2) Why do you think Rosa Luxemburg wrote the famous Junius Pamphlet? What has happened to the European working classes? Why, according to Luxemburgratic party. The , have they acted as they have? What connection can we make with notions of nationalism here? Rosa Luxemburg wrote the famous Junius Pamphlet while imprisoned. Luxemburg’s pamphlet grew into what it was because of her desire to spread anti-war sentiment in the faces of people sympathizing with the growing nationalism. Luxemburg introduced the war as the war of the “overly bureaucratized German Social Democratic Party and the anti-revolutionary tendencies of the trade unions that played such a major role in the party's policy decisions” (Luxemburg 2). Luxemburg argues that socialism is the only other political party resort in Germany in comparison to SPD. SPD had an awful impact on socialists, as it included Marxist ideals and had betrayed all it stood for initially. “The fall of the socialist proletariat in the present world war is unprecedented. It is a misfortune for humanity. But socialism will be lost only if the international proletariat fails to measure the depth of this fall, if it refuses to learn from it” (Luxemburg 9). …show more content…
Imperialism was on the side of the war. However, imperialism was the end of humanity itself. "Either the triumph of imperialism and the destruction of all culture, and, as in ancient Rome, depopulation, desolation, degeneration, a vast cemetery; or, the victory of socialism, that is, the conscious struggle of the international proletariat against imperialism, against its methods, against war. This is the dilemma of world history, its inevitable choice, whose scales are trembling in the balance, awaiting the decision of the proletariat” (Luxemburg
In Document 3, “The Situation in Germany” published in 1920, communist party member of the Reichstag, Clara Zetkin, talks about how the Weimer regime is only the terror of the bourgeois middle class hiding under the mask of democracy. Zetkin states how the republic is not giving power to the people, but instead becoming a dictatorship of the middle class. This document discusses how the republic is not actually making any change but instead expressing an anti-war attitude in order to disarm the revolutionaries who oppose them. However, the document holds a bias as Clara Zetkin is a communist Party member of the Reichstag, who is the main opponent of the republic. Despite this, Zetkin remains a reliable
Various justifications were offered to explain the cause of imperialism, for example the British economist J. A. Hobson and V. I. Lenin’s. Lenin used some of Hobson’s analysis in his 1917 tract Imperialism, the Highest Stage of
George Washington stated, “The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible”. This meant that America’s trade was encouraged to grow, but only if we did not intervene politically in another country. La Follete further explains this in his document, “A Progressive Opposes the Declaration of War” by saying that the war ravaging all of Europe is based on expansion of commerce, rather than the countries’ own moral standards against senseless killing. Lastly, in the “Socialist Party Convention: The Socialists Protest the War”, it is clarified that “Wars bring wealth and power to the ruling classes, and suffering, death and demoralization to the workers...was caused by the conflict of capitalist interest” (F). This document explained that the war was a capitalist war and that the people who would die were the lower-class workers. Although other argued that America joined the war because of greed, this is disproven because America joined the war to defend themselves and their
When one thinks of imperialism they often refer to the concept with very strong feelings. The general population will either agree with it or disagree. There tends to be no middle ground. The best way to look at imperialism is with an impartial mind. If one looks at imperialism with an open mind then they are able to see both the strengths and the weaknesses that it harbors. Throughout history one is most likely able to name several circumstances where imperialism took place and also point out the obvious aftermath of. Imperialism tends to have a greater good behind it, but unfortunately may have been executed poorly.
...feelings prevailed over those of unification. The division inside the socialistic party put only one question in front of Europe - how will the bettering of the workers' lives come upon the continent, through gradual small reforms or through big and rapid revolution?
Marx states that the bourgeoisie not only took advantage of the proletariat through a horrible ratio of wages to labor, but also through other atrocities; he claims that it was common pract...
...o conclude with, the worst fate is waiting for rich people in Marx’s “Communist manifesto”, and is explained by 2 factors: mismanagement of given resources and negative result in the class struggle between the poor and the rich. Reich, on the contrary, argues that the wealthiest people, these are the symbolic analysts, will thrive due to the higher demand for their services and better technologies. Both authors see the capital factor in different lights and predict the rich to either succeed with the help of it, or lose because of its mismanagement. Meanwhile Reich does not mention any tension among different classes Marx sees the doom of the rich in its defeat to proletariat. Nevertheless, considering that Reich describes modern times and having witnessed the fall of USSR, a model of Marxist regime, should we incline more to Reich’s predictions on the rich’s fate?
