Cinzia Arruzza - Dangerous Liaisons - The Marriages and Divorces of Marxism and Feminism (2013, Merlin Press LTD) PDF

D angerous
Liaiscjns
D angerous
Liaiscjns:
The marriages and
divorces of Marxism
and Feminism
CINZIAARRUZZA
prologue by
Penelope Duggan
Resistance Books
IIRE
M ERLIN PRESS
Pu blished in 2013
by Merlin Press Ltd
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Cran e St
Pon typ ool
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Dangerous Liaisons is issue n u m ber 55

o f the IIRE N otebooks for Stu d y and Research
© Resistance Books and IIRE
Ed ited by Penelop e Du ggan and Terry Con w ay
ISBN 978-0-85036-644-0
Translated from the Italian by Marie Lagatta

and Dave Kellaw ay
Catalogu e in p u blication d ata is available

from th e British Library
Printed in th e UK by Im p rin t Digital, Exeter

CONTENTS
Con tribu tors 7

Prologu e by Penelop e Du ggan 9
In trod u ction by Cinzia Arru zza 19
Chap ter 1 Marriages ...
1.1 Linking u p the struggles 23

1.2 Lad ies and w orking w om en 26
1.3 On both sides o f the Ch an n el 29
1.4 Social-Dem ocratic Parties 34
1.5 Revolu tionary w om en 37
1.6 Wom en fighters 43
1.7 Wom en in the Chinese revolu tion 46
1.8 Th e new fem in ism 49
Chap ter 2 ... and d ivorces
2.1 A p roblem from the start 57

2.2 Th e Stalinist fam ily 61
2.3 "Tr ash ": com m u n ist p arties and w om en 64
2.4 "P r on e"! Th e d ivorce o f the Seventies 69
Chap ter 3 Dan gerou s liaison s
betw een gend er and class
3.1 On ce u p on a tim e ... 79

3.2 Class w ithou t gend er 87
3.3 Gend er as class 90
3.4 Gend er w ithou t class 97
Chap ter 4 A qu eer u n ion betw een

Marxism and fem in ism ?
4.1 One theory for d ual system s 115

4.2 One theory for a single system 120
4.3 From u nhap p y m arriage to qu eer u n ion 124
Peop le m en tion ed in the text 129

Som e su ggestions for fu rth er read ing 146
Abou t Resistance Books and the IIRE 151
CONTRIBUTORS
Author
Cinzia Arru zza is- Assistant Professor of Philosop h y at the
New Sch ool for Social Research. She stu d ied in Rom e (Italy),
Fribou rg (Sw itzerland ) and Bon n (Germ an y). She w orks on
ancient p hilosop hy, ancien t p olitical th ou gh t, Marxism and
fem in ism . She is also an IIRE fellow and a socialist and fem inist
activist.
Editors
Terry Conway is on the ed itorial board o f the British socialist
m agazine Socialist Resistance and o f the on -lin e English langu age
m agazine International Viewpoint. She is also a lifelong fem inist
and activist in the LGBTQ m ovem en t.
Penelope Du ggan is a Fellow o f the In tern ation al Institu te for

Research and Ed u cation in Am sterd am w here she lectu res on
w om en and p olitical organizing. Pu blication s inclu d e Workin g
Papers o f the Institu te (n otably The Feminist Challenge to
Traditional Political Organising) and , as ed itor, o f W omen s
Lives in the N ew Global Economy (1992, w ith H eath er Dash n er)
and o f W omen s Liberation & Socialist Revolution : Documents of
the Fourth International (2011). She is the ed itor o f the on -lin e
English langu age m agazine International Viewpoint.
In memory of Daniel BensaVd, the last of the untimely
PROLOGUE
"Th is sm all book aim s to be a short and accessible in trod u ction
to the qu estion o f the relationship betw een w om en 's m ovem en ts
and social m ovem en ts, and the relation betw een class and
gend er."
With this as her goal, Cinzia Arru zza d evotes the first tw o
chap ters to a brief su m m ary o f som e of the im p ortan t
historical exp eriences o f the first and second wave fem inist
m ovem ents and th eir relationship to the w orkers' m ovem en t.
She then tu rns her atten tion to sketching ou t in the latter tw o
chap ters an overview o f the th eoretical d iscu ssions that have
existed w ithin the w om en 's m ovem en ts since the 1970s on
the interrelationship betw een w om en 's op p ression, and oth er
op p ressions, and class exp loitation , notably w ithin the cap italist
system . A su bstantial bod y o f w ork has tackled the qu estions
dealt w ith here as Arru zza ind icates, thu s the bibliograp hy for
this English-langu age ed ition has been su bstantially increased to
take accou n t o f p u blication in English on these qu estion s. Th is
inclu d es both the d iscu ssion in Britain that has d evelop ed since
the p u blication of Ju liet Mitch ell's 1966 article in N ew Left Review
"Th e Longest Revolu tion " w ith oth er n otable con tribu tion s
such as Beyond the Fragments by Sheila Row both am , Lynne
Segal and H ilary Wainw right calling for a broad u nity o f trad e
u nionists, fem inists and left p olitical grou p s, the w ork o f Selm a
Jam es and Maria Rosa Dalla Costa on "w ages for h ou sew ork"
and the corp u s o f US fem inist th eory w hich to a far greater
extent than in Britain engaged in a d iscu ssion w ith the "Fren ch
fem in ism " or "d ifferen ce th eory" o f Lu ce Irigaray. A glossary o f
p eop le, in p articu lar those w ho have con tribu ted to Marxist and
10 DANGEROUS LIAISONS
fem inist theory, m en tion ed in the book has also been ad d ed .

In Arru zza's final chap ter she p rop oses th e n eed for
"d evelop ing an ou tlook th at can m ake sense o f in tersection s
and d ecip her the com p lex relationship betw een the p atriarch al
hold overs that d rift like hom eless ghosts in the globalized
cap italist w orld and the p atriarchal stru ctu res th at have, on the
contrary, been integrated , u sed and tran sform ed by cap italism
[w hich] calls for a renew al o f Mar xism ." As she says, "Th e p oin t
is not w hether class com es before gend er or gend er before class,
the p oint is rather how gend er and class in tertw ine in cap italist
p rod u ction and p ow er relations to give rise to a com p lex reality,
and it m akes little sense and is n ot very u sefu l to attem p t to
red u ce these to a sim p le form u la."
These qu estions o f the in terrelation sh ip betw een th e
specific op p ression o f w om en , as the secon d w ave fem in ist
m ovem ent correctly characterized it, an d oth er op p ression s
and exp loitations w ere a su bject o f great con cern to section s o f
that m ovem ent in its initial stages, d esp ite its p ortrayal all too
often as a m ovem en t sim p ly o f w hite m id d le-class w om en on ly
concerned w ith th eir ow n situ ation (an d som e o f th e n otable
sem inal w orks w ere ind eed lim ited to this p ersp ective, su ch as
Betty Fried an's Feminine M ystique). Th is p reoccu p ation w as
p articu larly m arked for the cu rren ts ch aracterized as "socialist
fem in ist" (in som e cou n tries, for exam p le Fran ce, w here social
d em ocratic Socialist Parties w ere in p ow er th e u se o f th e w ord
"socialist" was rejected in favou r o f "class stru ggle fem in ism ").
In Britain this cu rren t was for a p eriod p articu larly stron g in
organizational term s, hold ing n ation al con feren ces o f several
thou sand w om en , larger th an the "n ation al w om en 's liberation
con feren ces" them selves.
Th e p rim ary con cern o f these cu rren ts was in fact to reach
ou t to w orking-class w om en , w hether th rou gh th e trad e
u nions or m ore d irectly, inclu d ing by activity in w orkin g-class
com m u n ities. W om en 's com m ittees in trad e u n ion s raising
both the situ ation o f w om en as w orkers an d con cern s o f w om en
as w om en were on e o f the p rim ary form s this took, m ost often
PROLOGUE
at the initiative o f w om en activists w ho w ere also involved in

the stru ctu res o f the w om en 's m ovem en t. Th ey w ere thu s
p red om inantly in u n ion s organizing w hite-collar w orkers in
offices, laboratories and schools. (In cou ntries su ch as Britain ,
Ireland or Den m ark these initiatives cou ld also link up w ith an
alread y-existing trad ition o f w om en 's organization w ithin the
stru ctu red labou r m ovem en t.) Bu t it shou ld n ot be forgotten
that the Ford w om en m ach in ists' equ al pay strike o f 1968 is
one of the fou nd ing events o f the British w om en 's m ovem en t.
The Gru nw icks strike o f Asian w om en w orkers in the 1970s was
another notable event. Th e su p p ort organized by the m in ers'
wives grou p s in the year-long British m in ers' strike o f 1984-
85 was an oth er ind ication of how in p ractice links cou ld be
fou nd and forged betw een the situ ation o f w om en as w om en ,
as w orkers and as m em bers o f w orking-class com m u n ities
u nited in a com m on struggle to preserve th eir livelihood .
Sim ilar significant strikes o f w om en w orkers or w ith w om en 's
involvem ent in m ajor w orking class struggles can o f cou rse be
fou nd th rou gh ou t the w orld .
An im p ortan t exp ression o f this interrelatonship was the
N ovem ber 1979 d em on stration in d efence o f the 1967 Abortion
Act in Britain join tly called by the Trad es Un ion Congress
(rep resenting at that p oin t som e 13 m illion w orkers in Britain )
and the N ational Abortion Cam p aign, a cam p aigning stru ctu re
initiated by th e the w om en 's m ovem en t and bringin g together
w om en's grou p s, trad es u n ion s from local to n ation al level and
left-w ing p olitical grou p s.
Wh ile this relationship was im p ortan t for socialist fem inists
from the beginning, it bore p articu lar fru it d u ring the h istoric
m in ers' strike in Britain . W om en in m in in g com m u n ities
began to organize in su p p ort o f the strike and set up th eir ow n
organization "W om en against Pit Closu res". Dom estic labou r
was collectivized throu gh strike cen tres, w hich p rovid ed food
and often child care w hile at the sam e tim e w om en p articip ated
in p icket lines and in sp eaking at m eetings all over the w orld
in d efence o f their com m u n ities. Socialist fem inists w ere
p rom in en t in m in ers' su p p ort grou p s up and d ow n the cou n try.

