[D66] Luxemburg’s Critique of Parliamentarism

[René Oudeweg]

[Aan de conservatief-liberaal Hogendorp hebben we de TK te danken:

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gijsbert_Karel_van_Hogendorp

Dus ja, de TK is een bourgeois instituut.]

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Luxemburg’s Critique of Parliamentarism

Parliament as a Bourgeois Institution:

Luxemburg argued that parliamentary systems were structurally dominated 
by bourgeois interests. The very framework of representative democracy 
under capitalism, with its professional politicians and dependence on 
party machinery, functioned to dilute and contain working-class militancy.

The Fetish of Legalism:

Luxemburg feared that overreliance on parliamentary activity would breed 
passivity among the working class, shifting the struggle from direct 
action to reliance on representatives and bureaucrats. This tendency, in 
her view, risked reducing socialism to reformism, undermining its 
revolutionary content.

The Centrality of Mass Action:

In contrast to parliamentarism, Luxemburg emphasized the revolutionary 
potential of mass strikes, workers’ councils, and spontaneous collective 
action. She saw these as authentic forms of proletarian democracy, 
rooted in the self-activity of the working class rather than mediated 
through parliamentary channels.