Rosa Luxemburg — Stillstand und Fortschritt des Marxismus (1903)

Rosa Luxemburg: Stagnation and Progress of Marxism (1903) Rosa Luxemburg Stagnation and Progress of Marxism (1903) Written: 1903. Source: Karl Marx: Man, Thinker and Revolutionist , edited by D. Ryazanov. Publisher: International Publishers, New York, 1927. Translated from German: Eden and Cedar Paul. Republished: New International, Vol. VI No. 7 (Whole No. 47), August 1940. pp. 143–144. Transcription/Markup: Dario Romeo and Brian Baggins. Proofread: Einde O’Callaghan (July 2013). Online Version: Rosa Luxemburg Internet Archive (marxists.org) 2000. In his shallow but at time interesting causerie entitled Die soziale Bewegung in Frankreich und Belgien ( The Socialist Movement in France and Belgium ), Karl Grün remarks, aptly enough, that Fourier ’s and Saint-Simon ’s theories had very different effects upon their respective adherents. Saint-Simon was the spiritual ancestor of a whole generation of brilliant investigators and writers in various field of intellectual activity; but Fourier’s followers were, with few exceptions, persons who blindly parroted their master’s words, and were incapable of making any advance upon his teaching. Grün’s explanation of this difference is that Fourier presented the world with a finished system, elaborated in all its details; whereas Saint-Simon merely tossed his disciples a loose bundle of great thoughts. Although it seems to me that Grün pays too little attention to the inner, the essential, difference between the theories of these two classical authorities in the domain of utopian socialism, I feel that on the whole is observation is sound. Beyond question, a system of ideas which is merely sketched in broad outline proves far more stimulating than a finished and symmetrical structure which leaves nothing to be added and offers no scope for the independent effort of an active mind.