Rosa Luxemburg
The Most Famous Woman in the World

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th year after 1907, the American reporter Lowell Thomas and his cameraman, Harry Chase, had just returned from the Middle East. Among other things, they had met a young English army officer named Thomas Edward Lawrence. But now Germany had surrendered, and the World to End All Wars was over. Harry returned to America to process their film, and Lowell remained in Europe.

Unlike the Second War to End All Wars - which started in 1939 and ended in 1945 - during World War I, there had been no invasion of the defeated lands. Nor were any occupying forces sent in afterwards. As to what was going on in Germany following the Armistice, well, any guess was as good as another.

So Lowell and Webb Waldron, the foreign editor of Colliers Magazine, decided to go to Germany and find out. After some maneuvering (which ended with them spending a night in a Swiss jail) they managed to get authorization to enter Germany. So in December, 1918, and after a side trip to Oberammergau, Lowell and Webb found their way to Berlin.

What they found was a country with no government. Areas of the larger cities were being controlled by armed groups of former soldiers and sailors. These paramilitary forces were in turn nominally aligned with various political factions who were now vying for the hearts and souls of the German people.

One of these factions was the Spartakusbund, the Spartacus Union, or as it's often called, the Spartacist League. Leading the Spartacists was Karl Liebknecht, a politician with a Milquetoast appearance but a firebrand personality. And leading the League with Karl was a middle aged author and editor named, yes, Rosa Luxemburg.

Born in 1871 in Zamośćbinm Poland, (some sources say 1870), Rosa was quite precocious both as a child and as a revolutionary. Her family soon moved to Warsaw, and at age five Rosa came down with a serious but vaguely described illness. She recovered, but the disease - or the treatment - left her with what some authors call an "ungainly" limp. Still she was able to attend the Russian Second High School for Girls, a local gymnasium. This was a particularly rigorous high school, not a place for exercise.

Coming from a Jewish family, Rosa experienced prejudice and discrimination. Her experiences gave her what we might call a "willful" disposition which means she didn't hesitate to argue with adults. Her forthright nature is probably what kept her from being awarded the school's gold medal although she graduated at the top of her class.

Rosa's political activism also began early and at age 15 she joined what was called the Proletariat Party. As the name suggests, this was a group that was touting - or at least influenced by - the philosophy of Karl Marx.

Today we shrug our shoulders. Huh! Kids! Of course, they'll join any oddball organization just to get a rise out of the adults. So what?

But remember that before 1950 there was no such thing as a rebellious teenager. In fact, the whole concept of the teenager had yet to come into effect. If you were 15 years old, you were a responsible adult, and Rosa's outspoken political views began to get noticed by the authorities.

Rosa also felt frustrated by the continued anti-Semitism and gender restrictions that hindered her pursuit of higher education. True, there were special girls colleges where they taught the young women acceptable occupations like teaching and nursing. But most colleges were men-only.

So when Rosa learned that the University of Zürich admitted women, she persuaded her parents to let her attend. The fact that the local authorities were noting her political activities also suggested a change in residence was prudent. She moved to Switzerland in 1889.

The books aren't always clear what Rosa studied but the apparent disagreement simply reflects her wide-ranging interests. And then as now there were basic requirements students had to fullfil. At first she studied the natural sciences, mostly zoology, and then took courses in political science, philosophy, and economics. She impressed her professors and one of them called her his ablest student. In 1892, Rosa also began to study law which she did for the next five years.

Of course Rosa didn't spend all her time going to school. She remained active in socialist politics even after the Proletariat Party had changed their name to the less confrontational (and more wordy) Social Democratic Party of the Kingdom of Poland (SDP). In 1893, Rosa was an SDP representative at the Congress of the Socialist International in Zürich.

As an editor and writer for socialist papers, Rosa soon became known as one of the new economic theorists. In 1894 she even went to Paris where her writings and pamphlets helped put her ideas in shape for what would eventually become her doctoral thesis, The Industrial Development of Poland. Her thesis was even published - a mark of distinction - and she received her Doctorate of Laws in 1898 (some sources say 1897).

