Editing Rosa Luxemburg (section)

==== German Revolution of 1918–1919 ====
{{see also|German Revolution of 1918–1919}}
[[File:Alfred Grohs zur Revolution 1918 1919 in Berlin Große Frankfurter Straße Ecke Lebuser Straße Barrikade Kampf während der Novemberrevolution in Berlin 02 Bildseite Schaulustige.jpg|thumb|left|Barricade during the [[Spartacist uprising]]]]

Luxemburg was freed from prison in Breslau on 8 November 1918, three days before the [[armistice of 11 November 1918]]. One day later, Karl Liebknecht, who had also been freed from prison, proclaimed the Free Socialist Republic ({{lang|de|Freie Sozialistische Republik}}) in Berlin.<ref>{{cite web|title=Long Live the Republic – 9 November 1918|last=von Hellfeld|first=Matthias|work=[[Deutsche Welle]]|url=http://www.dw.de/long-live-the-republic-november-9-1918/a-4746952|date=16 November 2009|access-date=30 November 2014}}</ref> He and Luxemburg reorganised the Spartacus League and founded ''The Red Flag'' ({{lang|de|Die Rote Fahne}}) newspaper, demanding amnesty for all [[political prisoner]]s and the abolition of [[capital punishment]] in the essay ''Against Capital Punishment''.<ref name="Merrick"/> On 14 December 1918, they published the new programme of the Spartacus League.

Following the arrival of Soviet emissary and [[military advisor]] [[Karl Radek]], between 29 and 31 December 1918 a joint congress of the League, independent socialists and the International Communists of Germany (IKD) took place with Radek's involvement. During the conference, Luxemburg continued to denounce the [[Red Terror]] and [[Censorship in Russia|censorship in the Soviet Russia]]. She also accused both Lenin and the Bolsheviks of having [[police state]] aspirations. She further expressed shame that her former colleague and friend, [[Felix Dzerzhinsky]], had agreed to head the [[CHEKA|Cheka]], the then Soviet security agency, and asked Radek to convey her opinions about all these matters to the [[Politburo]] in Moscow.<ref>Robert Service (2012), ''Spies and Commissars: The Early Years of the Russian Revolution'', Public Affairs Books. pp. 171–173.</ref>

This same conference, however, ultimately led to the foundation on 1 January 1919 of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) under the leadership of Liebknecht and Luxemburg. Luxemburg supported the new KPD's participation in the [[Weimar National Assembly]] that founded the Weimar Republic, but she was out-voted and the KPD boycotted the elections.<ref>Luban, Ottokar (2017). ''The Role of the Spartacist Group after 9 November 1918 and the Formation of the KPD'' In Hoffrogge, Ralf; LaPorte, Norman (eds.). ''Weimar Communism as Mass Movement 1918–1933''. London: Lawrence & Wishart. pp. 45–65.</ref>

Leading up to the January 1919 struggle for power with the SPD, the improvised [[Spartacist uprising|Spartacist Uprising]] began in Berlin. Luxemburg spoke at the founding conference of the German Communist Party on 31 December 1918:

<blockquote>The progress of large-scale capitalist development during seventy years has brought us so far that today we can seriously set about destroying capitalism once and for all. No, still more; today we are not only in a position to perform this task, its performance is not only a duty toward the proletariat, but its solution offers the only means of saving human society from destruction.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Luxemburg |first1=Rosa |editor1-last=Hudis |editor1-first=Peter |editor2-last=Anderson |editor2-first=Kevin B. |chapter=Our Program and the Political Situation |title=The Rosa Luxemburg Reader |date=2004 |publisher=Monthly Review |pages=364}}</ref></blockquote>

Like Liebknecht, Luxemburg supported the violent {{lang|de|putsch}} attempt.{{sfn|Jones|2016|p=193}} In a complete reversal of her previous demands for "unrestricted [[freedom of the press]]",<ref name="marxists.org">{{cite book|author-first=Rosa |author-last=Luxemburg |chapter-url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1918/russian-revolution/ch06.htm |title=The Russian Revolution |chapter=The Problem of Dictatorship |orig-date=1918 |publisher=Workers Age Publishers |location=New York |date=1940 |translator-first=Bertram |translator-last=Wolfe}}</ref> ''The Red Flag'' called for the KPD to violently occupy the editorial offices of the anti-Spartacist press and later, all other positions of power.{{sfn|Jones|2016|p=193}} On 8 January, Luxemburg's ''Red Flag'' printed a public statement by her, in which she called for [[Revolutionary terror|revolutionary violence]] and no negotiations with the revolution's "mortal enemies", the SPD-led [[Republicanism|Republican]] Government of Friedrich Ebert and [[Philipp Scheidemann]].{{sfn|Jones|2016|pp=193–194}}