Although she was a naturalised German citizen, Luxemburg was considered an ‘outsider’, particularly when she came into conflict with the SPD leadership. Moreover, Luxemburg posed very clearly the ideological tasks: “The choice today is not between democracy and dictatorship. She was critical of Lenin’s attempt to create in Russia a democratic party but one that was ‘centralised’. Januar 1919 von der Garde - Kavallerie - Schützen - Division verschleppten sie ins Hauptquartier verhörten sie unter schweren Misshandlungen erschossen Karl Liebknecht im Tiergarten mit drei Schüssen aus nächster Nähe Leichenzug wurde von KPD & USDP als Even Lenin, while proposing a split from the Second International and the formation of the Third International, following the August 1914 debacle, was even prepared to amend his position if events did not work out as he envisaged. For instance, on the issue of the Third International he wrote: “The immediate future will show whether conditions have already ripened for the formation of a new, Marxist International… If they have not, it will show that a more or less prolonged evolution is needed for this purging. That lasted right up to the German social democrats’ infamous vote in favour of war credits on 4 August 1914. In today’s era, a general strike, ‘generally’, is an ‘either-or’ issue where an alternative workers’ government is implicit in the situation. Remembering protest singer Phil Ochs on his 80th birthday, Communists sweep local government elections in India’s Kerala state, Trump and coronavirus dealt major defeats on same day, 250 million Indian workers and farmers strike, breaking world record. The leaders of the French Communist Party and the ‘Socialist’ Federation, rather than seeking victory through a revolutionary programme of workers’ councils and a workers and farmers’ government, lent all their efforts to derailing this magnificent movement. Rosa did this, characterising the social democracy as a “rotten corpse”. Januar 1919 in Berlin) war ein prominenter Marxist und Antimilitarist zu Zeiten des Deutschen Kaiserreiches.Seit 1900 Mitglied der Sozialdemokratischen Partei Deutschlands, war er von 1912 bis 1916 einer ihrer Abgeordneten im Reichstag, wo er den linksrevolutionären Flügel der SPD vertrat. At the same time, I could not even admit the idea that the Social Democracy would simply cower on its belly before a nationalist militarism.”. Although the new KPD participated in the Weimar National Assembly that founded the post-war Weimar Republic, the KPD decided to boycott the scheduled elections. (Image: Permission given by Alexander Fiebrandt, grandchild of the photographer Herbert Fiebrandt/Public domain) Such an approach is entirely justified when a long-term strategy is pursued by Marxists within mass parties. The growing opposition to the war, however, widened the circle of support and contacts for Luxemburg and the Sparticist group. That month the November Revolution broke out as a working-class response to the horrors of war inflicted upon the world by the Kaiser’s government. He earned his doctorate at the University of Würzburg in 1897 and moved to Berlin in 1899, where he opened a lawyer's office with his brother, Theodor Liebknecht. Though she and Liebknecht considered it premature, they felt duty-bound to support it and through their newspaper urged the rebels to occupy offices of the liberal (but counterrevolutionary) press. This itself is an indication of the speed of events that developed in Germany at this stage. … When and where have there been brought to light differences between me, on the one hand, and Bebel and Kautsky on the other? 2017 – The 100th anniversary of the 1917 Russian Revolution, No the capitalist EU – Yes to a Socialist Europe, Don’t give taxpayers’ money to UKIP and Tory EU campaigners, An Introduction to Dialectical Materialism, Eight billionaires own as much wealth as half the planet – the real face of capitalism, Discussing Biden Win With American Socialists, #EndSARSCov Solidarity Protest In Coventry, Solidarity with NUJ Strike at Bullivant Media. Even the creation before this of the Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD), which came from a split in the SPD in 1917, arose not from any conscious policy of its leaders – including Kautsky and Rudolf Hilferding, as well as the arch-revisionist Bernstein. Prominent figures from the country's left paid tribute to the founders of the German Communist Party and other socialist heroes. IT IS ONLY appropriate, of course, that Klaus Gietinger’s The Murder of At one stage, accompanied by Clara Zetkin, she said to Bebel: “Yes, you can write our epitaph: ‘Here lie the last two men of German social democracy’.” She castigated the SPD’s trailing after middle-class leaders in an excellent aphorism appropriate to those who support coalitionism today. On the contrary, the railway workers continued to work so that could transport the opponents of Kornilov and derail his forces. Like the labour and trade union leaders to day – although he was originally a Marxist, indeed a friend of the co-founder of scientific socialism, Friedrich Engels – Bernstein under the pressure of the boom of the late 1890s and first part of the 20th century, attempted to ‘revise’ the ideas of Marxism, which would in effect have nullified them. It was virtually “a state within a state”, with over one million members in 1914, 90 daily newspapers, 267 full-time journalists and 3,000 manual and clerical workers, managers, commercial directors and representatives. