Rosa Luxemburg: A Revolutionary Marxist at the Limits of Marxism (Marx, Engels, and Marxisms)

Description

This book analyses the development of Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) as an outstanding Marxist thinker and socialist politician in the era of imperialism and revolution. Identifying the driving force behind Luxemburg’s development as the deep unity between her passionate, emphatic life and her political and theoretical work, the authors retrace the inner dynamics of its different stages while highlighting the deep rupture caused by the experience of the Russian Revolution. On the basis of new publications of her Polish works and other writings, Luxemburg's strategic approaches are located in an Eastern European context. The authors discuss Luxemburg’s unique analyses of the first experiments in socialist participation in government, of the first Russian revolution and of the forms of accumulation of capital to outline the foundations of her novel understanding of both democratic-socialist revolution and of a society that would point beyond social democracy as well as Bolshevism – a vision that will gain new significance in the twenty first century. This book looks upon the lasting heritage of Rosa Luxemburg as the groundbreaking thinker of the unity between democracy and socialism. Title Preface—Memories for the Future Bibliography Titles Published Titles Forthcoming Contents 1 Show Us the Miracle! Where Is Your Miracle? To Be Oneself in the World In Prison: With Herself and in the World Speaking Truth—Living Truth Freedom Is Always the Freedom of the Others Bibliography 2 The Blighted Authority of Engels and Kautsky Returning to Marx—but to Which One? The Maximal Programme and the Minimal Programme Settling Accounts with ‘Ersatz Marxism’ Failing to Understand One’s Own Situation Bibliography 3 The ‘Fully Fledged Marxist’ and the Polish Question The Founding of the Social Democracy Movement in Poland and Its Two Factions Luxemburg’s Dissertation ‘The Industrial Development of Poland’ A Return to the Polish Question—1908–1909 Bibliography 4 Revolutionary Realpolitik New Questions for Old Answers The Strategy of the SPD from 1891 Bernstein’s Total Revision of Marxism The Hammer Blow of the Revolution The Unity of Marxism and Socialism Bibliography 5 The Millerand Case—Socialist Participation in Government as a Test Case of Theory and Strategy The Bone of Contention The Gap Between Marxist Theory and Socialist Practice Rosa Luxemburg’s Formulation of the Problem Capitalism and the Class State The Bourgeois State as Barrier Between Capitalism and Socialism Socialist Politics in the Bourgeois State The Struggle for the Democratisation of Democracy and the Question of Violence Conclusion Bibliography 6 The Electric Age of Unexpected Developments: The 1905 Russian Revolution General Strike, Debate on Organisation and Political Leadership Lessons from the 1905 Russian Revolution Defeat as a Path to Victory Freedom for the Enemy Bibliography 7 On the Defensive The SPD at the Crossroads Against ‘Nothing-but-Parliamentarism’ and ‘Nothing-but-Action’ The Great War and the Search for a Strategic Response Bibliography 8 The Imperialist Age and the Accumulation of Capital ‘Help Me Figure Something Out—But Quickly!’ Society as a Cultural Organism Capitalism as an Impossible World Form Politico-Economical Foundations of a New Strategy Bibliography 9 Rosa Luxemburg’s Symphony on the Russian Revolution The Prehistory Luxemburg’s Criticism of the Bolsheviks: Too Little Socialism, Too Little Democracy The Anticipated Harmony of Opposites: Necessity and Freedom Bibliography 10 Beyond Social Democrats and Bolsheviks Revolutionary Leadership and Self-Empowerment Revolution in Russia—An Alternative Strategy How the Bolsheviks ‘Won’ the Revolution and Made Luxemburg’s Nightmares Come True Bibliography 11 The November Revolution: A New Beginning Violently Interrupted Socialism as the Order of the Day Programmatic Renewal and the Founding of the KPD The Alternatives of the Age: Socialism or Barbarism Socialism as Free Self-Determination The Next Tasks in the Revolution The Self-Understanding of the Spartacus League The January Uprising in Berlin and Government Terror Bibliography 12 Spat at, Adored, but Also Indispensable? Bibliography