The Detroit times., 1914-05-25
Angel of German Social RevOlu-
ton Serving a Year For
Her Speeches
DOCTORS GIVE UP HOPE
OF SAVING HER LIFE
Many Persons, Including Part
of Socialist Party. Seem Glad
To BE Rid of Her

: prison. Rosa LuXemD ufB-ule Tole
! Rosa-"the angel OF the social reyo
luton easily the most striking and
courageous figure in the German So
! cialist movement, has been given a
years Imprisonment by the criminal
/ court OF Frankfort on-the-Main Her
! crime is her fiery tongue.
| In September, 1913, she made
| speeches in Bockenheim, near Frank
fort itself, on the political and eco
nomical situation and the tasks OF the
working class She said that the
people must soak themselves in rev.
dictionary spirit; that il soldiers are
( asked TO turn their weapons against
| their French brothers, they must re-
fuse. and that the weapon might take
direction which the ruling classes
would not like.
7 In court Rosa made a fiery speech
in which she admitted having said all
these things, but declared that her
enemies had read into them other
things which she did not mean. She
added that war is a barbarous, high
| ly immoral, reactiOnary. and anti
popular thing" Rosa was found
guilty OF attempting to induce dis
charges.
Many excellent citizens heave u
sigh OF relief Citizens OF all kinds.
Conservative upholders OF the exist
ing social order, because Rosa Lux
emburg is their fiercest, most unre-
lenting foe among all Europe's So
! cialists. and Socialists themselves.
These are secretly glad TO get rid OF
the disputatious Red Rosa. For,
terror as Rosa is TO all foes OF So
cialism, she is a greater foe still TO
weaklings, towards and compromis-
ers OF her own side. The talented.
eloquent impertous, dashing Rosa Is
plague and nuisance TO Germans
OF both sides. and all are heartily
glad TO have her put away.
This is not the first time that Red
Rosa" goes TO Jail nor will it be the
last Rosa has been four times SEN
fenced in Germany four times In
Russia, and odd times in other coun-
tries. She has been sentenced for
| libel. for lese majesty against the
kaiser, for melting different classes
of the population TO mutual violence,
for organizing revolutionary conspir-
acies, and merely for being Social
! Democrat
| And these periodical internments
which naturally please the timid
champions OF the existing order,
| please some Socialists no less. For
! Rosa Is one OF those uncomfortable
allies who always burn with zeal and
manage to make ridiculous every one
who burns less brightly.
! For ara Nyaara Rnau haa Eppt tho
party in turmoil, insisting, against its
opportunities. on the extreme doc
trines of Marxism, and by insisting
at the same time on ultra-revolution-
AIRY tactics OF a highly risky kind.
This union of doctrinai purity and
! fighting fanaticism originated In ex-
| tremest Russia, where Rosa, Jewess
| by race. was born AZ years ago. Rus
SLAMS and Russo-Germans are strong
| ly represented in the German Social
| Democratic councils, and for long
! time Rosa, with the Russian econom-
Fist, DIR. Elephant. who calls himself
"Paryns, and some other sympathiz-
| ers. formed a powerful so-called Rus
sian section" which ever urged the
party to desperate measures, and in
the end went so far that August Be
! bel, Katusky. and other supposed ex-
tremists had 10 repudiate It,
! "Parvus is now undergoing penal
servitude in Siberia. and the Rus
cian section" has lost influence But
| the indomitable Rosa never loses
heart. and with amazing eloquence
and considerable dialectical salent she
J urges every annual Socialist con
gress TO condemn the supine leaders
and TO proclaim war TO the knife on
bourgeois society.
Rosa as an outsider Is new. I'm
| til five years ago she was not so
much the plague Of the official Social.
list party as its recognized prophecies.
FIN those days Germany's Socialism
was split UP into only two factions,
| the radicals and reyisionists The
radicals. under Bebel, controlled the
machine and prosecuted as schismat.
les the reyisionists under Bernstein.
AS revisionlsm consist in watered
/ down Maxist doctrines and opportun.
list tactics. Red Rosa" who has the
university title OF doctor, stood with
the radical majority.
Since then the revisionist movement
has gained ground Bebel, before his
4 utdbHs NlONtu a lOiAh " o1 III It's uric
ton. and al the last annual con.
crosses Bebel and the official chiefs
were an intermediate party half way
| between the tame revisionists and the
remnant OF the old uncompromising
Extremists whose leader was Or. Red
Rosa"
Since then Rosa has been devoting
| her energies and her talents TO fore
] ing on the temporizlng party certain
extremist principles and certain ex.
tremist expedients which Il desires
TO shirk. Such are the proclamation
OF an immediate general strike as a
! protest against the reactionary Prus.
sian franchise, and the initiative OF
! an active. no longer merely doctri.
naire. republican propaganda direct.
ed against the reigning German SOW
ereigns.
The Official leaders say that the gen.
eral strike would fail. as the time has
not com efor II and they know that
an active republican propaganda
would get them into Jail Hence
4 Rosas extreme faction Is always
voted down.
! RED Rosa" Is not only the one. res.
olute and single minded personality
i'm German socialism. but she is a
woman OF marked propaganda tai.
ents and OF strong character Out
voted az party congresses. derided as
a mere visionary, she never loses