Otto Bauer
Otto Bauer (5 September 1881 – 4 July 1938) was one of the founders and leading thinkers of the left-socialist
Austromarxists who sought a middle ground between
social democracy and
revolutionary socialism. He was a member of the Austrian Parliament from 1907 to 1934, deputy party leader of the
Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) from 1918 to 1934, and Foreign Minister of the
Republic of German-Austria in 1918 and 1919. In the latter position he worked unsuccessfully to bring about the unification of Austria and the
Weimar Republic. His opposition to the SDAP joining coalition governments after it lost its leading position in Parliament in 1920 and his practice of advising the party to wait for the proper historical circumstances before taking action were criticized by some for facilitating Austria's move from democracy to
fascism in the 1930s. When the SDAP was outlawed by
Austrofascist Chancellor
Kurt Schuschnigg in 1934, Bauer went into exile where he continued to work for Austrian socialism until his death.
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