Rosa Luxemburg at 150: No “Harmless Icon”

Rosa Luxemburg was born on March 5, 1871. She is often presented as a pacifist, a democrat, and an opponent of the Russian Revolution. None of this is true. She was a revolutionary communist.

Kautsky, Luxemburg, and Lenin in Light of the German Revolution

What can socialists today learn from Karl Kautsky? To answer this question, we need to see how his theories held up during the German Revolution of 1918. This presentation, part of an ongoing debate with Eric Blanc, Charlie Post, Mike Taber, and other socialists, was given at the Socialism in Our Time conference on April 14 in New York City.

Communism Made in Germany

100 years ago, Germany was an epicenter of communism. The Communist Party of Germany (KPD) had up to 300,000 members. A new anthology presents the latest historical research on this period in English.

100 Years Ago in Berlin: The Bitter Lesson of a Defeat

The Social Democrats and the military prepared to crush the revolution. A big majority of the working class desired socialism – but they had no major party of their own to lead the struggles. What lessons can be draw from this bloody defeat?

100 Years Ago in Berlin: Revolution and Counterrevolution in Germany

In the first days of the German Revolution, workers’ and soldiers’ councils formed across Germany. The Social Democrats allied with the military to save as much of the old order as they could. The Communists tried to organize the forces of the revolution. This fight came to a head at a national congress of the councils.

100 Years Ago in Berlin: German Revolutionaries Step on the Grass

According to an old joke, Germans will never make a revolution because that would require stepping on the grass. Yet 100 years ago, as the First World War drew to a close, the workers’ movement in Germany was preparing an insurrection against the kaiser and the capitalists. On November 9, 1918, the general strike began in Berlin—after years of preparation.

‘The Workers Invented a Concept for Socialist Transformation’

On November 9, 1918, the revolution began in Germany. We spoke with historian Ralf Hoffrogge about the role of the "Revolutionary Stewards."