Unfortu nately the d efeat o f the m in ers' strike by Margaret
Th atch er's Conservative, an ti-u n ion govern m ent was a d efeat
n ot only for the trad e u n ion m ovem en t in Britain as is generally
recognized on the left bu t also for w om en 's liberation - an d
p articu larly for the socialist fem in ist cu rren t.
Th e con tribu tion o f this cu rren t to th e w om en 's m ovem en t
has tend ed to be forgotten and w ritten ou t o f h istory by a
m ainstream d iscou rse th at has tran sform ed fem in ism in to
cou nting how m any w om en break th rou gh the glass ceiling in
variou s sectors o f big bu siness, m ass m ed ia or p arliam en tary
p olitics, or d ism issed the fem in ist m ovem en t as an ti-m en
extrem ists, resp onsible for u n d erm in in g m en and fam ily life an d
thu s p rovoking all m an n er o f social ills. Th is obliteration o f th e
class-orientated socialist fem in ist cu rren t has p revailed to th e
extent that you nger generations o f Marxist fem in ists qu ite often
sim ply d o n ot know th at su ch a cu rren t existed an d id entify
all aspects of activist, m ilitan t fem in ism , su ch as w om en -on ly
m eetings, w ith th e cu rren t kn ow n as rad ical fem in ist.
With in the w om en 's m ovem en t "w om en o f colou r " also
insisted on th e sp ecificity o f th eir situ ation as su ch , as w ell as
w om en , as w orkers, as lesbians. Th e British grou p Sou th all Black
Sisters was form ed in 1979 and brou gh t togeth er w om en o f
Black and Asian backgrou n d s. As Jan e Kelly p oin ted ou t in h er
1992 article "Postm od ern ism an d Fem in ism " in International
M arxist Review N o 14:
Lastly the 1980s w ere m arked by th e challenge o f black

w om en to the w h ite-d om in ated w om en 's m ov em en t. Black
fem inists p oin ted ou t th at on m an y issu es th eir exp erien ces
d iffered from w hite w om en . Th ese in clu d ed th e fam ily,
the w orkp lace, w elfare rights, m en , m oth er h ood , abor tion ,
sexu ality and , centrally, the state. Althou gh black w om en
had been organizing togeth er since at least 1973, in clu d in g
in several im p ortan t strikes, and th e first black w om en 's
conference in Britain was held in 1979, it was in th e 1980s th at
PROLOGUE 13
their voice was at last heard . Black w om en w ere organized in

caucuses w ithin the Labou r Movem en t, in cam p aigns against
d ep ortation, against religiou s fu nd am entalism , against
racism and in m any oth er ways. Central to the d ebate betw een
black and w hite fem inists has been the relation betw een race,
gend er and class and the relative w eight o f each. For exam p le
black w om en exp lained that som etim es they have to p u t
aside a fight against sexism to fight w ith black m en against
racism ; at oth er tim es the struggle against m ale d om in ation is
p aram ou n t. Th is, along w ith black w om en 's u nd erstand ing
of the racist state, led a significant p rop ortion o f black w om en
to socialist conclu sion s and p u t black w om en 's organization
at the forefron t o f an ti-im p erialist struggles su ch as the
cam p aigns against w ar in the Gu lf.
One exam p le o f how the w om en 's m ovem en t resp ond ed

to w om en's d ifferent exp eriences d ep end ing on th eir eth n ic
or national origin is in the evolu tion o f th e in tern ation al
cam p aign for w om en 's rep rod u ctive rights. First called the
International Cam p aign for Abortion Rights (ICAR) it then
becam e ICASC (In tern ation al Con tracep tion , Abortion and
Sterilization Cam p aign) to eventu ally becom e the Wom en 's
Global N etw ork for Rep rod u ctive Rights. Th is change reflected
how the u nd erstand ing o f w om en 's con cern s shifted from that
of notably w hite w om en in Western Eu rop e and N orth Am erica
d em and ing the right to abortion and con tracep tion to the n on -
w hite p op u lation s in those cou n tries, su ch as the Banglad eshi
w om en in Britain u sed as u nw itting gu inea pigs for the injectable
contracep tive Dep o-Provera in the 1970s or the Black w om en
w hose m ain con cern was to avoid forced sterilization , to that
of w om en globally and the w hole set o f interrelated issued
concerning rep rod u ction and w om en 's health.
In fact it cou ld be argu ed that the insistence o f the w om en 's
m ovem ent that the com bin ation s o f exp loitation s and
op p ressions that d ifferent w om en exp erienced - thu s m eaning
that p recisely there was n ot a "on e size fits all" answ er to
w om en's op p ression - op ened the way to p ost-m od ern ism 's

rejection of systems and collective id en titites. Th is resu lted in
a com p lete aband oning (at the level o f th eoretical d iscou rse
and d iscu ssion) o f the p ossibility o f collective stru ggle arou n d
com m on d em and s.
This was a far cry from the early days o f the British W o m en 's
Liberation Movem en t, w hich had h op ed to u n ite all w om en
arou nd first fou r, then six, th en seven d em an d s:
Dem and s On e - Fou r

Passed at the N ation al W LM Con feren ce, Skegness 1971
1. Equ al Pay
2. Equ al Ed u cational and Job Op p ortu n ities
3. Free Con tracep tion and Abortion on Dem an d
4. Free 24-h ou r N u rseries
Five and Six

Passed at the N ation al W LM Con feren ce, Ed in bu rgh 1974
5. Legal and Fin an cial In d ep en d en ce for All W o m en
6. Th e Right to a Self Defin ed Sexu ality. An En d to
Discrim in ation Against Lesbians.
(In 1978 at the N ational W LM Conference, Birmingham, the
first part of this demand was split off and put as a preface to all
seven demands)
Th e Seventh Dem an d
Passed at th e N ation al W LM Con feren ce, Bir m in gh am 1978
7. Freed om for all w om en from in tim id ation by th e th reat or
use of violence or sexu al coercion regard less o f m arital statu s;
and an end to the law s, assu m p tions an d in stitu tion s w h ich
p erp etu ate m ale d om in an ce and aggression to w om en .
Th e goal o f this book is to look at new ways o f in tegratin g

the ideas of m u ltip le op p ression an d exp loitation s an d
id entities in to a m ore d evelop ed Marxist analysis o f th e social
relations in cap italism , th at is to integrate con trad iction s su ch
as w om en 's op p ression and racial op p ression in to th e Marxist
PROLOGUE 15
analysis o f class society and thu s overcom e the sep aration and
hierarchization of op p ressions o f w hich m any Marxist cu rrents
have been gu ilty.
As an activist, Arru zza's con cern is to enable the struggles
of fem inist w om en to be an integral p art of the action o f the
rad ical anti-cap italist left in p ractice, n ot to rem ain at the level
of a theoretical d evelop m ent.
Im p ortan t con tribu tion s to the theoretical task have been
made by Marxist fem inists o f p reced ing generations w ho share
Cinzia Arru zza's p ersp ective su ch as Step hanie Coon tz and Lid ia
Cirillo, and by others throu gh their activist w ork. In a series o f
lectu res given in the In tern ation al Institu te for Research and
Ed u cation in th e 1990s, u sing the con cep t o f Marxism as an
analysis o f a set o f m oving con trad iction s, Coon tz p osited :
the m ethod s o f Marxism allow for self-correction on this

issue, enabling us to exp lore the origins of m ale d om in an ce
and racism and in so d oing to reconcep tu alize class itself. It
is n ot a qu estion o f ad d ing gend er analysis to class analysis,
or even show ing how they intersect, bu t o f u sing gend er
(and race, thou gh this p oin t need s d evelop m ent in a fu rther
p ap er) to reach a d eep er, m ore historical and m ore u sefu l
d efinition o f class.
Lid ia Cirillo's w ork started from the d ebate w ith the

"d ifferentialists" in th e Italian w om en 's m ovem en t, the w ork
of Lu ce Irigaray and Ju lie Kristeva having had a broad im p act
w ithin the Italian Com m u n ist Party (PCI) w hich was relayed to
the broad er m ovem en t. Cirillo p oin ts ou t in her "Fem in ism o f
the Anti-cap italist Left" (International Viewpoint, Ju n e 2007):
fem inism is always born and reborn on the left, alongsid e

revolu tionary, d em ocratic or p rogressive ten d en cies: on the
m argins of the 1789 revolu tion, in the n ation al revolu tions
of the first h alf o f the 19th Cen tu ry, w ithin the m ovem en t
for the abolition o f slavery in the Un ited States, alongsid e the
, 6 DANGEROUS LIAISONS
w orkers' m ovem en t, in the rad icalization o f th e 1960s and

