Page - 354 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

354 closing remarks of theHeimwehr.However, it is questionablewhether it couldhave smashed NazismandcounteredtheriseofGermannationalismandanti-Semitism. When assessing Bauer’s political conduct, it is necessary to draw a line betweenwhatwas advocated andwhatwas day-to-day practice determined bysocio-historicalconditionsandthepoliticalsituation.Bauer’spolicieswere designedtocreatemechanismsthatwouldpushthebourgeoisstate inadem- ocratic-liberal direction. Before the rise of fascism, he succeeded in this to a considerable extent. The overriding strategic goal, socialism, never made himblindtotheshort-termadvantagesthatreformistpoliciescouldbringthe workingclassinabourgeoisstate.Successcameintheformofsociallegislation andinstitutionsthatchangedthelivingandworkingconditionsof themasses for thebetter.The livingstandardof the lowersocialclasses intoday’sAustria is apermanentachievementof theSocial-Democraticmovementof theFirst Republic. Noneof this fullyabsolvesBauer fromresponsibility for thepoliticaldefeat ofAustromarxism.Asthesdap’skeystrategist,heischieflyat fault forstoking themasses’ illusions as to thepower of theworkers’movement.He canalso beblamed forhis excessivebelief indemocracy’s defensivemechanismsand the stability of the democratic form of government. Moreover, his belief in the superiority and cultural and politicalmission of theGermannation led himtooverratetherevolutionarystrengthoftheGermanworkers’movement. Bauer’srevolutionarypathoswasalsopoliticallyharmful.8Notthatitwasofany 8 Bauer’semotionally loadedspeeches inparliamentprovokedhecklessuchas ‘Jewishlackey’ and ‘Bolshevik’. Somedidnot stop short of physical attacks.His verbal radicalismwas the reason for polarised attitudes towardshim in thepress. Social-Democratic papers deemed Otto Bauer the theoretical inheritor of Victor Adler. The bourgeois press – especially the Reichspost,NeueFreiePresse, andDeutschösterreichischeZeitung–paintedadamningpor- trait of a politician out of touch with socio-political reality, capable only of viewing the world throughtheprismofclass struggle.Wemightaddto thisa fewwordsonBauer’satti- tude to life. Hewas a passionate anduncompromising speaker – but onlywhen speaking from the platform. In private, he was extraordinarily humble, timid, and not very social. When speaking to peasants andworkers, he suffered from an inferiority complex typical for thebourgeois intelligentsia. Because of this, Bauer approachedworkers and intellectu- als in different ways. Full of patience and understanding when in conversationwith the former,hewas farmoremorallydemandingof the latter, andhekept thematarm’s length. His contemporaries’ recollectionsdescribeBauer as someonealien to the salons, using the tram to commute to the Baroque Palace on Ballhausplatz inworn-out clothes every day. Although hewas a well-known andwealthy politician, he continued to live in amodest one-bedroomflat inKasernengasse2,astreet thatstillbearshisname.Bauerpossessedtwo qualities that peoplehighly valued in Social-Democratic politicians: hedidnot attach any