Institute for Critical Social Analysis

Political and strategic analysis and debate in the spirit of a socialist transformation of modern society constitute the heart of the Institute for Critical Social Analysis’s work at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation. The emergence of the “great crisis” in 2008 signalled a shift towards a renewed transformation of capitalism, the precise contours of which will be the subject of many battles in the coming years. So what exactly is happening? How can the Left pursue a socialist transformation in the spirit of Rosa Luxemburg’s “revolutionary Realpolitik”, given that the balance of social forces is decidedly not in our favour? What is to be done, and who will do it?

Given this constellation, the Institute for Critical Social Analysis seeks to develop connecting perspectives capable of bringing together the diverging interests, cultures, and passions of the “Mosaic Left” into common projects and perspectives. We link theoretical work and concrete critical analysis with the strategic search for effective political interventions and praxes of networking and re-organization (“transformative organizing”). This requires, for one, continuous engagement with concrete social conflicts, while, on the other hand, seeking to involve relevant social actors in our activities. Our quarterly magazine, LuXemburg, collects relevant debates and praxes from across the Mosaic Left. In thematic terms, the institute concentrates on the following topics:

  • Analysis and critique of the (multiple) crises and transformations of capitalist society: examples include the analysis of economic and ecological crises, as well as crises of reproduction and representation and their condensation into organic crisis, analysis of shifting global power relations, conflicts, and wars, critique of the structural transformation of democracy, and feminist critiques of capitalism.
  • Theory and praxis of interventionist socialist transformation (research): keywords include working with scenarios, connecting structural and activity-focused or rather subject-oriented research, democracy, class, and social structure analysis as well as research on gender relations and feminist praxes, or history and theory of socialist and communist approaches to transformation.
  • Analyses of and connective strategies for the reorganization of a social (Mosaic) Left: analyses of parties and movements, trade union renewal, transformative organizing, praxes of a Left Mosaic and a connective party.
  • Approaches towards social-ecological transformation, green socialism and just transitions in the solidary restructuring of modes of production and living, relations of property and power. Our focuses include energy democracy and climate justice, care revolution and infrastructural socialism, food sovereignty and conversion.
  • Left strategies for a refounding of Europe and the restructuring of the European Union, a new peace and security policy, and more just forms of international cooperation.