Rosa Luxemburg's Views On The Russian Revolution [First ed.]

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CLARA ZETKIN Rosa Luxemburg’s Views on the Russian Revolution

Rosa Luxemburg’s Views on the Russian Revolution

1922 First published by the Communist International Republished in the United States in 2017 by Red Star Publishers www.RedStarPublishers Translation in the United States copyright © Red Star Publishers and in India copyright © Revolutionary Democracy

The cover picture shows Clara Zetkin (left) and Rosa Luxemburg in 1910

Contents Introduction to U.S. Edition Foreword...........................................................................................

1. Rosa Luxemburg’s Life Work.................................................... Its meaning and coherence Its vilification by the reformist opponents due to Levi's ‘posthu­ mously published pamphlet’ History of the ‘posthumously published pamphlet’ II. Rosa Luxemburg's Views on the Russian Revolution in September 1918........................................................................... 12 "The Russian Revolution, the mightiest event of the World War" The Russian Revolution, an issue of the international proletariat "The elementary duty of socialists to unearth the treasures of ex­ periences and lessons of the Russian Revolution" The utopian and anti-revolutionary core of the Menshevik and Kautskyan view of the Russian Revolution The historical merit of the Bolsheviks Critique of the Bolshevik agrarian policy Critique of the Bolshevik nationality policy Critique of the Bolshevik attitude to the Constituent Assembly Critique of the electoral franchise in relation to the Soviets Criticism of the Bolshevik policy of the proletarian dictatorship in its relation to ‘terror’ and ‘democracy’

* I

III. Against a Reformist Use of Rosa Luxemburg’s September Critique......................................................................... 30 The leitmotif of the September critique Adolf Warski’s analysis of Rosa Luxemburg’s view of Bolshevist policy on the Nationality Question and of Levi’s assertion that Rosa Luxemburg did not change her position The fundamental difference between Rosa Luxemburg’s position and that of the reformist socialists on the issue of’democracy’ The incompatibility of the Constituent Assembly and the Soviet system fhe fundamental importance of the Soviet electoral franchise Proletarian dictatorship anil terror as means of revolutionary selfdefence

The creators, advocates and beneficiaries of the counter­ revolutionary terror legends The reality of Bolshevist terror and the actual conditions for its in­ evitability The problem of bureaucracy in the Russian Soviet state The relationship between the Bolshevik party and the class of the proletariat

IV. Rosa Luxemburg’s Attitude towards the Russian Revolution after the November Revolution in Germany......... 58 Rosa Luxemburg’s ‘revised’ opinion of the problems of the Russian Revolution, a product of historical analysis The Rote Fahne, the classic testimony for this The Rote Fahne as the leading organ of the German Revolution, Rosa Luxemburg’s work and her political testament The Rote Fahne against the National Assembly, the German Con­ stituent Assembly, and in favour of the Power of Councils Criticism of the Congress of Councils and its position regarding proletarian dictatorship and bourgeois democracy The Councils’ Constitution as a means of overcoming ‘separatism’ Civil liberties and terror Position on the January Uprising in Berlin and criticism of the ‘In­ dependent’ leaders during the struggle Non-discussion of the theories and methods of the Bolsheviks, their practice under the banner of the Russian Revolution The Paul Levi of 1918/19 against the Paul Levi of 1922 The collaboration of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht during the months of the revolution, a proof of Rosa’s change in atti­ tude to the Russian Revolution Rosa Luxemburg’s alleged ‘fundamental’ rejection of terror

V. Further Evidence of Rosa Luxemburg’s Revised Viewpoint.......................................................................... 99 Excerpts from characteristic articles of Rosa Luxemburg in the Rote Fahne Excerpts from the "Speech on the Programme" at the Founding Congress of the Communist Party Leo Jogiches on Rosa Luxemburg's and his own change of attitude to Bolshevik policy

Rosa Luxemburg's entire political activity since the November Up­ rising. an expression of her changed attitude to the Russian Revolution

