Rosa Luxemburg

by Rosemary H. T. O'Kane

Published 20 May 2014
Rosa Luxemburg was one of the left's great revolutionaries. An internationalist, Marxist theorist and humanist, she was joint founder of the Polish Social Democratic Party, the Spartacus League and the German Communist Party, and was brutally killed during the failed German revolution in January 1919. In Rosa Luxemburg: For Revolution and Democracy, Rosemary H. T. O'Kane shows how Luxemburg's activism was guided by her fervent support for democracy and social justice. In the light of events since her time, O'Kane also considers the weaknesses in Luxemburg's approach, including the failure to consider the practicalities of post-revolutionary socialist democracy. This engaging political biography will ensure that the inspiration of Luxemburg's legacy will be passed on to a new generation of scholars and activists.