Rosa Luxemburg

German socialist and journalist

• Born: March 5, 1871
• Birthplace: Zamość, Poland, Russian Empire (now in Poland)
• Died: January 15, 1919
• Place of death: Berlin, Germany

Luxemburg was a leading figure in the left wing of the German Social Democratic Party and played a key role in the founding of the Polish Social Democratic Party and the German Communist Party. An able, indefatigable journalist and writer, she developed a humanistic version of Marxism that emphasized internationalism, mass participation, a dislike of violence, and opposition to gradual reformism.

Early Life

Rosa Luxemburg was reared and educated in the Polish city of Warsaw, then part of the Russian Empire. The youngest child in a secular Jewish family of the lower middle class, her personal experiences with anti-Semitism, including a violent pogrom in 1881, resulted in a strong aversion toward Polish nationalism. She was always an excellent, hardworking student, and in high school she was converted to Marxist socialism, with her academic record indicating “a rebellious attitude.” Because of harassment from the Russian authorities and also because no Polish universities were open to women, she decided in 1889 to emigrate to Switzerland to study at the University of Zurich.

In Zurich, Luxemburg was a brilliant student of law and political science, receiving her doctorate in 1897. Her doctoral thesis, published in book form, was a study of the development of capitalism in Poland, and it emphasized that because of Poland’s dependence on the Russian economy, independence was highly impractical. Zurich was a center for radical refugees from Eastern Europe, and Luxemburg energetically participated in socialist activities, becoming a friend of Russian Social Democrats such as Georgy Plekhanov. It was also at this time that she began her long intimacy with Leo Jogiches, a young revolutionary from Lithuania.

Luxemburg and Jogiches, employing Jogiches’s considerable inheritance, founded the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (the nucleus of the future Communist Party of Poland), and Luxemburg worked as the chief editor of the group’s newspaper, The Workers’ Cause. At this time, most Polish socialists were strong nationalists who wanted independence for their country, but Luxemburg and her followers rejected such a goal as contrary to the principles of international solidarity. This persistent distrust of national aspirations would remain one of the major themes of Luxemburg’s thought.

Completely fluent in the use of the German language, after graduation Luxemburg decided to move to Germany. She was having trouble with the Swiss authorities, and the German Social Democratic Party, the largest and most powerful socialist organization of the world, dominated the Second International. To gain German citizenship, in 1898 she temporarily married Gustav Lübeck, the son of one of her friends, and she then moved to the capital city of Berlin.

Life’s Work

As Luxemburg was establishing herself in Germany, the socialist revisionist Eduard Bernstein was publishing a controversial series of articles, later translated into the book Evolutionary Socialism . Bernstein argued that Marx’s idea of a violent upheaval was no longer necessary and that in modern industrial countries workers could improve their conditions through a combination of parliamentary reforms and trade union activities. Luxemberg believed that Bernstein was attacking the “corner-stone of scientific socialism,” which was the inevitable collapse of capitalism. Refuting his thesis in Sozialreform oder Revolution? (1899; Reform or Revolution? , 1937), she argued that, while reforms might be of some help in promoting the struggle, the liberation of the workers could only occur with the radical transformation from capitalism to socialism.

Luxemburg was one of the first to attack revisionism, and she took the position that was then supported by Karl Kautsky and most of the leadership of the Second International. Bernstein was generally looked on as a heretic within the socialist movement, although selective aspects of his revisionism continued gradually to gain acceptance. This polemical controversy promoted Luxemburg’s career, and henceforth she was recognized as a leader in the left wing of the movement.

The Russian/Polish Revolution of 1905 was one of the central events in Luxemburg’s life. Like most Marxists, she was surprised by the uprising, since she had expected that a workers’ revolution would first occur in an advanced country such as Germany. Hopeful that this would be the beginning of an international revolution, she rushed to Warsaw, where she energetically took part in the final stages of the event. Taken prisoner and charged with illegal activities, she was able to jump bail and to return to Berlin. This exciting experience, and especially the use of general strikes, helped Luxemburg to formulate her theory of revolutionary mass action, published in Massenstreik: Partei und Gewerkschaften (1906; The Mass Strike: The Political Party and the Trade Unions , 1925). Arguing that a large-scale strike was the most useful tool that the proletariat possessed, she explained that such revolutionary praxis would result from the workers’ realization of their exploitation under capitalism. Such views were contrary to many of the theories of Vladimir Ilich Lenin.

