In Defence of Nationality
{{Short description|1900 pamphlet by Rosa Luxemburg}}
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In Defence of Nationality ({{langx|pl|W obronie narodowości}}, {{langx|de|Zur Verteidigung der Nationalität}}) was a pamphlet written by Rosa Luxemburg and first published in Poznań in 1900.
Background
Between 1893 and 1900. Luxemburg spoke out against the Germanisation of Polish life in various articles and speeches.{{cite book |last=Young |first=James D. |title=Socialism Since 1889 A Biographical History |date=1988 |publisher=Barnes & Noble |location=Totowa NJ |isbn=9780389208136 |page=26 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5toCJmUOudcC&dq=in+defense+of+nationality+luxemburg&pg=PA26 |access-date=24 October 2022}} One of the events that promoted her to write the pamphlet was the Prussian government’s decision to abolish Polish-language lectures in schools in Poznań.{{cite book |last=Zarembka |first=Paul |title=The National Question and the Question of Crisis |date=2010 |publisher=Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. |isbn=9780857244949 |page=49 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b0g6YbEzeCoC |access-date=25 October 2022}}
Although the author questioned the need for Poland to regain independence and believed that from an economic point of view, Polish lands should remain with the partitioning states, she nevertheless argued for the full autonomy of the cultural development of Poles within these countries. In the pamphlet, she argued the right of Poles to cultivate their language and culture, while believing that the creation of antagonisms in this regard is not in the interest of German society, but only of its capitalist elite, who use nationalist conflicts for their political goals.{{cite web |last1=Luxemburg |first1=Rosa |title=In Defense of Nationality (1900) |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1900/nationality/index.html |website=marxists.org |publisher=Marxists.org |access-date=25 October 2022}}
The publication was intensively distributed in the proletarian milieu of Poznań. The pamphlet resulted in Luxemburg being charged with sedition and she had to appear in court to defend herself.{{cite book |last=Nettl |first=J.P. |title=Rosa Luxemburg |date=2019 |publisher=Verso Books |location=London |isbn=9781788731676 |page=186 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RNuEDwAAQBAJ&dq=in+defense+of+nationality+luxemburg&pg=PA186 |access-date=24 October 2022}}
References
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External links
- [https://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1900/nationality/index.html full text of In Defence of Nationality]
{{Rosa Luxemburg}}
Category:Works by Rosa Luxemburg