Neat, I assume everyone posting and upvoting this is picking up a rifle and running out there to revolt violently against the “system.” No? Just going to type away on your keyboard? Cool.
Aah yes, Rosa Luxemburg, famous advocate for violence.
Revolutionaries like Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht and Paul Levi argued against a violent putsch and fought for political and economic revolution through organization of the working class to seize power. Guillotines don’t work. And its impossible to have a pacifist revolution, the ruling class will never allow it so defense will be a necessity, but the German revolution/Spartacist uprising is an especially good example of this. Revolutionaries were constantly arguing against violence, but there were many “radicals” that thought they could just seize the capital buildings to take the power. This led to several failed Putsches, like the Vorwards siege that led to the murder of Karl and Rosa, the Kapp Putsch, and ultimately the Reichstag fire which led to the ascention of the Nazis to power. In Germany by 1923 the ruling capitalist class and their stooges were completely defeated – but so were the workers. Devastating loss after loss in violent uprisings, when the Marxists were arguing for political and social changes, led to the conditions for the Nazis to come to power.
A real revolution to overthrow the class that controls the production of goods, the actual historical basis for the state, politics and economics, cannot be won with violence. It takes time and preparation for when the wheels start coming off the social order that supports the existing system, similar to what was happening to the feudal system in the 19th century culminating in the worldwide bourgeois revolution of world war I. The next stage of progress for society is one where the workers seize the power for ourselves, which is an act of mass collective political action. It can’t be won with violence, violently overthrowing the government and instating new leaders, even supposedly “socialist” ones is a kind of reform, and is not revolutionary.
To overthrow the economic system and smash the state in order to create a new workers state and productive capabilities that benefit the planet, the people, and all life rather than raping it all for profit takes a long time, but the conditions exist to make it possible. The ruling class can no longer run society, business and the world, there’s nothing left to conquer and resources are limited. Revolution for our generations is not optional, it becomes necessary to prevent further violence. Ultimately this capitalist system is the most violent and destructive system ever created. So handwringing about going and getting your rifle for violent revolution is completely ridiculous in a world that takes away housing while people are homeless, and then makes being homeless a crime; all while supporting global imperialism, genocide and ecosystemic catastrophe for all people; just so the rich can get richer.
Neat, I assume everyone posting and upvoting this is picking up a rifle and running out there to revolt violently against the “system.” No? Just going to type away on your keyboard? Cool.
Aah yes, Rosa Luxemburg, famous advocate for violence.
Revolutionaries like Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht and Paul Levi argued against a violent putsch and fought for political and economic revolution through organization of the working class to seize power. Guillotines don’t work. And its impossible to have a pacifist revolution, the ruling class will never allow it so defense will be a necessity, but the German revolution/Spartacist uprising is an especially good example of this. Revolutionaries were constantly arguing against violence, but there were many “radicals” that thought they could just seize the capital buildings to take the power. This led to several failed Putsches, like the Vorwards siege that led to the murder of Karl and Rosa, the Kapp Putsch, and ultimately the Reichstag fire which led to the ascention of the Nazis to power. In Germany by 1923 the ruling capitalist class and their stooges were completely defeated – but so were the workers. Devastating loss after loss in violent uprisings, when the Marxists were arguing for political and social changes, led to the conditions for the Nazis to come to power.
A real revolution to overthrow the class that controls the production of goods, the actual historical basis for the state, politics and economics, cannot be won with violence. It takes time and preparation for when the wheels start coming off the social order that supports the existing system, similar to what was happening to the feudal system in the 19th century culminating in the worldwide bourgeois revolution of world war I. The next stage of progress for society is one where the workers seize the power for ourselves, which is an act of mass collective political action. It can’t be won with violence, violently overthrowing the government and instating new leaders, even supposedly “socialist” ones is a kind of reform, and is not revolutionary.
To overthrow the economic system and smash the state in order to create a new workers state and productive capabilities that benefit the planet, the people, and all life rather than raping it all for profit takes a long time, but the conditions exist to make it possible. The ruling class can no longer run society, business and the world, there’s nothing left to conquer and resources are limited. Revolution for our generations is not optional, it becomes necessary to prevent further violence. Ultimately this capitalist system is the most violent and destructive system ever created. So handwringing about going and getting your rifle for violent revolution is completely ridiculous in a world that takes away housing while people are homeless, and then makes being homeless a crime; all while supporting global imperialism, genocide and ecosystemic catastrophe for all people; just so the rich can get richer.