The most comprehensive collection of letters by Rosa Luxemburg ever published in English, this book includes 190 letters written to leading figures in the European and international labor and socialist movements-Leo Jogiches, Karl Kautsky, Clara Zetkin and Karl Liebknecht-who were among her closest friends, lovers and colleagues. Many of these letters appear for the first time in English translation; all help to illuminate the inner life of this iconic revolutionary, who was at once an economic and social theorist, a political activist and a lyrical stylist. Her political concerns are revealed alongside her personal struggles within a socialist movement that was often hostile to independently minded women. This collection will provide readers with a newer and deeper appreciation of Luxemburg as a writer and historical figure.

This book includes a collection of 190 letters that show the personality of Rosa Luxemburg in its political as well as in its personal dimensions. It presents the spirit of her time as it is reflected in her political thinking, activism, and personal concerns.

“You will meet the real Rosa here, and it’s a pleasure.”—Norman Lebrecht, Wall Street Journal As an economist and political theorist, Rosa Luxemburg created a body of work that still resonates powerfully today. Born in Poland in 1871, she became a revolutionary leader in Berlin, publishing works including Reform or Revolution and The Accumulation of Capital. In this account of Luxemburg’s short yet extraordinary life, Dana Mills examines Luxemburg’s writings, including her own correspondence, to reveal a woman who was fierce in professional battles and loving in personal relationships. What is her legacy today, a hundred years after her assassination in Berlin in 1919 at the age of forty-seven? Luxemburg’s emphasis on humanity and equality and her insistence on revolution give coherence, as this compelling biography illustrates, to a fraught life story and to her colossal economic and political legacy.

A classic book on the legacy of Rosa Luxemburg’s work with essays of political analysis by leading scholars he inspirational power of Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) remains as important today as it was in her lifetime. An uncompromising, original thinker and revolutionary activist, Luxemburg’s efforts to develop an emancipatory version of Marxism through her involvement with Polish, Russian and German Social Democratic parties and then the Spartacist League ensured her position as an influential force, yet resulted in her brutal murder during the January 1919 uprising in Berlin. J. P. Nettl’s biography was first published half a century ago and remains the most detailed and comprehensive study of Rosa Luxemburg to date. His extensive knowledge of the social and political context of the European socialist movements in which she was active, and his engagement with her voluminous writings in German, Polish, and Russian (many of which are only now being translated into English), brings to light the multidimensional nature of her life and work. This new edition will enable a new generation to explore Luxemburg’s political and activist work, as well as grasp the unique personality of this remarkable woman, theoretician and revolutionary.

Om Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919)

The Evolution of Socialist Feminism from Eleanor Marx to AOC traces the intersection of feminism and socialism as it has played out in the socialist movements arising in Europe and North America in the nineteenth through early twenty-first centuries. From well-known figures in the history of socialism, such as Rosa Luxemburg, Sylvia Pankhurst, and Angela Davis, to lesser-known individuals including Claudia Jones, Sheila Rowbotham, and Zillah Eisenstein, this book examines the socialist feminists who have been among the most powerful voices insisting on freedom of expression and participatory democracy within the socialist movement as well as within the larger society. It considers how these figures contributed to what has become a twenty-first-century multiracial grassroots socialist feminist movement led by young women of color, playing a major role in radical movements across the globe. The Evolution of Socialist Feminism from Eleanor Marx to AOC is an important text for undergraduate students of politics, sociology, and gender studies, as well as for the general reader.

Revolutionary Hope in a Time of Crisis takes up the question of how to theorize and revive revolutionary hope in the present era of political disillusion. The collection consists of new cutting-edge research essays written by an interdisciplinary mix of established and emerging scholars, bringing together a wide range of intellectual traditions and perspectives. The contributors confront the challenge of relearning hope by exploring the politically transformative potential of past disappointments and defeats. They encourage us to acknowledge, come to terms with and learn from the complexities, failures, and losses entailed in resistance, and to consider them as an occasion for rethinking the established patterns of revolutionary thought. Specifically, the essays question how engagement with past disappointments, losses, and defeats can help us creatively respond to the difficulties and failures of resistance—and inspire our imagination of revolutionary possibilities in the present. Written in an accessible tone without theoretical density or academic jargon, Revolutionary Hope in a Time of Crisis provides theoretical and historical contexts to what it means to engage in left activism today. A vital resource for those interested in intellectual history, political history, radical politics, democracy, and contemporary political theory.

Rosa Luxemburg holds an enduring fascination as a radical socialist committed to democratic values, and a woman whose charismatic personality and impassioned speeches inspired her followerswithout resort to bureaucratic organisation. Her assistant and friend Mathilde Jacob was Rosa Luxemburg's mainstay during her years of imprisonment in the First World War. 'My dearest Mathilde' provided material and emotional support, organised Rosa Luxemburg's clandestine communication with the outside world, and herself played a key role in the illegal work of the Spartacus group. When revolution broke out in Germany in 1918, she sought unsuccessfully to protect Rosa Luxemburg in the tragic events that led to her death. Mathilde Jacob's memoir, written as testimony of 'love for a person and for a cause', and sent abroad for safe-keeping when she fell victim to the Nazis, was unknown to Rosa Luxemburg's early biographers and has only recently been published in Germany. It paints a vivid portrait both of Rosa Luxemburg herself, and of the group of friends - Karl Liebknecht, Leo Jogiches, Clara Zetkin and Paul Levi - that with her made up the Spartacus leadership. This translation is by Hans Fernbach, who knew Mathilde Jacob as a family friend in Berlin; it is introduced by David Fernbach, whose publications include, as editor, the Pelican edition of Karl Marx's Political Writings.

The book is based upon a call for papers and a conference to mark the 100th anniversary of Rosa Luxemburg's principal work, The Accumulation of Capital: A Contribution to an Economic Explanation of Imperialism, published in 1913. Eleven contributors from five different countries come together to discuss different issues and dimensions connected with Luxemburg's work and focus on its continuing relevancy. This collection investigates topics such as, the influences of Karl Marx and Maxim Kovalevsky, the imperialism debate in German social democracy, and the critical reception of Luxemburg's work from Marxist and feminist viewpoints. By positioning Luxemburg's work in a historical context, this book offers an accessible and timely insight into the significance of The Accumulation of Capital and, more importantly, demonstrates why Luxemburg's legacy should live on.

First published in 2001. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.