Page - 327 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the spectre of fascism 327 subjectivedevelopment tendenciesof fascist imperialism, i.e. the centralised economyandtheanti-fascist, socialist revolution. 3 TheAnti-FascistUprisingofAustrianWorkers The primary objectives of fascism of the Austrian variety were to eliminate politicalparties,includingtheSocial-Democraticparty,fromthepoliticalstage, abolishtherepublic,andestablishthecorporativestate.Onitswaytoachieving these goals, Austrofascism encountered an unexpected obstacle: a spontan- eous anddramaticworkers’ uprising indefenceof thebeleaguered and sup- presseddemocracylastingfrom12–18February1934. TheoutbreakoftheFebruaryuprisingposesanumberofquestions.Wehave alreadyaddressedinpoints1and2.2astowhetherfascisminAustrialivedupto itsownambitions in thesamewayasGermanfascismdid.Furtherquestions still need to be addressed:Were fratricidal struggles inevitable in the demo- cratic republic thatAustria hadbecomeafter the fall of themonarchy?Why couldapolitical compromiseagreed inparliamentnot resolve theescalating conflict?Finally,whywastheSocial-Democratic leadershipunabletostopthe courseofeventsandliveuptothechallengesposedbybothAustrofascismand theworkingclass? AllAustrianpolitical forces, includingtheSocialDemocrats,wereclearthat thewarning accommodated in the programme of Linz, according towhich forcewouldbeused if fascismseizedpower,wasnotacredible threat.When parliament was dissolved, the Social-Democratic party was deprived of the democraticconditions forstrugglethathadbeenitsstrategicpremise–itwas synonymouswith theparty’s exclusion fromthepolitical arena.Theonly tra- jectory still possible for the party was that of active resistance. Alas, Bauer lacked the self-assertion and decisiveness that so distinguishedDollfuss. In light of the constitutional crisis, the sdap leadership failed to call for the strike that theworkingmasseswere expecting for fear of civil war. Instead, it announced that itwasprepared toco-operatewith thegovernmenton the imminentconstitutionalreformthataimedtostrengthentheexecutivepower. What ismore, the sdap offered theDollfuss government the support of the Schutzbundandagreedwiththedecisiontograntthegovernmentextraordin- ary powers – this, it hoped, would be the harbinger for co-operation in the struggle againstNazism.The tacticalmisjudgements committedby theparty leadership resultednot only from its erratic assessment of the political situ- ation; theywere also theproduct of SocialDemocracy’s ideological andpro- grammaticassumptions, i.e. itsbelief intheinevitabilityofhistoricalprogress.