Rosa Luxemburg and the Periphery

The International Rosa Luxemburg Society was founded in 1980 as a network to promote research on the life and work of Rosa Luxemburg around the world. Its last conference took place from 6–8 March 2023 in Bodø, Norway. It was organised by Nord University and prepared in particular by Prof. Frank Jacob, supported by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and the Fritt Ord Foundation. The focus of the contributions was the reception of Luxemburg on the “peripheries”, and will subsequently be published as an edited volume.

For those of you who were unable to attend, here is the recording of the public panel discussion on the significance of Rosa Luxemburg for the twenty-first century, with Evelin Wittich (RLS, Harz), Tanja Storløkken, (Oslo), Florian Wenninger (Institute for Historical Social Research, Vienna), Steinar Aas (Nord University, Bodø). Chaired by Philipp Kufferath (FES, Bonn).

Conference Programme:

DAY 1: 6 MARCH

14:00 Welcome Notes

14:30 Panel 1: Rosa Luxemburg and the Periphery: Latin America
A Red Witch Is Haunting Latin America (Selene Aldana Santana and Amada Vollbert Romero, Mexico City)
Rosa Luxemburg and the International Women’s Strike (Alex Adamson, Wellesley, MA, USA)
Cultural Heritage in the Periphery: A Luxemburgian Analysis (Rosa Rosa Gomes, Sāo Paulo)

16:00 Break

18:00 Public Event, Stormen, Bodø: Roundtable Discussion on “The Role of Rosa Luxemburg in the 21st Century”
(Evelin Wittich, Tanja Storløkken, Florian Wenninger, and Steinar Aas)

DAY 2: 7 MARCH

10:00 Panel 2: Rosa Luxemburg and the Periphery: Other Regions
Reception of Rosa Luxemburg in the Balkans during the World Revolution, 1917–1923 (Stefan Gužvica, Belgrade)
Walking on the edges: Rosa Luxemburg in Yugoslavia (Ankica Čakardić, Zagreb)
Rosa Luxemburg and the Norwegian Labour Movement (Steinar Aas, Bodø)

11:30 Lunch Break

13:00 Panel 3: Rosa Luxemburg and Her Perception in Scandinavia
“But we well brawl, I can promise we do.” Bruno Kreisky Discusses Luxemburg’s Ideas in Swedish
Exile (Christian Dietrich, Frankfurt/Oder)
Luxemburg in Canada (Swen Steinberg, Ottawa/Ontario, Canada). Online via Zoom

14:00 Break

14:30 Panel 4: The Impact of Rosa Luxemburg’s Ideas on Contemporary Progressive Mass Movements and Socialist Democracy (Part 1)
Luxemburg and the Relevance of Republican Democracy (Ben Lewis, Leeds)
Rosa Luxemburg as a Republican Agitator: Shaping Social Democracy in Imperial Germany (David Guerrero and Andrea Pérez-Fernández, Barcelona)

16:00 Panel 5: Projects and Sources
Let Rosa Luxemburg Speak Chinese: The Project of Issuing The Complete Works of Rosa Luxemburg in Chinese (WU Xinwei, Wuhan)
“Which Institution Will Take Over the Papers of Narihiko Ito?” Short information by Wako Asato (Kyoto)

DAY 3: 8 MARCH

10:00 Panel 6: The Impact of Rosa Luxemburg’s Ideas on Contemporary Progressive Mass Movements and Socialist Democracy (Part 2)
Railroad Luxemburg: Luxemburg’s Theory of Infrastructure and Its Consequences for Competing Models of Internet Ownership (Charlie Muller, New York)
Rosa Luxemburg: Economics & Experience (Ingo Schmidt, Athabasca, Canada)
Rosa Luxemburg, Imperialism and the Socialist Challenge in South Africa (Gunnett Kaaf, Bloemfontein)

11:30 Lunch Break

12:30 Panel 7: New Insights into Rosa Luxemburg’s Life, Work, and Impact
Willy Brandt’s View of Rosa Luxemburg (Uli Schöler, Berlin)
Rosa Luxemburg and Literature: Literature Effects on Rosa Luxemburg’s Social Theory (Marc Ortmann, Munich)
The Portrayal of Rosa Luxemburg in the Films of the GDR and the FRG (Julia Killet, Munich)
Rosa Luxemburg: Nature, Botany, and Politics (Evelin Wittich, Berlin)

15:00 Concluding Session