1970s, in the global ju stice m o v em en t ....
In one d iscu ssion o f d ifference th eory p u blish ed as "Fo r

another d ifferen ce" in International Viewpoint she n otes:
Th e Italian p hilosop hy o f gend er d ifference is very m u ch

ind ebted to the id eas o f Irigaray as is op en ly recogn ized
becau se Irigaray p rovid es th e ind isp ensable elem en t o f
theory - the id ea th at th ere is an in n ate gend er d ifferen ce in
thou ght w hich is a biological fact lin ked to th e m orp h ology
o f sex and w om en 's sp ecific sexu ality. W ith ou t th is key id ea
it is im p ossible to claim gend er d ifference as a valu e, to ad op t
it as the 'sim p le' p arad igm .
Trad ition al fem in ism - both th e rad ical an d Marxist
varieties - has u su ally reacted to m ale ch au vin ist d ifferen ce
theory (th eoretical m ale ch au vin ism is basically a th eory
of gend er d ifference) by exp laining th e h istorical n atu re o f
gend er d ifference. Against m en w ho th eorized th e d istin ctn ess
of w om en on the basis o f biological existen ce itself, its savage
natu ralness, o f w om en 's inability to su blim ate or tran scen d it,
fem inists resp ond ed by p artly th row in g back th e accu sation s,
exp osing its d ep recating and id eological ch aracter; exp lain in g
w hat was tru e in w om en 's d istinctness as a fru it o f h istory, a
history of w om en 's op p ression.
More cu ltu rally aw are fem inists have never th eorized
equ ality in term s o f u n iform ity. Th is id en tification is typ ical
of reactionary and conservative th ou gh t an d is n oth in g to
do w ith Marxist criticism o f th e abstract equ ality em bed d ed
in bou rgeois law s. Th e th eory o f gend er d ifferen ce m ixes
up the tw o sep arate ap p roaches becau se its id eas have com e
ou t o f con trad ictory and d iverse p olitical an d cu ltu ral
realities. Th e better trad ition o f fem in ism cou ld n ot th eorize
gend er d ifference as a valu e for a very good reason : gend er
d ifference, w hich coin cid es w ith h istory in th e case o f
w om en , is op p ression and con sequ en tly on e can n ot id ealize
it or id entify w ith it.
PROLOGUE 17
Alongsid e this m ore abstract theoretical w ork, H eather

Dashner, in a rem arkable article "Fem in ism to the tu ne of
the cu m bia, corrid o, tan go, cu eca, s a m b a ..." p u blished in
International M arxist Review in 1987, exp lored the p rocess of
rad icalization o f w om en in a series o f Latin Am erica cou ntries
after travelling to and m eeting w ith the w om en involved , and
showed how in p ractice the in tersection o f d ifferent id entities
(as w om en , as inhabitants of the barrios or favelas as p easants,
y
as w orkers in the in form al sector, as m oth ers) cou ld com bin e

w ithou t any ind ivid u al having to choose one id entity over
another as a "p riority".
She expresses it th u s:
In ord er to su ccessfu lly d eal w ith the con trad iction s betw een
the trad itional role society im p oses on w om en and th eir new
exp eriences gained throu gh struggle itself, w om en have to be
able to break the confines o f the old social role and create
a new on e. Th is can n ot be d one by sim p ly m ou ld ing the
old accep ted social role to inclu d e new behaviou r p atterns
or p ractices: th at, in any case, w ou ld be the bou rgeoisie's
answ er. In a liberation p ersp ective, the con trad iction s can
only be overcom e by creating a new con cep t and p ractice
of w om en 's role in society. In p olitical term s, this need s to
be exp ressed by clear d em and s and p rop osals w hich d eal
n ot only w ith general class qu estion s, bu t also w ith sp ecific
w om en's qu estion s.
In ord er for this to be p ossible, we have to be clear on the
need for the existence o f a clearly fem inist p ole w ithin the
w om en's m ovem en t. In p ractical term s, it has been show n
that this need is felt by natu ral lead ers w ho sp ring u p in the
survival and d em ocratic w om en 's m ovem en t. Wh en they
begin to con fron t th eir con trad iction s as w om en , they often
seek ou t fem inists to be able to talk over and u nd erstand
w hat is hap p ening to th em . (...) Wh at is need ed , th en ,
is to w in these w om en to fem in ism and create a vangu ard
of the w om en 's m ovem en t cap able o f correctly p osing the
fu sion o f general and sp ecific d em and s in ord er to p erm it th e

em ergence o f a m ovem en t for w om en 's liberation w hich in
tu rn can influ ence all o f the social m ovem en ts.
It is w ith alread y existing w ork su ch as this th at Arru zza can

m ove forw ard w ith the shared p roject o f w orking ou t "h ow class
and gend er can be com bin ed togeth er in a p olitical p roject able
to take action avoid ing tw o sp ecu lar d angers: th e tem p tation
of m ashing the tw o realities togeth er, m akin g gend er a class or
class a gend er, and the tem p tation to p u lverize p ow er relation s
and exp loitative relations to see n oth in g bu t a series o f single
op p ressions lined up besid e each oth er an d relu ctan t to be
inclu d ed w ithin a com p reh en sive liberation p r oject."
For all those o f us eith er still or becom in g involved in
rad ical anti-cap italist p olitical activity, w ith in w h ich w e w ant to
overcom e the con trad iction s in ou rselves and in h ow w e exp ress
ou r own interests - that is, w hat we are fighting for as w om en
- con tribu tion s su ch as Arru zza's, w hich give us th e tools to
u nd erstand the d ynam ics at w ork in th at "social ca m p " w h ich
shou ld be ou rs, so that we can claim it fu lly, are in d isp en sable.
Penelope Duggan
in collaboration with Terry Conway
N ovember 2012
INTRODUCTION
The history o f the relationship betw een the w om en 's m ovem en t
and the w orkers' m ovem en t has been littered w ith su ccessfu l and
failed alliances, op en hostility, affection and d isaffection. Born
in the cru cible o f the bou rgeois revolu tion s, fem in ism qu ickly
came into con tact w ith social m obilization s and revolu tions. At
d ifferent tim es these revolu tions op ened u p a new d em ocratic
space w hich allow ed w om en to w in h ith erto u nknow n rights
such as intervening and actively p articip atin g in p olitical life and
pu blic affairs. With in the cracks op ened u p in the frozen cap of
a centu ries-old op p ression w om en learn t to organize as w om en
and to fight ind ep end ently for th eir em an cip ation . H ow ever this
process has been con trad ictory. At tim es it has been m et w ith
u nd ervalu ation and a tep id resp onse from the organizations o f
the trad itional labou r m ovem en t and th e new left. Ou tcom es
have been controversial, ranging from exhau stive attem p ts to
m aintain a d ifficu lt relationship to an ou trigh t d ivorce.
This com p lex d ynam ic has also been reflected in the field
of theory. In resp ond ing to the p roblem s rising from w om en 's
struggles and p rocesses o f su bjectification , fem inist thinkers
have given very d ivergent answ ers to the qu estions of the
relationship betw een gend er and class or betw een p atriarchy
and cap italism . Th ere have been attem p ts to interp ret gend er
throu gh the m eth od s o f critical p olitical econ om y, m aking
gender op p ression an extension o f the exp loitative relationship
betw een cap ital and labou r p ow er or even to see m ale/fem ale
relations in term s o f class an tagon ism s. Conversely som e have
argued for the p riority o f p atriarchal op p ression over cap italist
exp loitation. Th eorists have tried to interp ret the relationship
betw een p atriarchy and cap italism eith er as interp lay betw een
two au ton om ou s system s or on th e oth er h an d to show how
cap italism has taken on and p rofou n d ly m od ified p atriarch al
op p ression.
Th e aim o f this m od est volu m e is to be a br ief an d accessible
introd u ction to the issues o f th e relation sh ip betw een th e
w om en's m ovem en t and labou r an d social m ovem en ts an d o f
the links betw een gend er and class. In th e first tw o ch ap ters, w e
have su m m arized som e o f the h istorical exp erien ces th at have
been im p ortan t either in the p rocess o f w om en 's organ ization
and em an cip ation or in th e linking u p (or con fr on tation ) o f
this p rocess w ith the w orkers' m ov em en t. Th e last tw o ch ap ters
provid e a br ief p an oram a o f th e th eoretical d ebate abou t th e
relationship betw een sexu al/gend er op p ression an d exp loitation .
It is an attem p t to highlight the p roblem s raised by th e variou s
concep tu al fram ew orks. Th ese p roblem s still rem ain u n resolved
tod ay. N either the h istorical n or th e th eoretical section s o f th is
book claim to p rovid e a com p reh en sive recon stru ction o f th e
historical events or th eoretical d ebates. I sim p ly aim to p u t
forw ard som e exam p les an d a w ay o f accessing an extrem ely
com p licated and still op en qu estion . It is n ot an im p artial
recon stru ction . In d eed , I base m yself on som e th eoretical
p ositions and som e aim s.
Th e first is th at m ore th an ever tod ay it is u rgen t to w ork
ou t theoretically th e relation sh ip betw een gend er op p ression
and exp loitation and esp ecially th e w ay in w h ich cap italism has
integrated and p rofou n d ly m od ified p atriarch al stru ctu res. O n
the one h an d , w om en 's op p ression is a stru ctu ral elem en t o f
the d ivision o f labou r and th erefore is on e o f th e d irect factors
throu gh w hich cap italism n ot only rein forces its d om in ation
in id eological term s bu t also con tin u ou sly organizes th e
exp loitation o f living labou r and its rep rod u ction . O n th e oth er
h an d , the integration o f p atriarch al relation s u n d er cap italism
has led to their d eep going tran sform ation - in th e fam ily, in
term s of w om en 's p osition in p rod u ction , in sexu al relation s
and w ith resp ect to sexu al id entity.
INTRODUCTION 21
In ord er to u nd erstand these com p lex p rocesses, it is

