Workers Liberty Women's new pamphlet, Why Socialist Feminism?Why Socialist Feminism? approaches feminism from a socialist perspective, as well as approaching working class politics from a feminist perspective, as in Joan Trevor's chapter on women workers of the world and globalisation and Charlotte Zalens' short piece on the welfare state. These expose the real power of socialist-feminism. When our class is united, we are powerful; and since women are the majority of both the world's population and the working class, we desperately need working-class women's strength to overcome both the old system of male domination and the newer system of capitalist exploitation.
Elizabeth Butterworth's chapter on religion questions whether religion is inherently oppressive, or more oppressive than the rest of society, and asks if it's possible to be religious and a feminist.
Jessica Bradwell offers a detailed and fascinating analysis of the German Social Democratic women's movement and the lessons we can learn from it and apply to our work today. She also provides a scathing critique of would-be Marxist theories that downplay the importance of women in the socialist movement and of our revolutionary potential.
Jayne Evans writes eloquently about the history and theory of feminism and women in the Russian Revolution and, like Bradwell, writes about the lessons we can learn and apply from this period of working class history.
Overall, Why Socialist Feminism? is full of nuggets of wisdom, interesting ideas, perceptions and critiques. It is far from a complete guide to socialist-feminism and could do with development and fleshing out. Workers Liberty's 1989 publication The Case for Socialist Feminism has some sharp critiques of identity politics and Stalinism that could be updated and included in future editions. It would be good, too, to add to the examples of working class women's struggles that have been included, and to further develop analyses of sexuality, patriarchy and gender identity: the issue of trans* rights is a notable gap in the book.
But there is plenty to engage with and there are plenty of ideas to wrestle with in this short and accessible book.
