Page - 347 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

the spectre of fascism 347 ofthebourgeoisparties,andtheweaknessof theparliamentarysystem.Itwas these factorswhichallowedthe ‘blackfascists’ toseizepoweryearsbeforethe annexation, thuscreatingabroad framework for thedevelopmentofNazism, whichcouldtheneffortlesslyerasethecompetitionfromthepoliticalarena. FollowingAustria’s annexation toGermany,Bauer’swritings inemigration focused on apologia for the anti-fascist revolution, which he saw as a con- sequence of the accomplished annexation.120 As has been previouslymen- tioned,thedemandforAnschlusswasanintegralpartoftheprogrammeofAus- trian SocialDemocracy. True, thepolitical situation forced the SocialDemo- cratstoexpungethispointfromtheirprogrammein1933;butthisbynomeans amounted toanend to theparty’sGermanophilia. For someAustrian social- ists, Bauer included,Hitler’sAnschlusswasa ‘tragedyofhistory’121 –but that didnotstopthemfromviewingitashistoricalprogress,aswellasconsidering GermanrevengefortheAllieddictatesofSt.GermainandVersaillespolitically justified.122Bauersupportedthisassessment,whichwasambivalent inaman- nerthatistypicaloftheAustrianmentality. It isnotunreasonabletostatethat Bauer’s takeonHitler’sAnschlusswasambiguous. Emotionally, he genuinely perceiveditasanassaultonAustria’sindependence.Asapolitician,heanticip- ateditsconsequence:war.Onemaynotignore,however,thatBauer’sanxieties, resulting frombeingaminority in isolationandcoupledwitha lossof faith in theabilityofhis country tosurvive,hadonlyamassed following thedefeatof nationalrevolutionsandtheriseoffascisminEurope.Thesefactorshadalready preoccupiedhissocio-politicalthinkinginthe1920s,andtheirpresencethrived inemigration.Theycertainlyhadacrucial impactonhissupport forAustria’s Anschluss toGermanyintheformofananti-fascistandsocialist revolutionin thefinalperiodofhis life. IfonewantstounderstandthemeaningoftheappealBauermadeinhisart- icles, ‘KannÖsterreichnochgerettetwerden?’ (‘CanAustria Still Be Saved?’), ‘NachderAnnexion’(‘AftertheAnnexation’),and‘ÖsterreichsEnde’(‘Austria’s End’),whichwerealsotheauthor’spolitical testament, thenit is important to take hismotives into consideration. Themost important of them, based on thepolitical situation afterWorldWar i,washis desire to transform thewar intoananti-fascistrevolutionfromwhichanew,united,socialistEuropewould emerge.Likea fewotherGermanSocialDemocrats inexileand the leftwing 120 AsMaimann also acknowledges, ‘The hope for an anti-fascist revolution is a recurring themethroughout [Bauer’s] entirehistoryofpolitical exileduringNazism’ (our transla- tion)–Maimann1985,p.234. 121 See1980gg,p.834. 122 See ‘InterviewmitKarlRenner’,NeuesWienerTagblatt, 3April 1938.