absolutely vital to have a Marxism w hich really deals w ith the
ongoing tran sform ations and crises w ithin a con text w here
globalization is creating an increasingly fem inized w orkforce
and fu rther changes in relations betw een m en and w om en .
Su bm erging gend er in to class and believing that freed om from
exp loitation au tom atically brings abou t w om en 's liberation and
the end ing o f sexu al roles is a m istaken p osition . Equ ally w rong
is to think that you can rem ove the class qu estion by erecting
id eological d iscou rses that m ake gend er the m ain enem y. Wh at
we need is to try and th in k throu gh the com p lexity o f cap italist
society and its w eb o f relations o f exp loitation, d om in ation
and op p ression, avoid ing u nhelp fu l sim p lifications, how ever
reassuring they m ight be.
My second theoretical p osition (an d aim ) is closely linked to
the first on e. As w ell as efforts at th eoretical u nd erstand ing, we
must try to organize and p olitically intervene in ord er to brid ge
the gap betw een the fem inist m ovem en t and the class stru ggle.
We have to start by overcom in g the old d ialectic o f p riorities
w hereby d ialogu e and con fron tation betw een the tw o sides has
to be resolved either in asserting the p riority o f class over gend er
or vice-versa.
This is n ot only a th eoretical qu estion bu t also an organizational
and p olitical on e. Th e way in w hich an u nd erstand in g o f the
close con n ection s betw een cap italism and w om en 's op p ression
can lead to w om en becom in g p rotagon ists, able to bu ild
organizations and p olitical arenas w here w om en can feel at
h om e, rem ains an op en qu estion . It can only be solved by real
life p ractice and exp erim en tation . H ow ever w hat we need right
from the start is a w illingness to go back to basics, n ot ju st in
term s of th eory bu t also organizationally and p olitically. With in
ou r struggle for u niversal em an cip ation we need to op en u p a
p erm anent laboratory o f qu estion ing and exp erim en tation .
Cinzia A ruzza
2010
Chapter I
MARRIAGES ...
1.1 Linking up the struggles
In 1844 Flora Tristan , w ith her book Th e W orkers' Union in
hand , d ecid ed to go on a long jou rn ey throu gh the cities of
France. She w anted to con tact w orkers in m eetings and taverns
interested in listening to her id eas. In the book, p u blished the
year before, she had argu ed - som e years before Mar x and
Engels - for the setting u p o f a w orkers' in tern ation al w hich
would u nite all the w orld 's w orkers.
A chap ter in this book d ealt w ith w om en 's rights and
exam ined the natu re o f the relationship betw een m en and
w omen insid e the w orking-class fam ily. Workin g-class w om en
were hu m iliated , ill-treated , d esp ised , p hysically abu sed , p aid
half the m ale salary and con strain ed to a bru tal life o f u nend ing
misery. Th e w orking-class w om an was con d em n ed to inferiority
and irrelevance by a society that forced her in to this role. Flora
Tristan knew w hat she was talking abou t. Born in 1803 in to a
bou rgeois fam ily, fallen on h ard tim es after the d eath o f h er
father, she was obliged to m arry th e ow ner o f the w orkshop
where she w orked as a d yer. She d ecid ed to finally leave her
violent, heavy-d rinking h u sban d , w h om she had never loved
nor ap p reciated , w hen p regnant w ith h er th ird ch ild . She ju d ged
that being a p ariah was better than being a slave. Betw een 1832
and 1834 she travelled throu gh Latin Am erica on a trip originally
started as an attem p t to recu p erate p art o f h er in h eritan ce so
that she cou ld eventu ally becom e financially ind ep end ent. She
called the travelogu e she w rote "Th e w and erings o f a p ariah".

This Latin Am erican jou rn ey p layed a d ecisive role in th e
intellectu al and p olitical ed u cation o f Flora Tristan . Th r ou gh
it she d iscovered m isery, social op p ression , class exp loitation ,
sexual d iscrim in ation and social rebellion s. It affected h er so
m u ch that she d ecid ed to d ed icate h er life to th e u n ification o f
the w orking class and w om en 's em an cip ation . Alth ou gh she
m anaged to survive h er h u sban d 's attem p t to assassinate h er
w ith a p istol, she w ou ld n ot survive th e exh au stion o f th e 1844
tou r to p rom ote The W orkers' Union am on g laborin g p eop le.
She was trying to w in w orkers over to th e n eed to bu ild an
international association . She d ied o f fatigu e an d typ h oid in th e
same year.
It is n ot by ch an ce that w om en 's liberation an d social
liberation cam e togeth er in th e life and w orks o f Flora Tristan .
Th ere had alread y been d ecad es o f tim id , ten tative m oves in
this d irection . Obviou sly th ere h ad been exam p les o f w om en 's
resistance and attem p ts to w in a m argin o f in d ep en d en ce an d
freed om - join in g h eretical grou p s, religiou s in volvem en t,
the closed con ven t, m ysticism , ru d im en tary m ed ical p ractice
and having sp ecific social fu n ction s on th e m argin o f th e
com m u n ity. H ow ever these w ere ind ivid u al efforts to escap e
op p ression, w hich obviou sly took on d iverse form s d ep en d in g
on a w om an 's class backgrou n d .
Th e English and then the Fren ch revolu tion s created for th e
first tim e the con d ition s for th in kin g abou t w om en 's liberation
in collective term s. Th e p ressu re and con tr ol trad ition ally
exerted over w om en w ere w eakened by several p rocesses:
the su bversion o f a social ord er based on religion w h ich w as
consid ered u nchangeable u n til th en , th e sh ake-u p o f rigid social
relations, and the raising o f id eals o f equ ality (even if fram ed in
m ale term s). Th e bou rgeois revolu tion s op en ed u p cracks an d
created a new d em ocratic sp ace w ithin w h ich th e id ea began to
em erge that if there was to be freed om an d equ ality it cou ld n ot
exclu d e h alf the p op u lation .
In this way the English Diggers an d Ran ters alread y ch allen ged
MARRIAGES 25
the d ou ble stand ard s o f con tem p orary sexual m orality w here
sexual freed om was the exclu sive p rop erty of m en . Th ey also
began to clearly trace the links betw een p rivate p rop erty and
sexual relations. Over a centu ry later, on the oth er sid e of the
Channel, Olym p e de Gou ges d rew u p th e m ost com p rehensive
m anifesto o f bou rgeois fem in ism d u ring the Fren ch revolu tion :
The Declaration of the Rights of W omen and Female Citizens. She
unm asked the so-called u niversalism o f a revolu tion that up to
then had been lim ited to thinkin g abou t the rights o f man and
male citizens. In her m an ifesto, Olym p e de Gou ges d em and ed
full citizenship for w om en and for the right to take an active
part in social and p olitical life w ith legal, equ al rights.
Tw o years later, Mary Wollston ecraft p u blished A Vindication
of the Rights of W omen. In this book, based on a sharp analysis o f
the cond ition s o f w om en , she show ed how d isp arate con d ition s
were n ot cau sed by natu re bu t by ed u cation and she threw d ow n
a challenge to p rogressive and revolu tionary m en - if you w ant
a better society you m u st also give w om en the ed u cation and
instru ction cu rrently reserved on ly for you rselves. Fifty years
later Mary Wollston ecraft arou sed the enthu siasm o f Flora
Tristan. Wollston ecraft was an oth er p ariah - a tru ly hated figu re
for con tem p orary conservatives becau se o f the scand alou s way
she cond u cted her p rivate life and relationship s. N evertheless,
betw een Vindication and the W orker' s Union a real shift had
taken p lace. Flora Tristan aban d on ed the ton e o f m oral calls
aimed m ostly at m en and synthesized , on on e h an d , h er belief
in the necessity o f collective action involving w om en and , on
the oth er, an u nd erstand ing o f the links betw een econ om ic
exp loitation and w om en 's op p ression.
Som e d ecad es earlier in 1808, Charles Fou rier, w h om
Flora Tristan knew p ersonally, had p u blished the Theory of
Four M ovements - a w ork th at has had a p rofou n d im p act on
socialist fem inist th in kin g. Fou rier ou tlin ed the lin k betw een
econ om ic rep ression and w om en 's sexu al rep ression and m ad e
the con d ition o f w om en a barom eter for the level o f social
d evelop m ent. Th is th em e was p icked up also by Mar x in the
2 6 DANGEROUS LIAISONS
1844 Economic and Philosophical M anuscripts. In Fou rier's

p roject of a coop erative com m u n ity (w hich h e d evelop ed in
d etail in su bsequ ent w orks) w om en w ou ld finally have th e right
to the sexual freed om that was d enied th em in society th rou gh
m ale p ow er and the in stitu tion o f th e m on ogam ou s fam ily. Th ey
w ou ld n o longer be econ om ically d ep end en t on m en . Lookin g
after and ed u cating child ren w ou ld becom e a com m u n ity task,
and w om en w ou ld be ed u cated to th e level need ed to take an
active role in social and p olitical life.
In those years o f id eological ferm en t, d u ring th e early days
o f the w orkers' m ovem en t, th e Utopian w ritings o f p eop le like
William Th om p son , Charles Fou rier and Flora Tristan becam e
the cru cible w here it was p ossible to brin g togeth er th e id eals
of social equ ality, the en d o f any exp loitation an d fu ll w om en 's
em an cip ation . Th is w as, how ever, a d ifficu lt an d com p lex
en cou n ter w hich had to settle accou n ts w ith tw o correlated
p roblem s: on th e on e h an d th e lack o f in terest often show n by
liberal fem inists in th e living con d ition s o f w om en w orkers an d
their sp ecific need s, and on th e oth er h an d , th e su sp icion an d
ind ifference show n by w orkin g-class w om en involved in social
struggles to the d em and s raised by liberal fem in ists.
1.2 Ladies and working women

