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Cuadernos de Pasado y Presente #81
National Question
Rosa Luxemburg, as leader of a workers' party in Poland, a country divided among three empires - Russian, German and Austrian - had necessarily to take a definite position on the national question. She held to this position from its formulation in 1896 in her first scientific research work, The Industrial Development of Poland, till the end of her life, despite sharp conflicts with Lenin on the subject.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
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About the author
Rosa Luxemburg
431Ìýbooks792ÌýfollowersRosa Luxemburg (Rosalia Luxemburg, Polish: Róża Luksemburg) was a Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist and activist of Polish Jewish descent who became a naturalized German citizen. She was successively a member of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, the Social Democratic Party of Germany(SPD), the Independent Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party of Germany.
In 1915, after the SPD supported German involvement in World War I, she co-founded, with Karl Liebknecht, the anti-war Spartakusbund (Spartacist League). On 1 January 1919 the Spartacist League became the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). In November 1918, during the German Revolution she founded the Die Rote Fahne (The Red Flag), the central organ of the Spartacist movement.
She regarded the Spartacist uprising of January 1919 in Berlin as a blunder, but supported it after Liebknecht ordered it without her knowledge. When the revolt was crushed by the social democrat government and the Freikorps (WWI veterans defending the Weimar Republic), Luxemburg, Liebknecht and some of their supporters were captured and murdered. Luxemburg was drowned in the Landwehr Canal in Berlin. After their deaths, Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht became martyrs for Marxists. According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, commemoration of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht continues to play an important role among the German far-left.
In 1915, after the SPD supported German involvement in World War I, she co-founded, with Karl Liebknecht, the anti-war Spartakusbund (Spartacist League). On 1 January 1919 the Spartacist League became the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). In November 1918, during the German Revolution she founded the Die Rote Fahne (The Red Flag), the central organ of the Spartacist movement.
She regarded the Spartacist uprising of January 1919 in Berlin as a blunder, but supported it after Liebknecht ordered it without her knowledge. When the revolt was crushed by the social democrat government and the Freikorps (WWI veterans defending the Weimar Republic), Luxemburg, Liebknecht and some of their supporters were captured and murdered. Luxemburg was drowned in the Landwehr Canal in Berlin. After their deaths, Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht became martyrs for Marxists. According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, commemoration of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht continues to play an important role among the German far-left.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 7, 2024
Disagree with Ms. Luxemburg’s takes on self determination
July 26, 2022
Controversial even from today's standpoint, but not without its points.
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October 18, 2022I'm not qualified to give my opinion on much said since I lack the knowledge on the subject so I shall not be rating this text, but nevertheless it was interesting and I enjoyed it.
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October 19, 2008When I wrote my symapthetic 5 part TV documentary on Northern Ireland Loyalism this was my point of departure. Luxembourg KNEW that the Polish Left (and particularly the Jews) would be worse off in an independent Poland and was proved right. This may seem a controversial position in the light of what happened to Poland under first the Nazis and then Stalinism but Luxembourg was murdered in 1919 and didn't know this. She didn't see Stalinism's wilful collusion in the Nazi butchery of the Warsaw Commune of 1944, the facile apology for this in THE NEW STATESMAN and even Isaac Deutscher's writings, Gireck's attempts to buy off the Polish working class and what happened to it, the rise of Solidarity as a legitimate political union nor its sorry degeneration (post Jaruljelski's coup) into a bourgeois restorationist party. But she'd have recognised Walenca's mix of nationalism, Catholic fundamentalism and anti-semitism for what it was and understood exactly why the former Communist Party in Poland now gets more vites than at any time since 1944
Shelved as 'to-keep-reference'
October 18, 2016Los ensayos relevantes de Rosa Luxemburgo está recolectados en Rosa Luxemburg, The National Question, ed. Horace Davis (New york: Monthly Review Press, 1976).
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±Êá²µ.77
October 15, 2015
rich and deep. incredible detail and vision for humanity. RIP
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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