The excerpts are translated by Klaus Hagendorf
from Rosa Luxemburg: 'Kirche und Sozialismus'
in: 'Internationalismus und Klassenkampf. Die polnischen Schriften.'
edited and introduced by Juergen Hentze.
Neuwied und Berlin: Herman Luchterhand Verlag GmbH, 1971.
Translation © 1998 Klaus Hagendorf, Amsterdam
Only in one respect there is a great difference between the collapsing Rome and today’s empire of the tsar. Then in Rome there was no 'capitalism', that is to say there was no industrial production which produced with the work of labour goods for the market. Then in Rome ruled slavery and the families of the nobles as well as the rich and the financiers satisfied all their needs through the work of slaves, which they had brought with them from war. Finally these rich grabbed almost all land property in Italy into their hands, by robbing the land of the Roman farmers and as corn was delivered for free as tribute from the suppressed provinces they turned their landed property into giant plantations, vegetable gardens, vineyards, meadows and pleasure gardens, maintained by a large army of slaves, which was driven to work by the stick of the supervisor. Robbed of land and bred the rural population from all the provinces streamed into the capital Rome but did not find any earnings as also the crafts were done by slaves. By this there agglomerated slowly an enormous mass of people without any property - a proletariat, which not even was capable to sell its labour force, as there was no one demanding their labour. This proletariat which flooded in from the land was not like today absorbed by industrie but was pressed into hopeless need and into begging.
...Under these terrible conditions of the collapsing society in which there was no visible way out for the enormous mass of people, no hope for a better destiny on earth the unhappy commenced to search this hope in heaven. The Christian religion for the disregarded and miserables appeared as a saving plank, as comfort and relief and became right at the first moment the religion of the Roman proletarians and according to the material conditions of this class of people the first Christians commenced to proclaim the demand for common property - communism.
...One of the most serious accusations the clergy puts forward against the social democrats is that they want to introduce communism, that is to say common property of all earthy wealth. First of all it should be interesting to realise that the priests of our time when they agitate against communism really argue against the first apostles of Christianity as precisely those were the most enthusiastic communists.
The social democracy prevents nobody to belief and does not struggle against religion. On the contrary she demands unconditional freedom of consciousness for everybody and respect of any commitment and any conviction.
But if priests want to misuse the chancel as a means of the political struggle against the working class the workers turn against them like against any enemies of their rights and their freedom.
Who supports exploiters and suppressers and attempts to eternalise today’s ridiculous order of society is a deadly enemy of the people no matter if he wears the robe of the priest or the uniform of the gendarme.
Krakow, 1905.