Page - 335 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the spectre of fascism 335 dissolutionofPrussianparliament(1932)andtheappointmentofHitler’sgov- ernmentin1933,aswellasthedisengagedstanceofthesdapduringtheevents ofFebruary1934. ThedefeatoftheAustrianworkers’uprisingledBauertoreconsiderhispos- itiononbourgeoisdemocracy, even if heeffectivelyonlymodifiedhis earlier standpoint to theslightestdegree.Fatalistoptimismstillprevailed.ForBauer, theFebruarydefeatwasbutasteptowardsthefinalvictoryoftheproletariat.87 Indeed,Bauercontinuedtoadvocatebourgeoisdemocracyandresistedallcri- ticismfromwithinthesocialistcamp,whichblamedparliamentarydemocracy for thedefeat of theworkers’movement. The true causeofdefeat, according toBauer, hadbeen the susceptibility of thepettybourgeoisie, peasantry, and partof theworkingclass toDollfuss’s fascist ideas. Likemanyother socialists of his time,Bauer failed to realise that fascismhadexploited thedisappoint- mentof these layers,whohadbeenletdownbytheSocial-Democraticparty’s failuretoputitsproclaimedprogrammeofsocialtransformationintopractice. Whatismore,Bauerwasdeeplyconvincedthattheworkingclasshadtodefend bourgeoisdemocracyevenif this impliedthattheworkingclasswouldbeper- ceivedasaconservative force.The first reasonwas thatbourgeoisdemocracy wastheresultofworking-classstruggle,anditscontemporaryformwasdecis- ivelyshapedbytheproletariat.Secondly, thebourgeois-democraticstateform guaranteed,unlike fascistdictatorship, legallyenshrined liberty.Only towards theendofhis lifedidBaueradmitthatthis legal freedomwasasourceofpass- ivereformism. The victory of fascismwas synonymouswith the end of the legal Social- Democraticmovement.Inlightoftheconsolidationofthefascistregime,Bauer suggested during the second half of 1934 the abandonment of the reformist tactic, havingconcluded that the fascistdictatorshipcouldonlybeabolished by revolutionarymeans.Bauer spoke fromtheperspectiveof a revolutionary fanatic rather than a politician soberly evaluating available options for the workers’movement. Proofof this canbe found inhisdenial that itwouldbe possible to return to bourgeois democracy once fascismwas defeated. The newprogrammecombined the struggle against fascismwith the struggle for socialism.Onthis,Bauerwasclear: There is now only one task left: the overthrow of the fascist dictator- ship. There is noothermeans to overthrow it than revolutionary force. However, the revolution against fascism cannot be a bourgeois revolu- 87 SeeBauer1934b,p.8.