Page - 348 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

348 chapter 8 of theBritish Labour Party, hewas still convinced thatGermanywouldbe a revolutionaryhotbed.AccordingtoBauer, ‘theGermanrevolutionwillhaveto defend theunity of theGermanpeople andReichnotonly against capitalist counter-revolution inGermany, but also against counter-revolutionary inter- ventionbyimperialistpowers’ (our translation).123Basedonthis,on31March 1938, thekpöandrscalled foranarmeduprisingagainstHitler’sannexation, whichBauerdismissedasacounter-revolutionary threat against the socialist revolution. Inopposition,hedeclaredannexationthemainpremiseof theall- Germanrevolution.HesharplycriticisedtheCommunistsandtheirambitions for independence in ‘After theAnnexation’, and theRevolutionary Socialists andtheirs in ‘Austria’sEnd’.Hewrote: Wecannot turnback thewheelofworldhistory.OnlyGermany’sdefeat inwarcouldtearAustriaawayfromtheGermanReichagain,butanyGer- mandefeat inwarwouldunleash theGermanrevolution,andsocialism wouldnot tearAustria away fromtheGermanrevolution.The futureof theAustrianworkingclass,then,isnotinanykindofAustrianseparatism. TheGerman-Austrianworking class can only be liberated if thewhole Germanworking class is liberated. The future of theGerman-Austrian workingclass is inthefutureoftheGermanrevolution.124 ourtranslation ThesewordsofBauer’swerevehementlyrebukedbyErnstBloch,whoaccused theAustrian socialist of being unable to tell the difference – self-evident to national-mindedAustrians – between voluntary union to a democraticGer- manyandHitler’s annexation.125 It is difficult to fully concurwith thephilo- sopher’sview.126Amoreappropriateassessmentwouldbethattheinterpreta- tionsofAnschlussbybothBauerandHitlerwerebynomeansthesame,evenif BauerratedHitler’sannexationofAustriaashistoricallyandsociallyprogress- 123 Bauer1980hh,p.858. 124 Bauer1980gg,p.844. Inthisarticle,Bauerarguedthatwhile itwasaneconomicnecessity topreserveAustriawithin the frameworkof theReich,as itwouldendstructuralunem- ployment, thisaspectwassecondary. 125 Bloch, inNeueWelttribüne, 7 July1938. 126 In the article, ‘Austria’s End’, Bauer referred to the annexation as the ‘Germanunion in fascistslavery’–seeBauer1980gg,p.9. In ‘After theAnnexation’,hewrote: ‘Theunionwe allwantedwasAustria’s incorporation into theGermanReichbyAustrianpeople’s free will.Theannexationwehaveseen is theviolent subjugationof theAustrianpeoplebya superiorarmedpower’ (ourtranslation)–Bauer1980hh,p.855.