Page - 332 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

332 chapter 8 contributed to the defeat of the party: for instance, the inefficient organisa- tion of the struggle, the failed general strike, the Schutzbund troops being abandoned,andallowing thegovernment tospreadpropagandaaccording to whichtheparty leadershiphadfled–thelatter, itmustbeadded,wasundeni- ablewith respect to Bauer andDeutsch. On the other hand, also conducive to the sdap’s defeat was the general economic and political situation that thepartywas innoposition to influence, i.e. economic crises that subjected thepetty-bourgeois andpeasantmasses topoverty, thedefeatof theGerman workingclass inthestruggleagainstNazism,andthefadingoutof therevolu- tionarywave in Europe.81 Bauer cited the following asmistakes, if only tac- ticalmistakes:thesdap’srefusaltoco-operatewithKarlBuresch’sgovernment after the 1932 elections, which strengthened the advance of both theHeim- wehr andnsdap; and the failure to proclaima general strike in response to Dollfuss’s dissolvingparliamentand introducingemergencymeasures. Bauer openlydiscussedwhether theDollfuss dictatorship couldhavebeenpreven- tedanddeniedthatthiscouldhavebeenachieved.Objectively,heargued, the economic crisis drove themasses into the armsof the fascists.Undoubtedly, onecannotblameBauerandthepartyleadershipfortheconsciousdestruction of Austrian democracy, for which the two fascist groups and the conservat- ive rightwingof theChristian Social Party bear responsibility. I concurwith Pelinkaonthispoint: ‘February1934wasneitheratragedythatcameoverAus- triasolelythrough“objectivecircumstances”,northeresultof“sharedrespons- ibility” or a “renunciation of democracy” for which all parties were equally responsible.February1934sawthedramaticconclusionofadevelopmentcon- sciouslypushedforward,forwhichDollfuss,Starhemberg,andFeywereopenly prepared to take responsibility’ (our translation).82However, one shouldadd thatBauer’smisguidedpolicies, basedon theAustromarxist doctrine,werea factor that fostered andaccelerated this development. If onedraws strategic andtacticalpremisesfortheworking-classstrugglefromatheorythathadlong beendetached from reality, the inadequacy of these premises is transparent fromtheoutset. 81 SeeBauer1934,p.24. 82 Pelinka1984,p. 12.