International

By Jamie Green

“Hundreds of thousands of working women who labour with their brains are just as much exploited by the action of capitalists and middle-men as the millions of women who work with their hands, because the whole capitalist class hangs together, and defends its interests.”
― Clara Zetkin, Social-Democracy & Woman Suffrage

Socialist origins 

Clara Zetkin (1857-1933), a German Marxist theorist, communist activist and teacher by training, proposed the first International Working Women’s Day at anInternational Women’s Conference, organised to precede the general meeting of the Socialist Second International in 1910. Zetkin, heavily involved in the labour movement and conditions of working people, wrote prolifically on women’s liberation – and the intrinsic divergence between the bourgeois feminist and the proletarian women’s movements. 

“The woman of the proletariat has achieved her economic independence but neither as a person nor as a woman or wife does she have the possibility of living a full life as an individual. For her work as wife and mother she gets only the crumbs that are dropped from the table by capitalist production.

“Consequently, the liberation struggle of the proletarian woman cannot be – as it is for the bourgeois woman, a struggle against the men of their own class. She does not need to struggle, as against the men of her own class, to tear down the barriers erected to limit her free competition…

“The end goal of her struggle is not free competition with men but bringing about the political rule of the proletariat. Hand in hand with the men of her own class, the proletarian woman fights against capitalist society.”

Zetkin argued then that despite political equality, nothing had truly changed in terms of the actual relations to power – “free competition” with men would not liberate women, but only by the abolition of the capitalist system and construction of a socialist society could women be free.

Stark crossroads facing capitalism

This sentiment was shared by her revolutionary colleague and long-time friend, Rosa Luxemburg, who popularised the famous slogan, “Socialism or Barbarism” after Friedrich Engels – highlighting the stark crossroads facing humanity. Zetkin argued fiercely against Hitler and the rise of fascism, which she described as the “strongest, most concentrated, and classic expression at this time of the world’s bourgeoisie’s general offensive”. 

“It is urgently necessary” she wrote, “that it be brought down. This is true not only with respect to the historic existence of the proletariat as a class, which will free humankind by surmounting capitalism…”

Zetkin’s words remain painfully relevant: the perpetual and inherent crises of capitalism persist, embodied in Trump’s corruption in the US and ICE reign of terror – the masked face of US fascism – Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza – killing over 28,000 women and girls and over 1,686 healthcare workers, displacing millions – and now the US/Israel attack on Iran.

The attack on Iran, condoned and then militarily supported by the British government, led to the bombing a girl’s school in Minab by US forces, leaving 168 dead. Similarly, Britain assisted the US in the 1953 coup that overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mosaddegh because of his plans to nationalise the oil industry.

In a short article we cannot even begin to cover the depths and wide reach of the depravity of those involved in the Epstein scandal. The hidden links to Israel, Mandelson, Trump and other powerful people are slowly becoming clear. The Iran war is not simply a distraction from the Epstein files – but an extension of the Epstein scandal: interlinked as it is in the whole system of capitalism, colonialism, imperialism and empire.

Beyond what were mostly men in these crimes against women and girls, as well as young men, were the few powerful women who facilitated, assisted and sometimesparticipated in the attacks. All of these should be brought to justice with a swift reckoning, but most likely will not. The “male-centred” bourgeois women of our times are clearly – and ardently – choosing their (ruling) class, over humanity, time and time again. 

The violence of global capitalism 

In a time when the world is seeing historic levels of wealth, 342.4 million women and girls are trapped in “extreme poverty” and expected to live on less than $2.15 (£1.60) a day by 2030. In Britain, the top 10% richest households retain upwards of 43% of wealth,  while 4.1 million women are living in poverty (2023-2024), with 4.5 million children in relative low-income households.

Here we see the creeping importation of US evangelical extremism – Christian nationalism – which is similar to that vein of hatred of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees we see on the far right. There is feigned concern for “life” in general (usually reflected in the imagery of innocent white girls). It is a view in which real women’s autonomy and girls’ quality of life is sacrificed and decimated. 

Austerity policies between 2010 and 2019 cut life expectancy  by an average of five months for women and three months for men. Neoliberalism, systemically violent in its effects over the last forty years of economic crises, stagflation, deregulation, market prioritisation and minimal preparation and response to global pandemics are all linked to “over 1 million premature deaths” in England alone, from 2011-2019, with an additional 151,615 premature deaths reported in 2020.

The research, produced by the Institute of Health Equity, highlighted excess death rates associated with area deprivation and inequalities found that figures increased from 2011, with much of the  increase accounted for were “additional female deaths (61,000 additional excess deaths to women, compared to 41,000 to men)”.

Disproportionate affect on Black and Asian women

This systemic violence has a disproportionate affect on Black and Asian communities, as well as disabled women – described by the Women’s Budget Group as the “triple penalty” for low income, disabled, Black or Asian women – suffering the sharpest and most aggressive edge of cuts to our society.

Recent cuts to disability benefits, badged by the government as “necessary reforms” are an attempt to stimulate growth in the economy at the expense of those least able to fight back. This is despite data demonstrating that such cuts would actually wipe £8bn-12bn off GDP. By driving living standards down for low and middle-income households, the policy in fact, hampers economic growth.

Noting it is the low- and middle-income households that possess the higher marginal propensity to consume, spend a larger proportion of their income – the larger drivers of growth within the local and national economy. Those unable to work, maintain regular work and depend upon services still pay tax, still produce, stimulate the economy – and are still that of the working class.

One study from 2023, outlines the“collateral damage of capital” as “16 million and counting…” It argues that the imposition of neoliberal policies around the world for the last 50 years has delivered  “a potent cocktail of privatisation, deregulation and cuts to public services” that has facilitated the deaths of millions 

These policies are a political choice and enact political violence against the working class of the world – particularly impacting, shaping (and destroying) the lives of millions of marginalised and oppressed women and girls. It is men, and women, prioritising their (ruling) class once again.

Many who are living relatively comfortable lives – still needing to work, but still exploited by their labour – must recognise our liberation is tied up with that of all of the working class, be that a person on benefits, an asylum seeker, transgender women, or any other.  

Ending capitalism, and building a socialist society then, as Zetkin concludes, is aquestion of “survival for every ordinary worker, a question of bread, working conditions, and quality of life for millions and millions of the exploited.” 

Bread, roses, and solidarity on this day. 

Feature picture shows a historic strike of US garment workers in 1908, ie prior to the first International Working Women’s Day