The Adaptation of Rosa Luxemburg’s Thought and the Theoretical Foundations of “Political Movement” in 1920s Colonial Korea

This article examines the adaptation of Rosa Luxemburg’s thought as a key reference in shaping the theoretical foundations of “political movement” in 1920s colonial Korea. Focusing on the political context of textual appropriation, it traces when, by whom, and for what purposes her writings were introduced, highlighting the link between socialist activism and the interpretation of socialist thought. Luxemburg was first received as a symbolic figure in youth movements and later selectively appropriated―most notably by Ahn Gwang-cheon―as a theoretical basis to distinguish “political movement” from reformism. In colonial Korea, only a limited range of her works, such as Reform or Revolution and Introduction to Political Economy, was circulated. Her ideas did not gain independent authority within the Leninist-dominated discourse of the time but were received marginally, as supplementary or justificatory to Leninist frameworks.