Page - 342 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

342 chapter 8 questionarepolarised.99 Itwasanauthoritariandictatorshipthatdisregarded any rule of law; itwasbasedonanarrowgroupof powerful individuals sup- portingeachotherandemployingmeansof force(policeandthearmy),yet it wasdoubtlesslynot a totalitariandictatorship. It neverdegenerated intoone ruler’spowerover themindsandsoulsof thepopulation,norwasthis itspur- pose.Rather,theregimewasinterestedinkeepingindividualsandsocialgroups inlineforthepriceofrestrictingandinfringingtheirpolitical, social,andcivil liberties.It isworthhighlightingthatthe‘corporativestate’wasunabletofunc- tion inpracticeanddidnotabolish theexistingsocial antagonisms.AsKluge alsostated, thesystemsawtheprofessionalsectorgroupssharplycollidewith the government and Fatherland Front.100 TheCatholic Church sustained its positionandorganisation,andtheCatholicworkers’movementenjoyedfree- dominthecorporativestate.TheNazis tooinfluencedthestate’spoliticaland economic silhouette. The real victim of the authoritarian regimewas, con- sistentlywith the intentionsof its founders, the socialistworkers’movement, whichitdeprivedofallandanylegalinstitutionstodefenditsinterests.Among otherreasons, thiswaspossiblebecausetheparliamentarydemocraticsystem in itself does not offer sufficient protection fromattacks by anti-democratic forces if political parties are not genuinelywilling to democratise social life. TheexampleofAustrianSocialDemocracy,whichwas influential in 1930and lostanypracticalsignificancein1934, illustratesthispointsuccinctly. The liquidation of the legal party fundamentally weakened the workers’ movement,evenifitdidnotmeanacompleteabandonmentofstruggleonthe partof theAustrianSocialDemocrats just yet.An illegal organisationnamed RevolutionarySocialists(rs)wasformedontheinitiativeoftheformereditors of theArbeiter-Zeitung, Pollack andLeichter.101 In spite of existing program- matic and generational differences, it considered itself the successor to the oldparty.102 That being said, itwasunable towin the support of themasses 99 See Steiner 2004, pp. 33–133, where the author illustrates various classifications of the Austrianregimereflectedintheworksofmanypostwarandcontemporaryhistoriansand political scientists – suchasBotz,Hanisch, Bracher,Gulick,Clemenz,Holtmann,Talos, Hozer,Carsten,Nolte, Payne, Ludwig,Reichhold, andhisown(2004, pp. 133–293)–and pointsouttheirdifferences. 100 SeeKluge1984,p.87. 101 In 1933,Communistundergroundcircles influencedby ‘NeuBeginnen’emerged,e.g. the groupsFunke,RoteFront,andWeisselwereborn. 102 Rennerwas particularly hostile to the emergence of the party. Hewas convinced that illegal resistancewas futile anddismissed thersasamergerof left socialists andCom- munistsasopposedtothesdap’sheirs.SeeHannak1965,p.625.