Rosa Luxemburg: A Life

A founding member of both the Polish and German Communist parties, yet an outspoken believer in democracy and an agitator who disagreed with Lenin, Luxemburg in recent years has become a heroine of the political left. This short biography sympathetically describes her personal and public life as a middle-class Jewish outsider, crippled from childhood, her numerous writings and several love affairs. Brilliant and courageous, yet inflexible, intolerant and uncompromising, she was also insecure, romantic and sentimental. She was often imprisoned for her radical views and activities. Luxemburg tried to establish a proletarian government in Germany, but she and her associates were murdered by reactionary soldiers shortly after the armistice. Ettinger's intimate book does not replace Peter Nettl's standard, more comprehensive biography of 1966. Photos not seen by PW. (January 1)