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Side-by-side: Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg at the SPD Congress in Leipzig in 1909. August 1871 in Leipzig; † 15. But a vital element of Marxism, in developing political influence through a firm organisation or a party, was not sufficiently developed by Rosa Luxemburg or her supporters. From December 29-31, 1918, they took part in a joint congress of the Spartacus League, independent socialists, and the International Communists of Germany (IKD), that led to the foundation on January 1, 1919, of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) under their leadership. In her writings, Luxemburg leveled pointed critiques not only at moderate socialism but also at the new Leninist revolutionary model in Bolshevik Russia. The same idea is expressed in our call for a socialist, planned economy, organised on the basis of workers’ democracy. Rosa Luxemburg correctly emphasised that a revolution could not be made artificially, outside of a maturing of the objective circumstances that allowed this possibility. Here lie some of the differences between Lenin and Rosa Luxemburg. Friedrich Ebert’s majority Social Democratic government crushed the revolt and the Spartacus League by sending in the Freikorps, a government-sponsored paramilitary group consisting mostly of now out-of-work World War I veterans. Karl Liebknecht was born in August 1871 and died in January 1919. Rosa Luxemburg wurde am 5. Karl Liebknecht und Rosa Luxemburg, die beiden Köpfe der KPD, hingegen entzogen sich der Festnahme zunächst. However, as Pierre Broué points out: “She was never able to establish within the SPD either a permanent platform based on the support of a newspaper or a journal or a stable audience wider than a handful of friends and supporters around her.”. This week marks the centennial of the Jan. 15, 1919, murders of German communists Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. We do not have a fetish about the general strike. Sie bekämpften Krieg und Kapitalismus und kämpften für Vergesellschaftung und ein Rätesystem. Disgrace of over 4 million children in poverty. It developed because of the indignation and revolt of the working class at the SPD’s executive throttling within the party of all objections and resistance to their policy on the war. His famous call – “The main enemy is at home” – caught the mood, particularly as the mountain of corpses rose during the war. With the collapse of the German government in October 1918 Liebknecht was granted political amnesty by Max von Baden. With the initial exception of Liebknecht and later Otto Rühle, they were the only two out of 110 SPD deputies who voted against. Yet even with this stunning display of the power of the working class, it did not lead to a socialist overturn, precisely because of the absence of a mass party and leadership capable of mobilising the masses and establishing an alternative democratic workers’ state. After their deaths, Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht became martyrs for Marxists. ( Log Out /  A general strike, on a much bigger scale, took place in Russia, in October 1905, on which Rosa Luxemburg comments. This was the situation following the Belgian general strike in 1893, called by the Belgian Labour Party with 300,000 workers participating, including left-wing Catholic groups. If the opportunity is lost, it may not recur for a long time, and the working class can suffer a defeat. Moreover, she herself built up a very ‘rigid, independent organisation’, that is a party, with her co-worker Leo Jogiches in Poland. On New Year’s Day 1919 Luxemburg declared: “Today we can seriously set about destroying capitalism once and for all. angetreten war, das Proletariat auf Grundlage eines Marxistischen Programms zu organisieren und eine sozialistische Gesellschaft gegen die Interessen der Großgrundbesitzer und Kapit… Indeed, Lenin, in his eagerness to create mass communist parties in the aftermath of the Russian revolution, was sometimes a little impatient and premature in his suggestions for splitting from social-democratic organisations. The SWP’s German organisation (Linksruck, now Marx 21) pursues a similar policy within Die Linke (the Left party) today as the left boot of the party and consequently will not gain substantially. As members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), they were outraged that their party supported German involvement in World War I. Januar 1919 in Berlin) war ein prominenter Marxist und Antimilitarist zu Zeiten des Deutschen Kaiserreiches. For most of the 1920s, during the Comintern period, communist ire was understandably directed at the ruling Social Democrats of the Weimar Republic, whom they named “social fascists,” yet communists ignored or downplayed the threat posed by the gathering Nazi fascist movement. Unfortunately, the muddled centrist lefts, whose party grew enormously as the social-democratic leaders lost support, let slip the opportunity to create an all-Germany council movement. Karl Liebknecht is correctly bracketed with Luxemburg as the heroic mass figure who stood out against the German war machine and symbolised to the troops in the blood-soaked trenches, not just Germans but French and others, as an indefatigable, working-class, internationalist opponent of the First World War. Die … This putsch lasted for a grand total of 100 hours! His continuing opposition, and that of Rosa, who also insisted that working people should never massacre each other, meant imprisonment for both till they were freed by the revolution. Trotsky sums up her dilemma: “The most that can be said is that in her historical-philosophical evaluation of the labour movement, the preparatory selection of the vanguard, in comparison with the mass actions that were to be expected, fell too short with