Page - 197 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the ‘thirdway’ to socialism 197 itsowndictatorshiporseekprotectioninthebosomofafascistdictatorship.71 Thiswasacknowledgedintheprogramme, inthefollowingreservation: The bourgeoisiewill not surrender its power voluntarily…Only if the workingclass is sufficientlycapableofdefending thedemocratic repub- lic against any kind ofmonarchist or fascist counter-revolution…only thenwill thebourgeoisienotdare to rebel against the republic… If the bourgeoisie succeeds in smashing democracy despite the efforts of the Social-DemocraticWorker’sParty,thentheworkingclasswillonlybeable toconquerstatepowerbymeansofcivilwar.72 Thiswasmerely anearly caution that themethodsof strugglewouldchange from peaceful to armed, yet it did not define the political rule or type of state thatwouldbeestablishedafter theproletarianrevolution.Thetentative attitude of the congress on this questionwas a consequence of polarisation withinthesdap leadership itself– itsmembersdidnotagreeonthe function and role of democracy and dictatorship in state formation.Whether or not to cite thedictatorshipof theproletariat in theprogrammeproved themost contentious question. The right wing around Renner rejected the thesis of ‘insurmountableclass contradictions’ andwasagainst incorporating this into theprogramme.RennerinsistedthatthepartyeschewedMarxianphraseology andinsteaddesignedapoliticalcompromisewhichwouldfacilitateapeaceful continuationof reformistpolitics.Theparty leftunderMaxAdler’scommand stood in opposition: Adler objected to the dichotomy between democracy and dictatorship put forward by Renner, reminding him that every political democracy has, in fact, the function of a dictatorship. Adler’s depiction of theFirstRepublicasabourgeois statemetwithstrongresistance fromBauer, Renner,FriedrichAdlerandAusterlitz. 71 Theprognosis that counter-revolutionwouldbe thebourgeoisie’s answer to apotential victoryoftheproletariatcanbefoundinEngels’sintroductiontoTheCivilWarinFrance– seeEngels 1895. 72 ‘DieBourgeoisiewirdnicht freiwillig ihreMachtstellungräumen…NurwenndieArbeit- erklasse wehrhaft genug sein wird, die demokratische Republik gegen jedemonarch- istischeoder faschistischeGegenrevolutionzuverteidigen…nurdannwirdesdieBour- geoisie nichtwagen können, sich gegen dieDemokratie aufzulehnen…Wenn es aber trotzallendiesenAnstrengungenderSozialdemokratischenArbeiterparteieinerGegen- revolutionderBourgeoisiegelänge,dieDemokratiezusprengen,dannkönntedieArbeit- erklasse die Staatsmacht nur noch imBürgerkrieg erobern’ – Berchtold 1967, pp. 248– 56.