One hundred years ago today, Rosa Luxemburg was arrested and summarily executed by the German police. She was the most outspoken socialist south of Soviet Russia. Her intellect was too strong and her rhetoric too convincing for the German oligarchy. All of Europe is remembering her today. Socialism has been stomped on with propaganda, with violence, with control of the historical narrative and censorship of the news, with war and with political "contributions" from the rich and powerful. But the ideas remain robust. Social democracies offer the best quality of life of all the countries in the world. The friends of peace in bourgeois circles believe that world peace and disarmament can be realised within the frame-work of the present social order, whereas we, who base ourselves on the materialistic conception of history and on scientific socialism, are convinced that militarism can only be abolished from the world with the destruction of the capitalist class state.
Die Friedensfreunde aus burgerlichen Kreisen glauben, das sich Weltfriede und Abrustung im Rahmen der heutigen Gesellschaftsordnung verwirklichen lassen, wir aber, die wir auf dem Boden der materialistischen Geschichtsauffassung und des wissenschaftlichen Sozialismus stehen, sind der ÃÅ"berzeugung, das der Militarismus erst mit dem kapitalistischen Klassenstaate zusammen aus der Welt geschafft werden kann.