Comrade and Lover: Rosa Luxemburg's Letters to Leo Jogiches.

by ELZBIETA (ED.) ETTINGER

Book by Luxemburg, Rosa

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, Germany, Politics

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Göksal Caner Malatya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dünya devrimci hareketinin en parlak kurmaylarından biri olan Rosa Luxemburg'un, yoldaşı ve sevgilisi Leo Jogiches'e yazdığı bu mektuplar, çelikten bir iradenin ardındaki o derin, tutkulu ve insani kalp atışlarını gün yüzüne çıkarıyor. Sürgünlerin, hapishanelerin ve yeraltı örgütlenmelerinin o boğucu atmosferinde yeşeren bu aşk, kişisel olanla politik olanın, sevda ile sınıf kavgasının nasıl etle tırnak gibi birbirine geçtiğinin sarsıcı bir edebi belgesidir. Burjuvazinin devrimcileri "duygusuz, soğuk makineler" olarak resmetme çabasına karşı Rosa; bir çiçeğe, bir kediye veya sevgilisine duyduğu o muazzam şefkatin, aslında sömürüsüz bir dünya kurma inadıyla aynı kaynaktan beslendiğini gösterir. Sınıf mücadelesinin o amansız sertliği içinde devrimci romantizmi ve insani incelikleri kaybetmemenin, oportünizme ve ihanete karşı direnen bir militanın ruhunu nasıl çelikleştirdiğini anlamak için okunması gereken, naif ama ateşten bir kitaptır.

[Julio The Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

No revolutionary of the twentieth century, not even Lenin, devoted herself or himself to revolution like "Red" Rosa Luxemburg. The cliche about the letters of Marxist leaders is that "they reveal the human side of the public person", but that is true of anybody. These letters by Luxemburg to her lover and fellow German Social Democrat leader Leo Jogiches do indeed address everyday concerns, housekeeping, the pair kept a maid, most unusual for Marxists, dress, budgets, but strangely not the ingredients which Rosa said made up her quotidian life, "books, sex, music, and writing". These letters record a hausfrau, and a frustrated one at that, without offering any glimpses of the Marxist master thinker and fierce polemicist. Where's the inner fire that burned through her life, and death?

[kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up because it happened to be in my house (D. was reading it for a book club) but tbh I don't think I had enough context for it (having never heard of either Luxemburg or Jogiches). A few interesting lines but mostly it was either "ugh, this relationship seems exhausting and borderline abusive" or "cool, another long list of daily happenings and grievances that don't even seem like they'd be that interesting if I understood the political backdrop."

[Kassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important primary source material about one of the most important (and under-appreciated) historical figures of the early 20th century. Particularly valuable for the ways in which the political and personal are intertwined. Yet in comparing it to some other compilations of Luxemburg's letters that do not focus solely on her relationship with Leo Jogiches (e.g., the recent one edited by Peter Hudis), it becomes clear that the editor of this collection made some curious abridgments to some of the letters. For a better sense of the fullness of Rosa Luxemburg as politician, theorist and woman, go to the Hudis collection instead. (Or, if you are blessed with the ability to read both German and Polish, the originals!)

[Chelsea Szendi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weibliches, Allzuweibliches...

These collected, translated, and annotated letters from Rosa Luxemburg to her "comrade and lover" add to the allure of Rosa as one of the most human of turn-of-the-century revolutionaries. She worries about money and frets about making a comfortable home; she gets frustrated with her lover's edits to her dissertation. She worries about being too much, and too inconveniently, a woman:

"It's too painful to think that I invaded your pure, proud, lonely life with my female whims, my unevenness, my helplessness."

[Athena · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection is strictly for those who, like me, have nursed a longtime fascination with the life of Rosa Luxemburg, not for those who are only interested in her ideas. The letters are fairly short and, because one-sided, don't reveal much about how Luxemburg's ideas evolved in conversation with Leo Jogiches. They do, however, suggest that Jogiches was a bit of an asshole, and that Luxemburg was unabashedly into bourgeois things like smart dresses and dinner parties.

[Kate Savage · Rating 4 out of 5]

The letters are astonishing.

Equally astonishing is that everyone always speaks of this relationship as "a love story," rather than a story of male jealousy, threats and abuse. Luxemburg carried around a pistol after she left Jogiches, because he was threatening to kill her. That ain't love.

[Yagmur Zafer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started to know Rosa with this book and I wish I could read the letters of Jogiches!