Page - 321 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the spectre of fascism 321 ism,heenvisagedadistortedimageofDollfuss’spoliticalsystem.Likewise,his evaluationoftheroleofthechurchinAustrofascismwaswideofthemark.Con- trarytohisclaims,itdidnotaspiretointroduceaCatholicfascistdictatorship.51 AsHanischdemonstrates, theAustrian churchwas the absolute guardianof theauthoritarianstateand,assuch,anobstacle for thefullydevelopedfascist orientationof thegovernment.52 It is true,however, thatDollfussgranted the church cultural and social privileges, and that the church used its influence uponthemiddleclassestofostersupport fortheDollfussgovernment. Bauerdistinguishedbetweenthreephasesof theDollfuss-Schuschniggdic- tatorship.HereferredtothefirstphaseoftheAustrofascistsystemfrom1934–6 asacoalitionbetweenclericalfascismandHeimwehrfascism.Thechurch,the bureaucratic layerofofficials,andthebourgeois-peasantorganisationsonthe one hand, and the aristocracy and imperial officers on the other, supported it. Bauerwasconvinced that this systemwould sooncollapseas it hadanar- row social base, no charismatic leader, andwas economically unstable – i.e. dependenton Italian capital.53 In 1935, Bauer sawanewdanger arising from these factors. It has to be said that it was illusory: he fearedAustrofascism’s alleged ambitions to consolidate its power by restoring theHabsburgmon- archy.54 This beliefwas rooted in the fact that someelements in the church and Christian Social Party heldmonarchist sympathies. Yet the notion that the churchwouldwant to restore themonarchywasnot basedon fact, con- sidering the 1855 concordat had not even granted the church half asmany privileges as Dollfuss’s government was prepared to. Bauer’s suspicion that France,BritainandItalyhadaninterest inrestoringthemonarchywasequally unfounded:afterHitler’svictoryinGermany,theDollfussgovernment’sresolve to preserveAustrian independence coincidedwith British andFrenchpolit- ical interests,whilethetypeofgovernmentinAustriawasof littlerelevanceto thesecountries.Ifthefactsspokeforthemselves,Bauerwasscarcelyinclinedto acknowledgethem.Instead,hedreamtupthenonsensicalvisionofavictorious working-classrevolutioninalliancewithpro-Germanelementsagainsttheres- 51 SeeBauer1980x,p.449. 52 SeeHanisch1974,p.253. 53 SeeBauer1980cc,p.227. 54 In 1935, Bauer wrote: ‘Habsburg stands at the gates. The Austrofascist dictatorship is paving the way for the Habsburgians …Not the Nazis, but the Habsburgians are the immediate,mostpressingdangeratthemoment’.Original: ‘HabsburgstehtvordenToren. Die austrofaschistische Diktatur bahnt den Habsburgern denWeg… nicht die Nazis, sondern die Habsburger sind imAugenblick die nächste dringendste Gefahr’ – Bauer 1980aa,p.505.