In The Steps Of Rosa Luxemburg: Selected Writings Of Paul Levi: Historical Materialism, Volume 31

Description

Paul Levi remains one of the most interesting and controversial figures in the early history of the Communist movement. As leader of the KPD after the murder of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, he successfully built up a party of a third of a million members, but by 1921 Comintern pressure for 'Bolshevisation' forced Levi's resignation and expulsion.This is the first English edition of Levi's writings and thus fills a gap in the canon of German communist literature.

David Fernbach studied at London School of Economics. He is a freelance writer, editor and translator. Publications include the three-volume edition of Karl Marx's Political Writings (Penguin 1973-4, reissued Verso 2010), and The Spiral Path: a gay contribution to human survival (1981). Translations include Marx's Capital Volumes Two and Three, and works by Georg Lukacs, Rudolf Bahro, Boris Groys, Nicos Poulantzas, Pierre Bourdieu, Alain Badiou and Jacques Ranciere. Paul Levi (1886 1930) was a long time friend and sometimes lawyer to Rosa Luxemburg. Levi became one of the leading members of the German Communist Party, and an active participant in the Communist International.

"With this skillfully edited collection of Levi's speeches and writings, Fernbach, long established as a leading student of Marxism, makes a major contribution to understanding the Left in Europe in the years after WW I. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above." -Choice "Levi's writings in English ... allow English-reading socialists to obtain a fuller understanding of the German revolutionary period after the First World War, a period rich in lessons for anti-capitalists today. ... David Fernbach [has] done a service to the left in making them available to the English reader. -Stuart King, in Permanent Revolution, vol. 22 "With this skillfully edited collection of Levi's speeches and writings, Fernbach, long established as a leading student of Marxism, makes a major contribution to understanding the Left in Europe in the years after WW I. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above." Choice "Levi's writings in English ... allow English-reading socialists to obtain a fuller understanding of the German revolutionary period after the First World War, a period rich in lessons for anti-capitalists today. ... David Fernbach [has] done a service to the left in making them available to the English reader. Stuart King, in Permanent Revolution, vol. 22