> A revolution in the west would have failed as well, though it might even
> in its failure, have made the Russian Revolution less brutal and
> prevented WW2! But that does not mean the revolutionaries of the 2d
> International (esp. Luxemburg, Lenin, the Irish socialists, others who
> opposed the slaughter of WW1) were wrong in attempting revolution. Doug
> ended one of his posts on Lenin with "You never know," and that in fact
> is the s ecret of Luxemburg's and Lenin's greatness.
Agreed. The period was a revolutionary one. War and deprivation were radicalizing the masses and the troops at the front throughout Europe. How could they not have made the attempt, recognizing that even the most carefully calculated risks can fail?
> I was not being facetious in my selection of the Subject line - Frost's
> poem _is_ a vindication of the revolutionary efforts of the last 210
> years. Again, Luxemburg at Stuttgart was totally correct in selecting
> the workers of the (failed) Paris Commune as her model. Though she
> slandered old women, many of whom have more steel in their spine than
> most social deemocrats, still her point was clear: Those who wait until
> 'conditions' are obviously 'ripe,' wait forever while the world cooks.
This is (again) a misreading of the Communards and Rosa who each in their time DID believe that the conditions were "ripe" for revolution. Their criticism of those in the workers' movement who wanted to reform rather than overthrow capitalism was that the latter did not understand the movement of history and nature of the period they were living through.
It's safe to say that Luxemburg would not regard the current period as revolutionary, and would therefore not be calling for an "heroic" but doomed armed insurrection anymore than you, I, or anyone else on the left, including the anarchists. She would be counselling the same patient organizing and education around those issues (jobs, foreclosures, healthcare, imperialist wars, etc.) which correspond to the immediate needs and consciousness of the masses - until and if the masses themselves gave some indication and the balance of forces confirmed they were prepared to engage in a decisive confrontation with the ruling class.