Reform or Revolution Quotes

“People who pronounce themselves in favor of the method of legislative reform in place of and in contradistinction to the conquest of political power and social revolution, do not really choose a more tranquil, calmer and slower road to the same goal, but a different goal. Instead of taking a stand for the establishment of a new society they take a stand for surface modifications of the old society. . . . Our program becomes not the realization of Socialism, but the reform of capitalism; not the suppression of the system of wage labor, but the diminution of exploitation, that is, the suppression of the abuses of capitalism instead of the suppression of capitalism itself.”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution

“Democracy is indispensable to the working class, because only through the exercise of its democratic rights, in the struggle for democracy, can the proletariat become aware of its class interests and its historic task.”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution

“People who pronounce themselves in favor of the method of legislative reform in place of and in contradistinction to the conquest of political power and social revolution, do not really choose a more tranquil, calmer and slower road to the same goal, but a different goal. Instead of taking a stand for the establishment of a new society they take a stand for surface modifications of the old society. . . . Our program becomes not the realization of Socialism, but the reform of capitalism not the suppression of the system of wage labor, but the diminution of exploitation, that is, the suppression of the abuses of capitalism instead of the suppression of capitalism itself.”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution

“What will be the immediate result should our party change its general procedure to suit a viewpoint that wants to emphasise the practical results of our struggle, that is social reforms? As soon as “immediate results” become the principal aim of our activity, the clear-cut, irreconcilable point of view, which has meaning only in so far as it proposes to win power, will be found more and more inconvenient. The direct consequence of this will be the adoption by the party of a “policy of compensation,” a policy of political trading, and an attitude of diffident, diplomatic conciliation. But this attitude cannot be continued for a long time. Since the social reforms can only offer an empty promise, the logical consequence of such a program must necessarily be disillusionment.”
― Rosa Luxembourg, Reform or Revolution

“Only the hammer blow of revolution, that is to say, the conquest of political power by the proletariat can break down [the] wall [between capitalist society and Socialist society].”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution

“If the proletariat came to power, it could draw from Bernstein's theory the following 'practical' conclusion: to go to sleep.”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution

“Fourier's scheme of changing, by means of phalansteries, the water of all the seas into tasty lemonade was surely a phantastic idea. But Bernstein, proposing to change the sea of capitalist bitterness into a sea of socialist sweetness, by progressively pouring into it bottles of social reformist lemonade, presents an idea that is merely more insipid but no less phantastic.”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution

“There was no doubt for Marx and Engels about the necessity of having the proletariat conquer political power. It is left to Bernstein to consider the poultry-yard of bourgeois Parliamentarism as the organ by which we are to realize the most formidable social transformation of history, the passage from capitalist society to Socialism.”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution

“La principal equivocación blanquista, según Marx, estuvo en no considerar necesaria la previa preparación revolucionaria de la clase obrera.”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reforma o revolución

“Desde este aspecto, la idea de una conquista «prematura» del poder político por la clase trabajadora se presenta como un contrasentido político, que tiene su origen en aceptar un desenvolvimiento mecánico de la sociedad y en suponer un momento determinado para el triunfo en la lucha de clases, pero al margen e independiente de esta lucha.”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reforma o revolución

“Así pues, aquellas luchas «prematuras» del proletariado por la conquista del poder, se presentan incluso como momentos históricos e importantes que colaboran en la creación del momento de triunfo último.”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reforma o revolución

“Pero, en segundo lugar, estos «prematuros» asaltos al poder del Estado, son, asimismo, inevitables, puesto que esos ataques «tempranos» constituyen por sí mismo un factor muy importante que ha de crear las condiciones políticas necesarias para el triunfo final y, además, porque la clase obrera, bien en el curso de aquella crisis política que acompañará a su conquista del poder, bien en el fuego de luchas más largas y sostenidas, puede adquirir el necesario grado de madurez política que le capacite para la gran revolución final.”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reforma o revolución