By the turn of the century and despite her youth, Rosa was recognized as a leader of international socialism. Unfortunately, at this time being a socialist in Europe was about as popular with the governments as being a socialist is in the 21st century United States.

Particularly in Germany. The bigwigs there didn't like socialism a-tall.

And where do you think Rosa moved after graduation?

Yep. Germany.

Actually Germany is a bit of a misnomer. Germany didn't really exist. Instead - quote - "Germany" - unquote - was a collection of countries where the people spoke German.

There was, though, a German Confederation which was a political entity formed in 1871. The various kings and princes of the German principalities agreed to acknowledge the authority of the German emperor. That was Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig von Hohenzollern.

Wilhelm I was succeeded in March 1888 by his oldest son, Frederick. Unfortunately when Frederick ascended the throne he was already seriously ill, and he lived only four months longer. Then his younger brother, Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert, took over.

The German speaking emperors had taken the title of Caesar - which in German is Kaiser. But when Americans talk about the Kaiser they mean Wilhelm Friedrich. For what it's worth, Wilhelm was the grandson of Queen Victoria. So in 1901 he became the nephew of the King of England who was the portly and at times profligate Edward VII.

Rosa had some trouble relocating to Germany. Remember Germany was a confederation which means the individual countries had considerable autonomy. Berlin was in Prussia which at the time didn't let Polish nationals in.

But Rosa managed to convince the authorities she had married a Prussian citizen named Gustav Lubeck. They weren't married, of course, but the ruse did allow Rosa to become a Prussian citizen. Her real sweetie was another revolutionary named Leo Jogiches but they never got officially hitched.

At this point, the reader may scoff at the continued use of "socialism" as belying what should really be called (ptui) communism. Actually Rosa believed a socialist government should be democratic. She even used the word "social democracy" and felt that a socialist government should only come to and remain in power with the approval of the majority. But that she was influenced by Marxist philosophy can't be denied. She was soon dubbed "Red Rose" and in 1904 (again some sources say 1903) she was arrested and sentenced to three months in prison.

Rosa had definite ideas of what made a better society. In 1913 she wrote her most famous book The Accumulation of Capital. Like most books of economic theory, it is complex and not easy to summarize. But in general Rosa's book points out that the goal of a capitalistic economy is to increase its profits. So it must continually expand. On the other hand eventually you run out of customers. But how can such a system continue if there is only a finite number of buyers who, after all, work for the capitalists themselves?

Rosa also believed that the workers of all countries should eschew any national boundaries. Opposition of nationalism fit well with the basic Workers-of-the-World-Unite philosophy. But it did put her at odds with another established revolutionary who felt that worker revolutions would be linked to the national identity of the workers. That was the opinion of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov who had adopted the pen-name of Lenin.

Despite that socialism was viewed with trepidation by many established political leaders, there seemed to be - to borrow a phrase from an American singer - a whole lot of socialism going on. But it's easy to forget that in the first decade of the 20th Century, socialism was not necessarily equated with Marxism and certainly not with what is properly termed Stalinism. Nor was socialism seen as being antithetical to mainstream religions. In 1911, the citizens of Schenectady, New York, elected a mayor, George Lunn. George not only ran on the Socialist Party ticket, but was also a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church. He was so popular that he was re-elected.

No one really knew what to do with the socialists. On the one hand they were simply a political party, but a political party that left mainstream politicians more and more confused on how to handle them. In Prussia it was legal to be a socialist and campaign in elections. Socialists could even sit in the parliament (the Reichstag). But you couldn't belong to a socialist organization or run a socialist newspaper.

Then along came mid-July, 1914, when Ferdinand, the Archduke of Sarajevo, was assassinated. Within two weeks and because of the myriad of international alliances, treaties, and associations, Europe was suddenly in the (First) War to End All Wars.

In 1914, Rosa split with the SDP which supported the war. She and Karl Liebknecht formed the Spartacist League which was anti-war. They organized demonstrations and wrote anti-war articles. Naturally she and Karl were thrown in prison.

So things continued until 1918 when it was clear the war was lost. Three days before the armistice Rosa was released from prison. The German government then collapsed and Lowell and Webb showed up.

