Text: Mauri Ylä-Kotola
Animation: Teijo Pellinen
Music: Lacrimioara Galagan
Sound design: Mikko Karvonen
(c) 2021
Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919) was a Polish philosopher raised in an assimilated Jewish family. When Luxemburg moved to Germany in 1898 she sharply defined the border between the views of her and revisionism theory of Eduard Bernstein, whose follower in Finland was president Mauno Koivisto.
In her book Social reform or revolution Luxemburg argues that the trade unions cannot create a socialist society. A Revolution is necessary to transform capitalism into socialism. Luxemburg was captured in Berlin 15 January 1919 and shot in the head by Hermann Souchon (or Otto Runge). Luxemburg was tortured and killed and her body was dumped in the Landwehr Canal in Kreuzberg. Her corpse was only found months later. Hermann Souchon escaped to Finland. During the Second World War Finland occupied the ship “Rosa Luxemburg” at Lake Onega and changed its name to “Äänislinna”.
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