Marxist-Feminism

[scarletghoul]

Could anyone recommend me some Marxist Feminist pieces to read ?
I know not much about this, except for the ideas in Engels' Origins of Family etc which I really like. What else could I read to develop a fuller understanding ?

[Quail]

TBH, most of my feminist theory has come from me being politically forward.

[Aesop]

You could look at the works of simone de beauvoir who was a marxist-feminist.
One book that comes to mind is the second sex.

[graymouser]

The other classic (Second International-era) writing was August Bebel's Woman Under Socialism, which is widely credited as one of the main sources of Marxist feminism. Among the Bolsheviks, Alexandra Kollontai is often cited as one of the precursors of modern Marxist feminist theory. Evelyn Reed was the primary feminist theorist in the US SWP in the 60s and 70s, and wrote a number of books including Woman's Evolution which looks anthropologically at the rise of gender and the transition from matriarchy to patriarchy. Monthly Review published a couple of readers on the subject, Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism during the 70s heyday of feminism, and more recently The Socialist Feminist Project.

That's from explicitly Marxist sources - most Marxist feminists today also draw heavily on de Beauvoir's The Second Sex and Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, and you would probably want to read those along with the above-mentioned works.

[Invincible Summer]

bell hooks is pretty good, although I'm not sure if she's explicitly Marxist. She does talk about class and race though.

[syndicat]

a classic essay is Heidi Hartmann's "The Unhappy Marriage between Feminism and Marxism" You can read this and a series of replies in the anthology "Women & Revolution" which I would recommend.

[scarletghoul]

Thanks everyone.

[blake 3:17]

The Second Sex is a fabulous book. It does sprawl and De Beauvoir didn't consider herself a feminist. It's brilliant but probably not a very useful introduction.

Women and Revolution is a very good collection of responses to the Unhappy Marriage essay. It appears that the full text is available on google books. Link here: http://tinyurl.com/34gf4v5

There are also some excellent socialist feminist historians. Sheila Rowbotham is a very accessible feminist historian-from-below. Most of her work has been centered on England but the theory informs the writing. Barabara Taylor's book Eve and the New Jerusalem is a really fantastic account of pre-Marx socialist feminists in England.Te

There's also some really interesting socialist feminist work on labour from Canada. Meg Luxton, Wally Seccombe, Pat Armstrong, and Hugh Armstrong.

[Rjevan]

Besides of the already mentioned "Woman and Socialism (http://www.marxists.org/archive/bebel/1879/woman-socialism/index.htm)" by August Bebel (especially if you already read and liked Engels' "Origins of Family") and "The Second Sex" by Simone de Beauvoir, I'd also recommend "Women, Race and Class" by Angela Davis. It's rather an analysis of the history and connection of the black and women liberation movements than a theoretical work but nevertheless a very interesting read. The last chapter (http://www.marxists.org/subject/women/authors/davis-angela/housework.htm) is on MIA.

[Niccolò Rossi]

Neither Engels' 'Origins of Family...' nor Bebel's 'Woman and Socialism' are works of 'Marxist-Feminism'.

Nic.

[graymouser]

Neither Engels' 'Origins of Family...' nor Bebel's 'Woman and Socialism' are works of 'Marxist-Feminism'.
Both of these texts were fundamental in the development of Marxist feminism. While explicit theories of socialist and Marxist feminism came much later, their intellectual development cannot be understood without reference to the Engels and Bebel texts.

[Niccolò Rossi]

The OP asked for recommendations of 'Marxist-Feminist' readings and suggested that Engels' 'On the origin of the family...' was one. I'm not arguing the 'Marxist-Feminists' see them as fundamental or drew on them for inspiration.

For the record, I think 'Marxist-Feminism' is a contradiction in terms.

Nic.

[NoOneIsIllegal]

"Sexuality and Socialism" - Sherry Wolf

[graymouser]

"Sexuality and Socialism" - Sherry Wolf
No, the ISO views itself as opposed to feminism as a current and that women's liberation is primarily a class question, not a question of patriarchy. This differentiates them from genuine socialist feminist and Marxist feminist trends, which do see patriarchy existing as a part of capitalist society.

[Niccolò Rossi]

No, the ISO views itself as opposed to feminism as a current and that women's liberation is primarily a class question, not a question of patriarchy. This differentiates them from genuine socialist feminist and Marxist feminist trends, which do see patriarchy existing as a part of capitalist society.

Is this really the line of the ISO? On paper this may be there official line but I think in practice it's another matter, atleast for it's sister group here in Aus.

What is the line of Workers' Power?

Nic.

[penguinfoot]

which do see patriarchy existing as a part of capitalist society

The term "patriarchy" does actually have a precise meaning in feminist theory and is not just a term that can be used to summarize and group together all of the ways in which women are oppressed - it refers to the idea that there is a structure of sexist domination in society that is independent to some degree of other structures of domination like class oppression and that there needs to be a separate revolution directed against patriarchy, rooted in the unity of women across class and racial boundaries. It is a central part of radical feminist theory, and it is certainly not the case that all socialist feminists or Marxist feminists include patriarchy theory as part of their analysis - Lindsey German in 'Sex, Class, and Socialism', for example, explicitly argues against patriarchy theory.

In any case, regardless of whether you think that terms like Marxist feminism are coherent or not, the points is that Marxist tools of analysis have been able to make important contributions towards our understanding of the positions and experiences of women in class society and that there is a need for socialists to orientate themselves positively towards campaigns and struggles that concern the lives of working women, even when these campaigns and struggles may also involve middle-class and even bourgeois women - examples include the struggle to defend reproductive freedom as well as struggles around discrimination in the workplace. Simply saying that socialism will result in the oppression of women being solved and that we should not distract ourselves with struggles that don't directly target the power of capital over labour is simply a means of isolating ourselves from those working women who are already finding themselves pressured to take action on issues that are central to their autonomy.

[Shokaract]

Stuff from Radical Women (http://www.radicalwomen.org/) and the Freedom Socialist Party may be useful..

[graymouser]

Is this really the line of the ISO? On paper this may be there official line but I think in practice it's another matter, atleast for it's sister group here in Aus.
The Cliffite tradition has always been careful to separate out its practical and theoretical support for women's liberation from its views on feminism, which it regards as being a petty bourgeois movement.


What is the line of Workers' Power?
Actually pretty similar, that there is theoretical importance in the history of feminism but that socialist feminism is not a fundamentally correct position. There's an article covering a lot of the ideas here (http://www.fifthinternational.org/content/immaterial-analysis-women%E2%80%99s-oppression). My personal history is more involved with groups with a socialist feminist line, so I wanted to provide resources for this.

[scarletghoul]

Btw I don't mean just the 'Marxist-Feminist' movement, I'm looking for anything aimed at women's liberation (or discussing gender at all i guess) from the dialectical materialist perspective/method.

[HammerAlias]

Anything that expounds the message of "My Marxist-Feminist Dialectic Brings All the Boys to the Yard."

[brigadista]

women race and class -angela davis

[blake 3:17]

It is a central part of radical feminist theory, and it is certainly not the case that all socialist feminists or Marxist feminists include patriarchy theory as part of their analysis - Lindsey German in 'Sex, Class, and Socialism', for example, explicitly argues against patriarchy theory.


German's book is quite good on certain questions and terrible on others. The SWP/IST anti-feminism is quite weird. Her critiques of other left groups actually embracing and challenging themselves on gender issues are pretty half baked.