“Primero, si existe una revolución social tan poderosa como es el paso del orden capitalista al socialista, no puede concebirse como cosa de un momento y debido a un golpe victorioso del proletariado. Aceptarlo como posible será, en verdad, dar a luz una interpretación perfectamente blanquista. La revolución socialista supone una lucha larga y tenaz, en la cual el proletariado, según todas las probabilidades, más de una vez habrá de ceder terreno por haber tomado el timón –hablando desde el punto de vista del resultado final de la lucha en su conjunto– en tiempos «demasiado prematuros».”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reforma o revolución

“Y si, por tanto, desde el punto de vista de las condiciones sociales la conquista del poder político por la clase trabajadora jamás podrá realizarse si el momento es «demasiado prematuro», tendremos que, lógicamente, sí podrá llevarse a cabo desde el punto de vista del efecto político de la conservación en el poder, aun cuando necesariamente resulte «demasiado prematura».”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reforma o revolución

“del Estado por una masa popular amplia y consciente, conquista que solo puede ser producto de un derrumbe progresivo de la sociedad burguesa, por lo cual lleva en sí la legitimidad económico-política de un fenómeno inevitable en el tiempo.”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reforma o revolución

“La toma por el proletariado del poder estatal, esto es, por una gran clase popular, no es un algo artificioso. Si exceptuamos aquellos casos en que como la Comuna de París– el dominio del proletariado no fue consecuencia de una lucha consciente del objetivo a conquistar, sino que, más bien y por excepción, el poder fue una cosa abandonada de todos y que no encontraba dueño, la conquista del poder político supone un determinado grado de madurez en las relaciones político-económicas. Aquí se halla la diferencia fundamental entre el golpe de Estado blanquista –obra de una «minoría decidida», dispuesta a actuar en cualquier momento y, por lo tanto, siempre a destiempo–[2] y la conquista del poder”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reforma o revolución

“Ambos remedios de la reforma bernsteiniana, las cooperativas y los sindicatos, se manifiestan, por tanto, como incapaces completamente de transformar el modo de producir capitalista.”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reforma o revolución

“La actividad de los sindicatos se limita, pues, en lo general, a la lucha de salarios y a la disminución del tiempo de trabajo, es decir, a regular simplemente la explotación capitalista dentro de las condiciones del mercado.”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reforma o revolución

“What distinguishes bourgeoisie society from other class societies…? Precisely the fact that class domination does not rest on “acquired rights” but on real economic relations – the fact that wage labor is not a judicial relation, but purely an economic relation… How can wage slavery be suppressed by the “legislative way”, if wage slavery is not expressed [by] the laws?”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution

“The uninterrupted victory of democracy, which to our revisionism as well as to bourgeois liberalism, appears as a great fundamental law of human history and, especially, modern history has shown upon closer examination to be a phantom. No absolute and general relation can be constructed between capitalist development and democracy. The political form of a given country is always the result of the composite of all the existing political factors, domestic as well as foreign. It admits within its limits all variations of the scale from absolute monarchy to the democratic republic.”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution

“Social Democracy, does not, however, expect to attain its aim either as a result of the victorious violence of a minority or through the numerical superiority of a majority. It sees socialism come as a result of economic necessity - and the comprehension of that necessity - leading to the suppression of capitalism by the working masses. And this necessity manifests itself above all in the anarchy of capitalism.”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution

“Just as all roads lead to Rome, so, too, do we logically arrive at the conclusion that the revisionist proposal to slight the final aim of the Socialist movement is really a recommendation to renounce the Socialist movement itself.”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution

“The production relations of capitalist society approach more and more the production relations of Socialist society. But on the other hand, its political and juridicial relations establish between capitalist society and Socialist society a steadily rising wall. This wall is not overthrown, but is on the contrary strengthened and consolidated by the development of social reforms and the course of democracy. Only the hammer blow of revolution, that is to say, the conquest of political power by the proletariat can break down this wall.”
― Rosa Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution