Luxembourg Rosa - biography, facts from life, photographs, background information. Husbands and lovers of Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxembourg
Every person, at least once in his life, heard the name "Rosa Luxembourg". Yes, and how can one not hear this name, if in such cities as Arkhangelsk, Abinsk, Minsk, Moscow, Odessa, Cherkasy, Pskov, Poltava, Donetsk, Mineral water, Manganese, Ufa, Orel, Orenburg, Ufa, Tver, Bryansk, Yeysk, Pyatigorsk, Yekaterinburg, Tomsk, Yaroslavl, Astrakhan, Voronezh, Stavropol, Irkutsk, Kirov and in some other cities the streets have this name. And in Berlin and Kharkov there is a square named after Rosa Luxembourg. So who is this woman? Let's start in order.
Rose's real name is Rosalia Luxenburg. She was born on March 5, 1871 (1870) in the city of Zamość. She was the fifth child in a poor Jewish family.
She received her education in Warsaw, in a women's gymnasium, where in such early age has already shown its genius potential.
For participation in the revolutionary underground "Proletariat" she had to hide from the police, having emigrated to Switzerland, and already there to continue her education.
Getting an education in Zurich, Luxembourg did not sit idly by, she actively studied law, philosophy, political economy, fought against the nationalism of the socialist party of Poland.
After defending her doctoral dissertation, she moved to Germany. And here, for the first time, she marries a German subject. But, it turns out to be fictitious, and it is necessary only to obtain German citizenship. She had no more marriages and children.
It did not take long for Rosa to become a prominent figure, proving herself as a journalist and speaker. Conducted polemics with many influential figures such as Bebelev, Plekhanov, Zhores, Lenin. Many times she was in German and Polish prisons.
When the Russian Revolution began in 1905, Rosa travels secretly to Warsaw. Soon she was caught and imprisoned under threat of execution, but her German friends rescued her and in 1907 she returned to Germany forever.
In 1906, she wrote a pamphlet summarizing the experience of the Russian revolution under the title "Mass Strike, Party and Trade Unions". This work was highly appreciated by Lenin V.I.
The years 1918-1919 went down in history with the participation of Rosa in the German Communist Party and the presentation of the report "The General Strike and German Social Democracy".
For the establishment of a one-party dictatorship in Russia, Luxembourg constantly criticized the Bolsheviks.
For several years he led the radical left opposition in the party, having broken with the official center and with Kautsky before the war.
In 1913, Rosa was again imprisoned for a year for speaking out against militarism. Actively opposes the war, led the International group. And three years later she was arrested again.
On January 15, 1919, Luxembourg was killed by escorts on the pretext of transferring her to Moabit prison. Rosa's death was painful, she was hit on the head and dragged into a car where they continued to be bullied, then they shot her in the temple and threw her into the Landwehr Canal. And only 4 months later, the remains of her body were found.
Rosa Luxembourg was a significant woman, a revolutionary who went through a difficult life path, like many great historical figures, fighting for freedom.
Historically, Women's Day was conceived as a day for women around the world to stand up for their rights. It was invented by feminists.
The full name of the holiday is March 8 - International Day for Women's Rights and International Peace. And the date of March 8 was chosen thanks to an old German legend.
In the Middle Ages in Germany, as in many other countries, the rule of the first night was in effect. That is, married serf girls had to give their innocence not to their husband, but to their master.
And in one village there was a big holiday: eight girls were given in marriage, and all of them, by a strange coincidence, bore the name Marta. Seven girls, one after another, entered the bedroom to the master, and the eighth refused. She was captured and forcibly brought to the castle. Undressing, Marta pulled out a knife from the folds of her shirt and killed her master. She told everything to her beloved, after which the couple ran away and lived together happily ever after.
Clara Zetkin told this legend as an example of the first challenge of a woman against her lack of rights in 1910 at a meeting of socialists in Copenhagen. In honor of this girl - the eighth of March - Clara Zetkin and her friend Rosa Luxembourg proposed to establish an international women's day, on which women from all over the world would organize rallies and processions, attracting the public to their problems.
It is precisely such zealous revolutionaries and political ideologists that we represent Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxemburg in the lessons at the Soviet school. However, they were women first and foremost and, in addition to success in political careers, they wanted to love and be loved.
Clara Zetkin - Biography
Clara Zetkin is not really Zetkin, but Eissner. She was born on July 5, 1857 in the Saxon city of Wiederau in the family of a rural teacher. Gifted by nature and educated beyond her years, she was to follow in her father's footsteps and become a teacher. But in Leipzig, where Klara went to study, she got to a meeting of the Social Democratic circle. And maybe her fate would have turned out differently if Osip Zetkin, an emigrant from Russia, had not attracted her attention.
He was not rich or handsome, but he talked so passionately and passionately about equality and fraternity that eighteen-year-old Clara fell in love without memory. In addition, Osip was several years older and more experienced than her, and even hiding from unfair persecution. Russian authorities. Well, why not the romantic hero of Schiller's ballads, which Clara read at night?
Clara and Osip Zetkin were great friends until one of the meetings on Osip's hands was cuffed. Before he was deported from Germany, he managed to shout to Clara that he loved her, which finally broke the girl's heart. Two long years passed, spent by Clara Zetkin in political speeches and searching for a loved one, before she found the thinner and sick Osip in a dirty little room on the outskirts of Paris.
Due to illness, the man could not work, so he devoted all his time to writing revolutionary articles. Like any woman, Clara Zetkin was delighted with the opportunity to be needed and rushed to save her beloved. With the same wild energy with which she delivered political speeches from the stands (not for nothing she was nicknamed Wild Clara), the young woman set to work.
She took a job as a governess in a rich house, worked as a laundress, and the rest of the time she gave private lessons or did translations. Osip was satisfied with this situation. He didn't even ask Clara to marry him. However, in the communist environment, marriage was considered a bourgeois relic. Clara took her husband's surname and became Clara Zetkin. She gave birth to two sons, Maxim and Konstantin. Seven years later, Osip died of tuberculosis.
Exhausted by overwork and the grief that befell her, at 32, Clara Zetkin looked at all 50: gray hair, a hunched back, hardened red hands. Even party comrades, who saw Clara as a comrade and like-minded person, were surprised at how little femininity remained in this still strong-willed woman. A familiar doctor diagnosed Zetkin with nervous exhaustion.
Left alone with two children in her arms, without a livelihood, Clara and her sons returned to Germany, having borrowed money for a ticket from her brother. Work in the newspaper of German workers "Equality" brought her together with the 18-year-old artist Georg Zundel. Despite the fact that Georg was half her age, Clara Zetkin carried him first into the political movement, and then into her bed. However, Zundel did not particularly resist. They merried.
This marriage was opposed by party comrades, including August Bebel, who was afraid that because of unequal marriage Clara will become a laughingstock in the eyes of the people. But Zetkin, all her life, did as she saw fit. In addition to the ability to convince, she also knew how to make money. The couple lived in a nice mansion near Stuttgart and soon bought almost the first car in the area, and then a small house in Switzerland.
This time, Clara Zetkin lived in a marriage quite happily and for a long time: for twenty years, until one day George announced that he was leaving for a young mistress. No matter how oratory Clara possessed, but at 58 she could not resist the charms of a young rival. Again heartbroken, the woman gave all her strength to the political struggle. And at the same time, she became friends with her colleague Rosa Luxembourg.
Rosa Luxembourg-Biography
Rosalia Luxembourg was the fifth, most youngest child in a wealthy family of Polish Jews. A small, disproportionate figure, an ugly face and congenital lameness became the reasons for her many complexes. One of Rosa's legs was shorter than the other due to a dislocated hip joint.
Saved only by special, custom-made boots, on which Luxembourg depended almost like air. If you go slowly, then the lameness was almost imperceptible, another thing - when you start to hurry. Then you become like an old duck. And barefoot, without shoes, walking is completely impossible.