The general public of Germany had never had any say in political matters; they allowed the Kaiser to make all the decisions regarding themselves and their once-prosperous country. The groups controlling Germany began to change during October and November 1918. More power began to fall into the hands of the people as they realised the blame for their involvement in the war was the Kaiser’s. People such as the armed soldiers, sailors and workers started protesting and going on strike. This was a far cry from before the war, when Germany was wealthy, proud and ambitious. So for a brief period, it seemed that a revolution would take place, with the people of Germany wanting a social and political revolution.
According to Marxist revolutionary theory, advanced capitalism is a necessary precondition to the development of socialism. Capitalists would ruthlessly exploit workers, accumulating capital from the workers’ labor but not sharing it. This would result in the workers developing a collective class consciousness, overthrowing their oppressors, and replacing their bourgeois government with a dictatorship of the proletariat, i.e., socialism. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels expected that, because the United States had the most advanced form of capitalism in the world, it was the most likely setting for a proletarian revolution, yet, no socialist or labor party has ever become a major factor in American politics. American communist, socialist, and labor parties have never been able to become more than radical leftist fringe groups, even as a much perverted form of socialism came to dominate a large part of the planet over the course of the Cold War. “For much of the second half of the twentieth century,” Peter Singer writes, “nearly four of every ten people on earth lived under governments that considered themselves Marxists and claimed… to use Marxist principles to decide how the nation should be run.” Far from falling under Marxist influence, the United States became the sworn enemy of global communism. Generations of theorists and scholars have proposed a variety of possible reasons why no socialist or labor party has ever achieved prominence in the American electoral system.
Imperialism was one of the things that played a major role in World War I. Imperialism is basically when one country tries to take over another country in various ways. Germany was attempting to control lands in Africa, which was a place that Britain and France had already established. (Brown, B. (2009, April 23). Causes of world war I (great war). Imperialism takes a lot of time to develop in terms of establishing the dominance needed to secure another nation or country. Therefore, imperialism is seen as a long-term cause WWI. (Brown, B. (2009, April 23). Causes of world war I (great war). By gaining land through imperialism, they had the idea that the country that gained the land would also gain valuable resources like the people and money. (Nationalism, imperialism, and militarism in world war I. (n.d.).
Introduction: The epoch of imperialism cannot be defined simply as a proliferation of inflated egos tied to the hardened opinions of nationalists, but also a multi-faceted global rivalry with roots of philosophies tainted with racism and social Darwinism. The technique of each imperialist was specific to the motivations and desires of each combative, predominantly Western power and subsequently impacted the success of each imperialist and its colonies. Driven by industrialization, Europeans are aware of the urgent need for raw materials and new markets to maintain a constant rate of expansion and wealth. Imperialism became a competition; in general, the European countries led with fervor while the non-Western regions deemed likely to be stepped on.
Imperialism was one of the four contributing factors to the cause of World War One, along with secret alliances, militarism, and nationalism. It is the most important cause of WW1, because it created a build-up of tension in Europe and outside of Europe, and through imperialism, the three other causes were able to affect the beginnings of the war. Imperialism is defined as the governing of one people by another country, which was a recurring dilemma prior to WW1 due to the industrialist movement. Although not all events that fall into the imperialistic category were about controlling another country, they contributed to the war, and imperialistic events were the foundation of the cause of WW1.
To begin, one of the factors that contributed to the instability of the Weimar republic was the presence of new political ideals. Marie Juchacz unintentionally highlights that reason in her speech to the National Assembly. She states, “This is the first time that German women may speak as free and equal members in the parliament… We can now for the first time speak of a new Germany
... for it created tensions between countries that couldn’t stand being ganged up on. Imperialism had its hand in the start of World War One as well. Countries were in constant strife with each other over land expansion and influence. This in which only worked to create more tension between the already immensely tense countries. The last and the most important reason of all for the inevitability of World War One has to go to the tensions themselves. Tensions were in existence between the countries long before World War One even began its approach. With that in mind and the addition of the fact that the tensions just kept packing on it can be concluded that regardless of anything there would eventually be a war. Furthermore this war was inevitable because of the natural aggressions that boiled and still boil inside us all and will continue to do so until we are no more.
German people were unused to a democracy and blamed the government “November criminals”, for signing the Treaty of Versailles. From the very beginning, the new Weimar government faced opposition from both sides of the political spectrum. The Left wing Spartacist group, lead by Liebknecht and Luxemburg, looked up to the new Soviet councils in Russia, wanted to place Germany into a similar system.