Some themes that are of interest include:

• Luxemburg’s analysis of imperialism and primitive accumulation – might we, for example, learn something about how different areas of international economic law, from investment to finance to intellectual property to labour and environmental protection, operate through processes of primitive accumulation and expansionary marketisation?[4]

• Luxemburg’s work on self-determination and the question of national independence – might we better understand the tensions between self-determination, nationalism, and liberation by adopting a historical materialist view?[5] Might this, more broadly, teach us something about dissent in relation to both orthodox and heterodox theories of statehood and internationalism?

• Luxemburg’s work on reform or revolution – can we gain a deeper understanding of the critique of international law and praxis and international law by working through Luxemburg’s famous engagement with the topic?[6]

• Gender, imperialism and intersecting layers of oppression– can we be guided by Luxemburg’s thinking to consider what a revolution from below, as the daily building of revolutionary consciousness, may mean for gender justice? And how it might disrupt gendered ideas of radical internationalism (in their intersections with race, ethnicity, class, disability, legal status)?[7]

• Her strategy of rupture in the courtroom – is there a way of thinking about radical courtroom practices, or radical pedagogy practices, through considering Luxemburg’s strategy of rupture when she was herself facing charges in the German courts?

• Mass strike, international socialism and the immaterial work of being a comrade – Luxemburg always maintained that declaring oneself a ‘socialist’ was not enough. Integrity and commitment to social justice entails commitment to an overarching struggle beyond borders. How can we use her insights to rethink the international economic, political and philanthropic systems that reproduce exploitation?

Co-organised by Serena NatileLink opens in a new window and Christine Schwöbel-PatelLink opens in a new window

Project co-sponsored by the CCLSLink opens in a new window and SLSLink opens in a new window.