Rosa Luxemburg

1
Rosa Luxemburg
2
Biography
3

• Born on March 5th 1870 or 1871 (sources differ on
  the year of birth because she put 1871 on her CV
  for Zurich University but in 1887 Abitur
  certificate said she was 17 which means that she
  was born in 1870) by a Jewish middle-class family
  in Zamosc, Poland (Russian-controlled)
• Rosa had a growth defect and was physically
  handicapped all he life
• After her family moved to Warsaw she attended a
  girls Gymnasium from 1880
• After the Proletariat was broken up Rosa still
  managed to meet in secret in one of these groups
• In 1887 she passed Abitur with flying colors.
  After fleeing Switzerland from imminent detention
  in 1889, she attended Zurich University
• In 1890 Bismarck's laws against social democracy
  were annulled and the SPD (Social Democratic
  Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei
  Deutschlands) could gain seats in Reichstag.

4

• In 1893 Rosa founded the Sprawa Robotnicza (The
  Workers Cause) newspaper, along with Leo
  Jogiches and Julian Marchlewski.
• In 1898 Rosa obtained citizenship by marrying
  Gustav Lübeck and then moved to Berlin
• In 1899 Rosa attacked the Revisionism Theory of
  Eduard Bernstein in a brochure titled Social
  Reformer Revolution?
• Rosa then became the leading spokesperson for her
  party (SPD)/denounced her support of conformist
  parliament
• Rosa wanted to organize a general strike to rouse
  workers into solidarity/ but her work was
  interrupted by spending three prison terms in
  1904 and 06
• Rosa then began teaching people in Marxism at the
  SPD training center in Berlin
• Rosa refused to obey orders and was sentenced to
  a year of prison

5

• While World War one was starting the SPD agreed
  not to start any strikes but for Rosa this was a
  complete catastrophe and was considering suicide
• On Aug 5th 1914 Karl Liebknecht, Clara Zetkin,
  Franz Mehring and Rosa created the Internationale
  group which later became the Spartacist League on
  Jan. 1st 1916/ they then produced illegal copies
  of pamphlets signed Sparticus
• As Rosa tried to rise the general strike again
  she was sentenced to two and a half years in
  prison (she was relocated twice to Poznan and
  then to Wroclaw) during this time she wrote seven
  articles (under the name Junius) which her
  friends smuggled out and published illegally/she
  also wrote to Liebknechts wife.
• Luxemburg was released from Wroclaw (Liebknecht
  had also recently been released). Together they
  now produce Die Rote Fahne (The Red Flag
  newspaper)

6

• On January 1st the Sparticus League together with
  the International Communists of Germany created
  the Communist party of Germany (KPD)
• In response to the articles written in Die Rote
  Fahne Friedrich Ebert employed a nationalist
  militia called the Friekorps (volunteer armies)
  to stop the uprising. Both Rosa and Karl were
  captured by the Friekorps in Berlin on January
  15th, 1919 and murdered on the same day.
• Rosa was knocked out by a rifle butt and was then
  shot in the head while she was unconscious. She
  was thrown in the nearby river, eventually Rosa
  body washed up to shore in May. Karl Liebknecht
  was killed the exact same way but he was dumped
  into a nearby mortuary and identified as an
  unknown body.
• One member of the Friekorps was arrested for
  being involved in the deaths of Rosa Luxemburg
  and Karl Liebknecht, he served a two year
  sentence in prison.

7
Examples of Her Work
8
Stuttgart Congress

• Rosa did go to three Congresses to give a speech,
  they were
• Stuttgart Congress-
• This Congress is in Leipziger, Volkzeitung. There
  were two speeches held in this Congress. They
  were on October 3rd and 4th.
• Hanover Congress-
• There was one speech held here on October 11th,
  1899.
• Nürnberg Congress-
• There was one speech held here on September 14th,
  1908

Nürnberg Congress
9
Frankfurt
Rosa Luxemburg also organized a demonstration in
Frankfurt. She also tried to lead a general
strike. For more examples look in the folder
(letters, articles, speeches, etc.)
10
Public Reception
11
I think that everyone loved Rosa. The public
thought of her to be a strong person. Everyone
could tell that that she was a natural leader.
She was strong and she knew how to handle other
people and herself. When Rosa died I think that
everyone suffered a great loss. But when she did
die everyone knew she was strong.
12
The reason why I chose Rosa Luxemburg is because
she seemed like she did a lot in her lifetime. I
mean come on she was a rebel, she was put in jail
so many times just because she was fighting for
something. When I was researching her it seemed
like her life was a full book. I dont think that
you could fit anything more into her life. It
also seemed like that her life had been fulfilled
like she had the right amount of everything. It
also seemed like when she died she knew she did
everything possible, and she knew that people
wouldnt forget her.
13
LINKS
www.wikipedia.com http//cepa.newschool.edu/het/pr
ofiles/image/rosa.gif http//www.luxemburg.bo.it/r
l/immagini/rosa/rosa1.jpg http//www.weltchronik.d
e/ws/bio/l/luxemburgR/lr01919a-LuxemburgRosa-18700
305b-19190115d.jpg http//www.frauenmaerz.de/media
c/400_0/media/DIR_26324/6.3.05-Rosa-Luxemburg-web.
jpg http//www.berlin-gesundbrunnen.de/fotos/gesun
dbrunnen-center-am-bahnhof-berlin-gesundbrunnen-80
0x600.jpg http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en
/thumb/7/76/1932-kpd.jpg/230px-1932-kpd.jpg
14
LINKS
http//serv01.news.bahai.org/i/bwns_7416_300_0_nc.
jpg http//www.kubiss.de/kulturreferat/reichsparte
itagsgelaende/bilder/Kongresshalle_Modell_innen.jp
g http//www.frankfurt-nordend.de/Images/1908_volk
sbildungsheim.jpg http//worldroots.com/brigitte/g
ifs4/karlliebknecht.jpg http//www.marxistische-bi
bliothek.de/liebluxem.jpg http//www.maedchenrat.c
h/images/RosaLuxemburg.jpg http//www.trotsky-libr
ary.com/photo/03/luxemburg1904.jpg http//www.sens
esofcinema.com/images/directors/02/23/rosa.jpg htt
p//www.leksikon.org/images/luxemburg_rosa.jpg