The German Revolution of 1918 & Spartacus Uprising 1919

Gueswende yerbanga

LEH 355 H02W 50910

Assignment DUE 3/22 The German Revolution of 1918 & Spartacus Uprising 1919

 

     The German Revolution described Germany political movement and it’s inside turnings at the end of World War I. By discussing the revolution in Germany in 1918 to 1919, we have to understand first the conflict between the different political parties operating in Germany at that time. As a response to that, Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919) wrote “The Julius Pamphlet” describing Germany revolution at that time. She also best described the central conflict in Germany during World War I, tried to make us understand the historical development that led up to the war and finally gave her opinion about the Marxist ideology.

     Rosa Luxemburg was born in the small Polish town of Zamosc on March 5 1871 and was a Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist and revolutionary socialist. She was a Polish Jewish descent who changed her descent and became naturalized as a German citizen. From early youth, she was active in the socialist movement and joined a revolutionary party called Proletariat founded in 1882. In 1915, after Germany got involved in World War I, she and Karl Liebknecht co-founded the anti-war “Spartacus League" which eventually became the Communist Party of Germany and named themselves “Spartacus”. In addition to that, German militarisms were opposed to communist from the beginning. A couple of years after that, most of the communist’s leaders including Luxemburg and Liebknecht got arrested and jailed. It is during her imprisonment in 1915 that Luxemburg wrote her essay “The Julius Pamphlet”. She kept fighting for the communists in Germany until she passed away on January 15 1919.

“Business thrives in the ruins. Cities become piles of ruins; villages become cemeteries; countries, deserts; populations are beggared; churches, horse stalls. International law, treaties and alliances, the most sacred words and the highest authority have been torn in shreds. Every sovereign “by the grace of God” is called a rogue and lying scoundrel by his cousin on the other side. Every diplomat is a cunning rascal to his colleagues in the other party. Every government sees every other as dooming its own people and worthy only of universal contempt. There are food riots in Venice, in Lisbon, Moscow, Singapore. There is plague in Russia, and misery and despair everywhere.”

I chose this passage from Luxemburg's essays because she is explaining the catastrophic scene in Germany at this time: a scene that is reflecting the euphoric idea of war in Germany. War always brings negative impacts on the economy, environment, and social behavior of the people. One of the major disadvantages of the war was the fact that it destroyed Germany’s and the economic cost of the war was too high. Furthermore, the damages caused by the war were significant which need to be rebuilt after the war over. In general, she means that the war will affect Germany businesses, cities, village, population, churches, treaties, international law…

In addition to that, I chose that passage because it a current topic. There is no country that like war or who want to participate is war but sometimes, there is no choice: you have to fight when another opponent attacks you.

     The passage from Luxemburg's essays and to today politics is obvious and clear: war may cause a lot of inconvenient. People get injured and killed, the economy get hurt, the whole country is destructs, the nature and the harmony of the country are destroyed, and furthermore, it doesn't necessarily result in victory for your side. War is risky, painful and the country will suffer a big financial mess. The reparation’s cost for all the big mess will be high and it will take time for the country to become stable.  In other words, War will create despair and misery.

 

     In conclusion, Luxemburg wrote “The Julius Pamphlet” to denounce the Germany revolution after World War I . She also mentioned the inconvenient of war for Germany that can be applied to any other country that will participate in war.