It is clear that the girl did not use the attention of the opposite sex. Even her mother, who did not have a soul in Rosa, inspired her from childhood that she should rely only on herself, because it is unlikely that Rosalia will succeed in marrying successfully. The girl went to study in Warsaw, where she became interested in social democratic ideas that were fashionable at that time. She liked that members of the underground movement appreciated her intelligence, oratory skills and dedication, and did not ridicule the flaws in her appearance, as her classmates once did.
One of the socialists liked 19-year-old Rosa Luxembourg not only as a talented propagandist. An emigrant from Lithuania, Jan Tyshka, was smart and impossibly handsome. For Rosa, he became a real idol. She decided to tell him about her feelings and even vowed that she would quit. revolutionary activity and become a housewife, just to be near him. In response to these naive words, Tyshka laughed and said that marriage was a relic of the past. However, he was flattered by the blind devotion of a young woman who was so respected by the Social Democrats. And he condescended to a small ugly admirer, however, without burdening himself with any promises. Rosa needed sixteen years of jealousy and suffering before she decided to break this connection.
The new hobby of 36-year-old Rosa Luxembourg was ... 22-year-old Konstantin Zetkin, the son of her friend and colleague Clara Zetkin, which for the first time caused a quarrel between friends. Despite the age difference, their romance lasted for many years.
For gender equality
Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxembourg rekindled their friendship many years later, when both became single again and decided to devote themselves to politics. Once they read the works of the young Marxist Vladimir Ulyanov, which amazed them. The ladies wanted to meet him personally and went to St. Petersburg. But on the way, friends were robbed. Not knowing what to do next, they went into a tavern, where they saw men playing cards.
Clara was an excellent card player and decided to earn some money. But the men only ridiculed her, saying that a woman's business is to give birth to children and milk cows. All night long, ideological comrades-in-arms, outraged by male chauvinism, redrawn the men's suit they got and made mustaches and sideburns from Rosa's cut curl.
The next day, Clara Zetkin, disguised as a man, beat the gamblers for a very large amount for those times - 1200 rubles. The women easily got to St. Petersburg, got acquainted with Ulyanov and since then have often been in Russia.
Rose and Clara dedicated their lives to fighting for women's rights. At meetings, Zetkin and Luxembourg discussed issues of marriage and the intimate side married life, talked about Freud's theory. Women to the tips of their nails, they have always condemned terror and carnage. For sharp attacks against the war with Russia, Rosa Luxembourg was repeatedly arrested.
The last time this happened was in 1919, when, after being interrogated at the Eden Hotel, she was beaten with gun butts by the escorts. Tired of torturing the unfortunate woman, the soldiers shot her in the temple and dumped her body into the Lanver Canal, where it was found only a few months later.
Clara Zetkin outlived her friend Rosa Luxembourg by 14 years. She was a member communist party Germany and openly opposed fascism, for which she was regularly sent into exile. Becoming disabled and almost blind. Zetkin did not give up politics. She worked hard, devoting time to writing journalistic articles.
Clara Zetkin was going to write a biography of her friend Rosa Luxembourg and her autobiography, but did not have time. Accustomed to relying on her own strength and considering it inappropriate to use the services of a secretary, Clara wrote and wrote, in a hurry to present her ideas. Sometimes the ink ran out, but the blind woman continued to write page after page with a dry pen ...
Clara Zetkin spent a lot of time in Russia, maintained friendly relations with Lenin and Krupskaya. Here she found her final resting place. Zetkin died in 1933 near Moscow. AT last years she often thought of Rose. Eyewitnesses say that before her death, Clara even called her friend by name.
For more than a century, the world has been celebrating a holiday that is not dedicated to any significant event. We are talking about International Women's Day on March 8, inherited by Russia from the USSR, where this day was celebrated as the Day of International Solidarity of Women in the Struggle for Equality.
Why, then, was the date of March 8 chosen for the struggle for equality? The most popular version says that this is the birthday of Clara Zetkin herself, who first proposed celebrating International Women's Solidarity Day. Another version says that the Jewish woman Clara Zetkin, under the guise of a women's holiday, encrypted the Jewish religious holiday Purim - in honor of another Jewish woman, Esther.
