Events prioritisng socialist feminism have been lacking on the British left in recent years, but the discussion at the All The Rage conference organised by Workers’ Liberty in London on 26 November highlighted the central role of women in class-struggle movements, and the global relevance of the issues.
Around the world women are leading struggles for workers’ rights, and for freedom against repressive governments. Sessions featured women speakers from Iran, India, the US, Poland, and Ukraine. The direct communication with activists based in those countries during the event gave a real sense of the political work they are engaged in.
A delay with the Social Movement speaker in Ukraine coming on over Zoom, due to a power outage there, pointed up the difficulties of organising in conditions of war. One of the speakers on the struggles in Iran spoke of women fighting state forces with helmets made of saucepans for protection.
The opening session highlighted the place of women in the current UK strike wave. The importance for women, as workers and service users, of a defence of services, especially the NHS, and local government, alongside the demands on pay and conditions, was prominent here. The need for the trade unions to broaden their struggles to include outsourced workers, often women, black, Asian and migrant workers on the lowest pay, was also raised. Women gaining their place in trade union structures will also mean a fight against entrenched sexism in the Labour movement.
The opening session discussed how many employers deny workers flexibility to account for care responsibilities, and the discussion was continued in a later workshop on childcare. A range of ideas was debated, including reducing the distinction between social and private spheres, reducing the demands and time of employed work, and the role of the state in provision. We also had sessions on Trans Liberation and Class Struggle, and on Women and the State.
The discussions will boost our ongoing solidarity work with women internationally, and help us continue to develop the ideas of socialist feminism in writing, in the pages of Solidarity and in Women’s Fightback.