The Americans found Berlin a strange and surreal city. It was divided into sections controlled by the paramilitary militias. Gunfire rattled periodically in the streets. But the telephones worked and the streetcars were running. Food was short - meals sometimes were no more than boiled turnips - but as of yet no one was starving. You could even see the latest movies in the theaters.

Although there was no functioning government, there were still politicians. After the Kaiser abdicated and moved to the Netherlands, the presidency was turned over to Prince Max von Ebert. Prince Max, though, was worried about the extremists on both the left and the right. He would soon call a conference at Weimar (pronounced VY-mar) which ended up establishing a republic, commonsensically called the Weimar Republic.

The Weimar Constitution established a thoroughly democratic and humane government. The problem was that it also bestowed on the President the power to appoint a chief operating officer called the Chancellor. The Chancellor was not elected, not even by the parliament, and didn't even need to have any experience in politics or anything else. So you could end up with a real jerk running the country.

Worse, the constitution permitted the president to declare emergencies where dictatorial powers were granted to the executive branch. So if a fire started in a building somewhere, say the Reichstag, then in the name of national security the Chancellor might be able to convince the president to declare a state of emergency. And if the Chancellor decided the emergency merited the indefinite suspension of all civil liberties and due process, well, that was the price you had to pay to have a no-muss/no-fuss government.

But for now Germany had to get a government up and running. No one could really agree on what that government was to be, nor was anyone really interested in compromise.

You'll now notice that the time we're talking about is after 1918. So by now the concept of socialism and particularly communism was more and more equated with Marxism and Bolshevism. So fewer and fewer American politicians wanted anything to do with it. Even Reverend George Lunn, the Socialist mayor of Schenectady, switched to the Democratic party.

On January 1, 1919, the Spartacist League changed its name to the German Communist Party. The next day, Lowell and Webb managed to sit down with Rosa and Karl.

Rosa was not shy in voicing her opinions. Yes, any government had to be that in which the workers were in charge. But the assumption of power had to be with the expressed will of the people. That was where she disagreed with Karl (and Lenin) who felt the will of the people could be guided by a determined few.

Two days after the interview with Lowell and Webb, Karl called a general strike and declared the official government was dead. He urged overthrow of what was left of the Kaiser's regime.

Rosa was privately opposed to what she feared would be an armed uprising without popular support. But she nevertheless went along for the sake of solidarity. She wrote in the Spartacist newspaper The Red Banner: "Disarm the counter-revolutionaries, arm the masses, occupy all important positions. Act quickly. The revolution demands it!"

Now with a real revolution on his hands, President Max called in Gustav Noske as the Minister of Defense. Gustav formed an army, the Freikorps which was also recruited from paramilitary militias.

Berlin was now in chaos. Crowds rioted in the streets, and snipers took potshots at whoever was around, Machine guns were set up at the Brandenburg Gate and could sweep the length of Unter Den Linden.

But the big surprise was the SDP supported Prince Max and Gustav, who himself was a socialist. On January 9, 1919, the Freikorps moved in and attacked the Spartacists. The Freikorps prevailed and Karl and Rosa went into hiding. But they were discovered on January 15 and brought to the Eden Hotel for "questioning". In Rosa's case a witness said the questioning was mostly "knocking the poor woman down and dragging her about.

Lowell was at another hotel when he heard that Rosa and Karl had been arrested. He and Webb hurried to the Eden Hotel only to see two cars speed away from a side entrance.

They couldn't get any information from the people at the hotel. As they walked by the Tiergarten - Berlin's spacious park - they heard gunshots.

Later Lowell said that those were the shots that had ended Karl's life. Karl had been loaded into in the car ostensibly to take him to the police headquarters for further questioning. But at the park his captors hauled him from the car and shot him dead. They then took the body to a mortuary saying they had found him lying in the street.

Rosa had been so badly beaten they just shot her while she was in the car. Then the killers dumped her body in the Landwehr Canal. She was found five months later after the ice had thawed.

President Max was shocked! shocked! that anyone in his government would take arbitrary action. He ordered an investigation which like so many government investigations completely exonerated the government.

