As an economist and political theorist, Rosa Luxemburg’s work still resonates powerfully today

Born in Poland in 1871 she became a revolutionary leader in Berlin, co-founding the anti-war Spartacus League and publishing works including Reform or Revolution and The Accumulation of Capital.

In this account of her extraordinary life, Dana Mills examines Luxemburg’s key and lesser-known works, and quotes from her letters to reveal a woman who was loving in personal relationships and fierce in professional battles. Luxemburg, who lived in grossly unequal times, fought for emancipation for all.

What is her legacy today, a hundred years after her assassination in Berlin in 1919 at the age of 47? Luxemburg’s emphasis on humanity and insistence on revolution gave coherence, as this compelling biography illustrates, to a fraught life story and a colossal economic and political legacy.