Rosa Luxemburg: the life and death of a revolutionary

Probably, many heard or read about the fact that in 2009 in Europe a special flower was brought out - the rose "Princess of Luxembourg". This event was timed to coincide with the 18th birthday of Alexandra, the regal person of the Grand Duchy. But today it will not be about him. People of the older generation remember that in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries there was a German revolutionary and an influential enough person who played an important role in shaping the communist movement in Europe. Her name was in tune with the name of a beautiful flower - Rosa Luxemburg. Years of life of this woman were entirely devoted to the struggle for the rights and freedoms of ordinary people. It is about this and will be discussed in this article.

Jewish family

Rosa (real name Rosalia) was born on March 5, 1871 in the town of Zamosc of the Kingdom of Poland, on the outskirts of the then Russian Empire. She was the fifth child in the family of a merchant-trader of Jewish origin Elias Luxemburg. The girl was a diligent student and brilliantly graduated from one of the Warsaw high schools.

In this friendly Jewish family children were very fond of, and even less younger Rosochka, who was disabled (dislocation of the hip joint). Up to 10 years in her body there was an irreversible and extremely painful process, which riveted her to bed sometimes for several months. When she grew up, the ailment receded, but the lameness remained. In order to at least slightly hide this defect, she wore special shoes. The girl, of course, was very worried about lameness, so no wonder that on this basis she could develop a number of complexes.

The beginning of the way

I must say that Rosa Luxemburg, whose biography, as we know, was mainly connected with revolutionary activity, began to show interest in politics very early, even while studying. After graduation from the gymnasium, her parents strongly dissuaded her from such a rather dangerous passion and even hired her the best teacher of music. They still hoped that a talented girl would seriously take up art and forget about politics, but Rosa was already on the revolutionary path, where she hoped to realize all her ambitious plans. Among her new friends she was on an equal footing, as none of them paid any attention to her physical flaw.

In the late 1880's. The majority of illegal revolutionary groups began to overcome the divergences in views that were associated with choosing the path. By the way, even then it was clear that terror does not justify itself, and only fanatics support it. Most of the young people were inclined to legitimate methods of struggle.

Rosa Luxemburg came to the revolutionary circle at a time when the antiterrorist conflict between its members was growing, and sided with those who were categorically against the killings and advocated propaganda and agitation activities. But the terrorists continued to commit their unlawful actions, rather than giving their own dissident one-party members to the police.

It is because of this that at the age of 18 Rosa was forced to hide from the authorities for her participation in the underground organization Proletariat. She had to emigrate to Switzerland, where she continued her education at the University of Zurich. There she studied jurisprudence, philosophy and political economy.

First love

Years spent in quiet Switzerland, Rosa Luxemburg (photo see in the review) recalled how the happiest in her life. Here she felt calm and confident. In Zurich, the girl met a certain Leo Joghies, who immediately liked her very much. The young man also showed an interest in Rosa, but did not take any decisive action - their relationship was reduced only to talk about politics and joint visits to libraries. Therefore, the girl had to show herself the initiative and explain to him in love.

It is worth noting that before this Leo was a convinced bachelor, and he surrendered only after the fiery recognition of Rosa. She was a very energetic person, but gradually the man began to annoy the irrepressible activity of the girl, considering that the activities of the Johiges himself were not easy. Therefore, naturally, lovers began to experience frequent conflicts. Finally, Rosa Luxemburg at the University of Zurich brilliantly defends her dissertation on the pace of industrial development in Poland. It was this event that was the apogee of their quarrels.

The girl was very proud of her success, as her work was highly appreciated by well-known professors, and the articles she wrote were published in respectable publications of a socialist type. Thus, her name was recognized by all of Europe. But Leo himself was not enthusiastic about Rosa's achievements, knowing full well that he was under the influence of an extremely strong woman, and this state of affairs did not suit him at all.

