SOURCE: An introduction to Rosa Luxemburg Speaks, edited by Mary-Alice Waters, Pathfinder Press, Inc., 1970, pp. 1-32.

Waters is a Philippine-born American author and editor who specializes in feminist-socialist issues. In the following essay, she argues that Luxemburg's criticism of more famous Marxists does not make her anti-communist, as some of her detractors believe.

Rosa Luxemburg's Place in History

Rosa Luxemburg was destined to be one of the most controversial figures in the history of the international socialist movement, and her rightful place of honor among the great revolutionary Marxists has often been denied her. Her detractors have come from every side, and have used virtually every means of slander and distortion to discredit her, to picture her as the opposite of the revolutionary she was.

The ruling class, of course—whether American, German, Japanese, Mexican, or any other stripe—has had no interest in telling the truth about...