Feminism in the current world is something that has received long due attention in the mainstream. However, like many movements of the past, it has been misappropriated and hijacked by many elements of society which not too long ago, were in the forefront against it. However, to know feminism in today’s context and how it has developed over the years, it is imperative that light is shed upon the origins of modern feminism. The movement, which began in the late 19th and early 20th century, was deeply rooted in socialist movements across
the world. This article aims to throw light upon the origins of feminism and its development over the century and a half.
To begin, let us first define the term feminism. Scientific socialism or in layman terms Marxism and its subsequent developments have been strong proponents of feminism from its inception. The early feminist movements were intertwined with the worker movements in the United States and the British Empire. These movements saw the fight for equal pay irrespective of gender and also for reduction in working hours coupled with better working conditions. The German social democratic party held many conferences on the subject of women’s rights (especially the right to vote). In 1907, the first international conference of socialist women was held in Stuttgart, Germany. The conference was led by Clara Zetkin, a
Marxist theorist, who was a member of the German social democratic party and later on the communist party of Germany. One of the main topics discussed were the role of women in worker rights organizations, as a means to improve their own conditions. The demands from the conference were the right for all women to vote irrespective of wealth, education or any other barriers.
In the US, along the same time, the socialist party of the US and the national women’s committee had declared the first women’s day. The marched through the streets of New York demanding better working conditions and better pay. The next international conference for socialist women happened in 1910 in Copenhagen, Denmark where delegates from over a hundred countries had arrived. This conference saw the demand for an 8 hour working day, the right for all women to stop working 8 weeks before to child birth (yes, if not for the commies and socialists, women would get no leave prior to child birth) and a “motherhood insurance” if the child lived for 8 weeks or more. These ideas were proposed to ensure than women working at home too would be considered a part of the workforce and be treated the same. The demands from this conference have directly influenced modern day maternity leaves. A famous incident occurred in the Lawrence mill strikes (better known as the bread and roses strikes) of 1912 in the US, where women of the mill went on strike. Many more strikes and protests rose across the world during this period all under the red banner.
When the first world war broke out, many socialist and women movements were clamped down (dur to the anti-war stance held by these groups). In defiance, Clara Zetkin held the final international conference for socialist women in Berne. This was by far the largest attended conference with delegates such as Nazheda Krupskaya, (she was husband of a nice, jolly chap who went by the name of Vladimir Lenin). The conference came stated how the imperialist war, was fought on the backs of the international proletariat which only served the benefits of the bourgeoise. The war still went on despite these efforts as did the women’s movement. The most dramatic movement came on the 23th of February (march 8th in our calendar) in the Russian empire in the capital, Petrograd led by the feminist Alexandra Kollontai (she would later become the commissar for welfare in the soviet government after the great October socialist revolution in 1918 and also soviet ambassador to Norway, being the first women to hold such posts). The protests scared the monarch Czar Alexander the 2nd who ordered the military to shoot upon the crowds. The violence was swift and brutal, but the women would not stand down. They faced the onslaught bravely standing up and refusing to back down. They also successfully managed to convince some regiments of the army to switch sides. To quote Leon Trotsky “A great role is played by women workers in the relations between workers and soldiers. They go up to the cordons more boldly than men, take hold of the rifles, beseech, almost command, ‘Put down your bayonets; join us!”. The movement directly led to the fall of over 300 hundred years of Romanov rule in Russia. In 1921, Clara Zetkin and the second international conference for communist women held in Moscow during the Russian civil war, declared that hence forth march 8 would officially be international working women’s day. The soviet government, led by Vladimir Lenin, made international working women’s day (yes you heard that right, it’s not just women’s day, its WORKING women’s day) a communist holiday in 1922. The communists in china too started celebrating it henceforth.
When Stalin assumed power, he continued the achievements of the revolution. However, in 1936, he removed the right for women to have abortions (soviet women were the first to enjoy the right to abortions), due to the fall in population in the country from the civil war. However, during the second world war, more than 800,000 women from the soviet women participated in the war in combat roles and many also became commissioned officers. (to put that into perspective only after a supreme court case in 2020 were Indian women given the right to get commissioned roles in the Indian armed forces). Beautiful stories from the war such as how a woman named Mariya Vasilyevna, who lost her husband in the war, wrote a letter to Stalin demanding she be allowed to operate a T-34 tank in battle and name it “fighting girlfriend”. She fought in the red army in 1943 and 1944 as a sergeant, where she died after her head was smashed by fragments of a shell. She was later awarded the “Hero of the Soviet Union” (the highest honour in the Soviet Union). In fact , there was also a special all women’s regiment, the 46th "Taman" Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment led by Major Yevdokiya Bershanskaya (yes a female leading an armed regiment in the 1940’s) which flew harassment and precision bombing missions against the German military from 1942 until the end of the war. the unit was called the “night witches” the German military, who had never seen women in such roles before and wondered if the soviets had been using experimental medications and enhancement on these women (remember that the Nazis were fed constant propaganda on how women were supposed to be only good mothers and housewives). They flew crop duster planes, with no machine guns or radar in roles that most males would refuse to even consider. Many of these women were honoured by the soviet government after the end of the war.
You might be wondering why I have talked only about the east in the previous few paragraphs. After the success of the great October socialist revolution, the US and other western nations led by the capitalists and conservatives feared something similar would happen in the country. They denounced feminism as “unnatural” and considered it impossible for a woman to be equal to a man, often quoting religious scriptures to prove their points. They often stated that with women being given the right to vote, there was nothing else left for women to strive for in society. The panic and xenophobia in the west, led to the entire day and its essence and ideals being hidden behind an iron curtain. While in the socialist bloc, women’s day was celebrated as a massive holiday, the west refused to even acknowledge such a thing existed until the 1970’s. however as the flower power movement grew in the 60’s the movement was brought back. it was only in 1975 that the UN had celebrated international women’s year with soviet cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova (the first woman in space) acting as the Soviet representative. It was only that year on, that the UN had celebrated the event globally as a holiday on march 8th.
Modern feminist movements have been hijacked by right wing and other bourgeois elements. A good example would be that of Kangana Ranaut, the Indian actress who under the garb and guise of being a feminist, acts as a stooge for the ruling government. Many today know not about the origins of feminism and often those even who realize it, try to brush its significance and importance. However, we still see socialist women empowerments groups such as the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) the women’s wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-(CPIM) who fight for the rights of underprivileged women coming from lower castes, rural regions and tribal groups. These struggles must be carried forward if we are to live up to the ideals of Krupskaya, Kollontai, Zetkin and the rest.
Women’s achievements under socialism did not just end here. It was a constant process of empowerment and opportunities. Even today, after 30 years of the collapse of socialism, the workforce in tech jobs and medical roles in the former eastern bloc are still 50% women. The first woman in space was from the Soviet Union. Even today, Cuba has the second highest % of female representatives in parliament. The movement grew from a bunch of revolutionaries in the 20th century and continues to live on to this day. Despite all this, after the fall of the Soviet Union, women stopped earning the same as men. Women even to this day are treated as secondary being’s incapable of competing or even being considered equal to a man. Women face abuse mental and physical and often don’t receive justice. They still remain under represented in politics and important jobs. Many also single handedly face the burden of bringing up children and maintaining a family. The movement which started of in the 20th century, is far from over and still needs to push forward of equality of all.
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