Parisian w orking w om en ap p lau d ed th e execu tion o f Olym p e d e
Gou ges w ho was gu illotined along w ith oth er Giron d in lead ers
on 3 N ovem ber 1793. H er call for w om an 's em an cip ation h ad
n ot fou nd su p p ort am on g w om en fr om th e low er classes. Th is
is n ot su rp rising. On th e on e h an d Olym p e de Gou ges, ju st like
the other rep resentatives o f bou rgeois revolu tion ary fem in ism ,
never show ed any p articu lar interest in th e living con d ition s o f
w orking w om en . On the oth er h an d w hile th e law s on d ivorce
or m easu res in favou r o f greater equ ality betw een th e sexes - for
exam p le in ed u cation - h ad arou sed sym p athy am on g w orkin g
w om en , u n em p loym en t, m isery an d in flation w ere seen as
m u ch greater p roblem s for th em .
In any case, the Fren ch Revolu tion was certain ly n ot th e on ly
event in w hich w om en had gone in to the streets to p rotest, often
MARRIAGES ... 27
in a rad ical way, and to d em and bread . Since the resp onsibility
for m anaging the fam ily finances and looking after the child ren
and ill or old fam ily m em bers fell historically on w om en 's
should ers, it was often w om en w ho w ere the d etonators of
social revolts cau sed by m isery and hu nger. Linking up w om en 's
experiences in these ep isod ic social and p olitical struggles w ith
an em erging fem in ism w hose p rotagonists w ere w om en from
the mid d le or u p p er classes was far from easy.
This fem inism cam e to be know n by the organizations o f the
w orkers' m ovem en t as bou rgeois fem in ism . Th is d efinition ,
which was also challenged w ithin the fem inist m ovem en t, at
times took on a negative or liqu id ationist con n otation d ue to
a certain conservatism w ith regard to the d em and s raised by
these fem inists. Th e em ergent liberal or bou rgeois fem inist
m ovem ent generally focu sed on tw o m ain axes. Firstly, the
d emand for access to ed u cation and cu ltu re w hich w as, at tim es,
linked to calls for w om en to have th e right to a fu ll p rofessional
career. Second ly, d em and s for civil and p olitical rights, above
all the right to ow n p rop erty and in h erit it, bu t also d ivorce
and the right to vote. Often these d em and s d id n ot lin k up w ith
demands for social ju stice, and bou rgeois w om en show ed a lack
of u nd erstand ing o f the sp ecific con d ition s and consequ ently the
specific need s o f w orking w om en . N otw ithstand ing a com m on
op p ression, its sp ecific form s varied significantly accord ing to
social class.
H enrik Ibsen's p lay The Doll' s House, w ritten in 1879,
portrayed the situ ation o f N ora, a bou rgeois w om an , obliged
to live the u selessness and em p tiness o f an inactive bu t cosseted
life, to play the role o f a m ere orn am en t w hose fem in in e
qualities w ere essentially exp ressed in gracefu lness, beau ty and
subm issiveness. Th is life had little in com m on w ith that of a
working w om an w ho had to n ot ju st w ork for m ore than ten
hours a day in the factory, bu t also m anage the fam ily h om e,
making m any sacrifices and u nd ergoing rep eated p regnancies. A
working w om an in m ost cases lived in a con trad ictory situ ation .
She w orked in th e system o f p rod u ction , bu t d oing so d id n ot
allow her to be econ om ically in d ep en d en t from m en . W o m en ,

in fact, w ere p aid abou t h alf th e rate for th e sam e w ork an d so,
in the m ajority o f cases, d id n ot have th e m ean s to live on th eir
ow n. In this situ ation only tw o p aths w ere op en : m arriage or
p rostitu tion .
Th e blind ness to this reality, th e fact th at bou rgeois w om en 's
activism was often m otivated by a d em an d for em an cip ation
m ainly on an ind ivid u al level, m ad e it d ifficu lt for th e form er
to com e together w ith the w om en w ho w ere begin n in g to
organize, w ith m an y d ifficu lties, insid e th e w orkers' m ov em en t.
Often this was u sed as an excu se for th e su sp iciou s attitu d e
of m en from the w orkers' m ovem en t to fem in ist d em an d s. It
was the case, for exam p le, w ith Germ an bou rgeois fem in ism ,
w hich was also characterized by a certain con servatism both
on the qu estions o f sexu al freed om an d civil righ ts. In 1865 th e
Allgem eine Deu tsch e Frau en verein (th e Gen eral Association
of Germ an W om en ) was set u p . Th is organ ization n ot on ly
d id n ot look for or establish any con tacts w ith w orkers bu t
lim ited itself to linking u p w ith w om en fr om certain sectors o f
the p etty bou rgeoisie. It also d id n ot inclu d e th e exten sion o f
voting rights to w om en in its p rogram m e. Most o f its d em an d s
only focu sed on access to ed u cation . It w as on ly in 1902 th at
the bou rgeois fem in ist m ov em en t in clu d ed th e d em an d for
suffrage in its p olicies, bu t it d id so w ith ou t lau n ch in g any real
cam p aign. In term s o f w orking regu lation s, it generally took a
p osition against any regu lations su ch as p roh ibitin g w om en 's
night w ork, fearing that this typ e o f legislation cou ld lead to
qu estioning w om en 's right to w ork generally. In th is w ay it
show ed a real blin d sp ot con cern in g th e u n su stain able living
cond itions of w orking w om en , w h o, in ad d ition to su p er-
exp loitation in th e factory, h ad to take on a n u rtu rin g role at
h om e w hich was m ad e w orse by lack o f m on ey, general m isery
and the absence o f social services. All these factors, alongsid e
som e sectarianism from Germ an social d em ocratic w om en ,
m ad e it very d ifficu lt and nearly im p ossible to bu ild any u n ity
of com m on interests arou n d w hich w om en o f d ifferen t social
MARRIAGES 29
classes cou ld take action .

England was a d ifferent case. H ere bou rgeois fem in ism was
to m aintain a d egree o f d ialogu e w ith the w orkers' m ovem en t
w hich, for its ow n p art, was a little m ore op en to the fem inist
struggle than elsew here. Regard less o f the reasons, the English
trad e-u nion m ovem en t's m od erate views m ean t Marxist
or revolu tionary p osition s only had the su p p ort o f a sm all
m inority, and th e rise of socialist id eas was based m ore than
anything else on m oral con d em n ation o f th e alienation of
hu m an relations in cap italist society. Workin g-class w om en
were therefore p articu larly su bject to the influ ence of bou rgeois
feminists w ithou t being able to d evelop a rad ical, au ton om ou s
political lin e. Th e fou nd ing o f the W om en 's Social and Political
Union by Em m elin e Pan kh u rst, su p p orted by her d au ghter,
Christabel Pan kh u rst, m arked a new tu rn in g p oin t in the
relations betw een bou rgeois fem in ism and w orking w om en .
This m ovem en t, w hich was initially linked to the Ind ep end ent
Labour Party, becam e p rogressively tran sform ed , u nd er the
influ ence o f Ch ristabel, in to a p ressu re grou p cam p aigning
for w om en's su ffrage, and thereby increasingly lost any
rep resentation o f w orking w om en 's interests. Betw een the end
of 1906 and the begin n ing o f 1907 it brou gh t ou t hu nd red s o f
thousand s o f w om en in d em on stration s, cu lm in atin g in the
enorm ou s d em on stration o f 21 Ju n e 1908. H ow ever its ties
with the w orking class becam e w eaker, rep laced by a "classless"
political line w hich exclu d ed any social or econ om ic d em and s
and focu sed exclu sively on th e cam p aign for w om en 's votes.
Even Sylvia Pan kh u rst's attem p ts to lin k the fem inist cau se w ith
the w orking class w ere firm ly op p osed by h er m oth er and sister.
1.3 On both sides of the Channel

In England w om en took p art in the trad e-u n ion m ovem en t from
the very begin n in g, from the first d ecad es o f th e 19 Cen tu ry.
th
They played an im p ortan t role, even creating ind ep end ent

organizations w ith their ow n lead ership s. Th en they took p art
in the Chartist m ovem en t, d evelop ing the Associations o f
Chartist W om en . Th in gs ch an ged , how ever, w hen the trad e-
u nion m ovem ent becam e m ore form ally stru ctu red tow ard s
the m id d le o f the centu ry. On ce these new stru ctu res took
shape arou nd a base o f skilled w orkers, they ten d ed to exclu d e
unskilled w orkers. Since w om en generally occu p ied th e low est
ranks in the hierarchy o f p rod u ction , they becam e m arginalized
or d irectly exclu d ed from the trad e u n ion s.
This situ ation changed w ith th e birth o f th e new trad e-u n ion
m ovem ent in 1888-9 follow ing a series o f w orkers' strikes th at
raged in a n u m ber of factories across th e cou n try. Th e con d ition s
now existed for the creation o f new trad e-u n ion organ ization s
w hich were now op en to both u nskilled w orkers an d w om en .
With in tw enty years, from 1886 to 1906, th e n u m ber o f w om en
trad e u nion m em bers w ent u p from 37,000 to 167,000. By 1914
it had reached 357,956. W om en d id n ot ju st join th e u n ion s bu t
also set up their ow n w om en -on ly trad e-u n ion organ ization s
w hich brou ght together w om en w ho w orked in n on -u n ion ized
sectors or in sectors w here u n ion s d id n ot allow w om en to jo in .
This is why Mary Macarth u r fou n d ed th e N ation al Fed eration
of Wom en Workers in 1906 and from th at year to 1914 it grew
from 2,000 to 20,000 m em bers.
On the oth er side o f th e Ch an n el, th e w orkin g w om en
of Paris, w ho in 1789 had m arch ed on Versailles, on ce again
showed their d eterm in ation and cou rage d u ring th ose few
m onths w hen the Paris Com m u n e was "w ip in g th e slate o f th e
past clean " and throw ing u p the bases o f a new society. O n 18
March 1871 Parisian w om en p laced them selves in fron t o f th e
bayonets of sold iers sent by Th iers to take th e N ation al Gu ard 's
artillery. These w ere the sam e can n on s th at Parisians h ad p aid
for in sm all con tribu tion s to d efend th e cap ital from a Pru ssian
invasion. They fraternized w ith th e troop s, sp oke w ith th e
sold iers and asked th em w hether they really in ten d ed to op en
fire against their hu sband s, broth ers an d son s. In this w ay th e
w om en m ad e a d ecisive con tribu tion to d erailing Th ier s' p lan s.
The sold iers in fact m u tin ied , join ed w ith th e m asses, an d
arrested their ow n officers. W om en thu s p layed a p ivotal role
at the start of that Paris Sp ring, and in th ose tw o br ief m on th s
MARRIAGES 31
of the Paris Com m u n e before it was su bsequ ently d row ned in

