Page - 295 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

© ewa czerwińska-schupp, 2017 | doi: 10.1163/9789004325838_009 This isanopenaccessarticledistributedunderthetermsofthecc-by-ncLicense. chapter 8 TheSpectreofFascism 1 HarbingersofFascism Acritical assessment of Bauer’s theory of fascism is only understandable in itshistorical andpolitical context. It is important to remember that since the beginningoftheFirstRepublic, thefascistmovementwassplit intotwowings fightingeachotherwith increasingvehemence:Austrofascism,alsoknownas ‘black’ fascism,andNationalSocialism,alsoknownas ‘brown’ fascism.1 From the mid-1920s onward, the two groups shared the following aims: exclusionoftheSocial-DemocraticPartyfromthepoliticalstage,abolishment of the social gains of the working class, and replacement of the bourgeois democraticpolitical orderwitha fascist dictatorship.Bothmovementshada similar social base– in 1929, itmainly consistedof thepeasantry, the intelli- gentsia,declassedofficers,andaristocratic landowners.Astheeconomiccrisis dawned, the impoverished petty bourgeoisie, industrial workers, the unem- ployed, and students joined the factions. AustrofascismandNational Social- ismwereprimarilydividedovertheirrespectiveattitudestowardstheCatholic Churchandtheir foreignpolicies. IntheHeimwehr(HomeDefence,afarright paramilitaryorganisation),whichwasledbyimperialofficers,clerical tenden- ciesprevailed.TheNationalSocialists, incontrast,adheredtotheslogan, ‘Away fromRome!’, andpinned their hopesonHitler’sGermany.2 Thepolitical and economic foundationsof the twovarietiesof fascismalsodiffered. InAustria, ontheoneside,itconsistedoftheHeimwehr,backedbythechurch,aristocratic landowners, and big capital. On the other, therewere the bourgeois parties. Outsideofthisbalanceof forcesweretheNationalSocialists. AllhistoricalsourcesconfirmthattheAustrianNaziparty,theso-calledGer- manNational-SocialistWorkers’Party(dnsap),didnotbecomeamassmove- 1 Austrianauthors,suchasGerhardBotz,ErnstHanisch,AntonPelinka,andErichZöllner,have extensivelyresearchedtheirinceptionanddevelopment.Assuch,wewillnotinvestigatethis mattertoointensely.However,weshouldnotethatmostAustrianhistoriansalsodifferentiate between the two different varieties of fascism. Francis L. Carsten, meanwhile, offers an opposingview.BesidetheNational-Socialistmovement,heargues, thereweretwodifferent trendswithintheHeimwehr:Germannationalistandauthoritarianfascist.SeeCarsten1982, p. 190. 2 CompareBraunthal 1967,p.403.