Convictions on World War I: The War and The Workers by Rosa Luxemburg
by Thrice handicapped–a woman, a Pole, and a Jew– Rosa Luxemburg was the most eloquent voice of the left wing of German Social Democracy, the defender of Marxist purity against all comers, and a constant advocate of radical action. She spent much of the war in jail, where she wrote and then smuggled out the pamphlet titled "The War and the Workers." The pamphlet became the guiding statement for the International Group, which became the Spartacus League and ultimately the Communist Party of Germany in January 1st of 1919.
Luxemburg had an uncanny method of predicting the future, most of which turned out to be correct. Her first prediction about WWI ending in mutual exhaustion was correct because opponents eliminated each other in a war of attrition. Her second prediction about economic ruin for all was correct. The British lost considerable investment in shipping because of unrestricted submarine warfare and went through debilitating crises. France was the battleground reducing French infrastructure and economy to rubble. Russia suffered terribly from economic crises because of scorched-earth policy, terrible defeats by the German army and the communist revolution. Germany dipped into severe inflation and crises in the post war years. The failure of large Austrian banks spelled the doom of the once mighty Habsburg and German Empires. Luxemburg’s third prediction of the first scenario predicting a German victory was wrong. Her second scenario was very accurate regarding the victory of the allied powers, the end of Habsburg and German imperial domination, the presence of the allied powers in the Balkans and the occupation of Germany’s Shandong province in China. Most astounding about her predictions was WWII would be started by the loser of WWI, which in this case was Germany. What is still amazing is Luxemburg’s prediction of new alliances in Europe post World War I. Some of these new alliances included Germany allied with U.S.S.R. and Japan, which historically were not considered feasible. Moreover her prediction of a “feverish arms race” in the world also came true between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. during the cold war. Her fifth prediction about capitalism collapsing was wrong because capitalism survived WWI, the Great Depression, WWII and the cold war and is still the leading economic principle of many nations. Her sixth prediction about capitalism surviving because of military hegemony and imperialism is incorrect. National capitalism has transformed into transnational capitalism where the latter is not subject to the state, eliminating the need for military support and imperialist ventures.
Rosa Luxemburg was viewed as a traitor because her opinions did not match the emotional jubilation of the public. However, her concerns for the working classes and accurate predictions convince me otherwise. I believe she was a brilliant and intuitive woman. She objected the war because she knew not even the victors would gain anything they were expecting. She analyzed that military victories would not bring immediate recovery as expected because of the interdependence of European economies. Her analysis of WWI as not a decisive war of gain, but mutually assured destruction was accurate. European investment, infrastructure, industry, society and people were marred beyond recognition. Furthermore, she was correct by saying the working classes were dying unnecessarily for this destructive war. World War I recorded the most number of military and civilian deaths ever recorded in history. The people who died were not big capitalists, but poor wage workers emotionally charged by nationalism. Her prediction about the certainty of another war initiated by the loser was remarkably accurate. Rosa Luxemburg is certainly not a traitor. Though I disagree with her misgivings about capitalism and the greatness of socialism, her assessment about the nature of WWI makes her a great visionary. Though hindsight is not fully accurate, if Germany’s working classes listened to her predictions of the consequences of WWI leaving aside her firebrand version of Marxian Socialism, they would not have suffered as much.
Works Cited
Luxemburg, Rosa. “The War and the Workers.” Internet Modern History Sourcebook. 22 November 2008. http://h-net.org/~german/gtext/kaiserreich/lux.html
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Post Commentmartie
On June 17, 2011 at 10:24 pm
This was an extremely well written and interesting historical piece. My hat is off to you.