Luxemburg

Shameka Clark

LEH 300

 

            The quote I will be discussing from Luxemburg is:         

“One thing is certain. The world war is a turning point. It is foolish and mad to imagine that we need only survive the war, like a rabbit waiting out the storm under a bush, in order to fall happily back into the old routine once it is over. The world war has altered the conditions of our struggle and, most of all, it has changed us. Not that the basic law of capitalist development, the life-and-death war between capital and labor, will experience any amelioration. But now, in the midst of the war, the masks are falling and the old familiar visages smirk at us. The tempo of development has received a mighty jolt from the eruption of the volcano of imperialism. The violence of the conflicts in the bosom of society, the enormousness of the tasks that tower up before the socialist proletariat – these make everything that has transpired in the history of the workers’ movement seem a pleasant idyll”.

 

-          In the beginning of this quote Luxemburg’s talks about how more has to be done for the society, other than just the war. More work has to be done other than the ideas brought forth (Germans) to war. Luxemburg‘s discussing how many people had different feelings about going into the war, seems to ask do you still believe in those same ideas after the war. The war was supposed to change things for the better especially for the working class; but it didn’t, so are the working classes going to just fall back into the same routines? Something must be done to survive the concepts of war because the problems that exist before the war stills exist after the war and in this instance the Germans losing the war had a doubling effect on these concepts because the proletariat class would have change imposed. Some of the concept could have been how are we going to come together as a people and move forward; to survive the down fall of losing the war. Also Luxemburg’s seems to warn the people that the other side that won may try to promote a social change. So we as a people have to stay strong and stand together through the struggles that may arise during this time. Luxemburg wants the proletariat people to understand that the lessons shown from previous conflicts have to be acknowledged so real change could occur and possibly a different course of action realized by the people.