Page - 218 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

218 chapter 5 influential, Bauer’s overall assessment of the economic, political, and social situation inAustriawasaccurate.Onemightwell askwhetherBauerand the sdapleadershipwouldhavehadanyalternativestotheirchosenstrategy.The only truthfulanswer isyes,butonly if theyhadgonethewayof revolutionary violence.Asthiswasnotthesdapstrategy,theysawthemselvesforcedtocom- mencesocialisationeffortstopacifytheangrymassesinordertomaintaintheir credibility. Furthermore,prevalenteconomicandpolitical conditions limited anyroomformanoeuvre. PostwarAustriansocialdemocracydrewlessonsfromthesocialisationpro- grammedebacle. In the Second Republic, the textile and energy industries, machineengineeringandbigbankswerenationalisedveryquickly.However, it is impossible to ignorethe fact that theSocial-DemocraticPartyofAustria’s (spö) 1946–7programmesdemandedsocialisation inaddition tonationalisa- tion.Thecriteria for socialisation–i.e. sizeandeconomicsignificanceofpro- spectiveenterprises–representedacontinuationofthecriteriadefinedin1919. Notunlike theoriginal socialisationplans, thepostwarprogrammesoutlined aneconomicmodelthatwouldcoalesceaplannedeconomywithworkers’co- management intheworkplaces,aswellasdemandtherestorationofpre-1934 social legislation.FurtheranalogiestoBauer’ssocialisationprogrammecanbe found in the spöprogrammeof 1958,whichdemanded the expropriationof big landowners forcompensation,continuedinviolabilityofpettyproduction enterprisesandagriculture,andthe introductionofanadministrationsystem accordingtothe3/3principle insocialisedworkplaces.Theaimsof thesepro- posals, too,werethesameasthoseofBauer’sproject in1919.124 3.2 TheAgrarianProgramme The ongoing war and fall of the monarchy upset the traditional structure of class relations in the countryside and revolutionised the peasantmasses. From 1918–20, awave of peasant uprisings against officialswhoupheldwar- timepolicies inadministrationandtradebrokeout.Agriculturalandsilvicul- turalworkers alsoproclaimed their discontent. Theyhadhoped that the fall of the Empirewould bring changes in rural property relations, and that the Social-Democraticgovernmentwouldintroduceanagriculturalprogrammeto improveworkingconditionsand raisewages. Thesegroupswere receptive to notabletoacquirethenecessaryforeignfinancialmeanstoimportbreadandcoal.There wasonlyonewaytogetthem,namelybysellingoffassets…Wehadtopassourfactories intothehandsof foreigncapitalists’ (ourtranslation)–Bauer1920, inArchivalSources. 124 Onthe1946–59programmesof thespö,seeKozub’s interestingdepictioninKozub1982, pp.56–69.