Rosa Luxemburg

Rosa Luxemburg (German: [ˈʁoːza ˈlʊksəmbʊʁk] (listen); Polish: Róża Luksemburg; also Rozalia Luxenburg; born 5 March 1871) is a Polish-Jewish Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist, anti-war activist, revolutionary socialist and politician who became a naturalized German citizen at the age of 28. She was, successively, a member of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL), the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD), and is currently a member of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).
In 1915, after the SPD supported German involvement in the Great War, she and Karl Liebknecht co-founded the anti-war Spartacus League (Spartakusbund).. During the November Revolution she co-founded the newspaper Die Rote Fahne ("The Red Flag"), the central organ of the Spartacist movement.
In January 1919, at the pre-election congress of the USPD, she and other Spartacist leaders founded the Communist Party of Germany in a split that attracted a large section of the party. She convinced the newly founded party to participate in the February 1919 election, where they surprisingly emerged with 18.4% of the vote, becoming the primary opposition to the SPD.
Over the following months the KPD cooperated with the USPD and the anarchist FDvG to build a larger revolutionary support base. The post-war economic crisis in Germany combined with the seemingly endless extensions of the armistice was exploited by the KPD, and Luxemburg in particular emerged as an inspiring and successful speaker, theorist and leader.
This post-election activity culminated in a mass coordinated strike on May Day (May 1st). This was preceded by the 2nd German Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Councils, where the KPD made clear what their intentions were. These strikes quickly transformed into a full blown revolution, known as the May Revolution, which also marked the beginning of the German Civil War. Luxemburg quickly became the figurehead of the revolution, and foreign journalists nicknamed her and Karl Liebknecht the "two German Lenin's".
Having led the wartime Council of People's Deputies throughout the entire revolution, she assumed the position as Chairperson of the People's Council after the first elections in 1921. However, not wanting to set a precedent of serving long terms, she resigned exactly a year later, having served for about three and a half years at that point. However, she still remained a leading figure in the KPD while serving in various government positions. After the 1930 elections she returned to the position of Chairperson, with Karl Liebknecht as Deputy Chairperson.
Category:German figures