However, Clara Zetkin was a purebred German woman - moreover, of noble blood. (although she sympathized with the Jews all her life - ed.). And she was born on July 5, 1857. However, first things first.
née Eisner
The future fiery German revolutionary was born in the small Saxon town of Wiederau, which stands on the banks of the Wiederbach River, in the family of a village teacher Gottfried Eisner, who came from a poor noble family. But Clara's mother, Josephine Vitale, came from a very prosperous bourgeois family that owned numerous manufactories and factories in Leipzig. True, her father Jean Dominique Vitale, with his violent temper, was not at all like all the other Vitales - he took an active part in the French Revolution of 1789 and in the Napoleonic campaigns. In the same spirit, he raised his daughter Josephine, named after the first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, and Josephine, being a staunch supporter of the emancipation of women, tried to raise a revolutionary from Clara, which she successfully succeeded.
Already at a young age, Clara stood out among her peers with her curiosity and tenacious memory: at the age of nine, the girl read all of Goethe and Schiller and recited their poems with pleasure, and at 12 she quoted excerpts from the “History of the French Revolution” by historian Thomas Carlyle.
In 1874, Clara passed the entrance exams to the private gymnasium of the outstanding teacher Augusta Schmidt in Leipzig. It was there that Clara Eisner received her nickname Wild Clara from classmates - in the heat of a dispute about politics, she could easily use her fists.
Nevertheless, Clara passed all the state final exams with excellent marks. Parents did not doubt at all that Clara would have a brilliant career in the teaching field or in some banking office. Or - what the hell is not joking! - perhaps even in the Saxon Landtag, since she talks about politics with such fervor. But Gottfried and Josephine Eisner could not imagine that Clara, who outwardly resembled an ordinary peasant girl from Wiederau with a flat face and spade hands, would start her own political career.
Zetkin
While still a student in Leipzig, she became close to a circle of revolutionary emigrant students from Russia, among whom was Osip Zetkin, a charismatic and charming Jewish native of Odessa, he was a favorite of all the women of the revolutionary underground, who were ready to listen for hours to his lectures on the victory of Marxism.
And Wild Clara fell in love without memory - unshaven Zetkin with burning eyes reminded her of the romantic heroes of Schiller, about whom she read so much in childhood. Wholly sharing the views of the adored Osip, at the age of 21 she joined the Socialist Workers' Party and became Zetkin's common-law wife, taking his last name.
Clara's unexpected marriage led to a complete break with the family. In addition, after the introduction by Otto von Bismarck of the "Exceptional Law against Socialists" in 1881, Osip Zetkin was arrested and expelled from the country.
Together with him, as the devoted wife of the Decembrist, Klara also left the country. First they went to Zurich, then to Vienna and Rome, where Osip was again threatened with prison. Finally, in 1882, they settled in Paris, where they began to live in a tiny apartment in Montmartre.
In Paris, Clara's first-born son Maxim was born in 1883, and two years later Konstantin was born. They lived hard: Osip published for pennies in left-wing newspapers, Klara gave private lessons and washed clothes from the rich.
Once she even played cards for money - Wild Clara has been an excellent poker player since her studies at the gymnasium. Since in the old days women were not allowed to play with men at the card table, Clara had to change into a man's dress and glue on a fake beard. Nobody noticed the change.
Luxembourg
At the same time, it was in Paris that Clara met Laura Lafargue, the daughter of Karl Marx, and her husband Paul Lafargue, who was one of the leaders of the French labor movement. It was Lafargue who introduced Zetkin to Rosa Luxembourg, her closest friend.
Born Rosalia Luxenburg was born on March 5, 1871 in a family of wealthy Polish Jews from the town of Zamosc, which was within Russian Empire. The fifth child in the family, Rosalia was the most nondescript. She had a disproportionate figure, small stature, and even lameness due to a congenital dislocation of the hip. But at the same time, Rosalia had a rare charm that affected all men. Bertrand Wolf, an American communist leader, described Rosalia as a petite, pretty woman with large, expressive eyes and a warm, vibrant voice.
Struggling with her complexes, she went into politics - in the party they saw her not as a woman, but as an intelligent and reliable comrade.
In 1890, 19-year-old Rosa, who had already changed her surname to Luxembourg, went to Paris due to police persecution, where she was brought together with Zetkin.
