The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-12-25
BY V. ]. Jerome
Article II.

] gloomy prospect winch ne nOlQS out
before the working class that there
is no such thing as a revolutionary
situation, that there is no such
thing as the ripening of the condi-
tons for the revolution-the objec-
tive conditions which bring about
a crisis on top; and the subjec-
tive factor. the preparedness Of the
workers, when the majority Of the
proletariat, allied with the toilers
Of the countryside and city, has
been won over to the banner Of the
revolutionary Party.
1t was essentially with prospect
of such power" as Oneal has given
us that Austro-Marxism robbed the
Austrian working class of victory in
the February days of 1884. There
were definitely present in Austria
elements Of revolutionary situa-
ton. There was a crisis in the
camp of the rulers. The NaziS and
the Fatherland Front were caught
in the throes Of an intense struggle.
Dollfuss and the Heimwehr were
visibly falling out. The proneness
Of the former to enter into negotia-
lions with the Nazis had brought
about evidences of disintegration in
the Heimwehr. Furthermore, the
petty bourgeoiSie was no longer
certain support. In addition, Aus
tria was strategically situated in the
midst of surrounding Interim
perialist conflicts that would have
beset the efforts at invasion against
the revolution with inducements
and obstacles. The antagonisms be-
tween the blocs favoring and OPP
posing the revision of the Versailles
Treaty; the strained relations be-
tween the two fascist powers, Italy
and Germany, on the issue of
Anschluss; the disagreement among
the victor powers on the policy of
rearrning Germany; the opposition
to invasion on the part Of the pro-
Versailles powers, by Germany or
Hungary - these inter imperialist
contradictions constituted an exter-
nal political factor contributing to-
ward a revolutionary situation.
Masses Disillusioned
The workers were in the mood to
take advantage of the crisis Of the
bourgeoisie. The masses had be-
come disillusioned with bourgeois
democracy. They were eager for
armed resistance to fascism, to press
forward in the struggle for power.
But the decisive element in the
subjective factor of the revolution
was lacking-the factor whose pres
ence in Russia seventeen years
earlier brought the working class of
that country to power. Unfor-
tunately for the armed struggle Of
the Austrian workers, the party
which had succeeded in gaining the
majority of the Austrian working
class was not the Party of Bolshe-
vism, but that Of Austro-MarXisr1.
Proletariat Needs Strategy
For revolutionary Marxism, for
MarxiSm -Leninism, armed uprising
is an art. In it's war for the con-
quest of the earth the proletariat
requires the military strategy of
revolution. Lenin, the greatest
strategist of the working class, thus
formulated the guiding principles Of
proletarian instruction: "(D Never
play at instruction; and, when it
is once begun, understand clearly
that it must be carried through to
the end. ca Collect, at the decisive
place and time, forces which are
greatly superior to those of the
enemy; otherwise the latter, better
prepared and better organized, will
annihilate the insurgents. 90 Once
the instruction has begun, it is
necessary to act with the utmost
vigor, and to wage, at all costs, the
offensive. The defensive is death
to the Instruction "a Make sure
of taking the enemy by surprise, and
take advantage of the moment when
his troops are scattered. (5) Win
successes each day, even small ones
Zone might say each hour in the
case of small town., and at all
costs keep the moral superiority"
1t was because the Russian Boil
sheviks, guided by Lenin, applied
these principles in leading the revo-
lutionary offensive in October, 1917
that the working class is today
welding power in the former en-
pire of the Romanovs.
But the party of Austro- Marxism
utterly rejected the military strategy
and tactics of revolutionary Marx
ism, as it had long rejected every
other Marxist principle. When the
Austrian workers, defying the class
collaboration policy of Social
Democracy, took up arms against
fascism, their Austro- Marxist lead
ership, in keeping with its consist
ent policy Of trucking to the Doll.
fuss regime, set itself up as dam
against the tide of instruction.
Workers Fought Despite Leaders
1t was not because of the leader
ship of Austro- Marxism, but In
spite of it, that the Austrian work
ers engaged in inSurrectionary
struggle. Let the Austro- Marxist
leadership stand branded in the
eyes of workers of the world with
the crime of having failed to ISSUE
the call for a general strike and OF
having refused to support the gen.
eral strike call sounded by the Com.
munist Party. Let them stant
branded with the crime of having
failed to call out the railroad work
ers on strike, as a result of which
the government was enabled tt
move its trops and fascist forces
against the insurrecJion. Let then
stand branded with the crime o.
having urged the workers to offel
no resistance of having r1ravepter