Buon lunedì, prodi seguaci!🐝

Ebbene sì, sono ancora alle prese con la biografia di Rosa Luxemburg di J.P. Nettl che avevo deciso di leggere per il mese di aprile per la 2022 RHC: dopo quasi due mesi non sono nemmeno a metà perché si sta rivelando una lettura più impegnativa del previsto. Confido però che dal punto in cui sono arrivata (30% circa😅) diventi meno faticoso.

In the event her departure took place not one moment too soon. Instead of participating in the real revolution which was to be the central experience of her life, Rosa Luxemburg — had she remained — would have witnessed the gradual extinction of excitement in Germany. First came the failure to match words with deeds, the stiffening of attitudes on the part of the executive, the agreement between executive and trade unions in February 1906 — in fact the return to German normality which she so feared and despised. It was an imperceptible process and largely secret; even Rosa Luxemburg’s sensitive perceptions might have missed the changes beneath the familiar and warming phraseology of revolution. For her, full of the Russian revolutionary experience, the impact of boring and familiar Germany was to be all the harsher when she returned almost nine months later — and this sudden confrontation of two worlds did more to sharpen her ideas for the future than any gradual disillusion could have done. As in August 1914, a shock jolted her thinking into uncompromisingly productive channels. If Rosa Luxemburg had not gone to Warsaw in December 1905 the German Left would never have benefited from the clarity of her dissent — and would itself not have emerged with such a respectable intellectual heritage.

A classic book on the legacy of Rosa Luxemburg’s work with essays of political analysis by leading scholars.

As an advocate of social democracy and individual responsibility, Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919) remains the most eminent representative of the revolutionary socialist tradition. She was a radical activist who was willing to go to prison for her beliefs, including her protest of the First World War. This volume provides a representative sampling of Luxemburg’s essential writings, many of which have been rarely anthologized. Her examination of capitalist “globalization” in her era, the destructive dynamics of nationalism, and other topics are joined with hard-hitting political analyses, discussions of labor movement strategy, intimate prison letters, and passionate revolutionary appeals. Among the selections are “Rebuilding the International,” “What Are the Leaders Doing?” and excerpts from “The Accumulation of Capital–An Anti-Critique.”

Luxemburg’s powerful impact on the twentieth century is documented in the accompanying essays, which draw readers into the “discussions” that leading intellectuals and activists have had with this vibrant thinker. Included are essays by Luise Kautsky, Lelio Basso, Raya Dunayevskaya, Paul Le Blanc, Andrew Nye, and Claire Cohen. These writers engage Luxemburg’s life and work in ways that enrich our understanding of her ideas and advance our thinking on issues that concerned her. This volume will benefit readers with its rich and continuing collective evaluation of this passionate revolutionary’s life and thought.