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Rosa Luxemburg

1871–1919

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Capitalism survives only by constantly expanding into new regions, and socialism must come through mass action and democracy, never dictatorship.

Placement

Socialism, Anarchism, Marxism & Critical Theory · Eastern Europe · Politics & Law, Society & History

Polish-German Marxist, murdered in Berlin in 1919: capital must constantly expand into non-capitalist regions; socialism comes through mass action and democracy – “freedom is always the freedom of the one who thinks differently”.

Key ideas

  • Accumulation of capital and imperialism
  • Mass strike and spontaneity
  • Freedom of dissent in socialism

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Influence

Influenced by 1

  • Friedrich Engels

    influenced by

    In the Junius Pamphlet (1916) Luxemburg invoked Engels for the alternative ‘transition to socialism or regression into barbarism’, a wording scholars trace rather to Kautsky (1892). R. Luxemburg, Die Krise der Sozialdemokratie (Junius-Broschüre, written 1915, publ. 1916); K. Kautsky, Das Erfurter Programm (1892); I. Angus, “The Origin of Rosa Luxemburg’s Slogan ‘Socialism or Barbarism’”, Climate & Capitalism (2014)

    Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO

    Friedrich Engels › 1820–1895

Influenced 2

  • Georg Lukács

    influenced

    In History and Class Consciousness (1923) Lukács praised Luxemburg’s Accumulation of Capital for its standpoint of totality while criticising her views on party organisation and the Russian Revolution. G. Lukács, Geschichte und Klassenbewußtsein (1923), “Die Marxistin Rosa Luxemburg” and “Kritische Bemerkungen über Rosa Luxemburgs ‚Kritik der russischen Revolution‘”

    Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO

    Georg Lukács › 1885–1971

  • Hannah Arendt

    influenced

    Arendt praised Luxemburg’s trust in the spontaneous action of the masses and her early criticism of the Bolsheviks (review of Nettl, 1966; ‘Rosa Luxemburg: 1871–1919’, 1968). H. Arendt, “A Heroine of Revolution”, review of J. P. Nettl, Rosa Luxemburg, New York Review of Books (1966); repr. as “Rosa Luxemburg: 1871–1919”, in Men in Dark Times (1968)

    Evidence: AI draft

    Hannah Arendt › 1906–1975

Criticism

Criticizes 1

  • Karl Marx influenced by

    influenced by

    In Social Reform or Revolution? (1899) Luxemburg defended Marx’s account of capitalism’s contradictions against Bernstein’s revisionism, arguing that reforms cannot abolish wage labour. R. Luxemburg, Sozialreform oder Revolution? (1899); E. Bernstein, Die Voraussetzungen des Sozialismus (1899)

    Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO

    criticised

    Luxemburg argued that Marx’s schemes of expanded reproduction in Capital II assume a closed capitalist economy, whereas accumulation depends on non-capitalist markets (The Accumulation of Capital, 1913). R. Luxemburg, Die Akkumulation des Kapitals (1913), sections I and III

    Evidence: AI draft

    Karl Marx › 1818–1883

Works

  • 1899Social Reform or Revolution?

    Against Bernstein: reforms cannot replace the conquest of political power; the contradictions of capitalism are not softening.

  • 1913The Accumulation of Capital

    Capitalism needs non-capitalist markets to realise surplus value – hence imperialism, and hence its limit.

Position

Luxemburg’s early pamphlet against Eduard Bernstein argued that reform and revolution are not alternatives: reforms are the means, the conquest of political power the goal, and a socialism that gives up the goal becomes mere adjustment to capitalism. “The Accumulation of Capital” criticised Marx’s reproduction schemes: surplus value, she argued, cannot be fully realised within a closed capitalist economy, so capitalism must constantly expand into non-capitalist territories – which explains imperialism and sets a limit to the system. Her critique of the Bolsheviks defended freedom of speech and elections in a revolution: “freedom is always the freedom of the one who thinks differently”.

Life & context

Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) was born into a Jewish family in Zamość in Russian Poland, studied in Zurich, where she took a doctorate in economics, and moved to Berlin in 1898, where she became a leading voice of the Social Democratic Party. Imprisoned for most of the First World War for opposing it, she co-founded the Communist Party of Germany in December 1918 and was murdered by Freikorps soldiers in Berlin on 15 January 1919.

Further main works

  • The Mass Strike, the Political Party and the Trade Unions (1906)
  • The Russian Revolution (written 1918, published 1922)

Sources: Wikipedia · Wikidata

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