Why has Rosa been forgotten? Well, perhaps we should mention that yes, she has been forgotten, in the United States. In Germany she is still remembered and at times even celebrated.

But in the US, it's not that Rosa's been forgotten but that virtually no one has even heard of her in the first place. Rosa's activities had far less of an effect on American history than those of the other socialist and communist leaders. So when the textbooks were written, they focused mostly on the doings of Lenin and particularly of Iósif Vissariónovich Dzhugashvili, who as an aid to speakers of English, adopted the far more pronounceable name of Stalin.

Max stayed in power until his death in 1925. The new president was the aged, corpulent, and possibly mentally failing Paul Von Hindenburg. Things were still unstable. Two years earlier there had been an attempt by a new political party to violently take over the government. This attempted coup was derided as the Beer Hall Putsch. How ridiculous!

But to the surprise of the world, by 1933 that party - the National Socialist German Workers Party and long considered a collection of buffoons, bozos, and yahoos - had acquired such a following that they outnumbered all other parties in the Reichstag. The leader of the party - the grandson of one Maria Shicklegruber and who had never held a political office - convinced Paul to appoint him Chancellor. We know what happened after that.

But returning to the times of Germany in January 1919, it is amazing how Lowell was there at the most critical points of the revolution. Lowell was there to see the cars with Rosa and Karl zoom away and he actually heard the gunshots that killed Karl.

Well, didn't he?

We have to repeat. At that time Lowell, although he later became a true pioneer in news broadcasting, was a reporter. And there have been cases where sometimes a reporter felt that a good story needed a bit of oomph to make it even better. One time a paper in a Quaint Town of the American Southwest carried a story about how the mayor of the town had shot a 90 pound duck. It was a joke, of course.

Of course.

And looking through Lowell's writings you'll see sometimes (sometimes, mind you) that he may have even stretched things just a bit.

For instance, in his 1924 book about Lawrence of Arabia, Lowell wrote about his riding camels with T. E. on what reads like a trek across the desert. Then in a later essay from the 1930's, Lowell stated how he spent "days, weeks, and months" with T. E. So from Lowell's tellings, it sounds like he was with T. E. for an extended stay.

And remember the Lawrence of Arabia movie where the 6'2" Peter O'Toole played the 5'5" T. E.? There was a correspondant who went with Peter on raids where the Arab army blew up Turkish trains. The character was named Jackson Bentley and was clearly meant to be Lowell - whose middle named just happened to be Jackson.

And the TRUTH?

T. E. flatly denied any prolonged contact with Lowell. As he wrote to a friend:

Of course, as you know, Lowell Thomas was not with me on any ride or operation in Arabia. I do not know how long he was in the country, for he arrived while I was up-country, and I had gone up again before he left. I expect he was there some ten or fourteen days, in all; of which we were together in Akaba for perhaps three.

In another letter, T. E. added that he and the others in Feisel's army posed for the American's cameras and then "sent him packing." Lowell's accounts, T. E. said, were silly and inaccurate, at times intentionally so. The whole story was a house of cards which he could knock down at any time. "He meant well," T. E. conceded.

So what is truth (to quote an Italian politician)? If you carefully read Lowell's own books, there are only limited passages of his direct dealings with T. E. He wrote more about having lunch with Field Marshall Edmund Allenby or a single interview with General "Black Jack" Pershing than his "days, weeks, and months" with T. E. In the books, there are perhaps two or three direct quotes when T. E. spoke to Lowell. He mentions one time they had tea in London. The conclusion seems inescapable that in his entire lifetime Lowell saw T. E. on no more than a few days. Days, yes, but not "weeks and months".

Of course, in researching history, finding inconsistencies is not only common but expected. And another quite curious - and interesting - inconsistency is Lowell's account of his time at the University of Northern Indiana at Valparaiso.

The first inconsistency is that there never was a - quote - "University of Northern Indiana at Valparaiso" - unquote. The name never appears except when a writer is citing Lowell's own writings or interviews. The actual name of the school was originally the Northern Indiana Normal School and Business Institute. It became Valparaiso College in 1900, and in 1907, Valparaiso University, the name it bears today.

