Levine: The Life Of A Revolutionary

by Rosa Leviné-Meyer

(From inside dust jacket): "You are striving for the happiness of the whole of mankind - this is very dangerous." These words of official rebuke were delivered to Eugene Levine the socialist revolutionary and leader of the German Spartacist movement of the early twentieth century. They eloquently express the ever-present goal and persuasive driving force of a remarkable and extraordinary man who, along with figures such as Trotsky, Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht and Bella Kun was one of the great influences in the international upsurge of socialism during and following the First World War.
A remarkable man, Levine was born in Russia of wealthy Jewish parents yet from the outset identified himself with achieving political freedom for the mass of ordinary people. After some years of education in Germany he returned to Russia, becoming involved in revolutionary activities. Eventually, he was imprisoned and tortured by the Tsarist authorities until he was released on bail for medical treatment in Germany. Here he emerged as a unifying figure in the Spartacist movement. He was renowned for his clear logical thinking and persuasive oratory. Although he foresaw its untimely fall, Levine led the ill-fated Munich Soviet Republic, which in 1919 controlled the city for a short while. After a brief imprisonment for his part in the uprising, Levine was tried and executed.
An extraordinary man, Levine's compassion, humanity and regard for life, so often absent in revolutionaries, is movingly conveyed in the compassionate biography by his widow Rosa Levine-Meyer. Levine had protested that his role of dedicated revolutionary precluded any permanent ties of affection, but he himself altered this view, and came to value their relationship deeply, writing a moving letter of devotion to his wife shortly before his death. Rosa Levine-Meyer herself never lost sight of the fact that his supreme love would always be the people he struggled to free. His final farewell was reserved for them, as he faced his firing squad with the words:
"Long live the world revolution."

Genres: Biography, Germany, Nonfiction, Politics

225 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[Ella Pia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone who has read about the German revolution has got to read this. Another book about a fighter for human liberation above all else

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Of all the people involved in the Bavarian Revolution after World War One, I find Eugene Leviné the least appealing. He was authoritarian, pig-headed, doctrinaire, obstructionist, unimaginative and uncompromising. In short, the perfect Bolshevik. All of that comes through clearly in this biography, in spite of the author's considerable sympathy (indeed admiration) for him, because what I find unappealing is what Rosa Leviné -Meyer considers to be his finest qualities. I suppose that some people who read this book (which appears to have been intended for an audience of hard-line Communists) agree with her.

I bought this book to use as a source for my Master’s Thesis, which was about the Bavarian Revolution and the many fascinating idealists, such as Gustav Landauer, Ernst Toller, and Erich Mühsam, who had helped to define it. Although those names are all mentioned here, it is mostly to disparage them for not being in accordance with the party line as seen by Leviné. I found little else of any value. The episodes Leviné-Meyer describes are filtered through a dubious memory and so many layers of ideological self-justification that they can hardly be considered useful historical source material. Much of the time is spent describing how Leviné patiently explained to his wife why she was wrong about almost everything, and then affectionately insulted her intelligence. Rosa seems to have eaten it up. She spends a good part of the book describing how brave he was while facing execution, and far less discussing the workings of the Council Republic he represented for a brief period before its fall.

I believe there was some source material I used here for my thesis, in part because so little else has been written about Leviné, but in general I had to look elsewhere for what I needed. I’d only recommend it to completists who need to know absolutely everything about socialist uprisings in Europe in the early twentieth century, or to those who need a warning about just how rigid and domineering party-line Communists can be.

[Gerhard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eugen Leviné war aktiv in den Zeiten der Revolution 1918/1919 und zuletzt während der Münchner Räterepublik. Er wurde auch ausführlich als Mensch geschildert. Ich habe das Buch als Ergänzung zu anderen Sachbüchern über die Weimarer Republik gelesen.

[Julio The Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gift from some erstwhile young friends. LEVINE in the horrible, inspiring, chilling story of a revolutionary, Eugene Levine, in a revolution that never was, the Spartacist uprising in Germany, 1919, whose most famous casualties were Rosa Luxembug and Karl Liebnicht. His heroism, capture and death foretold the failure of revolution in Europe and the rise of fascism at the hands of those who executed him, the German Free Corps of army veterans, forerunners of the Nazis. A hymn to those who never give up.

[Reading List · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great primary-source bio