Page - 345 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the spectre of fascism 345 himforhisindecisivepoliticsandcontradictionbetweenwordsanddeeds.For him, thenewpartywas a sect, andhedemanded that the illegalmovement refrainfromcriticallyexaminingtheparty’spast.Hecouldneverbringhimself to pass honest judgement of the sdap leadership or acknowledge its fatalist nature. Duringhis timeofemigration,Bauerremainedadamantabouttheconcept of‘integralsocialism’,whichintendedtounitetheSocial-DemocraticandCom- munist tendencies. Hence, he attentively followed the tense relationship between thers and theCommunist Party ofAustria (kpö). Therewere con- troversies primarily concerned with the creation of a popular front within both organisations. The kpö had approached the sdap as early on as 1933 with this proposal, and it renewed its offer when approaching the Revolu- tionary Socialists following theFebruary events.After its ban, thekpövastly shifted its emphasis andmodified its strategic and tactical paradigms. Party members forewent their accusations thatSocialDemocracyhadcollaborated with the fascists. After the uprising was vanquished and a section of sdap andSchutzbundmembershad joined theCommunists, thekpöcommenced effortstounitetheworkers’movement.114Whatthekpöandrshadincommon was their struggle against fascismand the illegal character of their activities, yet the suggestion to form a united front under Communist leadership did notreceivecorroborationfromtheRevolutionarySocialists.115TheRevolution- arySocialists rejectedtheprincipleofaunifiedorganisationalstructureforall countries,vyinginsteadfortheunityofallclassesandsocialgroupswithinthe respectivenation.From1934–6,BaueragreedwiththisandaccusedtheCom- munistsofspreadingcentralisttendencies.Hewasconsciousthatthemajority ofpartiesaffiliatedtothelsididnotdesireanyco-operationwiththeComin- tern.116Thesecondhalfof the1930sdidnotseeaformalallianceorevenloose coordinationofactivitiesbetweenthetwogroups.Bauer,whoregardedthisas 114 SeeKolenig1934,p. 185. 115 The popular front questionwas brought up once again at the seventh congress of the Cominternin1935,whereDimitrovjustifiedthenecessityof formingaunitedanti-fascist front.SeeDimitrov1960. 116 Thiswasconfirmed inSeptember 1935.TheCominternadvocatedunitedactionagainst Italy’s imminent attack on Ethiopia. The French, Italian, Spanish, Swiss and Austrian parties, theMensheviksandtheJewishBundacceptedtheinvitation.TheBritish,Dutch, Swedish,Danish andbothCzechoslovakparties rejected it decisively.However, Bauer’s suggestedsolution–namelythatthepartiescallingforco-operationwiththeCommunists shouldgoaheadof theirownaccord–wasnotaccepted.Nounitedactionswereunder- takenasthelsiexecutiverejectedMoscow’soffer.SeeBrügel 1978,p. 12.