The Future Belongs to the PeopleLiebknecht, Karl Paul August Friedrich
History
The Future Belongs to the People
Liebknecht, Karl Paul August Friedrich
World War, 1914-1918
Dr. Rosa Luxemburg, with whom the following speech of Dr. Liebknecht
deals, was tried in 1914 because at a public meeting she attacked
militarism and the tragedies which were happening in the German
barracks: brutal treatments, abuses and suicides of German soldiers. At
her trial nine hundred and twenty-two men from all parts of Germany were
ready to testify to something like thirty thousand separate instances of
brutal treatment of soldiers.
Dr. Rosa Luxemburg was born in Russian Poland, of Jewish parents, and
studied in Switzerland. She went later to Germany in order to become
active in Social-Democratic propaganda. Being a foreigner, she would
have been immediately exiled by the authorities, had she not married a
Mr. Luxemburg--with whom she never lived--and in that way became a
German citizen.
Dr. Rosa Luxemburg, or "Die Rote Rosa" (The Red Rose) as the Junkers
call her, is one of the very brilliant speakers of the Social-Democratic
Party of Germany and very few in the party equal her in debate. She has
written various books on scientific socialism.
_Assembly Session, March 9, 1915._
Third reading of the Budget for the fiscal year 1915, with the proposed
law regarding the determination of the budget, with a special chapter in
reference to the administration of justice. Taking part in the
discussion of this special chapter, Dr. K. Liebknecht, Minister of
Justice Dr. Beseler and v. Pappenheim (Conservative), who by his motion
that the discussion on this chapter should be closed, made it impossible
for Liebknecht to answer the Secretary of Justice.
DR. LIEBKNECHT: Gentlemen, a few days ago, continuing an old tradition
of this house, which remained true to itself, even in this respect, you
deprived me of the floor; to-day you will have to endure what I shall
tell you,--what I really think.
As is known to you, my party friend, Rosa Luxemburg, was condemned to
one year in prison for an alleged appeal to the soldiers for
insubordination. This decision was approved a few months ago by the
Supreme Court. In January of this year the execution of the sentence was
postponed until March 31st on account of her illness. She spent a few
weeks in a hospital at Schoeneberg and was dismissed from it not cured,
on condition that she follow a certain course of treatment. On February
18th she was suddenly arrested at Suedende by two officers of the
Criminal Department, brought to the Berlin Police Department, and then
to Division 7, that is, to the political division, and not to the
criminal division. Thence she was transported in the green wagon,
together with common criminals, to the women's prison in the
Barminstrasse, for the fulfillment of her one year's prison sentence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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