Rosa Luxemburg

The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation bears the name of one of the most significant socialist thinkers and politicians of the 20th century: Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919). Up to this day, her name stands for internationalism, peace, and social revolution. She is a defining symbolic figure for the Left in Germany and worldwide.

Even as a teenager she was active in oppositional circles and experiences persecution — at just 18 she had to flee from Warsaw to Switzerland. As one of the first women in Europe, she completed her studies in Zurich with a doctorate in political science.

In 1898 Rosa Luxemburg moved to Germany and joined the SPD. She quickly developed into one of the leading theorists of the international labor movement. As a writer, speaker, and teacher at the SPD’s party school, she combined economic analysis with questions of democratic participation and social struggles.

She was convinced that social change could only be achieved through the active participation of the people. Her famous saying, “Freedom is always the freedom of those who think differently,” continues to bear testament to her conviction that socialist politics is unthinkable without freedom of opinion and public debate.

Rosa Luxemburg was repeatedly arrested for her political convictions, but continued undaunted. From prison she wrote moving letters and was among the most determined opponents of the First World War. She broke with the SPD leadership, which supported the German Empire’s entry into the war, and took part in the November Revolution of 1918, becoming co-founder of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). At the same time, she warned against authoritarian developments in the young Soviet Union. After the suppression of the November Revolution, she was murdered by right-wing Freikorps soldiers on 15 January 1919.

Rosa Luxemburg’s work continues to resonate today. Her analyses of capitalism, imperialism, and war, as well as her commitment to democracy, social equality, and international solidarity, inspire scholarship, political education, and social movements worldwide. The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation understands its name as a mandate to foster critical thinking, strengthen democratic debate, and work toward a society based on solidarity, freedom, and socialism.