London socialist feminist discussion group - starts this Friday

"No women's liberation without socialism, no socialism without women's liberation..."

Following the successful dayschool on "The case for socialist feminism" on 21st April, socialist feminist activists in London are setting up a weekly reading and discussion group on socialist feminist ideas.

Our first meeting will at 7.30pm, on Friday 25th May, in the upstairs room of the Plough, on Museum Street, WC1A 1LH (nearest tube: Tottenham Court Road).

We will be discussing the lessons that can be learnt from the German socialist women's movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The reading can be found at

http://www.workersliberty.org/taxonomy/term/456 (the summarised version is entitled "German socialism and the 'women question'").

Future discussions will be on a wide variety of topics.

Feel welcome to come along on 25 May, but for more information about reading and future discussions, or if you would like to get involved and help develop the group, email Sofie at

volsunga@gmail.com or ring her on 07815 490 837.

Sofie Buckland
e-mail: volsunga@gmail.com

Comments

Hide the following 3 comments

Sigh...

23.05.2007 12:37

Perhaps you might try listening to what socialist feminists - or at the very least, these socialist feminists - have to say, rather than just grabbing the opportunity to display your sexism.

Yes, of course socialism is about the emancipation of the working class as a whole. And it means recognising that class and class struggle have a structural position integral to the capitalist system in a more fundamental way than other forms of oppression and resistance to them.

But why does that mean other forms of oppression are irrelevant?

Socialists believe that only with the abolition of capitalism will it become possible to abolish all oppression. That doesn't mean saying that the oppressed simply have to wait until for the revolution, or even for large scale working-class anti-capitalist struggle, before they fight for their rights.

Try replacing "women" with "black people" in your sexist diatribe. Was the movement for black equality in 1950s and 60s America wrong because it took place in the absence of large-scale radicalisation in the white working class?

Are gay people wrong to fight for their rights? Should they just wait for the workers' movement to abolish capitalism?

Socialists should seek to integrate all struggles against oppression into the class struggle, creating something more than the some of the parts which can really win a free and equal society. Your approach is a blind alley.

Socialist feminist

Spotted Dick

24.05.2007 22:17

"please stand for your own radical feminist partyt like in sweden and see how many votes you get"

Until recently Sweden held the record for the most females in government, at 52%, which probably explains why there is less need for a radical feminist party there than here- feminism is main-stream across all the parties. Finland is the new record holder with 60%. Hardly backward countries by whatever measure you use.

Apologies to the socialist feminists, good luck with your group. There is a mysoginist here who amusingly admits to posting anti-feminist posts often under female identities, and has also admitted here to beating up a girl. He is a troll at best and should be taken seriously whether you choose to respond to him or not. He is seriously unstable, as he admits and as you can see, and far from representative of most opinion here. His name really is Dick but on the following thread he is also most of the other most offensive posters - including 'Eva'.

Danny
Homepage: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/12/357875.html?c=all

I agree with the poster below

01.09.2007 15:34

Firstly, socialism isn't just about class struggle. It is doubtful that it was ever purely that way historically from the very beginning. This point is significant in the following ways:

1. Class itself is based on concrete socio-economical structures, but to some extent it is also a construct. As a construct it is influenced fundamentally by the socio-economical as well as political and cultural environment it is situated in, which means other forms of division amongst humanity, such as gender, culture, race and sexuality are inter-wined with the class issue.

2. Ultimately socialism is about trying to bring about egalitarianism in a general sense, and since class oppression is not the only form of oppression and inequality, other areas need to be addressed as well. It might be argued that "economical structures underpin other issues" and therefore class is more fundamental, but at best this is only true to some extent. Economics does not exist on the individual level, even at its most primitive it is fundamentally a social activity, and since economics is fundamentally intertwined with social issues, it is not just "economical structures" that are fundamental but actually "socio-economical structures" and therefore other areas such as gender and race are important too.

3. Socialism is about democracy. Therefore the very fact that so many women, ethnic minorities etc care so much about issues other than just class means that these issues are important, by definition.

4. In order to bring about socialism, the working classes need to be more united. Ignoring divisions based on gender, race etc and simply "wishing them away" will potentially cause problems for the entire movement.

Chenyang Li
mail e-mail: lightningstrike123581321@hotmail.com