Page - 333 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the spectre of fascism 333 4 AustrianSocialDemocracyandtheTriumphofFascism 4.1 AustrianSocialDemocracy’sRelationshiptoStrategicandTactical ConceptsoftheWorkers’MovementDuringthePeriodofFascist Reaction Weshallnowassessthestatement,attheendofourprevioussection,according towhichatheoryoutoftouchwithrealityledtoinadequatestrategicpremises. It implies that themeans andmethods Bauer proposed for the anti-fascist struggleswere unfit for purpose, evenwith respect to his ownevaluation of fascism.Itdoesnot,however, fullyexplainthemotivesthatdeterminedBauer andhisparty comrades’ decisionsduring theFebruaryuprising. In truth, the strategyand tactics that thepartyhadadopted for theworking-class struggle against fascism drove their decisions. These, in turn, were based not on a realistic assessment of the social and political situation, but rather on the valuesthattheSocialDemocratswerewillingtodefend. Let us take a closer look at Bauer and the sdap leadership’s anti-fascist strategy and the goals towhich it was subordinated. Between theHamburg congress of the lsi in 1923 and the last sdapparty congress in 1933, Bauer’s accountsonthegeneralstrategicpremisesoftheanti-fasciststruggleofthepro- letariatwerecharacterisedprimarilyby theirpurelydeclarative revolutionary nature and his aversion to co-operatingwith the Communists. These senti- mentsweretypicalforthepartiesthatbelongedtothelsi.Anotherprominent aspect was the fact that the individual parties championed their respective national interests over the interests of the internationalworkers’movement asawhole.Thismade it impossible toarriveatashared lineofactionagainst fascismandweakenedthepracticalmeaningofresolutionsadoptedatthelsi congresses.83Sincethebeginningoftheorganisation’sexistence,Bauersetthe tone of official lsi documents, and itwas largely his views that determined their form.Atthefoundingcongressofthelsi,hewarnedoftheinternational dimensionofthefascistphenomenon.Inaratherone-sidedfashion,heblamed theBolsheviksforitsemergence.Inhisopinion,theyhadcontributedtoitsrise bysplitting the internationalworkers’movementandtradeunions, aswell as introducing terror. For fear that red terrormight spread,heargued, thebour- geoisie called the fascists to its aid. Bauer rightly criticised theCommunists’ dogmaticthinking–forthem,theworking-classstruggleagainstfascismcould be used to rapidly herald theworld revolution.He concededwith theCom- munists,however, that theavailabledemocratic institutionswerenotenough 83 CompareZmierczak1988,p.78.