Agnone editions continue to Smolny reissue complete works of Rosa Luxemburg. The third
volume focuses on Socialism in France. This book is a collection of articles written by
Rosa Luxemburg on the French labor movement between the Dreyfus Affair and the 1914 war
against Germany. ---- These articles mainly cover the various debates opposing currents of
French socialist movement before its unification in the SFIO (French Section of the
Workers' International) in 1905. On the one hand, there is the "hard", Guesde and Edouard
Vaillant, who stand at the time a hard version of Marxism. On the other, there is the
ministerialists or reformists, whose leader is Jean Jaur?s. ---- The first topic of
discussion is that of ministerialism, that is to say, the opportunity for the labor
movement to participate in a bourgeois and imperialist government.
This is what Alexander Millerand in 1898, supported by Jean Jaur?s. Luxembourg sharply
criticized what it considers to be a compromise. Incidentally, it debunks the "honest
reformism" Jean Jaur?s: it was a genuine reformist wanting to change things, then betrayed
by unscrupulous successors. The examination of this text shows us the opposite: Jaur?s has
always supported the most options to the right of the socialist movement. He does not
hesitate to support multiple governments conducting anti-labor policies and challenge
certain workers' rights, while supporting colonialism.
The argument in favor of all these compromises is the defense of the Republic face threats
that the enemies of Dreyfus and the Church would. At a century apart, we find the
blackmail of "useful vote". To defend the Republic against its enemies (FN), should
abandon all ideas and to "dam". This book teaches us that the Social Democratic mimicry is
not new but as old as the Socialist Party (SFIO called at the time).
This book has the advantage of showing us the corruption of French Socialists do not date
from yesterday, and from the beginning, the worm was in the fruit. These pages we seem
strikingly news when you see the compromises of the PS, but the Left Front.
We can still make two criticisms visions of Rosa Luxemburg. First, she speaks very little
revolutionary syndicalists, accusing them of being anarchists, while this is the most
interesting trend of the times. It also supports Guesde, which nevertheless compromise
during the First World War, becoming Minister of Sacred Union systematically. Whatever
happens, a healthy reading!
Matthijs (AL Montpellier)
o Rosa Luxemburg, Socialism in France , Agnone; Smolny, 2013, 302P, 22 euros
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» France, Alternative Libertaire AL #236 - Classics of subversion: Rosa Luxemburg, "Socialism in France? (fr, pt)