Rosa Luxemburg's Dialectics of Revolutionary Democracy—A Methodological Interpretation

Abstract

At the core of Rosa Luxemburg's thinking on revolutionary democracy is socialist revolution. This paper advances three methodological principles: 1) an integral historical standpoint; 2) ontologically historical dialectics; and 3) the perspective of crisis. On the basis of these principles, the paper then analyzes the two major theoretical contributions Luxemburg made through her development of the concept of revolutionary democracy. First, by explaining the dialectical relationship between social revolution and social reform, she further illuminated the nature of socialist revolution; second, she elucidated the philosophical meaning and historical significance of spontaneity. A conclusion is then reached: the concepts that Luxemburg developed in considering the crises facing the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and socialism itself anticipated the direction in which the socialist movement was to develop.