Rosa Luxemburg

Rosa Luxemburg (March 5, 1870 or 1871 - January 15, 1919, in Polish language Ró?a Luksemburg) was a Polish-born German Marxist political theorist, socialist philosopher, and revolutionary. She was a social democratic theorist of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, and later the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany. She started the newspaper The Red Flag, and cofounded the Spartakusbund, a Marxist revolutionary group that became the Communist Party of Germany and took part in an unsuccessful revolution in Berlin in January, 1919. The uprising was carried out against Rosa's advice, and crushed by the remnants of the monarchist army and freelance right-wing militias collectively called the Freikorps, which were sent in by the government. Luxemburg and hundreds of others were captured, tortured, and killed.

Quotes

• Probably her most famous quotation is "Freedom is always the freedom of dissenters" (Freiheit ist immer Freiheit der Andersdenkenden, usually cited as "Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently"). This is part of a larger quote:
• "Freedom only for the members of the government, only for the members of the Party — though they are quite numerous — is no freedom at all. Freedom is always the freedom of dissenters. The essence of political freedom depends not on the fanatics of 'justice', but rather on all the invigorating, beneficial, and detergent effects of dissenters. If 'freedom' becomes 'privilege', the workings of political freedom are broken."
• "Marxism is a revolutionary worldview that must always struggle for new revelations. Marxism must abhor nothing so much as the possibility that it becomes congealed in its current form. It is at its best when butting heads in self-criticism, and in historical thunder and lightning, it retains its strength."