Ottokar Luban

International Rosa Luxemburg Society, Berlin, Germany

ABSTRACT

In her 1906 booklet, “The Mass Strike, the Political Party, and the Trade Unions,” Rosa Luxemburg described her basic concept of democracy and emphasized the importance of spontaneity in proletarian mass movements. According to Luxemburg, socialist party leaders should accept and support the spontaneity of the workers, as it would result in an increase in readiness for action and creativity on the part of the masses; it would also strengthen labor organizations. The strong connection between spontaneity and creativity in the proletarian mass movements is also found in other of Luxemburg’s works, such as “The Crisis of Social Democracy” (1915), her unfinished manuscript on “The Russian Revolution” (September/October 1918) and the “Spartacus Program” (December 1918). Analyzing the anti-war mass movements in Germany from 1916 until 1918, we can see that Luxemburg’s concept of the close connection between spontaneity and creativity became reality, especially during Germany’s successful November Revolution in 1918.

ARTICLE HISTORY

Received 20 December 2018 Revised 30 June 2019 Accepted 15 July 2019

KEYWORDS

Rosa Luxemburg; basic concept of democracy; spontaneity and creativity; proletarian mass movements; German Revolution 1918

From: International Critical Thought 2019 9 (4)

Editor: Wang Yi