Marxism and women's liberation

During the nineteenth century, the emerging workers’ movement began to develop its policy on the “woman question”. Some of the early, “utopian” socialists argued strongly for women’s liberation. Ferdinand Lassalle led the “proletarian anti-feminists”, opposing votes for women and urging male workers to strike against women’s entry into industrial labour. Marx and Engels opposed Lassalle, arguing that women’s work was a step forward, a precondition for liberation. In 1875, the Socialist Labour Party of Germany — later to become the Social Democratic Party (SPD) — was formed. The party went on...

The third in a series of articles about the German socialist women's movement 1890-1914, by Janine Booth What is often seen as one issue - referred to at the time as the ‘woman question’ - actually developed quite differently amongst women of different classes. Bourgeois women Women of the new capitalist class had a sharp experience of sexist discrimination, living alongside men of their own class who had achieved many of the political, educational and economic rights that they were still, as women, denied. These were women who did not share all the privileges of aristocratic women; but who...

The last in a series of articles about the German socialist women's movement 1890-1914, by Janine Booth Divided loyalties Socialist feminists are continually accused of ‘divided loyalties’, challenged to declare which is our priority: class or sex. It makes a lot more sense to direct this challenge at feminists who defend capitalism, or at socialist men. All working-class people share a common interest in overthrowing capitalism and achieving socialism. Nevertheless, some groups enjoy a degree of privilege within capitalism. Their benefits may be marginal and short-term, but could still...

The 1950s movie The Wild One is about a motorcycle “rebel” gang, led by Marlon Brando, invading a small American town and frightening the natives. Someone asks the Brando character: “And what are you rebelling against?” Famously, he replies: “What’ve you got?” The film was, for decades, banned in Britain. That may have been to protect impressionable British Marxists, especially the SWP, from mistaking the Brando character’s philosophy — whatever it is, I’m against it — for a serviceable political programme. It is now the core and only approach of the SWP. Look at Chris Harman’s review of the...

The second section of the Workers' Liberty pamphlet 'Comrades and Sisters' looks at women's situation today. Domestic work, (badly-)paid work, the vast gulf between working-class and ruling-class women. Women in communities, and women in the welfare state. Religious fundamentalism, the state, New Labour and family values. How can Marxism explain women's oppression? Housework is Horrid A woman's work is never done. And despite more women having jobs, housework is still a woman's work. A 1999 survey (Home-to-Home) reported that 87% of women change the beds, compared with only 4% of men; 67% of...

The final section of the Workers' Liberty pamphlet 'Comrades and Sisters' looks at what socialism can offer women, and what sort of movement we need to win liberation. Formal Equality and its Limits Britain has had the Sex Discrimination Act for three decades and the Equal Pay Act for two-and-a-half. But women's pay is still less than men's, and women still experience discrimination. The laws have not achieved what they promised. Why? There has been some progress: fewer employers pay lower rates for a woman doing exactly the same job as a man. But there is a ready-made excuse for women's lower...

What is 'feminism' and the women's movement all about? Often feminists are seen as dungaree and Doc Marten wearing 'man haters'. The Women's Movement is seen as dated. Some believe that the demands of the 1970s 'second wave' feminists have been met. However, all feminists are not all the same and they don't all agree. Although it's clear that women are subjugated, feminists disagree on how to end this subjugation and what exactly it is that causes it. Many feminists have failed to be relevant to many women, seeing male dominated society as the problem or 'formal equality' as the solution...

Last time we looked at what exactly socialist feminism is, but what have socialist feminists had to do with women’s struggles? During early industrialisation, women’s work was hard and ideas that women were not strong enough to carry out all roles were common. Eventually male workers claimed that competition between men and women in the work force would lead to lower wages for men; so male workers demanded women and children be pushed out of many factories, forcing women into the home. Even so, working class women remained exploited at work as well as in the home. In the late 19th Century...

The Prophet and the demoralised opportunists: Solidarity 3/9, 25 June 2002 Religion is, indeed, the self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again. But, man is no abstract being squatting outside the world. Man is the world of man - state, society. This state and this society produce religion, which is an inverted consciousness of the world, because they are an inverted world. Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopaedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d'honneur, its...