Written: 1904.
First Published: 1904 inIskra andNeue Zeit.
Source:Revolutionary Socialist Organization by Rosa Luxemburg.
Publisher: Integer Press, 1934.
Online Version: marxists.org 1999.
Transcription/Markup: A. Lehrer/Brian Baggins.
This document represents Rosa Luxemburg’s contribution to the debate within the Russian Social Democratic movement on party organization and democratic centralism. Luxemburg joins Trotsky in warning of the dangers inherent in centralism and argues against the concentration of power in a Central Committee. From a Socialist Revolutionary perspective Luxemburg puts forward compelling arguments against Lenin’s conception of the revolutionary Party. For other contemporary contributions to the debate see Trotsky’sOur Political Tasks and Lenin’sWhat Is To Be Done? andOne Step Forward, Two Steps Back .
Originally published as an article in 1904 under the titleOrganizational Questions of the Russian Social Democracy inIskra andNeue Zeit, later reprinted in pamphlet form titledMarxism vs. Leninism. Appeared in English in 1934 asRevolutionary Socialist Organization published by Integer and in 1935 asLeninism or Marxism? by the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation, Glasgow. In 1961, the University of Michigan Press reprinted the Integer translation, which had entered the public domain, inThe Russian Revolution and Leninism or Marxism? with an introduction by Bertram Wolfe. It also appears under the titleOrganizational Questions of Social Democracy as part of the 1970 Pathfinder Press compilationRosa Luxemburg Speaks.
Rosa Luxemburg Internet Archive
Last updated on: 16.10.2023