What is understood by the term ‘The Balkans’ and why is this categorisation occasionally disputed? Which countries, peoples and states belong to the Balkans? What do they have in common, and where do they differ? What was Balkan Socialism (ca. 1890-1914) and what were its intellectual and organisational ties to the Second International? Who were its leading thinkers and how does their theoretical output highlight a distinct, although largely forgotten, Balkan Marxism? What were the two ‘Balkan Wars’ that are often seen as a precursor to World War I? And why did the anti-imperialist Rosa Luxemburg actually support the first of these conflicts?

In this fascinating podcast discussion, I had the pleasure of interviewing the historian Stefan Gužvica and exploring some of these questions – and many more. Stefan is based in Serbia and is currently editing his PhD dissertation into a book provisionally entitled Sickle without a Hammer: Revolution and Nation-Building in the Balkans, 1900s-1930s. We had actually planned to talk more about the 1920s and 1930s, but there was so much material that we did not really get beyond 1914. Hopefully we can do so in the near future, perhaps in the form of an All-Patron meeting.

If you are interested in Stefan’s brilliant research then you can reach out to him via his website: https://stefanguzvica.su/

Significant Figures of Balkan Socialism mentioned in the pod:

Further Reading:

Hello all,

July’s Marxism Translated Podcast is an extended discussion with the historian Mike Taber about the Second International, its significance for socialists today, its marginalisation in bourgeois and left-wing historiography, and much more besides. Mike is an incredibly prolific translator and writer. His book that we discuss can be found here.

If you would like to support this podcast, and enjoy early access to each monthly episode, then you can do so by becoming a Patron of our work here.

I hope you enjoy the discussion!

BL

Some initial thoughts on the origins, nature and development of the German-language Marxist fortnightly magazine ‘For the Interests of Female Workers’. To help podcast become more regular, please consider becoming a Patron at www.patreon.com/marxismtranslated. The original talk was given at an Online Communist Forum on Zoom and can be accessed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2Bg6Cy0slg. The slides for the talk can be found on our website at: http://marxismtranslated.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Zetkin-Die-Gleichheit-Talk-Slides.pdf.

To celebrate International Women’s Day 2022, we dedicate the first of our narrated translations to August Bebel’s speech ‘The Social Position of Women Today’ (1891). You can listen to this short speech across pretty much all of the podcast platforms, Soundcloud and Youtube, but let us know if you experience any difficulty getting hold of it!

Please like and share and – for early access to future materials – please consider becoming a Patron of this page: you can sign up from just 20GBP/year!

Timestamps:

0:45 Introduction and nature of the articles I am translating

2:45 Luxemburg goes to Baden on a speaking tour

5:45 Party discipline and the vote for the budget in Baden

8:00 The significance of republicanism in Luxemburg and its importance in the party’s political decline

9:45 Polemic with Franz Mehring about the purported ‘democratic illusions’ of republican agitation

13:45 Party unity, resolutions and parliamentarians

18:05 1910, Historical Reflux and ‘of course we’re against the monarchy’ republicanism

19:25 The German Free Thinkers and Karl Radek

20:05 The symbolic significance of republicanism in the SPD and beyond

21:05 Luxemburg and the question of a party split over Baden

22:40 Comment by Mike Macnair on the ‘negative dialectics’ of the break between Kautsky and Luxemburg

25:20 Luxemburg and the ‘of course we are against the monarchy’ position

27:05 Wilhelm Kolb and his role as leader of the Baden SPD

28:50 Mike Macnair and Rida Vaquas discussing Rosa’s role on the Polish left

Thanks to those who attended last Saturday’s All-Patron Meeting! Particular thanks must go to our guest Rida Vaquas, a translator working alongside me on translating Rosa Luxemburg’s Gesammelte Werke, who kindly gave a talk about her translations and the potential political implications of translating Rosa Luxemburg today.

Here is a rough breakdown of the topics that Rida covers:

00:00 Introduction and outline of her translations, what Luxemburg’s writings reveal about the healthy political culture of open debate in the socialist movement of the time

6:50 Responding to questions from the audience about the articles she is translating

08:15 Explaining the differences between Rosa Luxemburg and Clara Zetkin on the nature and role of the socialist youth movement

11:15 Exploring how these differences fed into debates about whether the aim of the socialist movement was to fulfil the promises of bourgeois culture and education, or whether it was actually a divergence from these promises

12:20 Discussing Rosa’s attitude towards party discipline in 1910 and the role of republicanism in the socialist movement

15:40 Looking at the state of play with the translation of Rosa’s works

18:05 Exploring the significance of Polish sources in understanding Rosa Luxemburg’s conception of the revolutionary party and her role as a political leader

19:10 Discussing Rosa Luxemburg’s letters, the fact that so few of them have been translated and the ‘over-representation’ of love letters in the English editions of her correspondence

You can follow Rida on Twitter @rida_again. Her translations and writings can be found in the Prometheus Journal and on Cosmonaut.

Recording of tonight’s All-Patron meeting to discuss Clara Zetkin’s obituary of Parvus and its implications for our understanding of social democracy, with special guest Lars T Lih.

Thanks to all who attended and see you at the next meeting!

This largely forgotten text provides fascinating insight into both the mass strike debates in the socialist movement and the factional struggles between the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks within Russian Social Democracy. The text is now available in its entirety as part of our growing archive of translation material.