In this extensively researched, well-written book, Ernst Hanisch provides the first scholarly biography of Otto Bauer, the leader of the Austrian Social Democratic Party (SDAP) during the First Republic. Despite a paucity of personal documents and an abundance of political and theoretical sources, Hanisch crafts a compelling narrative that balances individual biography with historical analysis.
In the introduction, Hanisch identifies two roles that played throughout Bauer's life—the mediator and soldier (10–11). Bauer the mediator sought reconciliation within his family and attempted to build consensus within his party. Bauer the soldier not only fought in World War I, but also viewed politics as a battleground, where friends and enemies engaged in a struggle for power. Hanisch also introduces the concept of “illusion” to explain Bauer's defining beliefs. Additionally, he presents the two illusions of Bauer's life: faith in Socialism and the desire for German unity. His inability to escape the “determinist prison” (96) of Marxism prevented Bauer from effectively engaging in parliamentary politics and his commitment to Anschluss led him to underestimate Nazism.
The first part of the book examines the period up to 1918. Drawing from a diverse array of personal sources—including Freud's study of Bauer's sister, Ida—Hanisch presents Bauer in a series of overlapping contexts. Hanisch persuasively situates Bauer's family story within the narratives of late imperial Austrian liberalism, Jewish assimilation, and European Socialism. The book then chronicles the evolution of Bauer's thought while imprisoned as a POW in Russia during World War I. The themes of authoritarianism, democracy, and nationalism come to the fore, especially in the analysis of Bauer's book on the nationality question. While Bauer's rise to prominence within the Socialist Party receives only passing attention, this section is the book's strongest.
The heart of the book deals with the First Republic. It examines Bauer's stint as foreign minister and his role as opposition leader after 1920. Overall, Hanisch offers a balanced assessment of Bauer's actions. The treatment of the controversial 1926 Linz Program is particularly notable for its judiciousness. While critical of Bauer's faith in dogmatic Socialism and the paragraph in the program on “dictatorship,” the author takes seriously Bauer's commitment to republicanism and to ameliorating conditions in Austria, particularly in the provinces. The presentation of Bauer's actions during the 1927 Palace of Justice fire and the 1934 Civil War is less flattering, casting Bauer as an indecisive Hamlet figure whose illusions blinded him in times of crisis. Nevertheless, the evidence bears out Hanisch's assessment.
The last section addresses Bauer's exile years. Bauer returns to his role as mediator—this time between exiled Austrian Socialists and the underground. In this period, Bauer found himself and his party increasingly isolated. Hanisch criticizes Bauer heavily for his attempted contacts with Russian Socialists when searching for allies against Fascism and for his underestimation of the Nazi threat. Hanisch argues that Bauer's post-Anschluss call for Germans, including Austrians, to unite within a single nation against the Nazis is inexcusable for its lack of Austrian patriotism and its continued commitment to German nationalism. According to Hanisch, this final decision cast a pall on the last months of Bauer's life and his legacy.
In the final pages, Hanisch traces Bauer's reception within Austria since his death. Only fourteen pages long and ostensibly the book's conclusion, the section would have benefited from a more thorough engagement with the scholarship on Bauer and the First Republic from the last 25 years. This section—and the introduction, to a lesser extent—gives the impression that the book is responding more to Norbert Leser, Otto Leichter, and Klemens von Klemperer than to contemporary scholarship. A recapitulation of key themes also would have been helpful.
Hanisch succeeds in his attempt to give Bauer “fair treatment,” especially in his analysis of Bauer's life and theoretical output. Whether Bauer was a “große Illusionist,” however, remains an open question. As the author recognizes, Bauer's theoretical considerations and political recommendations constantly evolved (for example, see the excellent section on Der Weg zum Sozialism), belying Hanisch's broader claim that Bauer was confined in a “determinist prison.” The repeated and misleading conflation of Socialism and Stalinism (12, 50, 138) make this reading possible yet problematic. Likewise, the criticism of Bauer's German nationalism requires a more sustained discussion of German nationalism and the Anschluss idea to be persuasive. Despite these minor issues, Hanisch has produced an indispensable book. This study is required reading for scholars of Austrian history and the recent Central European past.
