Description
Object description
whole: a landscape format is applied. The image covers the main and incorporates the title. Further text is placed below
the image in red and black. All are set against a plain white background.
image: a flowing red flag planted in the ground. The title is emblazoned on the flag in Gothic black letter.
text: Die Rote Fahne
Stiller
Zentralorgan der K.P.D. (Spartakusbund)
Begr. von Karl Liebknecht u. Rosa Luxemburg
Bezugspreis Mk. 1,50 monatl. Erscheint tägl.
Hauptexpedition: Berlin SW.48, Wilhelmstr. 114. Fernspr: Kurfürst 3334
Verlag 'Die Rote Fahne' Berlin S.W.48, Wilhelmstr. 114.
[Die Rote Fahne [The Red Flag]. Stiller. The central organ of the K.P.D. [German Communist Party] (Spartacus League). Founded by Karl
Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. Subscription rate: 1.50 marks monthly. Published daily. Main dispatch office: Berlin SW 48, Wilhelmstr.
114.Tel.: Kurfürst 3334. The 'Die Rote Fahne' publishing company, Berlin SW 48, Wilhelmstr. 114.]
Label
Rosa Luxemburg (1878-1919) was a journalist, revolutionary leader and influential Socialist thinker. She was born in
Russian-occupied Poland and developed her interest in socialism while at school. Youthful involvement in activities against Czar Alexander
III led to her exile Switzerland in 1889 but marriage to a German citizen enabled her to move to Berlin in 1898. While in Berlin she joined
the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), then the largest Socialist party in Europe. Luxemburg's radical Socialist beliefs aligned her
with the SPD's far-left faction led by Karl Leibknecht (1878-1919). However, opposed the SPD leadership's support for the war in 1914, both
she and Liebknecht left the party to form an underground revolutionary organization, Spartakusbund (Spartacus League). The group went
public in 1916, organising a demonstration against the war in Berlin. Liebknecht and Luxemburg were imprisoned as a result but were
released following an amnesty to German political prisoners in 1918. Resuming their revolutionary activities, they formed the German
Communist Party (KDP) and helped instigate the 'Spartakist Rising' in 1919. The revolt attempted to install Socialism in Germany but was
brutally crushed by the rightwing paramilitary Freikorps. In the course of the Freikorps' suppression both Leibknecht and Luxemburg were
murdered.