Page - 296 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

296 chapter 8 mentorexertanysignificantinfluenceuponpoliticallifebeforeHitler’sannex- ationofAustria on 11March 1938.3Notably, theNational-Socialistmovement inAustriawasnever strong enough to exist independently.Until 1926, it hid under thewingsof theGreaterGermanPeople’sParty,andon29August 1926, itchangeditsnametoNational-SocialistGermanWorkers’Partyandwasincor- poratedintothestructuresofitsGermansisterparty,Hitler’snsdap.Hence,the word ‘fascism’didnotcarrythesameweight inAustriaas itdidinGermany. It stood for theAustrianclerical varietyof fascismknownasAustrofascismand thepolitical powerheldby theHeimwehrandpoliticians fromtheChristian SocialandGreaterGermancampsalliedtoit–i.e.anauthoritarianrulerather thanthetotalitarianrule inGermany. Howdoweexplain the successof thisparamilitaryorganisation, andhow did it manage to seize power? Bauer offered thorough explanations in his insightful analysis of fascism.Before any furtherdiscussioncan takeplace, it is important to identify somekey facts ofAustrianpolitical life from1927–34 thatare linkedtohispositionasanauthorofthesdap’spolitical line. When the bourgeois coalition government ruled from 1920–9, the Social Democrats were an important oppositional movement. After the July 1927 events, theywere pushedonto the defensive.Members of the sdapbureau- cracy,whoweresocontentwitheconomicreformsandelectoralsuccessesthat theyfailedtonoticetheparty’sweaknesses,werechieflytoblamefortheinef- fectivenessofSocial-Democraticpolitics.TheSchutzbundalsolosttouchwith themasses and gradually turned into a bureaucratic organisation – a devel- opmentthattheleaderoftheworkers’detachments,GeneralTheodorKörner, hadcautionedagainst. In the autumnof 1927, all Heimwehr forces united into a single organisa- tion.In1927,IgnazSeipel–whoseforemostaimwastodestroythedemocratic republic andSocial-Democraticmovement in order to establish an authorit- ariancorporativestate(Ständestaat) initsruins–askedtheHeimwehrforaid. On16July 1929,SeipelheldaspeechatTubingenUniversity,exposingthevul- nerabilityof thestate’sparliamentarystructuresandglorifying theHeimwehr as defenders of the state against the power of political parties. From 1927– 30, the number ofHeimwehrmembers rose from 10,000 to 350,000.Most of 3 Braunthal concurs with this. According to him, there was no danger of Nazism flooding Austria intheearly 1930s.Unlikethecase inGermany, theNational-Socialistmovementhad nohopes of broad support inAustria. The big capitalists sidedwith theHeimwehr in the struggleagainstbrownfascism.TheCatholicpartof thepettybourgeoisieandthepeasants, whowereundertheinfluenceof thechurchandloyal totheChristianSocialParty,werenot verysusceptibletoNational-Socialistslogans.CompareBraunthal 1967,p.404.