Although many people think that Rosa Luxemburg is German,in fact she was born in Poland,in the then Russian empire.What would have happened if she had remained connected to Russia and not moved to Germany and participated in the October Revolution?Would she have collaborated with Lenin?And let's make things more interesting,what would have happened if Luxemburg had been the one to lead the USSR?What would a democratic USSR look like?
Rosa Luxemburg leads USSR
- Thread starter DavidePell
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She was by no means the only Marxist active in Russian, Polsih *and* German Social Democracy. Others indlcuded Leo Jogiches (her lover), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Jogiches Karl Radek, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Radek and Julian Marchlewski, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Marchlewski
So far as Russian social democratic politics were concerned, the problem is that she alienated both Bolsheviks and Mensehviks, both factions thinking her excessively dogmatic. In particular, her view of the national question and her open scorn for the idea of self-determination would make it hard to get the necessary support from the non-Russian nationalities.
So far as Russian social democratic politics were concerned, the problem is that she alienated both Bolsheviks and Mensehviks, both factions thinking her excessively dogmatic. In particular, her view of the national question and her open scorn for the idea of self-determination would make it hard to get the necessary support from the non-Russian nationalities.
Honestly, it wouldn't be surprised if She saw the blood on the walls and knew she had to get the fuck out of Dodge in Germany. Went into hiding and ended up in Russia. Then she started to help mostly as a major advocate.
I doubt it would the USSR would become democratic with her in charge. Every single communist regime quickly becomes a dictatorship. Why would she be the exception?
Rosa has this great quote— If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.
I’m not sure if someone with this free-wheeling an attitude toward life can, for example, extend NEP in practical and doable ways. Change the power structure so that workers and farmers legitimately get a better deal. Do understandable things which are actually popular with workers and farmers. That is, work the overlap that good policy is good politics, and vice versa ! ! !
She's not going to leave in 1918. The Bolsheviks and orthodoxy more generally saw the Russian revolution as the harbinger of revolution in the capitalist countries. Stalinism emerges from the defeat of the German revolution. Also the SPD was legal: she breaks in 1914 over the war credits vote starting the KPD.
Any POD leading to this would have to be much earlier, and would likely have many butterflies on the careers of a lot of revolutionaries.
Any POD leading to this would have to be much earlier, and would likely have many butterflies on the careers of a lot of revolutionaries.
Maybe. Despite her misgivings with the Bolsheviks, Luxemburg supported the October Revolution:
What she really opposed was what she viewed as a rise of bureaucratic dogmatism (and later what she perceived as an unintentional strengthening of the barely-emerged bourgeoisie) in the RSFSR and RSDLP (later VKPb), something Lenin himself voiced concerns with during the later parts of his life. Luxemburg also had an ideological opposition to the ideas of democratic centralism and a revolutionary vanguard party, cornerstones of Marxism-Leninism that would put her at opposition to most, if not all, of the RSDLP.
She'd probably 'lead' it for about 13 minutes before being voted out and be elected in the first place on a technicality. She was ideologically opposed to basically everybody in the party; the only thing that would unite the RSDLP more than opposition to Rosa Luxemburg is an undying hatred towards Leon Trotsky. Rosa could become a folk hero but in all likelihood she'd probably be quietly sidelined and (possibly forcibly) retired after Stalin comes onto the scene or, in the worst-case scenario, shot.
So Rosa Luxembourg, former Soviet Embassador to Mongolia, is finally free to publish her tell-all memoirs and theoretical takes in the post-Stalin thaw of the ‘50s and ‘60s?
IOTL she supported an armed revolt against a democratically elected leftist government. Makes me think her theories on socialist democracy and anti-war writings aren't worth the paper they're written on.
IMO, her belief in the necessity of Revolution was at odds with her commitment to freedom of dissent. She seemingly never considered that a system established through violence would later be upheld through violence.
IMO, her belief in the necessity of Revolution was at odds with her commitment to freedom of dissent. She seemingly never considered that a system established through violence would later be upheld through violence.
She... kinda did. That's, like, one of the most basic principles of Marxism. Hell, Engels was the one that wrote it down. Just because one allows political dissent doesn't mean that they wouldn't use violence against threats to the socialist mode of production. Just because Luxemburg didn't favor democratic centralism didn't mean she was opposed to the use of force (which is a prerequisite for any especially revolutionary government seeking to uphold any ideology). That is rather ironic given that she was killed by a revolutionary government upholding an ideology, but that's how history works sometimes.
I mean, if Gulag Archipelago of all things was allowed, then sure. Joking aside, she'd probably find someway to publish them during and after de-Stalinization, and if not then, then someone down the line (maybe her kids if she has any ITTL) would publish them during the Gorbachev and post-Soviet eras.
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I must also admit, I would expect her hands to run red with blood. Utopians who want to overthrow society to create a new society, tend to not react well to people not being able to live up to their expectations, especially when it’s in a field where the utopians knows nothing about. As example I could easily see Rosa Luxemburg (as a person born in a city) blaming the “kulaks” hoarding for the inability of the farmers to produce as much food as the plan said they would, and sent out soldiers to get collect the hoarded food.
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