According to Lowell, he was an exceptional student:

Without consulting anyone, I signed up for both the freshman and sophomore years. By the time this monumental arrogance was discovered, the semester was half over; Vice-President Kinsey, who had sent for me with every intention of dressing me down and throwing me out of the sophomore class, could only stare at the record and, his big red moustaches twitching, mutter, "Well - harrumph - you seem to be - harrumph - managing."

"Yes, sir," replied Two-Gun Thomas, straining to hide self-satisfaction.

"But look here, young man," Professor Kinsey exclaimed, moustaches dancing with agitation at this affront to tradition and experience, "at this rate you'll have your bachelor's degree in little more than a year!"

"Then I'll stay two and take a masters," I replied. Perhaps one of my many weaknesses has been an oversupply of confidence.

No one has questioned Lowell's account. And in various articles, you'll learn he not only attended Valpo and got his bachelors and masters in two years, but then he went to the University of Denver, picking up a second round of bachelors and masters degrees. Next he went to Chicago's Kent School of Law - where he both taught speech classes there and worked as a reporter on the local Denver paper. Then rather than accept an offer to join the biggest law firm in Chicago, Lowell went to Princeton where while working on his degree he was also the speech instructor.

And yet. Lowell remained amazingly mum on exactly what he studied and exactly what were his degrees. Some references on the Fount of All Knowledge state his degrees were in "education" and "science" but are no more explicit than that.

Even more - ah - "interesting" is what you read from an interview from 1980, the year before Lowell died. At one point the interviewer specifically asked Lowell about his college studies.

Q.	What sort of subjects did you study in college?
A.	My father was a rather remarkable scholar, and associating with him was enough to cause any boy to want to study all subjects. My father was a near expert in almost everything, which is unusual. I've only encountered a few people in the world who had as broad an education as my father. Not nearly enough of it rubbed off on me. Living in a tough mining camp, the boys you associate with are rugged chaps, not the sort to encourage you to study the classics!

Hm. When asked about his college studies, Lowell talks mostly about his father and his time in Colorado. As for the specific question, he blithely side-stepped answering. Instead of saying what he studied, he said associating with his father would cause "any boy" to want to study "all subjects".

When he did talk about his time at Valpo he added:

I worked my way doing part-time jobs and enjoyed it. Then I doubled up my courses, and finished my first two degrees in two years. I'm not sure this was wise, because I neglected my studies. I usually sat in the front row, appearing to be enthralled by what the prof was saying. And I somehow managed to get by.

So on the one hand Lowell tells us how he impressed the vice-president of the university with his performance of a multiple load of studies. But we're not quite sure what to make of a university officer who was impressed by a student who neglected his studies and only managed to "get by".

And still, not one word on what Lowell's actual degrees were.

Then it was on to Denver. Of his time there Lowell said:

So I went down to the University of Denver where I got two more degrees and worked on the Denver Times. After the year in Denver, still not certain what I wanted to do, I decided to go on to Chicago and study law.

Once more we're talking about Lowell getting another bachelors degree and another masters degree. But again Lowell never tells us what the degrees were. And note we're not talking about two degrees in two years as at Valpo. We're talking about two degrees in one year. And all the while working as a reporter for a newspaper.

Now we know that Lowell was an intelligent and exceptional individual. And he could have had credit transferred from Valpo to Denver.

But .....

Again we ask what were his degrees at Valpo and Denver? Lowell never says.

Yes, Lowell did go on to Kent Law School. There he not only studied law but taught elocution classes. As he said:

A full day's job on a newspaper and law school at night should have been enough. But after I had been at the Chicago-Kent College of Law for only two weeks, the dean called me in and said they had lost the head of their speech department. He asked me to fill in until they could find a replacement, which they never did.

Did he get his law degree? Lowell never said.

But on to Princeton. As he stated:

It was then that I decided to go to Princeton and study constitutional law.

There he also was given a teaching position as an instructor, running the speech department.

Here, though, we know his education was interrupted by the war. He left Princeton and with semi-official sanction of the US government (but with private financing), he covered the war and met T. E. and Rosa. After that he began his famous lecture tour With Allenby in Palestine and Lawrence in Arabia, wrote books, and went into the new field of broadcasting. He never returned to Princeton.

