The Complete Works of Rosa Luxemburg Volume V: Political Writings 3, On Revolution 19101919

(Hardback)

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This volume is the first to contain all of Luxemburg's eloquent writings on the 1917 Russian and 1918-19 German Revolutions. It also contains articles, essays and manuscripts on the European socialist movement prior to World War I and her effort to rebuild the socialist movement on revolutionary foundations in its aftermath. Much of this material appears in English for the first time. Her incisive contributions on revolutionary strategy, the German and Russian Revolutions, and the transition to socialism reveal a profound commitment to radical democracy, which becomes evident as she elaborates on her lived experience with razor-sharp conceptualizations of the mass strike. Her democratic commitment is also highlighted in her deepening conflict with the bureaucratic conservatism afflicting the German Social Democratic Party.She is horrified yet at the same time grimly analytical while surveying the unfolding violence and brutality of the First World War.Deeply inspired by Russia's 1917 upsurge, she is nonetheless compelled to analyze and criticize fatal limitations of the Russian Revolution.Swept up in the revolutionary chaos sweeping through Germany in 1918-1919 which results in her own martyrdom, she gives voice to revolution's final testament: "I was, I am, I shall be."

Reviews

A radical of luminous dimension. -- Vivian Gornick
Rosa goes on being our source of fresh water in thirsty times. -- Eduardo Galeano
Intrepid, incorruptible, passionate and gentle. Imagine as you read between the lines of what she wrote, the expression of her eyes. She loved workers and birds. She danced with a limp. Everything about her fascinates and rings true. One of the immortals. -- John Berger
One cannot read the writings of Rosa Luxemburg, even at this distance, without an acute yet mournful awareness of what Perry Anderson once termed 'the history of possibility.' -- Christopher Hitchens * Atlantic *
Luxemburg's criticism of Marxism as dogma and her stress on consciousness exerted an influence on the women's liberation movement which emerged in the late '60s and early '70s. -- Sheila Rowbotham * Guardian *

Author Bio

Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919) was a Polish-Jewish revolutionary and one of the greatest theoretical minds of the European socialist movement. An activist in Germany and Poland, she authored numerous classic works in economics and politics, and is widely considered a foremost proponent of radical democracy. She was assassinated in January 1919 and has become a heroine of socialist, feminist, and anti-imperialist movements around the world.