Rosa Luxemburg as witness

Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) was both a theorist and a leading figure in the revolutionary wing of the socialist movement — first in her native Poland, and later in Germany, where she became a citizen. [*]

In this short piece, we won’t be discussing her major contributions to Marxist theory and socialist politics.

Our aim here is simply to bring to the fore a rarely addressed point from her famous pamphlet on the Russian Revolution, written in October–November 1918 and published posthumously in 1922. By calling upon the weight of Rosa Luxemburg’s authority, we seek to challenge the Stalinist narrative that still attempts to erase Trotsky — who, together with Lenin, was one of the Revolution’s two great leaders.

As far as I am aware, the Turkish translation of this pamphlet, titled The Russian Revolution, was published with considerable delay. The first edition appeared in 1989, brought out by BDS Publications. [**] A new translation was later published by Yazılama Publishing, which operates under the influence of the Stalinist Communist Party of Turkey (TKP). [***]

Yazılama Publishing introduces the pamphlet to readers as follows:

This great thinker and activist, who at times overstated the differences between Russia and Germany and therefore found it difficult to fully comprehend the October Revolution, was nonetheless among those who understood it best on a number of crucial points. Her ‘revolutionary notes’ are essential reading...

Now, let us take a closer look at whom Luxemburg regarded as the leaders of the Revolution.

Throughout the pamphlet, Lenin’s name appears 38 times, while Trotsky’s is mentioned 23 times.

When referring to the two leaders together, Luxemburg uses the formulation “Lenin–Trotsky” twice, “Lenin and Trotsky” nine times, and “Trotsky and Lenin” twice. In other words, she names them together on no fewer than 13 occasions!

In short, Luxemburg’s testimony leaves no doubt that Lenin and Trotsky were the two great leaders of the 1917 Russian Revolution—the opening salvo of the world revolution.

So, does Rosa Luxemburg mention Stalin at all in the pamphlet? No, she doesn’t—not even once!

This is hardly surprising, of course, as Stalin played no meaningful role in the 1917 Russian Revolution. Indeed, Nikolai Sukhanov—a contemporary eyewitness—describes Stalin in 1917, in his Notes on the Revolution [****], as:

a grey blur, dimly looming up now and again but leaving any trace.

What is truly astonishing is that the Stalinist leadership of the TKP—which took the decision to publish this very pamphlet—and the members and sympathisers of that party or similar Stalinist formations, have failed to recognise or question the glaring contradiction between the distorted historical narrative they defend and Rosa Luxemburg’s clear and unambiguous testimony.

[*] Rosa Luxemburg was active in the Proletariat Party between 1882 and 1886. In 1893, she co-founded the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL). After moving to Germany, she joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in 1898.

[**] BDS Publications released the first edition of the pamphlet in April 1989. The copy I own is from the second edition: Rosa Luxemburg, 1917 Ekim Devrimi, trans. Ferit Muzaffer, BDS Yayınları, 2nd ed., İstanbul, November 1990.

[***] The copy in my library: Rosa Luxemburg, Rus Devrimi, trans. Cangül Örnek, Yazılama Yayınevi, İstanbul, April 2009.

[****] N. N. Sukhanov, The Russian Revolution, 1917: A Personal Record, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 1983, p. 230.