Rosa Luxemburg (Socialism)

Question 1

What is Rosa Luxemburg’s historical context?

Answer 1

• Born the same year that the German Empire was formed (unification - 1871)
  –> very Prussian; militaristic state and autocratic Kaiser
• Germany: industrial powerhouse but had poor working and living standards due to urbanisation
• The Kaiser enacts anti-socialist legislation with Otto Von Bismarck
  –> firstly they attempt to control socialist movements through legislation to reduce their capacity to work = fails as the movements decide to go underground
  –> so Bismarck pursues ‘reform to conserve’ policies (One Nation Conservatism idea) and tries to pacify socialism. Germany improves its education and working conditions such as pensions and insurance
  –> conflict between communists and moderate socialists (specifically the SPD) who sign the Erfurt declaration which is anti-revolutionary

Question 2

What is Rosa Luxemburg’s personal context?

Answer 2

• Born to a Jewish family in Poland which was part of the Russian Empire
• Highly educated. She attended a school in Warsaw but was expelled due to revolutionary activities (criticising the Russian tsar).
• Studied law and economics at universities in Switzerland and Germany
• Became involved in German socialist and revolutionary movements, first with the Social Democrat movement then with more communist organisations (USPD and Spartacus league)
• Regularly arrested; meant she did not believe her beliefs could be achieved through democracy

Question 3

What philosophical developments impacted Rosa’s view?

Answer 3

• Marx and Engels , Hegel - but rejected some elements e.g. the idea that industrial society was necessary for revolution
• Polish nationalists - Paderewski
• German socialists - Liebknecht, Bebel, Bernstein
• Feminist thinkers - Clara Zetkin

Question 4

Key quotes:

Answer 4

“Freedom only for supporters of the government… is no freedom at all. Freedom is always the freedom of the dissenter.”
“Human nature only develops in the crucible of history and by no means under the urge of an abstract concept of justice.”

Question 5

What is the name of her key work?

Answer 5

The Accumulation of Capital

Question 6

Rosa Luxembourg’s core ideas on human nature:

Answer 6

• Mankind is shaped by historical and social conditions (inspired by Hegel’s ideas)
• Not fixed or predetermined but a product of social relations and material conditions. In “the Junius pamphlet” (1915) she wrote -
  “Human nature only develops in the crucible of history and by no means under the urge of an abstract concept of justice.”
• Marxist materialist view of human nature: humans as a product of their social and economic environment (Marxist)
• Potentially constrained by the capitalist system but believed in the possibility of human liberation through revolutionary social transformation (Marxist)

Question 7

Rosa Luxembourg’s core ideas on society:

Answer 7

• Society under capitalism is divided between groups with conflicting interests, particularly under capitalism
• Social struggle and class conflict drives historical and social change
• Collective power of the working class to challenge capitalist exploitation and oppression.
• Advocated for international solidarity and mass action as means of transforming society and building a more just and equitable world.
• Envisioned a classless and stateless society as the ultimate goal of socialism, but she emphasised the importance of democratic principles.

Question 8

Rosa Luxembourg’s core ideas on state:

Answer 8

• Critical of capitalist state because she saw it as only serving the interests of the ruling class and because it maintained the capitalist system through coercion and repression
• Although initially went through reformist SPD, she ended up rejecting the gradualist/parliamentary approach
• A revolutionary overthrow of the previous system is needed, but it must be spontaneous - not imposed (bringing her ideas of freedom after her experiences of punishment during dissent)
• Right to dissent was crucial
• She saw the state as a tool of class domination that would eventually wither away in a classless society based on common ownership and democratic control over means of production

Question 9

Rosa Luxembourg’s core ideas on the economy:

Answer 9

• Believed in shared wealth for the benefit of all
• Common ownership for the workers
• Capitalism must be overturned
• Structure for redistribution - she disagreed with a centralised command economy because she wanted it decentralised and democratic
  —> therefore she criticises Lenin (1917 revolution)