Rosa Luxemburg Flashcards
What is Orthodox Marxism?
Refers to supporters of Marx who, after his death, sought to simplify and codify his theories by addressing perceived ambiguities and contradictions.
Firmly believed that, although socialism was inevitable, it could not be hurried, and that the right material conditions had to be in place.
Such ‘gradualists’ clashed with Leninists
What was the November Revolution?
A workers/soldiers uprising in Germany during October 1918.
Began with a sailor’s mutiny, and eventually forced the abdication of the Kaiser, leading to the end of the German Empire and the establishment of a Republic in Germany
What was the Sparticist uprising?
A January 1919 armed revolt, spearheaded by Luxemburg, attempting to overthrow the provisional government of Germany and establish the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’.
The revolution was crushed by government-sponsored paramilitary groups, and Luxemburg was summarily executed
What did Luxemburg believe was the aim of all capitalist societies?
The Creation of Profit
In previous societies, production and reproduction were driven by the material needs of the community
Under a system of capitalism, production occurs with the express aim of generating surplus value – profit for the producer
Surplus value is defined by Marx as the difference between the value in what an employee creates, and what they are paid by a producer
What did Luxemburg believe was the major problem created by capitalist socieites?
Overproduction
To avoid being overtaken by other producers, the capitalist has the incentive to constantly increase their production and profit-gaining
This is made possible because the volume of production in capitalism is determined by individual producers – there is no check on their expansion
This leads to overproduction - more than is necessary within a society
How does overproduction lead to militarism?
Because more has been produced than a society can consume, capitalist must look to new overseas markets where they can sell their goods
This encourages empire creation – capitalists can have a monopoly on populations who have no choice but to purchase their products
What was the role of Luxemburg in amending Marx?
Luxemburg was a believer in the ideas of Marx but had to account for his failure to predict the rise of Empires at the end of the 19th century.
Luxemburg observed that Marx was assuming the operation of capitalism in a closed system – within a nation – where it would be impossible to sustain overproduction for long.
Luxemburg’s introduction of militarism attempted to explain how capitalism was able to sustain itself, even after Marx predicted that it would have fallen
