Arkivet – Nummervisning

Fra International Socialism Journal nr. 14

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Editorial (ISJ 14, Autumn 1981)

14

1

sep 81

The discussion on socialism and feminism, which has been carried on in earlier issues of International Socialism (and elsewhere within the SWP) occupies the latter part of this issue.

Chris Harman: The summer of 1981: a post-riot analysis

14

1

sep 81

The most violent and extensive disturbances on Britain’s streets since the war. That was the press’s verdict on the week of July 3rd-11th. And for once the press was right. The barricade, the overturned police van, the milk floats driven at police lines, the burnt out cars and pubs and the looted hi-fi shops – all were something new on the streets of Britain. Above all, the novelty was symbolised in the cascades of petrol bombs. The weapon of Budapest ’56 and Watts ’65, of Paris ’68 and Derry ’69 was now the weapon of Brixton and Southall, of Toxteth and Moss Side.

Dave Beecham: Updating the downturn: the class struggle under the Tories

14

44

sep 81

Just over two years of Tory government have passed in a blur of events. As this article was being written British Airways declared it would make 9,000 workers redundant, and freeze pay for a year after already delaying previous increases by three months; Hoover announced a threat to cut pay by 10% in January 1982; the rail union leaders – from a position of strength – abandoned their strike plans and agreed to a potentially savage assault on jobs through productivity deals; and the 750 workers at Lawrence Scotts in Manchester were still trying to win one of the few fights for jobs in engineering, in the face of total treachery from the officials of their unions, left and right. On 15 September 1981 the new right-wing Tory cabinet took its toughest line on pay, announcing virtually a 4% limit in the public services.

Tony Cliff: Alexandra Kollontai: Russian Marxists and Women Workers

14

75

sep 81

Over the last ten or so years two examples have been used by many who consider themselves socialist feminists to bolster their position of the need for a separate women’s organisation. One was the example of Clara Zetkin and the German socialist movement, the other that of the Russian Marxists and above all Alexandra Kollontai.

Anna Paczuska + Lin James: Socialism needs feminism

14

105

sep 81

‘[In Siberia] ... the women usually took home the men’s linen; but Bronstein [Trotsky] refused to benefit from such comforts, washed his own linen and mocked at revolutionaries so ensnared in bourgeois habits and prejudices as to burden their womenfolk with such work.’ Isaac Deutscher, The Prophet Armed: Trotsky 1879–1921, Oxford 1970, p. 41.

Juliet Ash: Clara Zetkin: A reply to Tony Cliff

14

120

sep 81

Tony Cliff’s article in International Socialism 2 : 13 on Clara Zetkin attempted to point out some of the grave complexities involved in understanding the development of socialist and feminist movements during the last 100 years. In doing so he employed a classic male leadership method, conveniently picking out from writings and correspondence of this period quotes from socialist women which would suggest a concern with issues considered important by socialists and feminists at present.

Janet Vaux: Feminists in the Labour Movement

14

124

sep 81

A reply to Tony Cliff: Clara Zetkin and the German Socialist Feminist Movement in ISJ2:13.
The general truth behind the attacks by Zetkin and Kollontai on contemporary women’s rights movements is that civil rights struggles are reformist; they don’t really change things, but leave the basis of a divided class society intact. It is quite usual, and I think correct, to say that the 19th century women’s rights movements were a struggle on the part of bourgeois women to get equal rights with bourgeois men. But, at this time, the working classes were also struggling for many of the political and educational rights enjoyed by bourgeois men.

Contents (ISJ 14, Autumn 1981)

14

1

sep 81