Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919) was a Marxist intellectual whose writing spans an impressive range of topics, including political economy, international politics, imperialism, art, and culture. Luxemburg sought to develop spontaneous, grass roots politics (rather than a centralized or party-led program). For her, a top-down revolution could not be a revolution proper. With her emphasis on the people over the party, Luxemburg is seen as a champion of a humanitarian Marxism.

This is exemplified in Luxemburg’s methodology in Introduction to Political Economy (1925), which moves from a theory-driven account of economical law to an account that is also informed by lived experiences and concrete historical and anthropological studies. While Luxemburg’s work was not immediately recognized by official Marxists, her analysis of capital, wage, war, oppression, and imperialism now plays a crucial role in critical theory more broadly. This applies both to Luxemburg’s analysis of capital and her important conception of the relationship between theory and practical political work