Rosa Luxemburg Papers

Period 1898-1918
Total size   0.15 m.
Consultation Not restricted

Biography

Born in Zamosc, Russian Poland 1871, died in Berlin 1919; socialist theorist, journalist and agitator; joined the revolutionary socialist group `II. Proletarjat' as a schoolgirl in Warsaw in 1887 and had to emigrate in 1889; studied sciences and economics in Zurich; cofounder of the Socjaldemokracja Królestwa Polskiego (i Litwy) (SDKP) in 1894, which she represented in the International Socialist Bureau (ISB) 1904-1914; participated in the Russian Revolution 1905/06; active in the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD) from 1898 as a fervent critic of revisionism and spokeswoman for the revolutionary left wing; editor of and contributor to party papers and journals including Die Neue Zeit and Przeglad Socjaldemokratyczny, teacher of the SPD's central party school and author of political and theoretical writings such as `Sozialreform oder Revolution?' 1899 and `Die Akkumulation des Kapitals' 1913; during the First World War instrumental in organizing the socialist antiwar opposition with her Junius pamphlet `Die Krise der Sozialdemokratie' 1916; leading member from 1916 of the Spartakusgruppe which in 1918 became the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (KPD); murdered by counterrevolutionary troups in January 1919.

Content

Letters to Richard Fischer 1899, 1901, Hans Kautsky 1910, 1913, Karl Kautsky [1901], 1906, Luise Kautsky [1900], 1901-1911, Gertrud Zlottko 1913-1918 and others; two letters from Hans Kautsky to Rosa Luxemburg 1907-1908; some financial documents 1906, 1908; the manuscript and printed edition of `Die Akkumulation des Kapitals. Eine Antikritik' n.d.; typescript of `Ein Nachspiel zur Diskussion mit Gradnauer' n.d.; a photographed copy of her herbarium 1913-1918; a proof of introductory comments by Paul Levi on `The Russian Revolution. A critical appreciation by Rosa Luxemburg', posthumously edited by Paul Levi, n.d.; miscellanea.

Processing information

Inventory made by Peter Joachim in 2002