They became friends instantly - two clumsy emancipated women, united moreover by common Jewish ideas.
The Social Democrats sneered maliciously: "In our flimsy party there are only two real peasants - Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxembourg."
emancipation day
It is Zetkin and Luxembourg that we owe the emergence of the International women's day March 8. Back in 1910, at the Second International Conference of Women Socialists in Copenhagen, Zetkin made a proposal to declare the second Sunday of March the Day of International Solidarity of Women in the Struggle for Their Rights. Rosa Luxembourg warmly supported this proposal.
True, it was not immediately possible to decide on the date of the international holiday. Thus, women's organizations in Germany celebrated this date on March 19 - in memory of the victory of Berlin workers in revolutionary battles at the barricades in 1848. In America, March 8 was declared a holiday - in honor of the strike organized by the workers of the textile factories of New York on March 8, 1857. In England - March 9, in honor of the Westmoreland County miners' strike, in which more than 15 thousand people took part.
Only in 1914, International Women's Day began to be celebrated everywhere on March 8 - it was the second Sunday of the month. True, this holiday was not celebrated again during wartime.
Well, after the war, the day of March 8 was legalized by the decision of the 2nd Communist Women's Conference, held in 1921 in Moscow. A special explanation was also issued that the day of March 8 was established in memory of the participation of women in the Petrograd demonstration on February 23 (March 8), 1917 - they say, this frankly far-fetched and hardly noticeable event for contemporaries became a formidable precursor of the February Revolution.
After the Second World War, this holiday began to be celebrated throughout the socialist camp, and since 1975, the UN has assigned the holiday an international status.
divine woman
In 1889, Osip Zetkin died of tuberculosis, and the Exceptional Law was subsequently abolished in Berlin. And she, along with the children and Rosa Luxembourg, went home to Germany. Or rather, to Stuttgart, where at that time a large cell of the Social Democratic Party was formed.
From 1891 to 1917, Clara Zetkin was editor of the proletarian women's magazine Die Gleichheit ("Equality"). Interestingly, the magazine was published at the expense of engineer Robert Bosch, the founder of the electrical engineering concern Robert Bosch GmbH. But in those days, Robert Bosch was just a budding engineer who was developing magneto ignition devices for car engines. He never hid his liberal views and gladly donated part of his income to the revolutionary press.
However, they say that Bosch and Wild Clara were connected by something more than just a commonality of political views. One way or another, but the love affair, if it existed, remained a mystery with seven seals - especially after the engineer Bosch's wife Anna Kaiser gave birth to two daughters, Margarita and Paula.
Clara herself at that time was busy with a new novel - in the editorial office she met the 18-year-old artist Georg Friedrich Zundel. At first, Clara simply helped the young man get orders, but then she married George.
Clara's friends dissuaded her from this step, believing that such a misalliance would disgrace Clara and expose her to ridicule. But Clara proved once again that it was not in vain that she received the nickname Wild: she absolutely did not care what others think about this.
For almost two decades, Clara and Georg lived in perfect harmony. Clara's sons grew up, studied to be doctors. The family's income allowed them to purchase good house in the suburbs of Stuttgart, a small villa in Switzerland and even a car, which at that time was the height of fashion and luxury.
It is no coincidence that all the leaders of the socialist movement of that time liked to visit Zetkin Villa. For example, in 1907, at the Stuttgart Congress, Clara met Vladimir Lenin, and he soon became her close friend and guest.
But in 1914 the couple separated. The reason was a different attitude towards the First World War. Clara Zetkin opposed the imperialist war, and Georg Friedrich, in defiance of her, volunteered for the army.
Clara experienced the departure of her husband , and for many years did not give him a formal divorce. Only in 1928, when she was almost 71 years old, she agreed to a divorce, and the artist immediately married his long-time darling Paula Bosch, the daughter of Robert Bosch, with whom, as it turned out, he had been in an unofficial relationship for many years.
