Page - 291 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the question ofwar in bauer’s thought 291 becameawarethatthiswasagrossmisapprehension.Twomonthslater,atthe lastsdapcongress inOctober1933,headmitted: Today,wecertainlydonothave the time, leisure, ormaturity todiscuss whichpathsocialismwill take toprevail in theworld.Todayat thiscon- gress,weare facing the farmoreurgentandpressing taskofelaborating thewaysinwhichwecandefendourselvesagainsttheimmediatefascist threatinAustria…Thenwehavetogointobattle,butwithfullawareness ofwhatthisbattlemeans.Thenweneedtoknow…thattherecanbeno otherdecisionthantowinorperishanddisappear fora longtime.30 ourtranslation Despite this solidassessmentof thethreatposedby fascism, theparty leader- ship,withBauerat itshelm,continued topursueaconciliatorypactwith the Dollfussgovernment.Aslateas1933,Bauerinaccuratelyassumedthatthebour- geoisiewould join forceswith theworkingclass inorder todefendbourgeois democracyagainst fascisisation. Thedefeatof theworkers’ uprising inFebruary 1934, thedissolutionof the CommunistPartyofAustriaandsdap,andthenewlyestablishedcorporative state in Austria were the central justifications as to why Bauer assumed a similar approach to the lsi left,whichhadbeencalling for aunited front of CommunistsandSocialDemocratsagainst fascismsince theParis congress.31 In the summer of 1935, Bauer, Jean Żyromski and Teodor Dan worked out the so-calledwar theses, whichwere published in the form of a pamphlet, Die Internationale und der Krieg (The International and theWar). The text containedboth short-termand long-termtasks for thelsi andworkingclass in the struggle against fascism.32Furthermore, it containedanassessmentof 30 ‘HeutehabenwirsichernichtdieZeit,nichtdieMußeundnichtdieReife,zudiskutieren, aufwelchemWegsichderSozialismusinderWeltdurchsetzenwird.Heutestehenwirauf demParteitagvorderungleichunmittelbarerenunddringlicherenAufgabe,zuerörtern, inwelcherWeisewirunsderunmittelbardrohendenfaschistischenGefahr inÖsterreich erwehrenkönnen…DannindenKampfgehen,abermitderErkenntnis,wasdieserKampf bedeutet.Dannmußmanwissen…dasseskeineandereEntscheidunggibt,alszusiegen oderunterzugehenundfür langeZeitzuverschwinden’–Bauer1976k,p.701andp.723. 31 This position was advocated by the representative of the Italian Socialist Party, Petro Nenni, themembersof theFrenchSectionof theWorkers’ International,MarceauPivert andJeanŻyromski,andthedelegate fromtheBelgianWorkers’Party,PaulSpaak,among others. 32 CompareLöw1980,p.219.