Rosa Luxemburg, Women's Liberation, and Marx's Philosophy of Revolution

Dunayevskaya, Raya
Publisher:  Humanities Press, Atlantic Highlands
Year First Published:  {12407 Rosa Luxemburg, Women's Liberation, and Marx's Philosophy of Revolution ROSA LUXEMBURG WOMENS LIBERATION AND MARXS PHILOSOPHY OF REVOLUTION Dunayevskaya, Raya Humanities Press Atlantic Highlands Part I - Rosa Luxemburg as Theoretician, as Activist, as Internationalist. Part II - The Women's Liberation Movement as Revolutionary Force and Reason. Part III - Karl Marx: From Critic of Hegel to Author of Capital and Theorist of "Revolution in Permanence." 1981 1982 234pp BC12407-WomensLiberation.jpg B Book 0-391-02793-X HX273.L83D86 1982 355.4 Dunayevskaya writes: By mid-August, when Luxemburg was working on The Mass Strike, the Party and the Trade Unions, it was clear that, far from the pamphlet's being restricted to the topics in the title, Luxemburg was, in fact, beginning to question not just the conservative trade union leadership, but the relation of Marxist leadership to spontaneity. She had always been highly responsive to proletarian acts of spontaneity. What was different this time was that the 1905 Revolution had disclosed a totally new relationship also to Marxist leadership. The most exciting phenomenon was that the so-called backward Russian worrkers had proved themselves far in advance of those in the technologically advanced countries, particularly Germany. Moreover, the Russian Revolution was not just a national happening. In its impact on both East and West, it had displayed an elemental force and reason of world scope. Luxemburg at once began working out its application to Germany. <br>It a word, spontaneity did not mean just instinctive action as against conscious direction. Quite the contrary: spontaneity was a driving force, not only of revolution but of the vanguard leadership, keeping it left. As Luxemburg expressed in her pamphlet: "The element of spontaneity, as we have seen, plays a great part in all Russian mass strikes without exception, be it as a driving force or as a restraining influence... In short, in the mass strikes in Russia, the element of spontaneity plays such a predominant part, not becuase the Russian proletariat are 'uneducated,' but because revolutions do not allow anyone to play schoolmaster with them." CX6547 0 true true false CX6547.htm [0xc000736120 0xc000b98d20 0xc000cfc240 0xc00190a480 0xc001bad320 0xc001c05830 0xc001eec3f0 0xc001eed320 0xc0020b08a0 0xc0020cc9c0 0xc0001664b0 0xc000179560 0xc0001a2a80 0xc0002a6030 0xc0002b8600 0xc0002b90e0 0xc0002e01e0 0xc0002e0840 0xc000755ec0 0xc000fb7950 0xc00076ac30 0xc000779950 0xc0004510b0 0xc000654540 0xc0006549f0 0xc000199050 0xc000688a80 0xc000940660 0xc0001ca9f0 0xc000506a20 0xc0007ce990 0xc00080b530 0xc00029f980 0xc0006b4a20 0xc00090d590 0xc000d6ebd0 0xc00033bbf0 0xc000466a80 0xc000816b40 0xc00095ad80 0xc000bf13e0 0xc000d11f80 0xc000df7a40 0xc000ed0b10 0xc000f126f0 0xc00157c7e0 0xc00158e2d0 0xc00158fe30 0xc00012e9c0 0xc000154390 0xc000632db0 0xc0015ef6b0 0xc001a5e8d0 0xc001b55ad0 0xc00202dbc0 0xc000629230 0xc000eb0de0 0xc000fe0e70 0xc001580c00 0xc0016122d0 0xc001743bc0 0xc0017a9fb0 0xc001a78b40 0xc001b34fc0 0xc0020336e0 0xc002376480 0xc00240af00 0xc002447440 0xc0024dd6b0 0xc0025d0a20 0xc00262d1a0 0xc0026b4d80 0xc00054d530 0xc00057da10 0xc000bc0f60 0xc00119a240 0xc001c4fc50 0xc001d72180 0xc001e552f0 0xc001f9f9b0 0xc00205a420 0xc00208af90 0xc0020d6d80 0xc0020f2270 0xc0020f37a0 0xc00216fda0 0xc0021de9c0 0xc00224aa80] Cx}
Year Published:  1982
Pages:  234pp   ISBN:  0-391-02793-X
Library of Congress Number:  HX273.L83D86 1982   Dewey:  355.4
Resource Type:  Book
Cx Number:  CX6547

Part I - Rosa Luxemburg as Theoretician, as Activist, as Internationalist. Part II - The Women's Liberation Movement as Revolutionary Force and Reason. Part III - Karl Marx: From Critic of Hegel to Author of Capital and Theorist of "Revolution in Permanence."

Abstract: 
Dunayevskaya writes: By mid-August, when Luxemburg was working on The Mass Strike, the Party and the Trade Unions, it was clear that, far from the pamphlet's being restricted to the topics in the title, Luxemburg was, in fact, beginning to question not just the conservative trade union leadership, but the relation of Marxist leadership to spontaneity. She had always been highly responsive to proletarian acts of spontaneity. What was different this time was that the 1905 Revolution had disclosed a totally new relationship also to Marxist leadership. The most exciting phenomenon was that the so-called backward Russian worrkers had proved themselves far in advance of those in the technologically advanced countries, particularly Germany. Moreover, the Russian Revolution was not just a national happening. In its impact on both East and West, it had displayed an elemental force and reason of world scope. Luxemburg at once began working out its application to Germany.
It a word, spontaneity did not mean just instinctive action as against conscious direction. Quite the contrary: spontaneity was a driving force, not only of revolution but of the vanguard leadership, keeping it left. As Luxemburg expressed in her pamphlet: "The element of spontaneity, as we have seen, plays a great part in all Russian mass strikes without exception, be it as a driving force or as a restraining influence... In short, in the mass strikes in Russia, the element of spontaneity plays such a predominant part, not becuase the Russian proletariat are 'uneducated,' but because revolutions do not allow anyone to play schoolmaster with them."

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