But back to our original questions. Just exactly what did Lowell study, and what degrees did he earn?

Well, nearly forty years after Lowell's death, no one still seems to know. So perhaps its best to summarize what we have from the various sources about Lowell's background.

1. The universities themselves - Valparaiso University, the University of Denver, Chicago-Kent Law School, and Princeton University - definitely list Lowell as one of their alumni.
2. According to Lowell, he received a bachelors and masters degree in two years from Valparaiso University and another bachelors and masters degree from the University of Denver in one year - two bachelors and two masters in three years.
3. One usually reliable source states Lowell received a Bachelors of Science degree in 1911 from Valparaiso University but nothing about what the degree was in - and it mentions nothing about a masters degree.
4. Other sources (but not Lowell) state he also earned a law degree from Chicago-Kent Law School, and a masters degree from the Princeton University.

On the other hand we must also take note that:

1. According to standard dictionaries, being an alumnus means that you were a student at a school or college. The definition does not require that you graduated.
2. Chicago-Kent Law School bulletins mention Lowell was a former speech instructor, but not that he was a graduate.
3. In 1940, a Princeton bulletin stated Lowell was in the graduate school in 1916, but again not that he graduated.

Finally we can summarize what Lowell Thomas himself said about his four, five, (or is it six?) degrees.

1. When asked point blank what he studied in college, Lowell immediately changed the subject.
2. Lowell wrote of himself as such a good student he amazed the university's vice president. But he also wrote that he neglected his studies and "somehow managed to get by".
3. At no point in his writings or interviews did Lowell ever mention what degrees he earned.

Strange. It's almost as if Lowell entered a number of universities and just ...

Well, we'll avoid speculation. After all, this has been an essay about Rosa Luxemburg.

References

Luxemburg, Harry Harmer, Haus Publishing, 2008.

Rosa Luxemburg, Tony Cliff, Bookmarks Publishing Co-operative, 1959.

"Rosa Luxemburg: Polish-German Revolutionary", Dietmar Starke, Encyclopedia Britannica.

Rosa Luxemburg, Spartacus Educational.

Distinguished Women Economists, James Cicarelli and Julianne Cicarelli, Greenwood Press, 2003.

Good Evening, Everybody: From Cripple Creek to Samarkand, Lowell Thomas, William Morrow and Company, (1976).

"Lowell Thomas", Encyclopedia Britannica.

Bourgeois Liberty and the Politics of Fear: From Absolutism to Neo-Conservatism, Marc Mulholland, Oxford University Press.

"Why Economic Forecasting Has Always Been a Flawed Science", Adam Shaw, The Guardina, September 2, 2017.

"Berlin Still Honours Hitler's 'Trailblazer'", The Local, June 20, 2014.

"Lawrence of Arabia", Peter O'Toole (actor), Alec Guinness (actor), Anthony Quinn (actor), Jack Hawkins (actor), Omar Sharif (actor), Arthur Kennedy (actor), David Lean (director), Horizon Pictures, 1962, Internet Movie Data Base.

"T. E. Lawrence to Ralph Iham", T. E. Lawrence Studies.

"Remembering Rosa Luxemburg Still Popular 90 Years After Assassination", Siobhán Dowling, Der Spiegel, January 15, 2009.

"How Effective is Economic Theory?", Arnold Kling, National Affairs, Summer 2017.

"Valparaiso University", Encyclopaedia Britannica.

"The History of the Undergraduate Program in Mathematics in the United States", Alan Tucker, The American Mathematical Monthly, Volume 120, Issue 8, October 2013.

"Good Evening, Everybody: An Interview With Lowell Thomas", Robert Gallagher, American Heritage, Volume 31, Issue 5, August/September 1980.

"1971 Horatio Alger Award Winner: Lowell Thomas, Commentator & Author", Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans.

"Lowell Thomas, a World Traveler and Broadcaster for 45 Years", The New York Times, August 30, 1981.

Princeton Alumni Weekly, Volume 41, September 30, 1940.

"Notes", Chicago Kent Bulleltin, August 1, 1916.