We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, January 15, 2018

Rosa Luxemburg – Reform or Revolution

Click here to access article by Alan Woods and Niklas Albin Svensson from In Defense of Marxism. 

In the early 20th century Luxemburg was another leader of the people against the ruling capitalist classes that ruled over the most powerful nations. As such, she also had to be eliminated by assassination by the criminal gang of capitalists. However, before she was assassinated, she wrote many articles and books which are still relevant today. Reform or Revolution (1899) is probably at the top of this list. 

Reformist liberals have always posed threats to revolutionary organizations. We still have many such people among us today arguing that we should not take on the capitalist system because it reflects human nature (or any number of other reasons), but we should seek reforms of the system that people can live with. After devastating two world wars, a long dangerous Cold War, many mini-wars, tiny islands of wealth among oceans of poverty, the looming prospect of climate destabilization, her arguments in Reform and Revolution are as relevant today as they were over 100 years ago. 
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