Chapter One Introduction

The 1960s marked the appearance of movements for the liberation of women in virtually every capitalist country, a phenomenon that had not been seen for half a century. Beginning in North America, this sec- ond wave of militant feminism spread quickly. Great Britain and the nations of Europe reacted first to the North American stimulus, and a new feminist con- sciousness emerged as well in such places as Japan, India, Iran, and Latin America. Although reminis- cent of earlier feminism, the women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s necessarily constituted a specific response to new social conditions. Not the least of its peculiarities was the existence of a significant trend within it known as socialist feminism or Marxist femi- nism, which sought to merge the two traditions so self-consciously linked together. Socialist feminism, argued its proponents, represents ‘a unique politics that addresses the interconnection of patriarchy and capitalism, with the goal of dealing with sexism, class conflict, and racism’.1 The emergence of a socialist-feminist trend in the late 1960s was an extremely important develop- ment. Socialist feminism stood in solidarity with anti- ­imperialist and progressive struggles both at home and abroad. Simultaneously, it placed itself in opposition

1. Red Apple Collective 1978, p. 39. While socialism and Marxism are of course not synonymous, I use the terms socialist feminism and Marxist feminism interchangeably, following ordinary practice within the contemporary women’s movement in the United States. Socialist feminism is not, moreover, the exclusive province of women: the New American Movement called itself a socialist-feminist organisation. 2 • Chapter One to a growing radical-feminist tendency that considered male supremacy the root of all human oppression and the main obstacle to female liberation. By the mid-1970s, however, the socialist-feminist movement began to lose some of its momentum and bearings, as anti-imperialist activity receded and as many Marxist women withdrew from socialist-feminist organisations, if not from the women’s movement altogether. The theoretical and organisational perspectives of radical feminism now appeared to offer more guidance to socialist feminists than they had before, particularly on the critical questions of sexuality, inter- personal relations, ideology, and the persistence of male ­domination through- out history. At the same time, women’s experience in revolutionary movements and socialist countries seemed more removed from immediate socialist-feminist concerns. A certain pessimism regarding the achievements of existing socialist movements and the possibilities of current revolutionary initiatives developed. In this atmosphere, some socialist feminists became persuaded that Marxism could not be transformed or extended by means of the application of feminist insight. They suggested, moreover, that such a goal is not only unattainable, but betrays women’s liberation to the demands of socialism. Whereas social- ist feminism had originated in a commitment to the simultaneous achievement of women’s liberation and socialist revolution, that double commitment now threatened to break apart. This book constitutes an argument for the power of Marxism to analyse the issues that face women today in their struggle for liberation. It strongly rejects, however, the assumption made by many socialists that the classical-Marxist tra- dition bequeaths a more or less complete analysis of the problem of women’s oppression. In this sense, it could be called a socialist-feminist work, although it shares neither the current scepticism among socialist feminists as to the useful- ness of Marxist theory, nor their high hopes for radical-feminist perspectives. Instead, the text argues that the socialist tradition is deeply flawed, that it has never adequately addressed the question of women, but that Marxism can nev- ertheless be used to develop a theoretical framework in which to situate the problems of women’s oppression and women’s liberation.

The force and character of the feminist upsurge of the 1960s and 1970s, and of its socialist-feminist component, owe much to the particular circumstances of the post war period. Serious transformations in capitalist domination followed the end of World-War II as the structure of power began to undergo profound changes, both within each nation and internationally. Women, regardless of their class, soon faced significantly altered tasks, expectations, and contradictions. During World-War II, an emergency mobilisation had thrust women into an unprecedented variety of new roles, many of them traditionally the preserve of men. With the War’s end and the return of the soldiers, the situation changed