Lea Ypi is professor in political theory at the London School of Economics.
From its late break with the Ottoman Empire to the Cold War rule of Enver Hoxha, Albania has followed an unusual path through modern history. But the country’s experience of communism and postcommunism is full of valuable lessons for the politics of today.
Rosa Luxemburg is an icon of the socialist movement who died a martyr’s death in 1919. But she was also a brilliant and highly original political thinker whose ideas about capitalism and how to oppose it are strikingly relevant to today’s world.
Rosa Luxemburg saw the fight for social reform as a vital means of mobilizing the oppressed. Yet only revolutionary transformation could make their victories permanent.