccentres,Britain andtheUnitedStates. 2. Political reasons: anAustrian soviet republicmightprovokearmedattacks bycapitalistcountries,mainlyGermanyandFrance,asitwouldstandinthe wayof their trade relationshipswith Italy, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Poland.Politically isolated, lackingthestrongmilitaryforceofthepast,and only having a republican army at its disposal, Austriawould soon lose its independence.38 3. The evaluation of the socio-political situation inAustria: in reaction to a proletarian dictatorship, the rural areaswould separate fromVienna and Austria’s industrial territories. This would not only confine the power of the workers’ councils to Vienna, Lower Austria and Upper Styria, but it would also exacerbate antagonisms between town and country. In a situ- ationof this type, fooddeliveries fromtheanti-socialisticallymindedcler- icalpeasantrywere likelytostop,andacivilwarwasprobable.Avictorious counter-revolutionwoulddeprive theworkingclassof thedividendsof the pre-revolutionaryperiod, leaving theproletariat inaworseposition in the capitaliststate. In the aforementioned letter toBelaKun, Bauerwithheld anumber of reas- ons forhisopposition toaradical crackdownagainst the rulingclasses. Some of themwereeverybitas relevantas thosehestatedopenly,evenif theywere ofadifferent– that is, ideologicalandethical–nature,andbasedonaneval- uativeapproach topolitics.Before theendof thewar,Bauerdismissedsoviet dictatorship–aproletarianformofpower–asanexpressionofRussianback- wardness.39He expected the victory of counter-revolution inRussia anddid notapproveof importingRussianrevolutionarystrategytoAustria–not least becausehewantedtospare theworkingclass thebitterconsequencesofcivil war. At the same time, the identification of socialismwith democracy, con- ceived fromaperspectiveof general humanist values, implied that theacute 38 Bauerexplicitlyvoicedhisworriesthus: ‘TheEntentecannotallowtohaveitsconnection toCzechiaandPolandviaViennablocked,becausethenitswholepowerpoliticalsystem wouldcollapse.Forthem,ViennaisanincomparablymoreimportantpostthanBudapest. At thesametime, itwouldbe fareasier for themtodefeatus thandefeatHungary.They wouldoccupyusbeforewehadthechancetoformaredarmy…Itisthereforemostlikely thatwewouldprovokeanoccupationbyproclaimingthedictatorship’(ourtranslation)– Bauer1980n,p. 1058. 39 SeeBauer1918.