This book sets out to examine Rosa Luxemburg’s ideas, not from the distorted myths about her political ideas, or solely about personal questions such as her love life, but from Luxemburg’s very own writings. It is an attempt to provide an insight into the treasure trove of ideas and revolutionary theory that Luxemburg’s works constitute. The book shows that the real Rosa Luxemburg is often very far from the myths and rumours that surround her: Rosa Luxemburg was, is and remains a revolutionary.

During the first decades of the twentieth century, Rosa Luxemburg was the leader of the workers' movement in Poland and Germany. She made a remarkable contribution to socialist theory and practice, yet her legacy remains in dispute. In this book Norman Geras interrogates and refutes the myths that have developed around her work. She was an opponent of socialist participation in the First World War and, as Geras shows, her views on socialist strategy in Russia were closer to Lenin's than any other leader's. Geras explores the development of Luxemburg's critique in the period following the war and demonstrates how her thought is distinct from the social democratic or anarchist theories into which it is often subsumed. Geras brings new light to bear on one of the most misrepresented figures in radical history, illustrating her inspiring lack of complacency and her commitment to questioning those in authority on both the Right and the Left.

Rosa Luxemburg, Oskar Lange and Michal Kalecki made important contributions to twentieth century political economy that guided the thinking of their student Tadeusz Kowalik. These contributions are re-examined by renowned economists, highlighting the common themes in their political economy and the neglected aspects of their work.

Rosa Luxemburg lived a revolutionary life which determined her theoretical reflections about revolution and the role of the masses within it. The present study provides an analysis of Luxemburg's thoughts about and experiences with revolutionary processes and shows how she further developed Marxist ideas about the path and methods to achieve a democratic socialism as the result of a successful revolution. Next to the theoretical debate with Eduard Bernstein and her experiences during the Russian Revolution of 1905, the book also takes a closer look at Luxemburg's theoretical reflections about revolution in the years before and during the First World War, the Russian Revolution of 1917 as well as the German Revolution of 1918/19. The book therefore offers a concise analysis of Luxemburg's life as well as her combination of revolution theory and revolutionary practice.

The Bolsheviks came to power in a workers’ and peasants’ revolution supported by the great majority of Russian women. Abortion was legalized immediately and made available to women without charge. For the first time wives were empowered to divorce their husbands, and many took the opportunity. In a society in which few homes had any basic amenities, it was envisaged that women would be freed from household drudgery by child-care centres, communal dining halls, and public laundries; and the predictions of Engels that mutual affection and respect would underpin relations between the sexes would be realised. Under socialism the bourgeois family would wither away, releasing women from kitchen slavery and bringing them equality with men. But the betrayal by Social Democracy of the revolutionary upsurge following WW1, and the pressure of imperialism on an isolated, backward, semi-feudal country meant a reactionary bureaucracy usurped political power, imposed a totalitarian regime, and enacted legislation to strengthen the conservative elements within Soviet society, restricting women’s rights to divorce, abolishing the right to abortion, and strengthening the family. This book ends by noting the social and economic degradation imposed on Russian women by capitalist restoration, concluding that only a socialist, proletarian-led revolution can finally achieve women’s emancipation.

“The Republic was dying on its feet because its social basis had ceased to exist. This fact expressed itself in continuous political crises and convulsions in the capital, party strife, revolutions and counter-revolutions.” In the first complete Marxist history of the Roman Republic, Alan Woods provides a gripping and accessible analysis of the titanic struggles that shaped the Roman world, and continue to resonate today. Spanning more than a thousand years of development, the book delves into the fundamental processes which gave rise to the emergence of Rome as an imperial power, the crisis of the Late Republic and the rise of the Caesars. It also features additional material by the author on the eventual decline of the Roman Empire and the Marxist theory of the state. This book offers a treasure trove of history and theory for any reader.

The Bolsheviks led the workers to power in the October Revolution of 1917. To ensure its survival, they grappled with the task of spreading the revolution beyond Russia. ‘Left-Wing’ Communism: An Infantile Disorder was written in 1920 to educate the newly-formed communist parties of the Third International, and to correct the ultra-left, sectarian trends that infected many of them. Inspired by the Revolution and repelled by the betrayals of social democracy, these communists had not absorbed the real lessons of Bolshevism. The majority of workers still looked to reformist parties, and needed to be won away from the influence of reformist leaders in these. The task was to win them over to the banner of revolutionary communism. In this text, Lenin explains the methods and skilful tactics of the Bolshevik Party, which enabled them to win over a majority of the workers to their programme. Without this strategic brilliance, there would have been no October Revolution. Any serious revolutionary communist today must study, absorb and apply Lenin’s methods on these vital questions of revolutionary strategy and tactics.

This volume is a collection of Lenin’s writings on the crucial question of the position of revolutionary Marxists towards war and, more specifically, in relation to the First World War. When the war broke out in 1914, the Socialist International betrayed its own anti-war resolutions and gave wholehearted support to the imperialist slaughter. Lenin started a battle, against the stream, to defend the working-class principles of internationalism, explaining that the war was an imperialist one and therefore the main enemy of the workers was at home. War eventually gave way to revolution and ultimately to the foundation of a new, Communist International. Lenin’s writings on the struggle against the imperialist war are a vital resource for revolutionary activists today. This is the first of a series of thematic collections of Lenin’s writings by Wellred Books, published to mark the centenary of his death in 2024.

Trotsky’s Writings on Britain span one of the most tumultuous periods in British history. The first decades of the 20th century were a time of crisis on all fronts for British capitalism. Britain was rapidly sinking to a second-rate position among the world powers. Violent eruptions of class struggle shook capitalist rule to its very foundations. Amidst all this, the Marxists were striving to build a mass revolutionary party as the precondition of capitalism’s overthrow. These writings were intended to assist the communists of the time to achieve their historic task. The same task is posed before us once more today. The thread of history is being re-tied, and Britain is once more moving towards revolutionary crises. This collection is indispensable for the Marxists who must rise to face this challenge. Trotsky has a profound affinity for his subject, which he brings to bear on a remarkable range of questions: from the history, psychology, philosophy and morality of the British ruling class; to Britain’s revolutionary traditions going back to Chartism and the English Revolution; to the 1926 general strike, and the questions of revolutionary strategy and tactics that the Marxists faced in the stormy decade of the 1930s. This book includes all three volumes in a single edition, and features a new introduction by Rob Sewell, author of Chartist Revolution and In the Cause of Labour: A History of British Trade Unionism.

Written immediately after the fall of the Second French Republic in 1851, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte offers a cutting analysis of the French Revolution of 1848, the short life of the republic it brought into being, and the events which led to its demise at the hands of the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. In his treatment of the dizzying swirl of individuals, parties and ideological trends which burst to the fore in this period, Marx places each in their class context, and draws out the powerful currents of revolution and counter-revolution under the surface of events. As a work of history, it surpasses all contemporary writers and stands a triumphant demonstration of Marx’s historical materialist method. But it is even more valuable today as a work of theory. The full scope of the modern class struggle, the nature of the state, the limitations of reformism, the role of the individual and the theory of permanent revolution can all be found in its pages. For this reason, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte must be considered a work of genius and a true classic of Marxist theory. This Wellred edition features a new introduction.