The Accumulation of Capital

work by Luxemburg

Also known as: “Die Akkumulation des Kapitals”

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July 23, 2026

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Rosa Luxemburg's The Accumulation of Capital (1913) examines capitalist expansion. She argued that for capitalism to grow, it needs to find new markets and resources in non-capitalist areas, such as peasant communities or colonies. This is because, within a purely capitalist system of producers and workers, the expansion of productivity and capital becomes unsustainable.1

Luxemburg's work suggests that capitalism's collapse is linked to the exhaustion of these external, non-capitalist spheres. Her analysis returned to Karl Marx's economic theories, particularly his ideas on capital accumulation in Das Kapital. This book is considered one of her significant contributions, alongside works like Reform or Revolution and The Mass Strike.12

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Rosa Luxemburg
…Die Akkumulation des Kapitals (1913; The Accumulation of Capital). In this analysis, she described imperialism as the result of a dynamic capitalism’s expansion into underdeveloped areas of the world. It was during this time also that she began to agitate for mass actions and broke completely with the established Social…
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…Die Akkumulation des Kapitals (1913; The Accumulation of Capital). In this analysis, she described imperialism as the result of a dynamic capitalism’s expansion into underdeveloped areas of the world. It was during this time also that she began to agitate for mass actions and broke completely with the established Social…
Read More

Marxism
The radicals
…Die Akkumulation des Kapitals (1913; The Accumulation of Capital). In this work she returned to Marx’s economic analysis of capitalism, in particular the accumulation of capital as expounded in volume 2 of Das Kapital. There she found a contradiction that had until then been unnoticed: Marx’s scheme seems to imply…
Read More
…Die Akkumulation des Kapitals (1913; The Accumulation of Capital). In this work she returned to Marx’s economic analysis of capitalism, in particular the accumulation of capital as expounded in volume 2 of Das Kapital. There she found a contradiction that had until then been unnoticed: Marx’s scheme seems to imply…
Read More