It was the East Europeans, people such as Luxemburg, who tended to cause problems for the Second International. Their parties were illegal rather than embedded in political systems, and they themselves were often forced to work in emigration, tugging at the hearts and purse strings of French and German comrades. Since the Russian Empire was autocratic and possibilities for political action were close to nil, Russian, Polish, and Jewish socialists tended to take revolution seriously. Hounded by the Okhrana, the Russian imperial secret police, they tended to become masters of conspiracy themselves.
— Letters Of Rosa Luxemburg Reviewed By Timothy Snyder | The New Republic
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