5 March 1871: The birth of Red Rosa, one of the founders of Women's Day

Rosa Luxemburg's activity within gender equality and women's empowerment is remembered in many countries. The Women's Day that has become especially popular in Spain over recent years, was actually co-founded by this woman who was born in Poland 150 years ago, on 5 March 1871.

Rosa Luxemburg is considered, together with her close friend Clara Zetkin, a beacon of the women's liberation movement. Her passionate commitment to support women's suffrage also made her a role model for feminists despite the fact that Luxemburg herself never fully identified with the feminist movement.

Her writings created Luxemburgism, a specific revolutionary theory within Marxism and communism, and nowadays the International Luxemburgist Network is formed by activists from different countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain.

"Red Rosa" was born into a middle-class Jewish family in the Polish city of Zamosc, but lived most of her life in her adopted home of Germany. Since childhood Rosa had developed a certain affinity for Enlightenment ideals and eventually became one of the great Marxist theorists of the 20th century.

At the International Socialist Congress held in Copenhagen in 1910, Rosa Luxemburg and Clara Zetkin proposed that 8 March be proclaimed an international day for proletarian women. The next year, in March, more than one million women and even men attended rallies in Germany, Denmark, Austria and Switzerland.

In Spain a women's march was held for the first time in 1936. The Basque communist leader, Dolores Ibárruri, led hundreds of women in Madrid, prior to the Spanish Civil War.

The popularity of International Women's Day in Spain was rekindled in 2018, when larger crowds than ever, supported by a young left-wing Podemos party, went out onto the streets and squares.

In 1990, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, known also as Rosa-Lux, was established in Germany as a transnational alternative policy group and educational institution.

As a branch of the Brussels centre, the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung liaison office was opened in Madrid to coordinate the development of left-wing forces in Spain and Portugal. Central issues are the socio-ecological transformation of Spanish society impacted by the austerity regime, as well as the interesting developments around so-called "rebellious cities" and municipalism. Additionally, Rosa-Lux supports migrant self-organisation projects and other areas of exchange on the topics of feminism, climate and trade.