Selected political writings of Rosa Luxemburg

442 Pages·1971·48.703 MB·English

by  Rosa Luxemburg, Dick Howard (editor)

Selected
Political
Writings
of
R O S A
L U X E M B U R G
Selected
Political
Writings
of
R O S A
L U X E M B U R G
Edited and Introduced
by Dick Howard
New York and London
Copyright © 1971 by Monthly Review Press
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 75-142991
First Printing
A Radical America Book
Published by Monthly Review Press
116 West 14th Street, New York, N. Y. 10011
33/37 Moreland Street, London, E. C. 1
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
We do not face the world in doctrinaire fash­
ion, declaring, “Here is the truth, kneel here!”
. . . We do not tell the world, “ Cease your
struggles, they are stupid; we want to give
you the true watchword of the struggle.”
We merely show the world how it actually
struggles; and consciousness is something that
the world must acquire even if it does not
want to.
Marx to Ruge, September 1843

Contents
Introduction 9
I. Against Revisionism and Opportunism
Introduction 31
Speeches to the Stuttgart Congress (1898) 38
Speech to the Hanover Congress (1899) 44
Social Reform or Revolution 52
M ilitia and M ilitarism 135
II. Tactics
Introduction 161
From : In M emory of the Proletariat Party 168
The Eight-Hour Day at the Party Congress 212
W omen’s Suffrage and Class Struggle 216
From : Mass Strike, Party, and Trade Unions 223
III. The Role of the Party
«C
Introduction 273
Speech to the Nürnberg Congress (1908) 279
Organizational Questions of Russian Social
Democracy 283
IV. The International
Introduction 309
W hat Are the Origins of M ay Day? 315
7
8 Contents
The Idea of M ay Day on the M arch 317
The Crisis in German Social Democracy
{The Junius Pamphlet: Part One) 322
E ither/O r 336
To the Proletarians of All Countries 352
V. Beginnings of the German Revolution
Introduction 359
W hat Does the Spartacus League Want? 366
O ur Program and the Political Situation 377
O rder Reigns in Berlin 409
Glossary 419
Introduction
W ith the growth of a New Left during the past decade, a
practical reflection on the bases of socialism has again begun
after years of Stalinism and silence. More recently, attempts to
theorize the new practice have been undertaken, despite the fa­
miliar argument that theory is only for intellectuals. In the re­
newed debate, the name of Rosa Luxemburg is more and
more frequently mentioned. Were she alive, she would no
doubt be displeased by the rebirth of “Luxemburgism.” The
practical, tactical measures which she developed were always
situation-specific; the development of capitalism has long since
passed them by. In her eyes, her theoretical work was nothing
but a consequent application of the dialectical method which
had enabled M arx to uncover the secrets of the capitalist sys­
tem. Her advice to those of us engaged in rethinking and revi­
vifying the socialist project would be to return to M arx, to
study his dialectical method, and to apply it to our own prob­
lems.
Yet, precisely because her political writings are attempts to
theorize the actual practice of the socialist movement of her
times, the publication of these texts is opportune. Not only is
Rosa Luxemburg a kindred spirit, the reading of whom cannot
fail to force us to reflect on our own situation with new, critical
eyes and a methodological self-consciousness. She herself was
an historical thinker for whom the history of the class struggle
was an ever fresh source of theoretical and practical inspira­
tion. She was active in the German, Polish, and Russian move­
ments, whose past she dealt with as part of the historical pres­
ent; and she was an active member of the International
9
10 Introduction
Bureau who never hesitated to give her views on the develop­
ment of the international socialist movement. Her internation­
alism was a part of her very being, and she was convinced that
for “a fighting party, the history of socialism is the school of
life” (p. 280).1
As a revolutionary movement, the New Left is the heir and
bearer of the socialist tradition. It is of course not the heir of
that movement which collapsed in social-patriotic ignominy
on August 4, 1914, in the first flames of world war; nor must it
reproduce any of the fixed forms and static modes of thought
which happened to predominate at one or another historical
moment. The heritage of the New Left is not an intellectual
one; it is the spiritual heritage of the continuing revolutionary
struggle by the working masses of the world to free themselves
from the domination of capital. Though it is “new” in many
ways, in this very important sense the New Left is “old,” and
must take pride in and learn from its past.
The writings presented in this volume are intended to serve
the theoretical and practical reflection undertaken by the
present bearers of the historical struggle for socialism. Because
of the concrete nature of that heritage, each group of texts is
preceded by an historical introduction, explanatory footnotes
have been added, and a Glossary has been supplied. For this
reason, rather than devote this introduction to a biographical
sketch of Rosa Luxemburg,1 2 it will be more useful to look
1 The page numbers in parentheses refer to this book.
2 Two biographies of Rosa Luxemburg are available in English. J. P. Nettl’s two-
volume Rosa Luxemburg (Oxford University Press, 1966; also available in a one-volume
abridged edition) is a masterpiece of bourgeois biography. The book is an important
contribution particularly because of its use of hitherto inaccessible Polish materials,
and because of the author’s knowledge of the period in which Rosa Luxemburg lived
and struggled. The book is marred, however, by its attempt to remain apolitical. In
this sense, the biography by Paul Frölich is to be recommended. Frölich was a found­
ing member of the German Communist Party, and took part in the 1918-19 revolu­
tion. He was assigned by the CP to edit Rosa Luxemburg’s works, but before the task
was completed, he was expelled from the Party. Frölich’s attempt to understand Rosa
Luxemburg from the point of view of a militant activist adds to the value of his book.
His book is entitled Rosa Luxemburg: Her Life and Work (1940; reprint edition, New
York: Howard Fertig, 1970).