VI. Paul Levi’s ‘Introduction’ - a Misuse of Rosa Luxemburg’s September Critique.............................................. 125 Why bring out the ‘posthumous pamphlet’? The non-Marxist method of the ‘Introduction’ The frank characterization of the ‘new policy’ as an imposed policy of concessions to capitalism and an incisive formulation of the communist ideal by the Bolshevists 1 he need tor the Bolshevist policy to consider the mentality of the Russian small peasant 1 he tragic historical contradiction of the Russian Revolution as the background for the Bolshevik policy of concessions VII. Bolshevik Agrarian Policy................................................... 136 Bolshevik agrarian policy as a basic prerequisite of the Russian Revolution The unfolding of the Russian agrarian revolution Formation of a large class of middle peasants and the consequences thereof The pressure to satisfy peasant land hunger The absence of an advanced technological production system and a modern rural proletariat, and what it means for the agrarian revolution The initial weakness of the central revolutionary authority and how it affected the agrarian revolution ‘War Communism’ and ‘commodity shortage’ strengthen ‘inborn ownership psychology’ Economic and social forces of development directed towards mass industrialisation and communism Historical difference between French and Russian peasant emanci­ pation Nationalisation of land, and steps taken towards integration of small farms into the national economy Contrast between the proletariat and the middle peasantry in Soviet Russia Growing solidarity between workers and peasants

VIII. Difficulties and Dangers of the Bolshevik Policy of Concessions............................................................................. 160 Persistence of class antagonism between capitalists and the proletar­ iat within the workers’ State Soviet leadership as guide to the trade unions and for labour legisla­ tion The Soviet state as employer Significance of the appropriation of political power by the class­ based party of the proletariat for the further development to­ wards communism IX. Soviet Power, Proletarian Class Rule and Party Dictatorship........................................................................ 169 Does the proletarian system of government guarantee proletarian class rule? The relation between the revolutionary proletarian class party and the masses as a decisive factor of the content of the proletarian system of government The contrast between the Jacobin-Blanquist centralisation ol the dictatorship from above and the revolutionary self­ centralisation by the most active masses The supposed ‘mechanisation’ of the lives of the party and masses due to excessive centralisation of the system of organisation by the Bolsheviks and its devastating consequences The Kronstadt mutiny of 1921 - no evidence of the Soviet govern­ ment having lost its proletarian class base The relationship between the Russian industrial proletariat and the Bolshevik party The epic historical mission of the revolutionary proletariat and its leading class party Reasons for the distance between the Bolshevik party and a section of the industrial proletariat X. Increasing Development of the Soviets and their Firm Alliance with the Industrial Proletariat and its Class-based Party...................................................... 192 Growing electoral participation in All-Russian Soviet Congresses. District and Provincial Conferences; growing party member­ ship; profession, educational qualification and gender of the elected representatives

Party membership and professions of the members of the Soviet Executive Committees Function of the Soviets as expression of the will of the masses and their actions under the leadership of the Bolshevik Party The Bolshevik Party as a conscious expression of the will, activity and progress of the proletariat

XL The Significance of the Russian Revolution for the World Proletariat..........................

202

lhe repudiation of Bolshevik politics with its great universal ap­ proach is a cover for abandoning the proletarian revolution it­ self The myth of the "mechanical’ transfer of Bolshevist politics to countries with other historical conditions The lessons and the example of the Russian Revolution for the world proletariat The safeguarding of the Russian Revolution through the proclama­ tion of its proletarian character and its approach to the world revolution Soviet Russia as the first great state, which advocates the abolition of private property and the right of common property The duty of the international proletariat towards Soviet Russia

List of Newspaper and Parties

212

Introduction to U.S. Edition

Rosa Luxemburg was one of the most important leaders of the revolutionary movement in Germany. From the beginning of World War I, she, Karl Liebknecht, Clara Zotkin and others in the Social Democratic Party (SPD), denounced it as an imperialist war, fought to overthrow the German imperial government and to withdraw the country from the war. Liebknecht, who was a member of the Ger­ man Parliament, was the only member who voted against war cred­ its. His slogan, later taken up by the German Communist Party (KPD), was: “Not a penny, not a man'’ for the imperialist war. The revolutionaries, including Luxemburg and Liebknecht, split from the social-democrats, forming the Spartacus League. Most were arrested for their opposition to the war and were only freed in the November Revolution in Germany in 1918 that put an end to the war and the monarchy. Luxemburg and Liebknecht led in the for­ mation of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in late Decem­ ber, 1918. The social-democratic leadership supported the war, although they later split into the Majority and the Independents (including Karl Kautsky). The Independents opposed the war in word, while refusing to break with the right-wing Majority. Luxemburg and Liebknecht were murdered on January 15, 1919, by soldiers in the army of the social-democratic government led by Chancellor Frie­ drich Ebert. Many revolutionaries, who were bitterly attacked by the bour­ geoisie and their reformist hangers-on during their lifetime, were praised by these same forces after their death. This is also true with Rosa Luxemburg. The modem social democrats, in Germany and elsewhere, have tried to uphold her as a “good revolutionary,” alt­ hough from the beginning of World War I she strongly opposed the main positions of German social democracy, which she called a “stinking corpse.” Today there is even an organization called the “Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung [Foundation]”, which functions in Ger­ many affiliated to the social-democratic Left Party and also has an office in New York. Why do these forces claim to uphold Rosa Luxemburg? Luxemburg’s difference with Lenin and the Bolsheviks In September, 1918, Luxemburg wrote a short pamphlet called: “The Russian Revolution” on the basis of partial accounts that she