blood in the last week of May.
Ju st abou t a m on th after 18 March , on 11 Ap ril, a w om en 's
organization was created : it was called the W om en 's Un ion
for the Defence of Paris and the Care o f the Wou n d ed . Th is
organization was originally set up to carry ou t w elfare tasks
bu t very soon began to op erate ou tsid e those lim its. W om en
w ho w ere m em bers o f the First In tern ation al played a lead ing
role. Above all there was Elizabeth Dm itrieff, th e d au ghter
of a Ru ssian noble w ho fled Ru ssia to take refu ge first in
Sw itzerland and then in Lon d on w here she m ad e con tact
w ith Marx. Th e Un ion 's Ap ril Man ifesto was on e o f the m ost
ad vanced d ocu m en ts p rod u ced d u ring th e Com m u n e. It
contained a m iscellany o f id eas and p rop osition s, com in g
from d ifferent cu rrents of n in eteen th cen tu ry socialism and
French rep u blicanism - su ch as the follow ers o f H en ri Saint
Sim on , Pierre-Josep h Prou d h on or Lou is Au gu ste Blan qu i,
rad ical rep u blican ism , in tern ation alism - w hich w ere at th e
heart and sou l o f th e lively, often confu sed d iscu ssions o f the
communards. Th e M anifesto took a clear p osition in favou r o f
social revolu tion , the overcom ing o f cap italism , and th e end
o f any sort o f exp loitation . It also called on w om en to take an
active role in the revolu tion.
Th e Un ion carried ou t w elfare and su p p ort w ork for the
Com m u n e that w om en w ou ld n orm ally u n d ertake, p articu larly
looking after the w ou nd ed d u ring th e fighting, bu t also
d istribu ting food and m anaging fu nd s that w ere collectively
raised . H ow ever, the Un ion rather qu ickly also took on an
im p ortan t role in the Labou r Com m ission . Th e latter p u t
forw ard a clear p olicy favou ring th e p rom otion o f w om en 's
w ork and had p rojects to set u p exclu sively fem ale w orksh op s.
It also lau nched the id ea o f a w om en 's trad e-u n ion organ ization
and asked for m ore op p ortu n ities for w om en to take an active
part in the p olitical and social life o f the Com m u n e. Ou t o f
the 128 m em bers o f the Un ion , the m ajority belon ged to the
w orking class and thu s played a central role in p rod u ction .
In p re-1870 Paris there w ere close to 550,000 highly

skilled w orkers, m ostly w orking in sm all and m ed iu m -sized
m anu factu ring o f an artisan n atu re. Large scale ind u stry w as a
small p art of overall p rod u ction . Alongsid e these w orkers th ere
were an en orm ou s n u m ber o f sm aller, artisan w orksh op s an d
p oor intellectu als. Unlike in 1848, th e years p rior to th e Fr an co-
Prussian w ar, and even those d u ring th e w ar itself, saw a stron g
p roletarianization o f th e p etty-bou rgeoisie an d in tellectu al
layers, w hich exp lains th eir changed attitu d e com p ared to
1848 w hen they join ed forces w ith the N ation al Gu ard to act
as the arm ed w ing of an ti-w orkin g class rep ression . W o m en
played a fu nd am ental role in the p rod u ctive system . W o m en 's
p articip ation becam e even m ore im p ortan t d u e to th e econ om ic
crisis and mass u n em p loym en t resu lting fr om th e w ar. Du rin g
the Com m u n e, w orking-class em p loym en t fell from 550,000 to
114,000 - of w h om m ore than h alf w ere w om en . Th e cen trality
of w om en's w ork in the p olitics o f th e Com m u n e is th erefore
p artially exp lained by its relative w eight in th e w orkforce d u rin g
that p eriod .
N otw ithstand ing th e strict lim its an d th e p reju d ice th at
continu ed to exist in the p olitical action s o f th e Com m u n e, som e
of the p olitical and social m easu res taken clearly rep resen ted
an im p rovem ent in w om en 's living con d ition s. Am on g oth ers,
a special w om en -on ly com m ission was set u p to w ork on th e
creation o f fem ale schools in ord er to give w om en access to
ed u cation. A w om en -on ly tech n ical sch ool was establish ed .
N u rseries started to be set u p near factories an d w orksh op s so
that w om en's lives and w orking con d ition s cou ld be im p roved .
Finally, w orkshop s em p loying only w om en w ere establish ed
and , on the su ggestion o f the in tern ation alists, p articu larly
Elizabeth Dm itrieff, a d iscu ssion was started on th e top ic o f
equal pay. A d ecree on 10 Ap ril aw ard ed a p en sion to th e w id ow s
and orp hans of com m u n ard s fallen in th e cau se, irresp ective
of the form al m arital statu s o f the w om en con cern ed . In this
way a sort of equ ivalence was established betw een "co m m o n
law " cou p les and those form ally m arried , w hich in p ractice
MARRIAGES 33
challenged trad itional m orality. Rep ression sw iftly p u t an end

to these em bryon ic m easu res and it is d ifficu lt to m easu re how
they w ou ld have fu rther evolved if that w ere n ot th e case.
Alongsid e the Wom en 's Un ion , oth er w om en 's organizations
em erged in variou s areas of Paris su ch as the w om en 's local
vigilance com m ittees w hich initially organized w elfare. Som e
w om en also took p art in m eetings of w om en -on ly vigilance
com m ittees. Am ong these was Lou ise Mich el. A lon g-tim e
secu lar and rep u blican activist and a teach er, Lou ise Mich el
im m ed iately su p p orted the Com m u n e, join in g the Mon tm ar tre
vigilance com m ittee. She tirelessly w orked on w elfare tasks,
was involved in the social and civil reform s, and fou ght in the
front line o f the w om en 's battalion . She gave h erself u p to the
Versailles regim e after the fall o f th e Com m u n e in ord er to free
her m oth er w ho had been arrested in her p lace. Con trary to
the exp ectations o f her jailers, w ho had n ot w asted any tim e in
ord ering her d ep ortation to N ew Caled on ia, she u sed her trial
to d eclare her p assionate faith in th e revolu tionary cau se:
"I d o n ot w ant to d efend m yself and I d o n ot w ish to be
d efend ed , I totally su p p ort the social revolu tion and I am fu lly
resp onsible for m y actions ... You need to exclu d e m e from
society, you have been assigned that task. Good ! Th e charge I
face is the correct on e. It seem s th at every heart that beats for
freed om has only th e right to a p iece o f lead , so let m e have
m in e!
This cou rage was n ot rare. Du rin g that blood y final w eek,
w om en w orked tirelessly to erect barricad es w here they fou ght
in the fron t line d efend ing Paris streets yard by yard from the
ad vancing Versailles troop s. A battalion o f 120 w om en set
up a barricad e betw een Place Blan ch e and Bou levard Clichy
w hich they d efend ed heroically for a w hole d ay d esp ite m an y
being killed . After the d efeat o f the Com m u n e, 1,051 w om en
were brou gh t before the w ar tribu n als, o f w h om 756 w ere
w orking w om en , 246 w ere n ot in p aid w ork, and only on e was
of bou rgeois origin. Th e freed om and cou rage o f the w om en
com m u n ard s w ere su ch that they p rovoked an ou t and ou t
w itchhu nt in the press o f the Versailles regim e.. Th e legend o f

the petroleuses (w om en u sing p etroleu m or p araffin to bu r n
things d ow n ), o f the Paris w orking w om an o f lax m orals w ho
roam ed the city w ith incend iary in ten tion s, was created p recisely
to stigm atize the glim p se o f liberty offered by th e Com m u n e
to w om en. Bou rgeois and aristocratic w om en w ere th e m ost
relentless, p articu larly against th eir ow n sex. Prosp er Lissagaray,
one of the Com m u n e's p rom in en t activists w ho fled to En glan d ,
w here he becam e the p artn er o f Elean or M ar x, tells th e story
of elegant w om en p rom en ad in g in th e streets o f Paris in th e
weeks follow ing the fall o f th e Com m u n e w hen th e con tin u ou s
shootings of the com m u n ard s becam e a p leasing sp ectacle for
th em . Th e French bou rgeoisie w atch ed ap p rovingly as 30,000
com m u nard s w ere shot and 40,000 w ere d ep orted in w h at was
tru ly a class genocid e. Am on g th e fallen w ere th e petroleuses.
1.4 Social Democratic Parties