Having emerged as the leader of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democrats, Lenin wanted to organize the party according to the disciplined model of the armed forces, declaring that an elitist party would be the “vanguard of the working classes.” In contrast, Luxemburg minimized the necessity for a tight organizational structure and assumed that a “self-administration” of the workers would emerge from the class struggle. Contrary to what is sometimes suggested, she did not entirely eliminate the role of party leadership, but rather she wanted it to concentrate on the work of developing the revolutionary consciousness of the proletariat. She charged that Lenin’s theory, in practice, would result in a dictatorship of a small elite over the workers.

Recognized as both a serious scholar and a dynamic speaker, Luxemburg joined the teaching staff of the prestigious Social Democratic Party School in Berlin, working there from 1907 to 1914. Even with her busy schedule, she wrote and published a major work of socialist economics, Die Akkumulation des Kapitals (1913; The Accumulation of Capital , 1951). In this large and complex book, she maintained that imperialism was a consequence of the need for capitalists to find markets for their products, and, when the less developed areas would begin to disappear, capitalism would no longer be able to survive. With the perspective of time, it is generally recognized that this book greatly underestimated the ability for change and adaptation under a capitalist system. Critics called this the “automatic collapse of capitalism” theory, but Luxemburg always insisted that revolutionary praxis would be necessary for the triumph of socialism.

Increasingly dissatisfied with the moderation of the German Social Democrats, Luxemburg incessantly pushed for militant actions to bring about the revolution, which she believed was inevitable. Kautsky and other party leaders, in contrast, became more devoted to a program of legal gradualism, often called a “strategy of attrition.” When Kautsky refused to publish one of her articles in 1910, she began to criticize his leadership with the same vehemence with which she had earlier denounced Bernstein; this criticism intensified the deep split between the left and right wings of the party.

With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the Social Democratic majority supported the military policies of the German government. Luxemburg bitterly criticized this cooperation, and, because of her antiwar activities, she spent most of the years 1915-1918 in prison, where she maintained close contact with Karl Liebknecht and other radical socialists. Although not directly involved in the founding of the Spartacus League in 1916, she provided a theoretical defense for the new organization in Die Krise des Sozialdemokratie (1916; The Crisis in the German Social Democracy , 1918). This pamphlet, signed with the pseudonym of “Junius,” castigated Social Democratic betrayal and argued that the war presented the opportunity for the workers of the world to unite to overthrow the existing regimes. The actual influence of the Spartacists remained small during the war.

With the German revolution of November, 1918, Luxemburg gained her freedom. She and the impulsive Liebknecht failed in their efforts to gain control of the newly formed Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils, and they were actively involved in the founding of the German Communist Party in December. The moderate wing of the Social Democratic Party, under the leadership of Friedrich Ebert and Philipp Scheidemann, gained control of the temporary government, and, against Luxemburg’s advice, the Communist Party voted to boycott the elections to a Constituent Assembly. Although she had earlier insisted that any seizure of power would fail without widespread support, she nevertheless enthusiastically participated in the so-called Spartacus insurrection of January 5-13.

While calling for a dictatorship of the proletariat in Germany, Luxemburg tried to distance herself from Lenin’s policies in Russia. In her writings during this turbulent and confused period, published posthumously in Die Russische Revolution (1922; The Russian Revolution , 1940), Luxemburg chastised the Bolsheviks for their support for national self-determination, their division of agricultural lands into private holdings, their suspending of the elections to the Constituent Assembly, and their use of terror to crush the opposition. Social Democrats believed that her analysis of the Russian situation was contradictory with her part in an insurrection attempting to overthrow a democratic republic.

