The Socialist Crisis in France

Part 3
The present attitude of the Jaurès group towards the policies of the government is, in one sense, in direct contradiction to its position during the Dreyfus Affair. But, in another sense, it is nothing but a direct continuation of the previous policy. The same principle – unity with the bourgeois democrats – served as the basis of socialist policy in both cases. It served during two years of unyielding struggle for a solution of the Dreyfus Affair, and, today, because the bourgeois democrats have deserted the fight, it leads the socialists to also liquidate the Dreyfus Affair and to give up all attempts at a fundamental reformation of the army and a change in the relations between Republic and Church. Instead of making the independent political struggle of the Socialist party the permanent. fundamental element and unity with bourgeois radicals the varying and incidental element, this principle caused Jaurès to adopt the opposite tactic: the alli... (From : Marxists.org.)

Part 2
If the existence of the republic had depended upon the Waldeck-Rousseau cabinet, it would have perished long ago. The buffoonery of the monarchist insurrection was matched by the buffoonery of the republican defense. Seldom has a government taken the helm in a more serious moment and seldom has a government had greater hopes placed in it. It is time that the monarchist danger was more of a specter than a reality. The really serious possibility, however, was that the guerrilla war with the monarchist elements would reveal to the insubordinate army chiefs and mutiny-preaching clergy the impotence of the Republic and, thereby, make repetitions of similar crises inevitable in the future. The eyes of the civilized world were turned to France. It was necessary to prove her ability to exist as an orderly state. It was necessary to show that bourgeois France still was powerful enough to isolate and neutralize the elements of disintegration that it had produced. (From : Marxists.org.)

Part 1
Jaurès and his adherents justified Millerand’s entry into the Cabinet on three grounds: The Republic must be defended. It would be possible to put through social reforms of benefit to the working class. And, finally, the development of capitalist society into socialism must give birth to a transition period in which the political power is wielded in common by the bourgeoisie and the proletariat and finds its outward expression in the participation of socialists in the government. After a time, the reference to the defense of the Republic became the chief argument. The Republic is in danger! That is why it was necessary for a socialist to become the bourgeois Minister of Commerce. The Republic is in danger! That is why the socialist had to remain in the cabinet even after the massacre of the striking workers on the Island of Martinique and in Chalon. The Republic is in danger! As a result, inquiries into the massacres had to be blocked, the parliame... (From : Marxists.org.)

Introduction
Written: 1901. First Published: Die sozialistische Krise in Frankreich, first appeared in 5 installments in Neue Zeit, 1900/1901 and fills 69 pages in the Gesammelte Werke. Source: New International, July 1939, pp.198-203; August 1939, pp.233-237; October 1939, pp.310-313 Translated: Ernest Erber Transcription/Markup: Ted Crawford/Brian Baggins Public Domain: Luxemburg Internet Archive 2005. This work is completely free. Introduction Introductory Note This work of Rosa Luxemburg was originally published under the title, The Socialist Crisis in France in 1900-01 in Neue Zeit, the chief theoretical organ of German social democracy. It was written during the “Millerand Crisis” in the Second International, caused by the entry of Alexandre Millerand, the French socialist, into the “cabinet of republican defense” formed... (From : Marxists.org.)