Page - 272 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

272 chapter 6 thesdapwaslosingitshegemonyandfearedrisingCommunistinfluenceanda potentialsplitintheparty.Whilenoneofthiswasunjustified,theSocialDemo- crats’ political practice and their logic for rejecting any further collaboration with bourgeois partieswere not the same as the reasons they offered to the masses. In addition, the bourgeois parties did not desire further sdapparti- cipation ingovernmentanymore than theSocialDemocratsdid.AChristian Social andGreaterGermanbloccouldverywelldowithout theSocialDemo- crats.The latter,meanwhile,wereawareof theirpowerlessnessandwerethus forced to abandon the idea.When the elections on 17October 1920, the first afterRenner’s resignation, resulted inanunexpectedascendancyof thebour- geois parties, the SocialDemocrats joined theoppositionusing adispute on militarylegislationasapretext.43Theexit fromthecoalitiondidnotshakethe party leadership’s faith in the democratic road to socialism, despite the fact thatengagingwiththecoalitionwasoneofthepivotalaspectsof thisstrategy. Thesdapleadersdismissedtheaffairasatemporaryexclusionfrompower. In 1920, they firmlybelievedthatnewfertilegroundfor resumingcoalitionwork would soonbe created.Without a doubt, thiswas partly due to the determ- inisticviewofhistoryprevailingamongSocialDemocrats.44Onamoretrivial level, theSocialDemocrats’ hope to re-enteracoalitionwasalsodue to their expectationthatthevictoriousparties’policiesingovernmentwouldsoonend indisaster. Yet theirhopeswerenever actualised. Thebourgeoisbloc consolidated its power in the state.What ismore, in 1922, after havingdeclinedBauer’s offer to participate in government, itmanaged to navigate the country out of the economic crisiswithout the SocialDemocrats’ co-operation.Meanwhile, the Social-Democraticparty,whichonBauer’sadvicehadremainedinopposition, was debilitated to such a degree that it was completely at themercy of the bourgeois parties’ paramilitary formationswhen thewaveof terror escalated after 1927.45 After 1920, there was only one real opportunity for the Social 43 TheSocialDemocratsdemandedreplacingthestandingarmywithapopularmilitia.This suggestionprovokedvehementresistance fromtheircoalitionpartners–seeLeser 1986, p. 281. The election results played a far greater role in the sdap’s decision: in 1919, the ChristianSocial Party increased its numberofmandatesby 19 and theGreaterGerman People’s Party by two, while the sdap lost seven seats in parliament. This change in balancereflectedthegradualdissipationof therevolutionarywaveandconsolidationof bourgeoisdominance. 44 CompareLeser1979,p.33. 45 BauerwroteaboutthesuggestionhehadmadetoSeipelonthefrontpageoftheArbeiter- Zeitungof24August.