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Letter to Julian Marchlewski, end of July or beginning of August 1918
| Author(s) | Rosa Luxemburg |
|---|---|
| Written | 31 July 1918 |
RZBSDNG, Moscow.
Published by Feliks Tych in Internationale wissenschaftliche Korrespondenz zur Geschichte der deutschen Arbeiterbewegung (IWK), September 1991, II.3, p.360.
Prison in Breslau, end of July or beginning of August 1918
Dear Julek,
Many thanks for the note. I would be immensely happy to receive news regularly. For my part, of course, I can only give you opinions and impressions: because the real state of affairs [in Soviet Russia] only reaches me at third hand, but do you think that I can convey my views to you in this way without constraint?[1] Because I do not know, I do not know the people well enough .... The impression of the latest turn of events is in general abysmal.[2] One would like to abuse the Beki [Bolsheviks] enormously but naturally RĂźcksichten[3] do not allow that. Perhaps these events do not make such a fatal impression on you over there, in the midst of turmoil, as they do here â perhaps. Inform me with as much detail as possible about what is happening. The spectre of an âallianceâ with the âMiddle Kingdomâ [Germany] seems more and more imminent and that really would be the most terrible disgrace, [in that case] really better to end it all now.
Now an urgent matter: Leo must be got out[4] and they could help tremendously here. The lawyer[5] has in fact filed a formal petition to your people there, so that they can claim L[eo] as their [citizen]. The local representative [Adolf Joffe, the Soviet envoy in Berlin] agrees but the request must come directly from the town where you live [Moscow]. Therefore work on whoever you have to (Jozef [Pseudonym for Feliks Dzierzynski (1877-1926)] should also do this) so that L[eo] is claimed immediately and spare no effort. Leo knows [about it] and is happy. It would be a help to you all!! Please let me know immediately that you have received [my letter] and do what is necessary. See to this matter and with great haste. Enough for today. A warm handshake to you, Bronka and Zoska.[6]
yours, Rosa
- â Rosa is asking whether she could convey her fears without problems via the Soviet Legation in Berlin.
- â Rosa is referring to the terror and stifling of democracy, in particular the arrest and execution of hundreds of Left SRs as âsacrifices to atoneâ for the attempted coup against Soviet power that began with the murder of the German ambassador, Wilhelm Graf von Mirbach-Harff (6.7.1918) in Moscow. (See Rosa Luxemburg, On the Russian Revolution, Gesammelte Werke, Vol.4, Berlin 1990; Rosa Luxemburg to Luise Kautsky, 25.7.1918 in Gesammelte Briefe, Vol.5, pp.402-404.)
- â The German word, âRĂźcksichtenâ, i.e. considerations, was used in the original text
- â Leo Jogiches was arrested in March 1918 and was in Moabit prison. He was imprisoned for his leading role in printing and circulating appeals against the war amongst the soldiers and organising strikes in munitions factories for which the penalty was death. Like Julian Marchlewski, freed from internment at Havelberg camp through an exchange of prisoners, an attempt was made to free Jogiches in the same way. Jogiches had had Swiss citizenship since 1901 but still held Russian citizenship which was a pre-condition for an exchange. The exchange did not occur.
- â Oskar Cohn (1869-1934) in Berlin
- â Bronka is Bronislawa, wife of Julian Marchlewski, Zoska is Sophia, his daughter.