This paper, intended as an introduction to the series of letters that follows it, is a summary sketch of Rosa Luxemburg's personality, drawn against the background of the culture of her time. It suggests that if Rosa is a character so rich and interesting, this is due to the combination, present in her upbringing, of the Bildungsbürgertum with the revolutionary atmosphere coming from Russia.
German Social Democracy; Bildungsbürgertum; classical German literature; democratic socialism