First conclusion

Soon Rosa Luxemburg, at the invitation of the Socialist Party of Germany, agrees to participate in local elections as an agitator. The woman was engaged in propaganda in the regions of Upper Silesia, where many Poles lived. Thus, she very quickly was able to win the confidence of the German socialists. In this environment, her best friend is the revolutionary Clara Zetkin. She introduces Luxembourg with her son, as well as with the famous theoretician Karl Kautsky. In addition, here, in Germany, in 1901, Rosa will meet with Vladimir Lenin.

After the beginning of the revolutionary events in Russia in 1905, she came to Warsaw and took an active part in the protest actions of the Polish workers. After some time, the tsarist secret police manage to catch and put her in jail. Luxembourg spent several months there, being threatened with hard labor or even execution. However, thanks to the efforts of German friends in 1907, she was released from prison, after which she permanently leaves for Germany.

Personal life

In order to move to the country for permanent residence, Rosa had to formalize German citizenship. The quickest way to do this was to conclude a fictitious marriage with a subject of this state. Formal husband of Luxembourg became Gustav Lubeck. In the same year, the woman began a long romance with the son of her friend Clara Zetkin, Constantine. About this fact shows about 600 letters, preserved to this day.

Constantine admired the fiery speeches of his mistress, so she literally became his mentor in the study of Marxism. Five years later the couple broke up. Since that time, Rosa Luxemburg has not made any more romantic connections. Her children were not very interested, since she never stopped organizing the revolutionary movement, and to be honest, she was not up to them.

Activities in the years of the First World War

On the eve of the war, in 1913, for the speech delivered against the rapidly escalating militarism in Germany, Luxembourg was arrested for a period of one year. After leaving prison, she did not stop her anti-war agitation. On August 1, 1914, when the German Kaiser declared war on the Russian Empire, the Socialist fraction, part of the then German parliament, voted to take military credits. Luxembourg was simply beside herself with such short-sightedness of her colleagues and, together with her new adherents, immediately created the political magazine "Internationale". Before Rosa could write her first article for this edition, she was arrested again and put in a Berlin prison.

In February 1915, she once again ends up in jails for speaking at a rally in Frankfurt am Main. A year later it was released, but three months later they arrested again. This time she was given a longer time - two and a half years. At that time she was already middle-aged, sick and lonely, but, considering that the best doctor is work, Rosa wrote a lot, sitting in prison.

The creation of the Communist Party of Germany

When the fighting was going on, she finds herself as an ardent adherent as herself, in the person of the revolutionary Karl Liebknecht. Together they create a new organization - the "Union of Spartacus". In December 1918, they again together became the founders of the German Communist Party.

At the first congress of the new organization, Rosa Luxemburg delivered a report that quite sharply criticized the Russian Bolsheviks for establishing a one-party dictatorship in the country, which, in her opinion, violently violated democratic freedoms, and also helped suppress all opposition parties.

The ruthless rink of revolution

When the woman once again left prison in 1918, at this time in Germany the November revolution was already in full swing. Control of the social situation was completely lost, and the bloody terror literally splashed out onto the streets, carrying with it all the malice that had accumulated during the years of the First World War.

As you know, any revolution is terrible because it does not divide people into right and wrong, but crushes everyone who comes under its bloody rink. And the history of Rosa Luxemburg confirms this. She became one of the victims of her former party comrades who hurriedly, so to speak, to the noise, get rid of a troubled and disagreeable colleague.

Death of a revolutionary

January 15, 1919 Luxembourg, along with his associate Karl Liebknecht was arrested and taken to the Hotel Eden. At the entrance to the building she was greeted by a crowd consisting entirely of soldiers and officers who began to shower a woman with abusive words. Then she was subjected to a very humiliating interrogation, after which she, under the pretext of placing in Moabit prison, was led to the exit from the hotel.

When a woman was led along the corridor, one of the soldiers attacked her and struck twice on the head. When she fell, the guards lifted her and brought her into the car, where the beating continued. The murder of Rosa Luxemburg happened in this car, on the way to the prison, when, after all, she was tired of mocking a woman, her torturers shot her and the body was thrown into the waters of the Landover Canal. Only a few months later, on June 1, its remains were discovered and taken from the water. The revolutionary was buried 13 days later at the Berlin cemetery Friedrichsfelde.