In Germ any the history o f the relations betw een th e w orkers'
m ovem ent and w om en 's liberation is associated w ith tw o key
figu res: August Bebel and Clara Zetkin . In 1878 Au gu st Bebel
p u blished a book that was to go d ow n in h istory, W omen under
Socialism, in w hich he d en ou n ced th e u n su stain able situ ation
of the w orking w om an and her d u al op p ression (as a w orker
and as a w om an ). Argu ing against th e p osition o f Lassalle, w h o
held an op p osite view , Bebel saw w om en join in g th e w orkforce
as a d eterm inant p recon d ition o f th eir em an cip ation . Th e b ook
had a form id able im p act in th e in tern al d iscu ssions o f Germ an
social d em ocracy and along w ith The Origins of the Family,
Private Property and the State, p u blished by Fried rich Engels six
years later, rem ained for a long tim e the key referen ce p oin t for
Marxist fem in ism .
Bebel's p osition for fu ll p articip ation o f w om en in th e
w orkforce as a p recon d ition for their em an cip ation was ad op ted
as the p olitical p osition for the Germ an Social Dem ocr atic
Party (SDAP) fou nd ed at th e Eisenach Con gress in 1869. In
1875, when this p arty m erged w ith Ferd in an d Lassalle's p arty
to form the Germ an Socialist Workers Party (SA PD ), th e
MARRIAGES 35
Lassallians' p rop osal to ban w om en from w orking in ind u stry

was d efeated at the fou nd ing congress. Tw enty years later, in
1895, w om en still only m ad e up 11.8 p er cent o f the w orking
class in m anu factu rin g and ind u stry, increasing only to 12.9 p er
cent by 1907 (1,540,000).
Wh ile one m ay be tem p ted to see Clara Zetkin 's th eoretical
con tribu tion as less salu tory, the birth o f the socialist fem inist
m ovem ent in Germ any can n ot be u n d erstood w ith ou t p rop erly
situ ating her p olitical and organizational con tribu tion s. Clara
Zetkin w orked tirelessly for years organizing w om en insid e
Germ an social d em ocracy. Th an ks to her p ressu re, the Secon d
In tern ation al's 1889 Congress agreed a resolu tion in favou r o f
w om en w orking in ind u stry and for equ al pay for equ al w ork. A
d ecision was taken in 1890 to establish a p u blication th at w ou ld
ad vocate for w orking w om en . It was ed ited by Clara Zetkin
and cam e ou t in 1891 w ith the n am e Die A rbeiterin or W orking
W oman and then changed its n am e in 1892 to Die Gleichheit or
Equality. Th e p olitical p rogram m e d efend ed by the new sp ap er
inclu d ed the extension o f both passive and active voting rights
to w om en; the end o f laws d iscrim in atin g against w om en , above
all freeing w om en to m eet and p articip ate in p olitical activity;
free ed u cation; the su sp ension o f night w ork, the red u ction o f
the w orking day to eight h ou rs and the ban n in g o f child labou r.
From a theoretical p oin t o f view , Zetkin 's new sp ap er took as
its reference the p osition s d evelop ed by Bebel and Engels.
In the years lead ing up to th e First Wor ld W a r Equality was
the last p arty p u blication to rem ain in the hand s o f the left,
revolu tionary w ing w hich strongly op p osed the First Wor ld
War. Its circu lation rose from a few th ou san d cop ies in th e early
years to 23,000 cop ies in 1905 and then up to 112,000 in 1913.
Dem and s raised in this p eriod focu sed p articu larly on
w om en's w ork, ed u cation and its role, and the necessity o f
sharing d om estic labou r insid e the fam ily. Th e fam ily as su ch,
how ever, was hard ly ever at the cen tre o f th e d ebate, n or was the
qu estion o f sexu ality and birth con trol. Con trary to w hat was
to happen d u ring the Ru ssian revolu tion, above all thanks to
Alexand ra Kollontai's w ritings, the qu estion o f free love w as n ot

p articu larly d iscu ssed . Dem an d s rem ain ed rath er cen tred on
the class organization o f w om en and th eir right to vote w hereas
p olicies on sexual m atters tend ed to be m ore m oralistic.
N otw ithstand ing these lim its, the Germ an Social Dem ocr atic
party certainly su p p orted the m ost p rogressive p osition s
w ithin a Germ an con text w here bou rgeois fem inists h ad m u ch
m ore m od erate p osition s, n ot on ly in term s o f challenging
trad itional sexu al roles, bu t even on th e level o f p olitical an d
civil rights. For m any years th e Social Dem ocrats w ere th e on ly
p olitical organization to n ot only inclu d e bu t cam p aign on a
p rogram m e that inclu d ed w om en 's right to vote. At th e sam e
tim e it was the only p arty w here w om en cou ld find th e sp ace
and m eans for self-organizing and exp ressing th eir n eed s.
Th e form s of ind ep end ent organization w ithin th e p arty w ere
initially created to get arou n d laws w hich p reven ted w om en
from going to p olitical m eetin gs. So these form s o f organ ization
were n ot based on a reflection on th e necessity for an d valu e
of w om en -on ly m eetings, bu t rath er on th e n eed to resp on d
to a sp ecific d ifficu lty o f d iscrim in atory law s against w om en .
In 1908, how ever, after the latter laws h ad been rep ealed , th e
rights of w om en to con tin u e to have sep arate m eetin gs, to elect
their own lead ership , and to have th eir ow n p u blication , w ere
m aintained . In fact som e years before a n ation al com m ission
for w om en's cam p aigns and action h ad been elected by w om en
them selves. Th an ks to this exp erien ce, initially d ictated by
external con strain ts, Clara Zetkin an d oth ers u n d erstood h ow
useful w om en -on ly d iscu ssion and organ ization cou ld be
for both giving w om en con fid en ce and en cou ragin g th em to
becom e m ore p olitically active.
Up to 1900 there w ere scarcely any w om en organized in
the Social Dem ocratic p arty or the trad e u n ion s. In 1891 th ere
were only 4,355 w om en trad e u n ion ists (1.8 p er cen t o f trad e-
u nion m em bers), by 1900 th ere w ere 22,844 (3.3. p er cen t ).
There were 4,000 w om en in th e p arty in 1905, 29,458 in 1908,
82,642 in 1910 and 141,115 by 1913. Th e significan t grow th in
37
fem ale m em bersh ip , how ever, m u st be situ ated relative to the

overall grow th of the p arty. In any case, before the First Wor ld
War w om en never com p rised m ore than 10 p er cen t of p arty
m em bersh ip .
Th e ind efatigable activity o f Clara Zetkin and oth er social
d em ocrats com m itted to organizing w om en p arty m em bers and
w orkers was d ecisive on an in tern ation al scale. In 1907 the first
In tern ation al Con feren ce o f Socialist W om en took p lace w ith
the p articip ation o f 60 d elegates com in g from 16 cou n tries. Also
in 1907, the Seventh Congress o f th e Socialist In tern ation al was
held and there was a big d ebate on w om en 's right to vote. At the
tim e an argu m ent was very p revalent that w om en w ere m ore
influ enced by religiou s and reactionary forces than m en , and
therefore th eir votes w ou ld favou r right w ing and conservative
p olitical p arties. N evertheless, a resolu tion was ad op ted to
su p p ort a cam p aign for the exten sion o f w om en 's voting rights.
These conferences certainly rep resented a step forw ard in
the d ebate w ithin the Socialist In tern ation al, bu t at the sam e
tim e, becau se o f the n on -bin d in g natu re o f su ch resolu tion s
on ind ivid u al p arties, th e p olicies w ere a d ead letter in a good
n u m ber of cou n tries.
Th e second Con feren ce o f Socialist W om en took p lace, in
tan d em w ith the Eighth Congress o f the Socialist In tern ation al
in Cop enhagen in 1910, w ith one hu nd red d elegates (m en and
w om en ), com in g from 17 cou n tries. It was on this occasion that
In tern ation al W om en 's Day was in stitu ted , initially w ith ou t
a fixed d ate. Th e 8 March d ate w as established later, after
w om en lit the tou ch p ap er o f the Ru ssian Revolu tion w hen they
d em onstrated on the streets o f Petrograd on 23 Febru ary 1917 —
the equ ivalent o f 8 March in all oth er cou n tries.
1.5. Revolutionary women.

Th e Petrograd w om en d em on strated sp ontaneou sly and
in d efiance of the ord ers o f th eir existing organization s on
23 Febru ary, 1917 (8 March ) to celebrate In tern ation al
Wom en 's Day, after having also con vin ced th eir m ale co-
w orkers to su p p ort the strike. Th ey certainly d id n ot im agine
what m om en tou s events th eir action w ou ld trigger. H u n ger,