was able to receive in jail. The pamphlet contained a critical but friendly view of some tactics of the Bolshevik Revolution. The pamphlet was first printed in 1922 by Paul Levi, who had deserted the KPD and later returned to the SPD. He printed the pamphlet, against the sped He request of other comrades of Luxemburg, in order to use her views against the Bolsheviks. It was in response to the printing of her pamphlet that Clara Zotkin wrote this book. It is the continued misuse of Rosa Luxemburg’s views on the Bolshevik Revolution that makes this book, written 95 years ago, still relevant today. It was published in German and Russian, but this is the first time it has been translated into English. Zetkin was called the Grand Dame of German socialism. She was a good comrade-in-arms of both Luxemburg and Lenin, and a member of the KPD from its founding until her death in 1933. One of her best-known writings is “Reminiscences of Lenin.”1 One of the main criticisms of the tactics of the Bolsheviks that Luxemburg made in her pamphlet concerned the question of democ­ racy, and particularly the dispersal of the Russian Constituent As­ sembly shortly after the October Socialist Revolution in Russia in 1917. To understand this, we need to remind readers of what took place. Before the overthrow of the Tsar in March of 1917, Lenin and the Bolsheviks put forward a program for a democratic revolution in Russia as the first stage toward socialist revolution. One demand during this stage was for a Constituent Assembly, basically a single­ chamber parliament with representatives chosen by all adult citi­ zens. After the overthrow of the Tsar, the bourgeois Provisional Government delayed in holding elections for the Assembly. By the

* Other renegades, including in the U.S., have also tried to use Luxemburg against the Bolsheviks. Bertram D. Wolfe, a one-time leader of the Communist Party USA, later became an open anti­ communist who worked for the U.S. State Department. He republished Luxemburg’s “The Russian Revolution” together with a 1904 pam­ phlet, “Organizational Questions of the Russian Social Democracy” (which he re-titled “Leninism or Marxism”) with his own reactionary introduction. + This is available in the Archive section of the Revolutionary De­ mocracy web-sile al: www.revolutionaiydeinocracy.org/archive/zetlcn.htm H

time of the socialist revolution in November of 1917, a system of workers', peasants' and soldiers’ soviets (“soviet" is the Russian word for “council") had been established throughout the country. The revolution had come to power under the slogans of “Peace, Bread and Land” and “All Power to the Soviets." The Bolsheviks fulfilled their promise to organize elections for the Constituent Assembly, which were held in November of 1917. At that time, the revolutionary forces were concentrated in the ma­ jor cities, particularly Petrograd and Moscow. The Bolsheviks re­ ceived about 25% of the vote, exceeding by far the votes for the opportunist Menshevik party, which got just over 3%. This showed that the Bolsheviks had the support of the majority of the workers. The largest share of votes, 41%, went to the peasant-based Social­ ist-Revolutionaries (SRs). The Bolsheviks had taken over the agrar­ ian program of the SRs, calling for and implementing the policy of “land to the tiller." When the Constituent Assembly met in January of 1918, armed Bolshevik workers surrounded it. The Assembly was asked to rec­ ognize the transfer of power to the Soviets, and the measures of peace and confiscation of the land of the landlords that the Congress of Soviets had proclaimed. When the Assembly refused, the troops dispersed it. That is how, in Soviet Russia, bourgeois democracy was succeeded by proletarian democracy. (For further discussion of this, see Lenin’s article: “The Constituent Assembly Elections and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat," Collected Works, Vol. 30, writ­ ten in December of 1919.) * Let us return to Rosa Luxemburg. After her release from prison, she, together with her comrades, immediately threw herself heart and soul into the fight for a working class revolution in Germany. The German workers and soldiers were solidly in favor of social-

While this is not the place to discuss this in detail, it is important to distinguish Lenin’s position from that of the modern-day opportun­ ists and revisionists. Since Khrushchev's time, most revisionist forces have said that the working class could only take power when it has won over the majority of the population (under capitalism), as reflected by a majority in parliament. Lenin said that the working class could take power when it had won over the majority of the class-conscious prole­ tariat, which would seize power and then use its position to win over the majority of the working people through struggle.