Daughter-in-law and mother-in-law
The black cat also ran between Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxembourg. In 1907, Clara learned that the 37-year-old Luxembourg had become the mistress of her 22-year-old younger son Constantine. And not just a mistress - Konstantin expressed a desire to marry Rosa. Clara Zetkin was very unhappy with this turn of events, she even stopped communicating with her friend.
The romance of Konstantin and Rosa continued until the outbreak of the First World War - Konstantin, following the example of his stepfather George, volunteered for the army and went to the front. He served as a non-commissioned officer of the sanitary service, fought in western front, on the Somme, in Verdun and Reims. He was even awarded the Iron Cross of the second degree for bravery.
He did not return to Rosa again - after the war he went to study at the University of Frankfurt. There he learned that in 1919 Rosa Luxemburg was brutally murdered by the police in Berlin during the suppression of a workers' uprising. Rose was beaten to death, and the body was thrown into the Landwehr Canal on the way to prison. Luxembourg's body was found only after almost five months, and was buried altogether in 2009 - all this time the remains of the revolutionary were kept in the storerooms of the pathological anatomical theater as the remains of an "unknown".
The death of Rose for Clara was a terrible blow. She survived her friend for 15 years, but even before her death, she always remembered only her, and her last word was “Rose”.
Last resort
In 1920-1933, throughout the existence of the Weimar Republic, Clara Zetkin was elected to the Reichstag from the Communist Party. For more than 10 years in a row, she was a member of the Central Committee of the KKE, was employed in the Executive Committee of the Comintern, and also headed the International Organization for Assistance to the Fighters of the Revolution, created in 1922. But she spent most of her time in Moscow, where she prepared the program of events for the Comintern.
The last time she came to Germany was in 1932 for the opening of the newly elected Reichstag. At the first meeting, presiding by seniority, she issued an appeal to resist fascism by all means:
Let's form a united front against fascism and its proxies in the government! Organization, a clear awareness of their goals by the working people in the struggle against fascism - this is the immediate necessary prerequisite for a united front in the struggle against crises, imperialist wars and the cause of their occurrence - the capitalist mode of production!
After that, she gave the floor to Hermann Goering, the representative of the faction that received the majority of votes in the recent elections.
After the left-wing parties were banned in Germany, Zetkin left for the Soviet Union forever.
She died on June 20, 1933 in Arkhangelsk near Moscow at the age of 76. The ashes of Zetkin were placed in an urn in the Kremlin wall on Red Square in Moscow.
After the death of his mother, Konstantin fled from the USSR to France, where he worked as a masseur and orderly. After the occupation of France, Zetkin emigrated to the United States, where he worked in several psychiatric clinics, and then went to live in Canada.
March 5, 1871 in the Russian Empire, in the Polish town of Zamostye, in the family of a timber merchant Elias Luxenburg a daughter was born who was named Rosalia. Subsequently, she will shorten her name and slightly reshape her last name - she will replace the “n” in the middle with the letter “m”. It turns out Rosa Luxembourg.
You can bet that the first association associated with this name will be: “I know she is with another aunt, by Clara Zetkin, came up with the Eighth of March. However, options are possible in the widest range. From the offensive "ugly freak with an inferiority complex" to the most boring "Marxist theorist who promotes revolution and feminism." Stands somewhat apart Ilya Lagutenko, leader of the Mumiy Troll group, with the wonderful: “My fairy tale is Rosa Luxembourg.” Perhaps this Rose is the cutest.
Photo: www.globallookpress.com
The beauty of ugliness
And, at first glance, the most distant from reality. She really could be called ugly. The injury received at birth - a dislocation of the hip joint - clearly did not give grace to the figure. Heavy "stern", short legs, too large head, close-set eyes and a nose, which, according to other ill-wishers, "resembled a dangling strangled man."
However, when she began to speak, especially in public, all this disappeared somewhere. A real Valkyrie of the revolution appeared on the podium, for which one wanted to follow even into the fire, even under the bullets. Especially after such passages: “For their own benefit, the rich will fight with tooth and claw, resorting to any methods that their merciless anger will dictate to them. Their resistance must be broken with an iron fist and the same merciless anger!
