Rediscovering the role of communist women
The socialist feminist roots of International Women’s Day are often forgotten. MARY DAVIS previews an event that aims to set the record straight
FOR many years this paper has been at pains to draw attention to the socialist-feminist origins of International Women’s Day.
We need to remind our movement that Clara Zetkin, a communist, played a leading role in initiating the principle of a day dedicated to the liberation of women.
Along with her comrades in the Second International, Zetkin’s aim was both to highlight and celebrate the struggle of working women against their oppression and double exploitation.
Similar stories
Women’s hard-fought-for rights are facing sustained and serious ideological attack. Let this International Women’s Day be a call to arms, says Professor MARY DAVIS
There’s no room for feminists to be complacent about the growth of extremism and misogyny worldwide, warns HAILEY MAXWELL
Author RACHEL HOLMES invites readers to come to her talk in London about the great foremother of the working-class women’s movement – Eleanor Marx
The youngest daughter of Karl Marx and her unwavering humanity in the face of injustice remain relevant for our times, writes DANA MILLS



