Page - 309 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the spectre of fascism 309 not go so far as to credit themiddle class as an independent political force. Rather, he thought of it as a mere instrument in the hands of the fascists andde factobig capital. The elite of the fascist party hailed from the grande bourgeoisie and landowners, whose interests opposed those of the middle classes.Bauerwas right inasserting that the fascistdictatorshipemancipated itselffromthefascistmovementthemomentitseizedpower,whichoccurredat theexpenseoftheambitionsofthemiddleclasses.Hisotherconclusionwasno lessaccurate:SocialDemocracyinpowerhaddisappointedthehopesofmany, andduringtheperiodprior to fascismtaking full control, itwasunable touse thediscontentandrevolutionarypotentialofthemiddleclassestoreinvigorate itself. The programmes of theworkers’ parties had insufficiently taken into accounttheinterestsofthemiddleclasses–thesdapprogrammesofthe1920s cametoo late inthis respect.Becauseof thismisstep, the left-leaningsections oftheseclassesdesertedinfavourof fascism. Themain issuethatpreoccupiedBauer inhisworksonfascismfrom1924– 36was themechanismbywhich fascism could obtain dominance. In order to discern it, he had to address a couple of questions. First, inwhatwaydid the rebellion of themiddle classes lead to the introduction of fascist dictat- orships? Second,which social forcesde facto allowed the fascistmovements to assumepower and consolidate their rule? Bauerwas not the only one to make use of Marx’s theory of Bonapartism as a blueprint to answer these questions.30 August Thalheimer, then amember of theCommunist Party of Germany (Opposition), andLeonTrotskyemployedmuch the samemodeof explanation,andevennon-MarxisttheoristssuchasErnstFraenkel,FranzNeu- mann,FriedrichPollock,AlfredSohn-Rethel,TimothyMasonandGertSchäfer referred toMarx’s theory of Bonapartism in theirworkon fascism. This the- oryprovokednumerouscontroversiesamongst socialistsanddidnot findthe approvalofSocial-Democraticparties.31 30 InTheEighteenthBrumaireofLouisBonaparte,Marxanalysedthehistorical sourcesand social content of Bonapartism. Forhim, thehistorically conditioned class constellation of French society provided the prerequisites for Bonaparte’s coup. Themost valuable achievement of Marx’s analysis was not somuch that he identified the actual social basis (the peasantry whose land had been divided into parcels) and class content of Bonapartism (the economic power of the finance oligarchy), but his emphasis on the socio-politicalbalanceofforcesthatgaverisetoBonapartism:abourgeoisiethataimedto protectitseconomicinterestsandaproletariatthatwasunabletogain,letalonemaintain, powerinthestate inlightof thecrisis.SeeMarx1852. 31 The critical reader should not fail to notice that Bauer’s and Thalheimer’s analyses – and, to a lesser extent, Trotsky’s – rathermechanically appliedMarx’s conclusions to