Page - 322 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

322 chapter 8 torationofthemonarchy. In1935,hewaspreparedtoenteranagreementwith theNationalSocialists toavertarestorationoftheHabsburgmonarchyandde facto jointlycombattheDollfussgovernment,eventhoughhewas fullyaware thatthepotentialGermanpartnerrepresentedadeadlythreattothepartyand theworking class.55 Botz sardonically notes in his comment onBauer’s pro- posalthat itwasarathersurprisingturn,giventhatfromlate1933toearly1934 hehadstill lentsupporttotheestablishmentofthecorporativestate.56Tosum upBauer’ssecondarytheoryofAustrofascism,it isworthnotingthathefeared therestorationofthemonarchyprimarilybecauseitmightsquanderhishopes forAustria’sunionwithGermany. ItiscriticalthatBauerdidnotdedicateagreatdealofattentiontothesecond andthirdphasesofAustrofascismthathehadoutlined.Inhisview,thesecond period from 1935–8was characterised by the exclusion of theHeimwehr by clerical fascism, the effective autonomyof the state power, and its evolution inanautocratic-bureaucraticdirection. BauerreferredtothethirdperiodfromFebruary1938onwardasacoalition betweenclerical fascismandNational Socialism, backedbybig industry, the pettybourgeoisie, theintelligentsia,andthestatebureaucracy. In1938,hewas convinced that theNationalSocialistswouldestablish theirowndictatorship inAustria.57 AsHanischnotes, Bauerwas ultimately not sure about his views onAus- trofascism.58 This is confirmed in thewayhe fluctuated betweendefining it as a fascist dictatorship and an autocratic regime. Although he repeatedly employedtheterm‘fascistdictatorship’,BauerstillacknowledgedthatAustrian fascismwasweakerthanitsGermanandItaliancounterparts–it lackedpopu- larsupport, its ideologywas less ‘refined’comparedtoNazism,andits leaders wereundecidedas to itspoliticaldirection.Thisdictatorshipwasnotascom- prehensiveorbrutalasothers. In the lastmonthsofhis life,Bauer revisedhis positionandreferredtothethreephasesoftheDollfuss-Schuschniggdictator- shipas ‘semi-fascism’,alsousingtheterm‘smallstate fascism’.59 55 CompareHanisch1974,p.257. 56 SeeBotz1985,p. 176. 57 AccordingtoKösten,Bauer identified ‘fascisating’ factors invarious forces, suchasmon- archists (1923), theHeimwehr (1930), theNational Socialists (1932), and in theDollfuss government(1933).SeeKösten1984,p.270.NotethatBauercourtedallmannerof forces, hoping tocometosomeunderstanding, according tohis subjectiveviewof thepolitical situationinAustriaratherthanarealisticassessment. 58 SeeHanisch1974,p.256. 59 SeeBauer1980ff,p.889.