Page - 280 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

280 chapter 7 tionprogramme–understandablyso,consideringthesdapwasnotapolitical force thatmayhave resisted thebourgeoisblocand itspolitics in 1912.Victor Adleracknowledgedthefeelingofpowerlessnessthatsweptthroughtheparty at the 1912 congress of the Second International inBasel.8 Theparty leader’s congressional statement supportedOttoBauer’snotionof the inevitabilityof warinantagonisticsocieties,principallywithintheframeworkofimperialism, duetotheinadequacyofeconomicworking-classstruggleasaninstrumentof warprevention.9 FormanyEuropeanstates, theassassinationinSarajevoon27July 1914was aprecursor towar.10Not so for theAustrian socialists,who, onVictorAdler’s insistence, not only denied the imminent outbreak of war, but alsomisap- prehended the connectionbetween the assassination andAustro-Hungarian imperialism.11 They assumed that the perpetrators would be punished and order restored.12After theultimatumgiventoSerbia, itwouldhavebeenpos- sibletocoordinatetheactivitiesofallSocial-Democraticpartiesoftheempire. YettheonlyoutcomeofthemeetingbetweenGerman,CzechandPolishactiv- istson29July1914wasamanifestoformulatedbytheGermandelegates.They proffered support for theAustrian SocialDemocrats,who in their viewwere notatfault fortheoutbreakofwar.Thesdapleadershipreiteratedthisprotest onthefirstdayofwar.Itwasnotthemonarchy,theyargued,whoweretoblame forthewar,butSerbia.13 TheoutbreakofWorldWar i andconfrontationwith the tangiblepolitical balancewasa rudeawakening for themisledSocialDemocrats.At that time, few among themwere aware that a politics based on falseMarxian dogma wouldinevitablyprovefatalforSocialDemocracy.AsLeserwrites,amongthese 8 Adlerexpressedthisasfollows: ‘Unfortunately, itdoesnotdependonusSocialDemocrats whetherthewariscomingornot.Wearewellawarethattheworkingclassofallcountries growsmore powerful every day…But let us not overestimate our ownpower, and let usespeciallynotoverestimatetherational thinkingofourgovernments’–Extraordinary InternationalSocialistCongress inBasel from24–25November1912,p. 17. 9 Ibid. 10 Adayaftertheassassination,hundredsofworkersinGermanyandBritainstagedananti- wardemonstration. 11 Ardeltsharesthisview–seeArdelt 1979,p.63. 12 BywayoftestimonytotheSocialDemocrats’deepconvictionthattherewasnoimminent danger, FriedrichAdlerwanted to set the date for the socialist congress in Vienna for August. 13 Kulemann notes that the Social Democrats’ negative stance on the Austro-Hungarian empire’snations’ right toself-determinationwasbutonestepaway fromsupporting the annexationofSerbia.SeeKulemann1979,p. 167.