The Russian Revolution (pamphlet)

The Russian Revolution (German: Die Russische Revolution) is a pamphlet written in 1918 by Polish-German Marxist theorist Rosa Luxemburg. It was posthumously published in 1922 by fellow Spartacist Paul Levi.^[1]

The Russian Revolution

Cover of the first edition
Author	Rosa Luxemburg
Original title	Die Russische Revolution
Translator	Bertram Wolfe (English edition published 1940 by Workers Age Publishers, New York)
Language	German
Genre	Political philosophy
Publisher	Paul Levi
Publication date	1922
Publication place	German Empire
Media type	Print

Summary

Luxemburg discusses the 1917 February and October revolutions in Russia. Her three major criticisms of the policies implemented by the Bolshevik Party were its korenizatsiya policy of self-determination for ethnic minorities, its distribution of land to individual peasant farmers instead of immediate collectivization, and its anti-democratic dissolution of the Russian Constituent Assembly.^[2] In general, Luxemburg was critical of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin's centralization of power and creation of a single party state,^[3] and the suppression of civil liberties such as freedom of the press, association and assembly.^[4] However she had been in prison at the time of writing the pamphlet and, according to her friend Clara Zetkin was therefore without access to all relevant information and changed her opinion later. The pamphlet also states that “The Party of Lenin was the only one which grasped the mandate and duty of a truly revolutionary party…”^[2]

Sections of the work include:

• Fundamental Significance of the Russian Revolution
• The Bolshevik Land Policy
• The Nationalities Question
• The Constituent Assembly
• The Question of Suffrage
• The Problem of Dictatorship
• The Struggle Against Corruption
• Democracy and Dictatorship