Page - 217 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the ‘thirdway’ to socialism 217 in 1934.120Heavy industry sufferedablowwhenthemajority sharesofAlpine Montangesellschaft – the only complexwhose socialisation had a practical meaningforthesuccessofthewholeeffort–weresoldtotheItalianson22May 1919.121 Two factors decided the untimely fate of the socialisation effort. The first was the international situation in 1919: the revolutionary wave inWestern Europeebbedas theBavarianandHungarian soviet republicsweredefeated andbourgeoisgovernmentswereconsolidatedinPolandandCzechoslovakia. The second factor was the domestic situation in Austria. That is to say, its dependency on the Entente powers, inflation, the growing resistance of the propertied classes, continuous agitation conducted by the Christian Social Party and peasantry against the socialisation project, and a lack of pressure onthepartof thesdapleadership.122Oncethesocialisationpolicies,however partiallyimplemented,hadservedtheirpurposeindampingtherevolutionary moodoftheworkingclass, theChristianSocialPartycouldscarcelyconceal its aversiontoanyfurthercollaborationwiththeSocialDemocrats. InSeptember 1919,thesocialisationcommissiondiscontinueditsoperations,withnofurther meetingstakingplacethereafter.InOctober1919,Bauerconsequentlyresigned fromhispositionas chairof thecommission. Inhisopinion, two factors cru- ciallycontributedto theproject’s failure: thebanonAnschlussandeconomic dependencyontheEntente.123While theaforementionedfactorswere justas 120 CompareMärz1965,p.65andLeser1968,p.322. 121 CompareMärz1975,p.420.AlpineMontangesellschaftwasAustria’sbiggestironandsteel corporation. JosephSchumpeterdecidedtoselloff themajorityshares inordertosource moneyforcoalandfood. 122 The Entente powers threatened to deny theAustrian government any further credit if parliamentweretopasssocialisation laws.At thesametime, foreignshares inthebanks ofViennaincreased: 1913 1923 17.8percent 46.0percent Boden-Creditanstalt 31.4percent 70.0percent Länderbank 3.0percent 55.6percent Anglo-Bank 3.4percent 60.0percent Mercurbank source: märz 1981, p. 443. 123 Inhisunpublished speech,Bauerwrote: ‘Wewereunable to socialisebecausewecould notseverour international ties…Ourpaymentsbalancewasunfavourable,andwewere