Women and revolution.

4/22/2014
Imphal

International Women's Day, 8 March, was established by socialists to celebrate the struggles of working class women. I will like to look at how the fight for women's liberation and revolution has gone hand in hand with three great revolutions - in Russia in 1917, Spain in 1936-37 and Egypt today.

Russia 1917

International Women's Day (originally International Working Women's Day) was first proposed by the German socialist Clara Zetkin in 1910. Seven years later the protest on International Women's Day in Russia marked the start of the February Revolution. Arguments about women arose sharply after the first Russian Revolution in 1905. Looking back Alexandra Kollontai wrote, "In 1905 there was no corner in which, in one way or another, the voice of a woman speaking about herself and demanding new rights was not heard."

Middle class women and the intelligentsia attempted to organise through the Women's Equal Rights Union which grew rapidly. They campaigned for legal rights such as the right to vote, but didn't set their sights much higher. Many of the women maintained maids and servants and were not interested in raising the rights of working women.

When working women called on the Union to demand the minimum wage, those leading the group said they were "disappointed" and withdrew from organising women workers. They feared being forced to increase their maids' pay. The most militant the Union ever became was in the height of the 1905 Revolution and by the start of 1906 it had reached 8,000 members.

In contrast the Bolsheviks fought for equal pay, for universal suffrage and for full rights for women. Kollontai, a Bolshevik, was fervently against an alliance between socialist and liberal women. Their interests were opposed, and on occasions when they did unite, middle class women would always dominate working women she insisted. Some Russian feminists actively opposed strikes. One, Dr Maria Ivanovna Pokrovskaia, said "Who bears the chief burden of the strike? The wife and mother!"

As Russian society polarised, any form of alliance between rich and poor women became harder. In the lead up to 1917 women's confidence had begun to grow through their rising industrial power. Several key strikes in factories where the majority of workers were women fought for wage increases and paid maternity leave. Unlike in Britain or Germany, the doors of the unions were wide open to women from the beginning in Russia.

By 1917 women made up half of the labour force. On International Women's Day in 1917 women textile workers and others came out on strike. Strikers sent elected delegations around other factories to bring them out and rally support. On the protests, women argued with soldiers and convinced some to disobey orders and join the demonstrations. The February Revolution had begun.

In the following months some factories introduced minimum wages, five roubles for men and three for women. Deep seated prejudices, although eroded, still remained. It was only after the October Revolution that there was a serious attempt to address this. After October new laws established equal pay for equal work.

The October Revolution led to the biggest milestone in women's liberation: granting the full right to vote, equal pay and paid maternity leave. The traditional family was transformed. Marriage became a civil relationship, the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children was eliminated and abortion was entirely legalised. The state took over "women's work" which had enslaved them in the home, setting up communal laundries, nurseries and communal dining rooms.

Nonetheless, the lack of political confidence among women was reflected in the way women still voted men into the soviets rather than women. To combat this Lenin argued for greater political work among women. Women had to be brought into the workings of the Communist Party.

Inessa Armand, a leading female Bolshevik, argued that "if the emancipation of women is unthinkable without communism, then communism is unthinkable without the full emancipation of women". Several conferences for women were held by bringing together delegates from trade unions, workshops and factories. The first in November 1917 brought together 500 delegates representing 80,000 women factory workers.

In 1919 the Zhenotdel (Women's Section of the Party) was created. It was attached to every layer of party organisation to increase female party membership. Women were elected to the organisational body, developed communal institutions such as dining halls, hospitals and schools, and served as judges. The Zhenotdel campaigned to encourage women to take part in the Civil War by providing medical aid, communications and working in the political departments of the Red Army. Critically it aimed to spread literacy, not just to learn reading and writing but to spread cultural, political and general education.

However, the onslaught of the Civil War left the Russian working class in tatters as the country faced unparalleled economic collapse. The gains women had made were eroded. The failure of revolution to spread elsewhere, above all in Germany, left the Russian Revolution isolated by the mid-1920s. This paved the way for Stalin's counter-revolution and the re-establishment of class rule, even if was the state that now acted as the capitalist, driving exploitation forward. Along with this, the old family structures were reintroduced and women were forced into often back-breaking work and domestic servitude.

The experience of the Russian Revolution, both in the victory and defeat, demonstrates more than anything that the struggle for socialism is central to women's liberation. As Krupskaia, Lenin's wife and a leading Bolshevik, explained, "that which unites the working woman with the working man is much stronger than that which divides them."