About the "inferiority complex" of Rosa Luxembourg, as a rule, those who were unlucky enough to get on her tongue spread. For example, Karl Korn, editor of the journal "Working Youth". Rosa spoke chic about him: “One of his views with a red wooden mug, in a thick coat, on short legs, resembles a street urinal."
Style forever
Contrary to the stereotype, she was not a feminist. In any case, she did not specifically deal with this issue, she did not write articles on equal rights for women and did not demand voting rights for them. Rather, it demanded, but for all the oppressed at once. Women there were clearly not in the first place.
But Rosa's lifestyle didn't just meet the feminist standard. He set the same standard for many years to come. Excellent education and doctoral degree state law. The international reputation of an intellectual, and in the most fashionable area at that time - social democracy. Subtle knowledge and understanding of contemporary art. Journalism, with which thinkers and leaders of a rather large caliber were forced to reckon, for example, Lenin and Trotsky. And, finally, open relationships with men - at that time it was an absolute breakthrough.
Rosa Luxemburg speaks at a rally, 1907. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Thirst for motherhood
At 18, her lover was Leo Yogiches- also a social democrat and a revolutionary. The latter circumstance may set you skeptical. Well, yes, they probably wrote proclamations and resolutions together. Nevertheless, this period, if everything had turned out differently, could seriously change the entire biography of Rosa. Here is a fragment of her letter to Leo dated March 6, 1899: “But most of all I was pleased with the paragraph in your letter where you say that we are young and will still be able to establish a personal life. Oh dear, golden, if only you would keep your promise! Own small apartment, own library, joint walks, every summer - a trip for a month to the village, without any work at all! And maybe even such a small, very tiny baby? Am I never allowed to? Never? Yesterday in the Tiergarten, a child of three or four years old spun under my feet ... Like a thunderbolt, I was struck by the thought of grabbing this baby, quickly running away home and keeping him as my own. Oh dear, will I never have a child?”
With these dreams, she lived for another 18 years. And now she is 36, and her new chosen one Constantine- 22. Already cause for scandal. Moreover, Konstantin is the son of her closest friend and comrade-in-arms, Clara Zetkin.
Here everything was realized at once, including the unquenched thirst for motherhood. In letters, Rosa calls her lover most tender names like Niuniu, Dudu or simply "Little Kostik". Moreover, Rosa writes constantly, several times a day: “Beloved treasure, I sent you a letter this morning and here I am writing again, although I have nothing special to tell you, and nothing happened ... My dear, I kiss you in your sweet mouth many times” .
When “Little Kostik” left her and was carried away by another, Luxembourg behaved more than with dignity: “You are a beloved friend and you will remain so for me as long as you want, as long as I am alive. Everything about you is more important to me than the rest of the world. I only ask you: stay calm and do not torture yourself because of me.
Rosa Luxembourg, 1907 Photo: www.globallookpress.com
Russian dreams
Those who accuse Rosa Luxembourg of some special, sophisticated Russophobia clearly do not know the material. Her one and only phrase, uttered in 1907, is worth a lot: “Oh, the Germans! Cursed people of kulaks and townsfolk, these "heirs of classical philosophy"! Oh, how hard it is for me here at times, and most of all I want to get away from Germany. In any Siberian village you will feel more humanity!” Let's just say this is just a personal opinion. But here are her public speeches, which, by the way, have not lost their relevance and sharpness even now: “Russian literature flourished and appeared before the world complete, showing an original art form, a language that combines the euphony of Italian with the masculine power of English and the nobility of German, overflowing wealth talents, the sparkling beauty of thoughts and sensations. And, of course, the childish theme did not leave a woman yearning for a child even here: “For Russians, a child's soul is a valuable object of artistic interest. A child for them is the same person, only more direct, unspoiled and defenseless. Russian writers speak to children without arrogance or condescension. On the contrary - with admiration for the untouched human principle ... "
Revolution in Germany 1918-1919 Photo: www.globallookpress.com
In January 1919, after the failure of the revolution in Germany, Rosa Luxembourg was identified and arrested. And then they beat her with rifle butts, shot her in the head and threw her into the Berlin Landwehr Canal, which is located near the Tiergarten garden, where she once dreamed of family happiness.
