Page - 269 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

state, democracy, socialism 269 fortheunitedforcesofthebourgeois-peasantcamp.Inaddition,anypotential collaborationbetweendifferentpolitical groupswas thwartedby theMarxist dogmatismthatprevailed inthesdap:anyco-operationwiththeclassenemy wasrejectedonideologicalgrounds.The1917resolutionoftheleftandthe1918 nationalprogrammeoftheleftare informedbyverysimilarsentiments. After the demise of themonarchy, the sdap leadership reconsidered its stanceoncollaborationwithotherparties. InOctober1918,theAustrianSocial Democratswere inclined,much like theirGermansisterparty, towardscoali- tion policies, even if the decision of the party leadershipwas not supported by rank and filemembers.36 The theoretical assumptions and socio-political conditions that convinced sdap leaders to adapt their attitude to coalitions areworthy of investigation. In the theoretical domain, the desire to uphold theconceptofpeaceful revolutionwascrucial,whichcorrespondedwith the party’s fearof aviolentattemptby the indignantmasses tousher inaprolet- arian state. Joining the coalitionwasunderstoodas anecessary step towards defendingtheearlydemocraticgainsof therepublic, aguarantee for thecon- tinuationof the reformist road, andasafeguardagainstBolshevisation.37The SocialDemocrats’beliefthatthetransformationofthepoliticalorderhadbeen premature ledtoanovel situation.For the first timeinthehistoryofAustrian parliamentarism,inter-partyquarrelsweresecondarytotheconcernforacom- monobjective.Tosummarise, thetheoryofahistoricalnecessity toengage in coalitionwork, unanimously supportedby the leadership at thedawnof the republic,wasentrenchedintheirdesiretoprotectbourgeoisdemocracy.Bauer andRenner’s theories of democracy and the state provided justifications for this. Nonetheless, it ishard toentirelydenyBauer’s 1919assertion that thedeci- sion toengage inacoalitionwas forcedupon thepartyby the socio-political balance of forces.38 True enough, no party actively desired a coalition, nor 36 No one spoke resolutely against a coalition at the 1918 congress. When the coalition governmentwasformedwiththeparticipationofthesdapon30October1918,thiscaused outrageamongworkers,astheywerehostiletowardscollaborationwithbourgeoisparties. Rennerstressedthisafewdays lateratastatecouncilmeeting.SeePfabigan1982,p. 146. 37 Atthefirstmeetingoftheprovisionalnationalassembly,VictorAdlerclaimedthatSocial Democracy would not abandon its political goals when entering the coalition – see Berchtold 1967, p. 32. This proclamationdidnot change the reality that both the Social Democrats andChristian Socials regarded the coalition as the onlyway to prevent the emergenceofaproletariandictatorship.CompareLeopoldKunschak’s speechof30May 1919,citedbyLeser1986,p.280;andBauer1920b,p.255. 38 AttheOctober1919partycongress,Bauerexplainedthat ‘thecoalitionisabitternecessity