Page - 311 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the spectre of fascism 311 its interests and economic position in the face of the radicalisation of the workers’movement. Inhisbook,GleichgewichtderKlassenkräfte (TheBalance ofClassForces),hewrote: TheItalianFascismof1922istheequivalentoftheFrenchBonapartismof 1851. Inbothcases,anadventurerbackedbygangsofarmedadventurers managed todisperse the bourgeois parliament and thus overthrow the political rule of the bourgeoisie and erect his owndictatorship over all classes. This occurred as the bourgeoisie abandoned its own political representatives and threw itself into thearmsof the force that rebelled again its own state power. In exchange for its political rule, it saved its propertyagainst theproletarianthreat.33 ourtranslation Bauerwas evidently incorrect.Atnopointwas fascisma reaction to the vic- toriesof theworkingclass;afterall, theworkingclasshadalreadybeendriven onto thedefensiveby thebourgeoisie in theearly 1920s. In fact, theopposite was the case: the shortcomingsof theworkers’movement, thehollownessof its words, and the sluggishness of its leaders drove the petty bourgeois and workers into the arms of the fascists, allowing them to build a social base for their success.34 This was not the only deficiency in Bauer’s analysis. In theaforementioned text, theauthor recognised that fascistBonapartismwas a specific formof counter-revolution rather than a dictatorship of the bour- geoisie. Yet Bauer did not take into account the role of fascist mass organ- isations and conflicts between the petty bourgeoisie and big bourgeoisie.35 It is important to remember that he disregarded the threat of fascism dur- ing that period, and it was in this spirit that hemade his statements at the 1927congressof the sdap.36Hisnonchalancemightbeascribed to thebelief 33 ‘Der italienischeFaschismusvon 1922 ist dasGegenstückdes französischenBonapartis- musvon 1851. InbeidenFällenhat einAbenteurer, aufBandenbewaffneterAbenteurer gestützt,dasbürgerlicheParlamentauseinanderjagendamitdiepolitischeHerrschaftdas Bourgeoisie stürzen und seine Diktatur über alle Klassen aufrichten können, weil die Bourgeoisie selbst ihrepolitischeVertretung imStich ließ, ihreeigeneKlassenherrschaft preisgab,sichdergegenihreeigeneStaatsmachtrebellierendenGewalt indieArmewarf um,gegenPreisgabeihrerpolitischenHerrschaftihrvomProletariatbedrohtesEigentum zuretten’–seeBauer1980o,p.66. 34 CompareHeimann1985,p. 136. 35 SeePelinka1985,p.60. 36 At the time, he stated: ‘one should not try to scare uswith the Italian example…The