Rosa Luxemburg: Ideas in Action

Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919), was a leading socialist theorist and founder of the German Communist party. Born into a prosperous Jewish business family in Russian Poland, she engaged in revolutionary activity from 1887. In 1889 she was forced into exile in Switzerland, where she helped found (1893) the antinationalist Polish Socialist party. Acquiring German citizenship by marriage, Luxemburg became a leader of the extreme left wing of the German Social Democratic party.