This volume would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of numerous scholars who have done monumental work over the past several decades in bringing Luxemburg’s manuscripts, unsigned articles, and other previously unknown or inaccessible writings to light, such as Annelies Laschitza, Eckhard Müller, Holger Pollit, and the late Feliks Tych and Narihiko Ito.
It would also not have been possible without Evelin Wittich of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, who assisted us at each step of this enormous and difficult project of issuing the Complete Works, as well as Jörn Schuetrumpf of Dietz Verlag, who advised us on the selection of the materials in this volume. Holger Politt provided us with the originals of the Polish-language articles as well as editorial assistance. We benefited greatly from the research of Eric Blanc as well as discussions on the Polish workers’ movement with Krystian Szadkowski and Wiktor Marzec. Ottokar Luban provided invaluable advice and suggestions on the project as a whole. Special thanks to Rory Castle for his review of the manuscript and research assistance, Laura Fair-Schulz for devoting many hours to proofreading and editing, and Paul Le Blanc, Sebastian Budgen, and Jacob Stevens for their help on numerous aspects of the project.
Most of all, we wish to thank the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in Berlin, which covered the cost of many of the translations, as well as the numerous individuals who made this volume possible through their contributions to the Toledo Fund, which also helped cover translation costs. And special thanks to our translators—George Shriver, Alicja Mann, and Henry Holland—who overcame many obstacles in performing a labor of love in bringing Luxemburg’s voice to us anew.
Sadly, our colleague and friend William A. Pelz, who coedited this volume and coauthored its introduction, passed away in December 2017, before this book went to press. His tireless work as scholar, teacher, and friend to so many who sought to build a new society based on the principles embodied in the work of Rosa Luxemburg will be sorely missed. We dedicate this volume to his memory.