Socialism and Feminism

[Crunkenstein]

Recently there seems to be a nostalgia for the GDR by East Germans which involves many things, including the way sex used to be. Recently a Chinese woman stabbed a party member to death for advancing upon her with sexual requests. Lenin felt that sex should be as available as a drink of water. Along with the outlaw of pornography and excellent focus on sexual openness and education came a perspective on promiscuity that's degrading to women. Where should I begin to understand the impact of a socialist perspective on sex, and the relationship between socialism and feminism?

[Kléber]

Actually, the story goes, Kollontai said sex should be as casual as drinking a glass of water, and Lenin supposedly went "but who wants to drink from a soiled glass?" Despite the popular understanding that he had a conservative personal life, Lenin was actually very liberal in terms of marriage law and social policy, at least compared to Stalin. The 1917 Revolution (like the French Revolution) legalized homosexuality and gave women legal independence and the freedom to divorce and get abortions. Stalinist rule in the 1930s (like Napoleonic rule) saw the re-illegalization of homosexuality, and restrictions on the legal freedoms of women in favor of the traditional family model; these conservative policies became staples of the other so-called "socialist" countries.

Unfortunately, sexism in the socialist movement all the way back to the beginning. (These days Stalinists are very rarely anti-homosexual any more, though). Sexism is theoretically gone from most leftist organizations but it is still obvious in the makeup of virtually all anti-capitalist organizations and especially when it comes to leadership. But the days of women being expected to do the secretarial and cooking tasks at meetings are pretty much over, at least in the US from my experience.

[which doctor]

Juliet Mitchell's Women: The Longest Revolution is one of the best texts on Marxist Feminism. She doesn't concern herself with trends in bourgeois feminism and thinks that women's liberation can only occur with a simultaneous socialist revolution.

http://www.marxists.org/subject/women/authors/mitchell-juliet/longest-revolution.htm

[Revy]

Actually, the story goes, Kollontai said sex should be as casual as drinking a glass of water, and Lenin supposedly went "but who wants to drink from a soiled glass?" Despite the popular understanding that he had a conservative personal life, Lenin was actually very liberal in terms of marriage law and social policy, at least compared to Stalin. The 1917 Revolution (like the French Revolution) legalized homosexuality and gave women legal independence and the freedom to divorce and get abortions. Stalinist rule in the 1930s (like Napoleonic rule) saw the re-illegalization of homosexuality, and restrictions on the legal freedoms of women in favor of the traditional family model; these conservative policies became staples of the other so-called "socialist" countries.

Unfortunately, sexism in the socialist movement all the way back to the beginning. (These days Stalinists are very rarely anti-homosexual any more, though). Sexism is theoretically gone from most leftist organizations but it is still obvious in the makeup of virtually all anti-capitalist organizations and especially when it comes to leadership. But the days of women being expected to do the secretarial and cooking tasks at meetings are pretty much over, at least in the US from my experience.

The Socialist Party USA has two Co-Chairs, one male and one female. The National Committee (http://socialistparty-usa.org/nc.html) is also split evenly along gender lines.

[Communist]

>>Sexism is theoretically gone from most leftist organizations but it is still obvious in the makeup of virtually all anti-capitalist organizations and especially when it comes to leadership.<<

Really? I find that hard to believe, but I haven't investigated other parties' leadership lately either. THC's party, though, is balanced. Mine, Workers World Party, has a six member Secretariat, four of whom are females.

[Kléber]

That's cool to learn about the SPUSA. For a party whose leadership threw out 80% of the members when they voted bolshevik you guys have come a long way :lol:. OK Someone's gonna Kronstadt me for that one. But really.. do women elect the female chair and men elect the male chair or is it like a runoff system or two universal elections or?

Do the French Socialist Party or Lutte Ouvrière, the two leading members of each of which are women, have the kinds of positive discrimination within organizations that is picking up in the American left?

[Communist]

Kleber, whats the leadership makeup of the World Party of Revolution? And who are these folks, is this the new version of a similarly named organization from a couple years ago? It seems I've heard about this party - perhaps a comrade who used to post here was a member or even a founder, I can't quite recall.

[Kléber]

Ah, that was the official name of the Fourth International. I guess I will change it if there is an actual group taking that name.

[syndicat]

I would recommend reading "Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center" by bell hooks and "Women & Revolution", edited by Lydia Sargent.