March 5 marks the 146th anniversary of the birth of the famous revolutionary Rosa Luxembourg. Contrary to popular belief, the "Valkyrie of the Revolution" was not a convinced feminist and man-hater. In fact, her personal life was no less turbulent than her political one.
Famous revolutionary
Rosalia Luxenburg was born in the Polish town of Zamostye, which at that time was part of the Russian Empire. Social and political activities fascinated her even when she studied at the women's gymnasium in Warsaw - the girl opposed the Russification of Polish schools. And at the age of 18, Rosalia was forced to leave Poland because of her participation in the revolutionary circle "Proletariat". She fled to Switzerland where she studied philosophy, political economy and law at the University of Zurich and was one of the first women to receive a Ph.D. 
Rosa speaking at the Stuttgart Congress of the Second International, 1907
Later, she shortened her name for ease of pronunciation and replaced the letter “n” with “m” in her last name, it turned out “Rosa Luxembourg”. She was an unenviable bride. Due to an injury received at birth - a dislocation of the hip joint - she remained lame for the rest of her life, her height was 150 cm, which, with a disproportionately large head and short legs, was a significant drawback. Rosa was transformed only when she stood at the podium in front of the people. Detractors explained such excessive political activity of the revolutionary with an inferiority complex. Biographer R. Schneider wrote: "It can be said that fate deprive her three times: as a woman in a society dominated by men, as a Jewess in an anti-Semitic environment, and as a cripple." 
Rosa Luxembourg and Leo Jogiches, 1892
Rosa Luxembourg openly lived with men out of wedlock, not because she was a staunch feminist, but because of circumstances. In Switzerland, she met Leo Jogiches, who became not only her colleague, but also her lover. With him, she participated in the creation of the Social Democratic Party of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania. As it turned out, Rosa is not only a brilliant political orator, but also a subtle lyricist. The revolutionary wrote letters full of tenderness to her beloved: “If I ever want to take a couple of stars from the sky to give someone for cufflinks, then don’t let cold pedants interfere with this and don’t say, shaking my finger at me, that I’m bringing confusion in all school astronomical atlases ... ". 
Valkyrie of the Revolution
Leo Jogiches and Rosa Luxembourg
Leo was a staunch supporter of free relationships and was not going to marry. And Rosa dreamed of a family and children: “Own a small apartment, her own library, joint walks, every summer - a trip for a month to the village, without any work at all! And maybe even such a small, very tiny baby? Am I never allowed to? Never? Yesterday in the Tiergarten, a child of three or four years old spun under my feet ... Like a thunderbolt, I was struck by the thought of grabbing this baby, quickly running away home and keeping him as my own. Oh dear, will I never have a child? In response to these tirades, Leo wrote: "Your task is not to bear children, you should give yourself to the political struggle!" Rosa found the strength to break up with him only after 16 years. 
At 36, she had a stormy romance with the son of a friend and fellow revolutionary Clara Zetkin. He was 14 years younger, but this age difference did not bother anyone. Their relationship lasted 5 years, after which the young man left Rose for another woman. Even after that, she wrote to him: “You are a beloved friend and you will remain so for me as long as you want, as long as I am alive. Everything about you is more important to me than the rest of the world. I only ask you: stay calm and do not torture yourself because of me. Her next chosen one, lawyer Paul Levy, was 12 years younger. This relationship also did not last long. After that, Rosa, in despair, declared: "I have no personal life - only public." 
Left - Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxemburg, 1910. Right - Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxembourg was considered one of the most ardent feminists of her time, although she did not have any works on this issue - she considered the problem of gender inequality a component global problem class inequality. But she led the life of a real feminist: graduated from university, received a degree, lived with men out of wedlock, led revolutionary activities. In addition, she supported the idea put forward by Clara Zetkin to establish International Women's Day. 
Rosa Luxembourg
Rosa Luxembourg once said that she would like to die "at her post - on the street or in prison." Her words turned out to be prophetic. After her arrest, on the way to the prison, the guards beat her with rifle butts, then shot her in the head and threw her body into a canal. 
Famous revolutionary
