Rosa Luxemburg, a prominent Marxist revolutionary leader and theoretician, was martyred on January 15, 1919, in Berlin, Germany. She was only 47 years old. Born on March 5, 1871, in Zamość, Poland, Rosa Luxemburg dedicated her life to the struggle for social justice and equality. She was a prolific writer, thinker, and organizer, whose ideas and actions continue to inspire and influence generations of revolutionaries around the world.
Luxemburg played a significant role in the formation of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Spartacus League, which later became the Communist Party of Germany. She was a staunch critic of capitalism, imperialism, and the mainstream socialist parties, which she believed had abandoned their revolutionary ideals. Along with Lenin, she broke with the Second International, because she was enraged by its opportunism, betrayal of internationalism, and petty national chauvinist support for the imperialist war. She said mockingly, “In peace-time, workers of the world unite. In war-time, workers of each country slit each other’s throats” Rosa’s experiences are all the more important because opportunism, chauvinism and war mongering tendencies are being clearly seen among most parliamentary left parties today, that do nothing but betray the workers.
Rosa had a comradely relationship with Lenin, the Russian revolutionary leader. There were critical correspondences among them. Lenin had criticized her views on the rights of nations to self determination. However, their regard and respect for each other remained unbroken.
Her tragic death came at the hands of the Freikorps, a right-wing militia that brutally suppressed the Spartacus uprising in Berlin. Luxemburg was beaten and shot, and her body was thrown into the Landwehr Canal. Her comrade, Karl Liebnecht was murdered along with her.
Her famous article “Order Prevails in Berlin”, which was also the last article she wrote before her death, she concluded by saying: “Order prevails in Berlin!” You foolish lackeys! Your “order” is built on sand. Tomorrow the revolution will “rise up again, clashing its weapons,” and to your horror it will proclaim with trumpets blazing:
I was, I am, I shall be!