Rosa; whereas Lenin – without consoling himself with the miracles of future actions – took the advanced workers and constantly and tirelessly welded them together into firm nuclei, illegally or legally, in the mass organisations or underground, by means of a sharply defined programme.” However, Luxemburg did begin after the revolution of November 1918 her “ardent labour” of assembling such a cadre. Lenin understood before others that the Mensheviks were not prepared for a struggle going beyond the framework of Russian landlordism and capitalism. This spontaneous eruption of the masses, moreover, flew in the face of everything that the social-democratic leaders wanted or desired. Communists will lead a march to the Friedrichsfelde Cemetery in the east of the city and … Spartacist leaders and KPD pioneers, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. But if the German revolution had triumphed then history would not, in all probability, have known these figures or the horrors of fascism. She continued with possibly the most famous of her quotes: “Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.”. In this sense, she was more farsighted even than Lenin, who passionately absorbed in Russian affairs and who saw the SPD as the ‘model’ for all the parties of the Second International, and its leaders, such as Kautsky, as teachers. Karl Liebknecht. It provides news and analysis of, by, and for the labor and democratic movements to our readers across the country and around the world. On this important anniversary, it is vital to look at Luxemburg’s inspirational, revolutionary legacy. Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were turn-of-the-century anti-imperialist, anti-war revolutionaries. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. This hard-won lesson has still not been embraced by some purists on the “ultra-left” who, for example, failed to draw any distinction whatsoever between the “two capitalists” running for president in 2016 and either stayed home or cast their votes for third, “revolutionary” parties. Rosa Luxemburg was an important figure in all the congresses of the Second International and generally carried the votes of the Polish Social Democratic party in exile. Significant labor actions and uprisings took place in several German cities and states, where temporary “Soviet republics” were established, but the last of them, in Bavaria, was put down in early May 1919. Rosa Luxemburg confronted a different objective situation to that facing the Bolsheviks in Russia. This was because there was no coherent and sufficiently influential mass party and leadership capable of drawing all the threads together and establishing a democratic workers’ state. Only malicious enemies of the heroic traditions of the Bolshevik party circulated this material after her death in an attempt to divide Luxemburg from Lenin, Trotsky, the Bolsheviks and the great work of the Russian revolution. But such an approach – justified at one historical period – can be a monumental error at another, when conditions change and particularly when abrupt revolutionary breaks are posed. Karl Liebknecht studied law and political economy in Leipzig. A Marxist Utopian between East and West: Karl Schmückle A Place for Polemic: Audacity, Implosion, and the Politics of Transition A Precarious Game: The Illusion of Dream Jobs in the Videogame Industry Emotion Coaching; Free Resources; Blog; Contact She contrasted the flair and energy from below in Russia, witnessed at first hand, to the weight the increasingly bureaucratic machine of the party and unions in Germany, which could prove to be a colossal obstacle to the working class taking power, she argued, in the event of a revolutionary eruption. On Nov. 9, 1918, Liebknecht proclaimed the “Free Socialist Republic” in Berlin. On 15 January 1919, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, the finest brains of the German working class and its most heroic figures, were brutally murdered by the bloodthirsty, defeated German military, backed to the hilt by the cowardly social-democratic leaders Noske and Scheidemann. Apart from in 1907, the SPD seemed to progress remorselessly in electoral contests. / May she rest in peace.”. Under the pressure of the strike, the Tsarist regime made constitutional ‘concessions’ in 1905. Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht (German: [ˈliːpknɛçt] (); 13 August 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a German socialist politician and theorist, originally of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and later a co-founder with Rosa Luxemburg of the Spartacist League and the Communist Party of Germany, which split from the SPD after World War I. From Socialist Appeal, Vol. Socialists and communists commemorate them yearly on the second Sunday of January at the Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery in Berlin, where they are buried. He proposed a rapid split of the communists from the French Socialist Party in 1920 but changed his mind after Alfred Rosmer, in Moscow during that year, suggested that the Marxists would need more time to bring over the majority to the stand of the Communist (Third) International. Doch beide blieben bei ihrer aufrührerischen Propaganda. STOP the ‘Going to Work Tax’ on NHS workers! Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht was a German socialist politician and theorist, originally of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and later a co-founder with Rosa Luxemburg of the Spartacist League and the Communist Party of Germany, which split from the SPD after World War I. While the workers of Madrid initially demonstrated for arms and their socialist leaders refused to supply them, the workers of Barcelona – freed from the inhibitions towards ‘leaders’ – rose ‘spontaneously and smashed Franco’s forces within 48 hours. This proved not to be so, unfortunately, because the initiatives from below by the working class, and the opportunities they generated, were squandered. Spending most of their history in the underground, with a relatively smaller organisation of cadres, the Bolsheviks necessarily acquired a high degree of ‘centralisation’, without, at the same time, abandoning very strong democratic procedures. Luxemburg made mistakes on the issue of the independence of Poland. Rosa Luxemburg was the youngest of five children of a lower middle-class Jewish family in Russian-ruled Poland. Please log in using one of these methods to post your comment: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Main Menu. She was also wrong on the difference between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks (even in July 1914 supporting the opportunists who stood for the ‘unity’ between them) and, as Lenin pointed out, also on the economic ‘theory of accumulation’. We honour Karl and Rosa, like all of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in trying to get rid of this capitalist system which offers us nothing but war, poverty and destruction. 3, 18 January 1941, p.3. This would prove fatal. The Freikorps were Troops of the Reichswehr that refused to give Up their Arms after the War and they were responsible for some Attempts of a Coup Like the Kapp-Lüttwitz coup, which tried to take the goverment over from the Spd. The SPD particularly feared the impact of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. Von Anfang an war Proletariat der revolutionären Bewegung in Russland voraus. The events of the German revolution were dealt with in Socialism Today (Issue 123, November 2008) and The Socialist (Issue 555, 4 November 2008). They were both born in the same year, 1871, and died on the same day, their names necessarily linked in history. A ‘constituent assembly’ was posed as an alternative to Luxemburg and Liebknecht’s ideas of a national council of soviets to initiate a workers and farmers’ government. This was consolidated when he became the first SPD MP to vote against the war. Luxemburg was shot and her body thrown in the Landwehr Canal in Berlin. On January 15, 1919, Rosa Luxemburg and her co-leader Karl Liebknecht are killed in Berlin by soldiers who were suppressing the uprising, and their bodies were thrown into a canal. Karl Liebknecht Karl Liebknecht was born in August 1871 and died in January 1919. The leaders of the SPD, along with the trade union leaders, had become accustomed to compromise and negotiations within the framework of rising capitalism. After this uprising was suppressed he was arrested by the Scheidemann government and on January 15, 1919 was assassinated together with Rosa Luxemburg by a gang of German officers, covertly abetted by the Scheidemannists «Karl Liebknecht called upon the workers and soldiers of Germany to turn their guns against their own government. This was partly conditioned by historical experience until then, in which ‘partial general strike action’ featured in the struggles of the working class in the decades prior to the First World War. März 1871 in der kleinen polnischen Stadt Zamos´c geboren. The answer was Rosa Luxemburg, but she wasn’t given a chance to do so. Luxemburg hatte am 7. Luxemburg wrote: “It was always possible to walk out of small sects or small coteries, and, if one does not want to stay there, to apply oneself to building new sects and new coteries. Luxemburg was a real internationalist; a participant in the revolutionary movement in three countries. Wenige Tage nach der blutigen Niederschlagung des Januaraufstands verhafteten am 15. Luxemburg was well aware of the imminent danger. This does not have to take the form necessarily, on all occasions, of a separate ‘party’. Trotsky pointed out: “Lenin considered Kautsky as his teacher and stressed this everywhere he could. She made mistakes: “Show me someone who never makes a mistake and I will show you a fool.” Yet here is a body of work of which, read even today almost 100 years later, is fresh and relevant – particularly when contrasted to the stale ideas of the tops of the ‘modern’ labour movement. Rosa Luxemburg confronted an entirely different situation, as a minority, and somewhat isolated in a ‘legal’ mass party with all the attributes described above. Home; About; Services Menu Toggle. Other luminaries of the Nazi regime were similarly ‘blooded’ at this time for the future murderous activities in their own country and throughout Europe. This was the case in Italy in the PRC where the Mandelites (now organised outside in Sinistra Critica) were supporters of the ‘majority’ of Bertinotti until they were ejected and then left the party. They can enlighten us particularly the new generation who are moving towards socialist and Marxist ideas. ( Log Out /  Today in history – the murder of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. Others claim Rosa Luxemburg as their own because of her emphasis on the ‘spontaneous role of the working class’ that seems to correspond to an ‘anti-party mood’, particularly amongst the younger generation, which is, in turn, a product of the feeling of revulsion at the bureaucratic heritage of Stalinism and its echoes in the ex-social democratic parties. Take control of the means of news production. Lenin, the great genius of revolution, the man who with Trotsky led the monumental revolution in 1917, died in January 1924 after a long illness.

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