Reviews
The Essential Rosa Luxemburg: Reform or Revolution/The Mass Strike by Helen Scott, Rosa Luxemburg
rebecavleal's review
Spoiler
- Importance of mass strike to kick start revolutions
- Vital role of the working class in creating mass strikes of significant size (vs. when the trade unions or political parties tried to organize one)
- Importance of “the heat of the moment” and spontaneous, unplanned, and emotional demonstrations in fueling a mass strike (vs. when the trade unions or political parties tried to organize one)
- How the trade unions and political parties are endlessly waiting for “a higher number of members”, further education of their members, more financial resources for strike periods, and the ability to organize themselves “properly” before starting a revolution or manifesting themselves - which the ruling class will never allow to happen, so they are waiting forever
- How the trade unions have become softer than at the time of their creation, even agreeing to non-violent demonstrations and “scheduled” strikes to not disturb the government too much
- How for the current system to work ideally each worker has to be a member of their trade union and their political party (which is hard when workers are running short on money for membership fees and time to read resources and participate actively in the groups they are joining) - it’s as if these are two pyramids running side by side and only the very base is common to both (the people). And the union of these pyramids cannot happen by trying to create a bridge between the leaders at the top as these are the furthest away points - it has to be bottom-up.
foundeasily's review against another edition
5.0
Mostly read the Introductions, as I've read the texts already but all involved texts are terrific.
frownonfun's review
4.0
I really enjoyed Reform or Revolution but didn't get as much out of The Mass Strike. The latter just doesn't seem as relevant today as the former. And historically her predictions on Germany's labor struggles didn't really pan out. Still, like it says in the book, it does give some insight into the shaping of the Russian Revolution.
Overall I really recommend Reform or Revolution though. It was, admittedly, a little hard to follow in some areas but a very worthwhile read on the whole. I've read some reviews saying that Eduard Bernstein's reformist ideals have proven to be the better course of action but I think that is being a tad short sighted. Luxemburg concedes that gains have to be made in the here and now along the way toward a true proletariat revolution. As I see it, we've yet to realize this revolution of the masses but I don't know that it is wise to assume its occurrence is some kind impossibility. That's the thing about history. It's never ending.
Overall I really recommend Reform or Revolution though. It was, admittedly, a little hard to follow in some areas but a very worthwhile read on the whole. I've read some reviews saying that Eduard Bernstein's reformist ideals have proven to be the better course of action but I think that is being a tad short sighted. Luxemburg concedes that gains have to be made in the here and now along the way toward a true proletariat revolution. As I see it, we've yet to realize this revolution of the masses but I don't know that it is wise to assume its occurrence is some kind impossibility. That's the thing about history. It's never ending.
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