With the brutal crushing of the Spartacus insurrection, Luxemburg and Liebknecht went into hiding, but on January 15 they were discovered and arrested. That same day, extremist soldiers murdered both leaders without trial, throwing Luxemburg’s body into the Landwehr Canal. Some of those responsible for the murders were convicted but received ridiculously light sentences.

Significance

Rosa Luxemburg inspired a generation of radicals and, with her tragic death, she became a martyr to many people of the Left. She was a forceful personality, completely convinced of the moral correctness of her cause, and she had an unusual ability to communicate in both speeches and writings. Historically she is primarily important because of the strength and coherence of her ideas, and “Luxemburgism” represents one of the major systems of Marxist theory.

Although a radical Marxist, Luxemburg was clearly dedicated to a number of liberal and humanistic values. In spite of her actions of 1919, she was committed to the preservation of democratic institutions, writing that “the elimination of democracy as such is worse than the disease it is supposed to cure.” If she believed that some violence would be necessary for the establishment of socialism, she wanted it to be limited and temporary. Although not always consistent on the topic of liberty, she insisted that she did not want to end the freedom to oppose the government, declaring that “freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.” In like manner, she spoke out in favor of human equality. A feminist, she refused to limit her concerns to half of humanity. For those who concentrated on oppression of the Jews, she wrote that “poor victims on the rubber plantations in Putamayo, the Negroes in Africa with whose bodies the Europeans play a game of catch, are just as near to me.”

Despite her influence in leftist circles, Luxemburg was ultimately unsuccessful because of the circumstances of the time and also because of the questionable validity of some of her assumptions. Both in her tactics and in the development of her theories, Luxemburg used general principles in making logical deductions, but she tended to disregard empirical facts that did not correspond with these deductions. In spite of the evidence to the contrary, therefore, Luxemburg insisted that it was impossible for real improvement in the condition of the workers under capitalism. Tenaciously holding to an abstract view of workers committed to internationalism, she ignored manifest evidence of their patriotism and national identity. When she made the mistake of supporting a hopeless insurrection in 1919, her decision was based on abstract theory rather than a realistic analysis of the situation.

Bibliography

Anderson, Kevin B., and Peter Hudis, eds. The Rosa Luxemburg Reader. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2004. A collection of Luxemburg’s writings, some of which appear for the first time in English translation. Includes extracts of her major works on economics.

Ettinger, El bieta. Rosa Luxemburg: A Life. Boston: Beacon Press, 1986. Based on many Polish and German sources, this scholarly book is as fascinating as any novel. Although there are summaries of her views, the emphasis is on her personality, her conflicts, her efforts to promote revolution, and her love affairs and friendships. The best introductory account for the general reader.

Frölich, Paul. Rosa Luxemburg: Her Life and Work. Translated by Johanna Hoornweg. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1940. Standard Marxist biography, written by a member of the SPD opposition during World War I. Frölich minimizes the disagreements between Lenin and Luxemburg.

Kolakowski, Leszek. Main Currents in Marxism. Vol. 2, The Golden Age, translated by P. S. Falla. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1978. An erudite study of Marxist thought during the years of the Second International, with excellent chapters devoted to Luxemburg, Kautsky, Lenin, Jaures, and Bernstein.

Luxemburg, Rosa. The Letters of Rosa Luxemburg. Edited by Stephen Bonner. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1978. An excellent selection of more than one hundred letters dealing with socialist theory as well as personal relationships, including an excellent fifty-page introduction to Luxemburg’s life and thought.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Rosa Luxemburg Speaks. Edited by Mary Alice Walters. New York: Pathfinder Press, 1970. The best collection of important speeches and articles, with interesting annotations written from a Leninist perspective.

Nettl, J. Peter. Rosa Luxemburg. 2 vols. New York: Oxford University, 1966. The most comprehensive and objective study of Luxemburg, with an emphasis on her ideas and career, making an exhaustive use of a wealth of sources.

Schorske, Carl. German Social Democracy, 1905-1917. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1955. An excellent analysis of the conflict between the left and right wings of the SDP during some of the most active years of Luxemburg’s career.