Why They Hated Rosa Luxemburg
Today is the birthday of the revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg. Routinely reduced to an inoffensive libertarian figure, the harder edges of her class-struggle politics are often ignored.
25 Article(s) by: Julia Damphouse
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Julia Damphouse is a historian of European socialism. She is a member of the editorial board for the English-language Complete Works of Rosa Luxemburg.
As Germans Drink Alone at Home, Community Pubs Are Closing
Skyrocketing prices and stagnating real wages are forcing more and more pubs to shut their doors. The closing of neighborhood pubs means the loss of leisure space, and of the community built around it.
An American Communist Like No Other
Victor Grossman died in Berlin, aged 97, last Wednesday. An American communist, his life was forever shaped by his defection to the Eastern Bloc at the height of the Cold War.
After Germany’s Election, the Left Can Hope Again
Sunday’s German election saw a big shift toward right-wing parties. But while the Alternative für Deutschland piled up votes in the former East, socialist party Die Linke also made a major breakthrough.
Andreas Babler Has Disappointed the Austrian Left
Andreas Babler’s election as leader of Austria’s Social Democrats last year raised hopes of a left-wing revival. But the euphoria has worn off, as the former Marxist has placed a show of “moderation” above the promises on which he campaigned.
Can Germany’s Die Linke Revive Itself?
In October, Die Linke elected new leadership, which promises to reconnect with working-class voters. With German elections planned for early 2025, they face a race against time to change the party’s culture.
How German Imperialism Rebranded Itself as Feminist
Last year, Germany’s Foreign Office spelled out guidelines for a “feminist” foreign policy, focused on defending marginalized women. Today in Gaza, this same ministry is arming the deadliest war on women and girls this century.
War on Wheels
Formula One has its origins in Italian and German fascism. It continues to flirt with authoritarianism today.
Sahra Wagenknecht’s Party Is Here to Stay
Sahra Wagenknecht’s new party has followed rather than resisted Germany’s shift to the right. But its perceived antiestablishment stance has likely carved it out a niche — especially on foreign policy.
August Thalheimer Was a Great Revolutionary Theorist
In the 1920s, August Thalheimer was the most important theorist of Germany’s Communist movement. He stood for an independent workers’ movement that forged a path beyond conservative social democracy and authoritarian Stalinism.
No, Austria’s Communist Party Doesn’t Need a Name Change
Faced with the Austrian Communist Party’s recent electoral gains, many pundits have demanded that it change its name. They accuse the party of being wedded to Stalinism — but the party has a long record of wrestling with its past.
Sahra Wagenknecht Keeps Punching Down
After splitting from Germany’s Left Party, Sahra Wagenknecht is calling for the state to cut rejected asylum seekers’ benefits. She claims to speak for working-class Germans — but she’s combining anti-migrant lines with classic anti-welfare talking points.
Sahra Wagenknecht’s Party Is Mainly a Threat to the Right
Germany’s former Die Linke parliamentary leader Sahra Wagenknecht has founded a new party. She claims it’s a voice for the ignored middle and working classes — but the party is mainly focused on winning over Germans who’ve turned to the far right.
In Turkey, the Real Opposition Is on the Left
Today’s Turkish election will test whether President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan can hold on to power. His opponent, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, has made a pact with ultranationalists — showing that left-wing and Kurdish movements have to build an opposition of their own.
Will a Socialist Lead Austria’s Social Democrats Again?
Austria’s Social Democrats are welcoming a wave of new members, after left-winger Andreas Babler announced his candidacy to become party leader. His declared goal: to make the Social Democrats a workers’ party again.
How Rosa Luxemburg Taught Worker-Militants to Think Differently
150 years since her birth, Rosa Luxemburg is often remembered more as a martyr than a theorist. But as a teacher at a socialist party school she taught worker-militants to see the world like a Marxist — nurturing the intellectual tools that would let them master their own fate.
When Bulgarian Peasants Read Karl Kautsky
The Second International’s history is usually seen through the prism of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, a mass party in an industrial power. But militants in the Balkans had to adapt its lessons to their own local realities — and in the decades before World War I, they were the first socialists to confront the looming dangers of the national question.
A Communist Designed Your Kitchen
Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky is renowned as creator of the first fitted kitchen, designed to cut the time devoted to household chores. But her “social architecture” was just part of her deep political convictions — a journey that led her to the Communist resistance against Nazism.
From Harvard to East Berlin
In 1952 the Harvard grad Victor Grossman defected to East Germany, hoping to help build socialism on the ruins of Nazism. Thirty years after that state collapsed, he insists that we should see it as a land of contradictions, not just a totalitarian monolith.
Germany’s Hidden Crisis
Liberals praise modern Germany as Europe’s great success story. But behind the veneer of prosperity, resentment is building among ordinary Germans.