Rosa Luxemburg: A Revolutionary for Our Times

by Stephen Eric Bronner

Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) was Polish, Jewish, and a woman in an international socialist movement dominated by Germans, gentiles, and men. For Luxemburg, there was no real socialism without democracy and no real democracy without socialism. In this biography Stephen Eric Bronner establishes Luxemburg's legacy to contemporary socialist theory and practice.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Stephen Eric Bronner is an American political scientist and philosopher, Board of Governors Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States, and is the Director of Global Relations for the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights.

Reviews

[Lewis Weinstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rosa Luxemburg is a fascinating character in history. Her story sheds light on the conditions which enabled Hitler to make his first move for power in 1923. I read it as part of my research for my next novel.

There is a also novel focused on the investigation of her death (she was murdered in 1919) called "Rosa" by Jonathan Rabb, which I thought was excellent.

UPDATE 4/25/14 ...

I have recently re-read sections of this book with the idea of having Rosa become an inspiration and role model to Anna, my main Polish character in the novel I am currently writing. Luxemburg's socialist philosophy, to the extent I can understand the convoluted manner in which all socialist/communist writing is done, seems so very different from the manner in which Stalin eventually corrupted the original objectives.