Page - 310 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

310 chapter 8 ThebasicpremiseofBauer’s interpretationoffascismasBonapartism,even during theyearof 1924,was as follows: fascismwasnot a formof ruleby the propertied classes that one could explain through the imperialist develop- mental stage of capitalism. Rather, an analogy could be drawnbetween fas- cism’s seizureofpower inbothItalyandGermanyandLouis-NapoleonBona- parte’s coupof 1851, towhich all social classes subordinated themselves due to thebalanceofclass forcesat the time.According toBauer, thecomparable conditionsbetweenGermanyandItalyresultedfromeconomiccrisis. Inthese countries, a relativeequilibriumofclass forceshademerged thatwaspolitic- ally and socially specific, i.e. based on theweakness of bothmain classes in capitalist society – thebourgeoisie andproletariat.32Onone side, the crisis- shaken bourgeois class had lost the support of themiddle classes, who felt disenchantedwith bourgeois democracy. Hence, it was also too frail to sub- ordinate theworking class and rule the state by democraticmeans. It was, however,strongenoughtoarmfascistmilitiasastheirauxiliarytroops.Onthe otherside, therewastheworkingclass,whichwasstill tooweaktoinitiatethe socialist revolution and seizepower. Because of theirweakness, both classes wereunabletoactindependently,whichcreatedfertilegroundforafascistvic- tory. Inthemeantime, fascismmaturedand,unliketheoldclasses,wasableto maintain thebalanceof class forces.Theonlyprerequisite for its assumption of rule in the statewas the seizure of executivepower andenforcement of a dictatorshipoverallclasses. In1924,Bauerexplainedthecomplexrelationshipbetweenthebourgeoisie andfascismbyadditionallydifferentiatingbetweenthepoliticalandeconomic powerof thebourgeoisclass.At the time,hestillheld thesimplistic idea that thebourgeoisiehadvoluntarilyhandedpowertothefascistsinordertodefend fascism;Marxwouldhavemostcertainlydisapprovedof thismethodology.Thepositive sidewas their effort toexplain fascisminrelation to thesocial andpolitical structureof capitalist societyat thetimeandidentify theircontradictions.However, theirattemptat applyingananalysisbasedon freemarket-era capitalismtocapitalism in its imperialist stage,aswellasscarceconsiderationof therelationshipbetweeneconomicandpolitical power, inevitably ledtoastonishing,one-sidedspeculation.SeeThalheimer1930;Trotsky 1971. 32 Note thatBauerconsidered thebalanceofclass forces tobeanormal state inbourgeois society– seealsoSaage 1977,p. 128. Inaddition,maintaining thebalanceof class forces based on the strength of the bourgeoisie andworking class was, according to Bauer’s theoryof a ‘stateof balanceof class forces’, a precondition for the furtherdevelopment of capitalismasapolitical andeconomic system,aswell asaprecondition for reformist socialism.