Pretty good polemic, but falls in the awkward position of not being a real introduction because it uses Marxist terms on the regular and is only really understandable from that perspective while also not really saying anything new to someone who's familiar with Marxism. There are quite a lot of good quotes that give good explanations for why x view is wrong - not comprehensively, but enough to give you a good idea *if* you're familiar with Marxism. Sometimes the writing is a bit bad and I had a lot of trouble understanding exactly what she was saying. There's also quite a bit which is just polemic and doesn't really explain anything apart from saying "dude's bad". Which is to be expected really. Her idea of trade unions maintaining market wages is kind of weird.

Ultimately it's a pretty good but non-essential essay that gives you good ideas against reformism. It's interesting and sad how dominant it's become and how many Marxists fall into the same traps. ( )

A throughout critique of Eduard Bernstein's "Evolutionary Socialism" that goes to lengths to show the idealist nature of Bernstein's work and how, instead of presenting a consistent path towards the emancipation of the working class, it merely justifies the existing social structures and places social democracy as nothing but a tool for the amelioration of the conditions of workers, but always inside the limiting frame of capitalism.

Bernstein's work is particularly important because, through its criticism of the Marx-Engels doctrine, became a theoretical foundation of the reformist Social Democracy which developed in Germany and other parts of Europe. Luxemburg at the time was still a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany but, with this and later works, made clear her strong criticism of the reformist faction lead by Bernstein. Her rethoric and the quality of her analysis of Bernstein's theory made her a prevalent figure within the revolutionary socialism faction. Eventually, realizing that Social Democracy had turned entirely opportunistic and that it would be futile to attempt to change the party from within, she and Karl Liebknecht left and went on to form what would later become the German Communist Party.

Beyond the historical relevance of this work as a departure point for the Marxist left away from social democracy, most of the points raised by Luxemburg are of significance in the contemporary struggle against the domination of the working class. ( )

Rosa was amazingly prescient. .She predicted that imperialists would continue to impose their style of democracy in the 3rd world where the rich are the only ones who get freedom. That they would continue to destroy whoever gets in their way: ie. military /CIA coups. That even in the 1st world, capitalism would capitalize on anything to pick apart our rights. Homeland security, the war on drugs, whatever excuse they can come up with. Liberals (blair, obama are no different and will we ever learn?) are often equally as guilty.
Her comments on imperial war, mass murder , expansion of capitalism , how war is essential to capitalist development make us realize how relevant her views were to today, as we watch wars with Iraq, Afghanistan, (Iran?)…

Rosa also writes of the use of credit to expand the working class’s purchasing power. She heavily criticizes this idea, of credit as an “adaptation” of capitalism, as a boon to the working class. Today, as we suffer through this grand world crisis, we can see how credit has abused the working class. Banks gave credit to those who had no business getting credit, knowing full well that they wouldn't be able to pay.

Essential reading. ( )