Feminism and socialism: Putting the pieces together
New Course Publications
91 pp. $3.95. Reviewed by Anne Casey
"The struggle for women's liberation poses the problem of the total reorganisation of society from its smallest repressive unit — the family — to its largest — the state. The liberation of women demands a thoroughgoing restructuring of society's productive and reproductive institutions in order to maximise social welfare and establish a truly human existence for all."
This is the basic premise of Feminism and socialism. The document is the latest in a series of resolutions on the question adopted by the Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) since its founding in 1972. It presents an analysis of women's oppression — both historical and contemporary — and confirms the vital importance of the struggle.
The document explains women's oppression as a product of class society and argues that this oppression will be ended only when all vestiges of it are removed. The struggle projected is a united one — not the struggle of women against men as their oppressors but a struggle against the oppression and exploitation of class society.
In contemporary terms, the second wave of feminism is described as "unprecedented in the depth of the economic, social, ideological and political ferment it expresses and its implications for the struggle against capitalist oppression and exploitation".
The basis for this new wave of radicalisation lay in the economic and social changes of the post-World War II years. Among these changes were advances in birth technology, increased labour market participation by women, a rise in the women's average educational level and changes to the family.
The movement is also put in the context of the international youth radicalisation of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The sexual revolution, lesbian-feminist radicalisation, anti-colonial and anti-racist struggles, a crisis of the traditional, organised religions and the antiwar movement are all examined for their impact upon and contribution to the development of the movement.
The document is particularly useful in providing an international overview of the state of women's rights and feminism today — in the industrialised Western nations, the Third World, in the former Soviet bloc as well as Cuba and Central America — and explaining feminism from a Marxist perspective.
Today the women's liberation movement is under attack. Efforts to drive back women's rights, gained over the past 25 years, gather momentum. The document is a welcome addition at a time when feminists are divided as to how best to proceed — whether to go on the e on defending the gains of the past.
Building an independent women's movement is seen as essential. "Byindependent we mean that the movement is organised and led by women; that it takes the fight for women's rights and needs as its first priority, refusing to subordinate that fight to other interests; that it is not subordinate to the decisions or policy needs of any political party or any other social group since the movement must be open to all women who wish to fight against their oppression; and that it is willing to carry through the fight by whatever means and together with whatever forces prove necessary."