Page - 319 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the spectre of fascism 319 desireforunionwithGermany,andsecond,Bauer’soppositiontoanypolitical systemswhichinfringedindividual libertyandaimedtoabolish its legalguar- antees. When approaching Austrofascism, Bauer aimed to reveal the economic, social and political basis of this phenomenon, especially the differences be- tweenAustrian,GermanandItalianfascism.Thecoreofhisconclusionswasas follows:Austriaisthefirstcountryinwhichclericalismwithfascisttendencies conglomeratedtoformadictatorship. BaueridentifiedanumberofcausesforthevictoryofAustrofascism.Thefirst wasthefalloftheHabsburgmonarchy,whichincludedthecostsofthelostwar andlossofforeignmarkets.ThesecondwastheeconomicsituationoftheFirst Republic–thatistosay,dependencyonforeigncapital, thedeclineofexports, the banks’ loss of independence and subordination to state control, and the workers’ lossofpurchasingpowerresultingfromthecrisisandunemployment. Bauerconsideredit lessimportanttoinvestigatetheeconomicconditionsthat allowed fascism to grow than to study themechanisms by which it seized power, itsclasscontent,anditsnatureandsocialbase. Indeed,itwasnotthateasytoexplainhowfascismhadcometopower,espe- ciallysinceconditionsinAustriaweredifferentfromthoseinGermanyorItaly. InAustria, fascismdidnotenjoysupportfromthemassesanddidnotproduce its own ideologyor charismatic leaders.Nor is it possible to ignore the long- standing, relentless struggle between the two fascist trends.Whenanalysing themechanismdue towhichAustrian fascismhademerged,Bauer’s conclu- sionswere similar to theworks of contemporary historians:49 fascism rested ontheillegitimateassumptionofpowerbyacoalitionofgoverningforces, the representativesof theChristianSocialPartyandtheHeimwehr, supportedby thechurch.Bauer’swordssuccinctlyreflectedthesituationinAustria: So the clerical, Austrian-patriotic faction of the bourgeoisie hostile to unionwithGermany resolved touse the statepower to establish adic- tatorshipwhichwas intended to suppress by forceGerman-nationalist Fascismandtheworkingclassatthesametime.Onthesurfaceitimitated Fascistmethods, adopted Fascist ideology, and linked it with Catholic clericalism. Inreality,however, its ‘FatherlandFront’didnotarise froma popularmassmovement,asdidtheFascistpartyinItalyandtheNational 49 Compare the writings contained in Tálos, Emmerich andWolfgang Neugebauer 1984. Matthes,whooffersasomewhatdivergentassessmentthatisnolesshistoricallyaccurate if oneconsiders the long-termprocessof fascisisation, argues thatAustrofascismseized powerbygraduallyconqueringthestateapparatus.SeeMatthes1979,p.259.