Marxism, feminism and "marxist anti-feminism"
Recently, leading members of the International Socialist Organization have been writing and talking about marxism and feminism from a new angle. In particular, Sharon Smith and Abbie Bakan have been suggesting that the approach to feminist ideas and movements which has characterized the organizations of the International Socialist Tendency over recent decades needs a radical overhaul. They identify "marxist anti-feminism" as the problem.
Socialist feminist ideas were the sort of ideas I myself defended in the 1980s, but I was won over to the IST approach and have defended it since. My article in French "Do we live in a patriarchal society" was an attempt to summarize this position. On the French far left socialist-feminist ideas are generally consensual, and not many people agreed with me.
That the debate about marxism and feminism is opened up again can only be an excellent thing, in a period where there have been many steps backward for women, and some aspects of women's oppression are getting ever worse.
Lindsey German, who was one of the thinkers involved in developing the IST tradition on this question, has replied to Abbie Bakan and Sharon Smith. Lindsey left the SWP a few years ago. Although I think she was wrong to leave, and I do not generally agree with the recent attacks on the SWP from various quarters, her article is important and useful. Here it is :
Lindsey German responds to Abbie Bakan and Sharon Smith on ‘Marxist Anti-Feminism’
Sandra Bloodworth, from Socialist Alternative in Australia, an organization which emerged from the IST tradition, writes here her general criticism of one of the most influential feminist theories. The article is twenty years old, but remains relevant.
Socialist feminist ideas were the sort of ideas I myself defended in the 1980s, but I was won over to the IST approach and have defended it since. My article in French "Do we live in a patriarchal society" was an attempt to summarize this position. On the French far left socialist-feminist ideas are generally consensual, and not many people agreed with me.
That the debate about marxism and feminism is opened up again can only be an excellent thing, in a period where there have been many steps backward for women, and some aspects of women's oppression are getting ever worse.
Lindsey German, who was one of the thinkers involved in developing the IST tradition on this question, has replied to Abbie Bakan and Sharon Smith. Lindsey left the SWP a few years ago. Although I think she was wrong to leave, and I do not generally agree with the recent attacks on the SWP from various quarters, her article is important and useful. Here it is :
Lindsey German responds to Abbie Bakan and Sharon Smith on ‘Marxist Anti-Feminism’
Sandra Bloodworth, from Socialist Alternative in Australia, an organization which emerged from the IST tradition, writes here her general criticism of one of the most influential feminist theories. The article is twenty years old, but remains relevant.
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