u nbearable w orking con d ition s, and the crisis cau sed by th e
war - all these factors im p elled th em in to the streets to d em an d
bread and p eace. Instead of a d em on stration abou t im m ed iate
d em and s it becam e the start o f th e Ru ssian revolu tion .
Desp ite the lim its, th e backw ard step s, th e conservative
reaction, and the seriou s d ifficu lties arising fr om th e Civil W a r
and the collap se o f the econ om y, th e first years o f th e Ru ssian
revolu tion certainly rep resented th e h igh p oin t o f th e p rocess
of w om en's em an cip ation . In n o oth er h istorical event h ad
w om en been able to benefit from su ch freed om an d d ignity,
enjoy full citizenship rights, actively p articip ate in p olitical
and social life, d ynam ically con tribu te to bu ild in g a new social
and p olitical ord er, and sim p ly be in charge o f th eir ow n lives.
Before the revolu tion the variou s th eorists o f th e Bolsh evik
party had alread y p laced great im p ortan ce on w om en 's
liberation. Years o f exile, living u n d ergrou n d , d ep ortation s
and system atic exclu sion from ord in ary social life m ean t th at
m any of th em w ere con tem p tu ou s o f con ven tion al n or m s an d
trad itional - p articu larly p etty-bou rgeois - fam ily relation s.
Life on the m argins, always on th e m ove, an d solid arity
am ong exiled com rad es had in p art liberated th em fr om th e
conservative m orality th at characterized w orkers' m ovem en ts
in other cou n tries. Th e fam ily was seen, for th e m ost p art, as
a place w here op p ression was p erp etu ated an d con servative,
reactionary valu es, p reju d ices and su p erstition s w ere in cu lcated .
It was seen as an obstacle to a fu ller, rich er social life ou tsid e th e
walls of d om esticity. Revolu tionaries cou n terp osed a p ositive
alternative fram ew ork w here p eop le w ou ld seek m or e au th en tic
relations based on recip rocal resp ect and n ot on h ierarch ical
and d ep end ent econ om ic interests.
Th e axes o f w om en 's liberation , accord in g to th e p rop osals
and w ritings of the Bolsheviks, w ere based on tw o cen tral
elem ents: the freeing up o f w om en from d om estic labou r,
and ind ep end ence from m en th rou gh full p articip ation in th e
w orkforce. Freed om from d om estic labou r was to com e fr om
MARRIAGES 39
its progressive socialization, in oth er w ord s, throu gh collective

arrangem ents for child or ad ult care w hich w ou ld stop being a
private m atter carried ou t w ithin the fam ily h ou seh old . It was
a case o f setting up a series of services - nu rseries, lau nd ries
and canteens - w hich w ou ld have p rogressively achieved that
objective. Solving the p roblem o f the d ou ble exp loitation o f
w om en, th erefore, becam e id entified w ith the socialization o f
d om estic labou r rather than th rou gh challenging trad itional
roles insid e the fam ily and the sexu al d ivision o f labou r. In
fact it was consid ered qu ite natu ral for w om en to carry ou t
the caring w ork in nu rseries, lau nd ries and canteens - bu t as
salaried w orkers rather th an m oth ers or w ives. W om en w ere
consid ered m ore p re-d isp osed to this sort o f w ork. H ow ever,
the objective o f freeing up tim e for w om en , allow ing th em to
actively take p art in p olitical and social life, and op enin g th em
up to m ore revolu tionary id eas, was clearly m ain tain ed .
Follow ing the p olitical line o f Engels, Bebel and Clara Zetkin ,
the Bolsheviks also p laced great im p ortan ce on the fu ll in tegration
of w om en into the w orkforce. In ord er to be really free, w om en
had to be econ om ically ind ep end ent o f m en . Mon ogam ou s
and heterosexu al relations w ere n ot p u t u p for d ebate as su ch,
and p ositions on h om osexu ality w ere m ore backw ard . It was
hop ed that there w ou ld be a rad ical tran sform ation th rou gh
the w eakening of fam ily ties and o f in terp erson al relations
based on econ om ic d ep end ency. As for m on ogam y, it was n ot
challenged as su ch bu t insid e the Bolshevik p arty one cou ld see
the d evelop m ent o f a d iscu ssion on free love, or rather on th e
natu re o f affection and sexu al relationship s. Th is was p ractically
absent from the d ebates insid e Germ an social d em ocracy.
Alexand ra Kollon tai played a key role in these d iscu ssions.
N ot only d id she em p hasize these qu estions in h er w ritings,
bu t also stru ggled for years against the con servatism o f m an y
p arty m em bers and lead ers. She belonged to the Men sh evik
cu rrent in exile bu t join ed the Bolshevik p arty in 1915. After
m u ch p ersistence she m anaged , in 1917, to get the p arty to set
up a d ep artm en t in charge o f w orking w ith w om en . In 1919 it
was transform ed in to Zhenotd el - th e W om en 's Section o f th e

Central Com m ittee o f the Ru ssian Com m u n ist Party. W ith in
the party Kollontai fou nd Vlad im ir Lenin a very sign ificant
p p orter. Th e latter, thanks to th e close collaboration an d
su
__igoing exchange o f views w ith his w ife, N ad ezhd a Kru p skaya,
on
and w ith Ines Arm an d , had fu lly u n d erstood th e n eed for th ere
to be a sp ecific intervention arou n d th e p articu lar p roblem s
facing w om en. With ou t p olicies able to resp on d to th e
p roblem s and need s o f w om en it w ou ld ind eed n ot be p ossible
to free th em from con d ition s o f econ om ic d ep en d en cy an d o f
d ou ble exp loitation , w hich was th e basis o f th eir conservative
p olitical tend encies. If you w anted to w in w om en - th e m ost
backw ard elem ent o f Ru ssian society - to th e revolu tion ary
cause, it was necessary to develop a political line th at responded
to their sp ecific op p ression. Alongsid e Len in , th ere w ere oth er
Bolshevik lead ers w ho show ed them selves p articu larly op en an d
understood the need to encourage a greater fem ale presence an d
p articip ation in both th e p arty and th e Soviets. Am on g th ese w e
can single ou t Leon Trotsky an d Yakov Sverd lov w h o, u p to his
d eath in 1919, gave Kollantai great organ ization al su p p ort.
To fully u nd erstand th e scale o f th e m easu res an d reform s
m ad e after th e October revolu tion on e m u st refer back to th e
cond itions o f w om en in Tsarist society. Tsarist law s obliged
w om en to obey th eir hu sband s as th e h ead o f th e fam ily, su bm it
to his will in all circu m stan ces, and follow h im w herever h e
w ent. Wom en cou ld n ot take a jo b or get a p assp ort w ith ou t
the au thorization o f the head o f th e fam ily. Divorce w as very
d ifficu lt becau se it was u ltim ately au th orized by th e O r th od ox
Chu rch and , in any case, its cost p laced it ou tsid e th e reach o f th e
p oor. To m ake m atters w orse, d om estic violen ce w as p revalen t.
In peasant fam ilies it was cu stom ary for th e fath er o f th e brid e
to p resent his son -in -law w ith a w h ip , to be u sed in case o f n eed .
In the cou ntrysid e w om en h ad th e ad d ed bu rd en o f w orkin g in
the field s alongsid e hu sband s, fathers an d broth ers in ad d ition
to the d om estic labou r o f w ashing, sp in n in g, w eaving, cookin g,
carrying w ater, taking care o f ch ild ren , old p eop le an d th e ill... In
MARRIAGES 41
the tow ns they w orked the sam e hou rs as the m en bu t w ere p aid
a lot less w ithou t benefiting from any p rotective labou r law s. For
som e o f those su ffering from hu nger, occasional p rostitu tion
becam e the u ltim ate recou rse. Pregnancy cou ld cau se d ram atic
p roblem s and , at tim es, p u shed w om en to in fan ticid e.
So the con d ition o f a w om an in Tsarist Ru ssia was akin to
that of a slave. Th e revolu tion m ad e her a citizen.
In the p eriod im m ed iately after the October Revolu tion a
series of m easu res w ere im p lem en ted aim ing at the heart o f
the trad itional fam ily and the p atriarchal au thority. Th e new ly-
institu ted Fam ily Cod e o f 1918 allow ed easy access to d ivorce;
abolished the obligation for w om en to take th eir h u sban d 's
su rnam e; abolished th e attribu tion o f "h ead o f fam ily" to the
m an and therefore established equ al rights for both p artners;
elim inated the d istinction betw een legitim ate and illegitim ate
child ren; and abrogated the obligation to follow th e hu sban d
if he m oved to an oth er area. Th e p ow er o f the Ch u rch was
abolished and th e interference o f th e state in m arital relation s
was kep t to a m in im u m . Th e Fam ily Cod e was u p d ated in 1927
and m ad e access to d ivorce even sim p ler, legally recognized
cohabiting cou p les, and laid d ow n an obligation for d ivorced
cou p les to pay for food for at least 12 m on th s to a p artn er w ho
was u nem p loyed or u nable to w ork. In 1920 a d ecree legalized
abortion . Th e Soviet Un ion , th erefore, becam e th e first state in
the w orld to give w om en th e right to legal, free abortion s. Th e
Decem ber 1917 law on n ation al sickness insu rance was the start
of a series of m easu res setting u p social secu rity for w om en 's
w ork. Th e right to 16 w eeks m atern ity leave before and after
birth was passed in to law , as w ell as the right for p regn ant w om en
to do lighter w ork and to be exclu d ed from being tran sferred to
an oth er job w ithou t the agreem ent o f the w ork in sp ector.
A n u m ber o f factors m ad e the overall fem inist p roject m u ch
m ore d ifficu lt than cou ld have been foreseen: the terrible
cond itions resu lting from the afterm ath o f the Civil War ; the
fierce resistance from p easants to the m ost p rogressive m easu res
- inclu d ing the attem p ts to set up nu rseries in cou n try villages
- and a grow ing lack o f con fid en ce am on g w om en w orkers

them selves. Even thou gh th e Bolshevik govern m en t h ad
sought to create a netw ork o f services th at w ou ld have led to
the progressive socialization o f d om estic labou r, th e collap se
of the Soviet econ om y m ean t forw ard m om en t u m in th is
area was severely held back. Th e n u m ber o f nu rseries w ere far
from su fficient and th e canteens served absolu tely aw fu l food .
Fu rth erm ore, on e o f the first effects o f th e econ om ic crisis w as
a new wave o f w om en 's u n em p loym en t. As a con sequ en ce,
m ost w om en rem ained econ om ically d ep en d ent on m en an d
continu ed to be resp onsible for d om estic labou r. In these
circu m stances p rostitu tion bor n o f m isery was w id esp read .
Th e seriou s d eterioration in econ om ic con d ition s an d
the consequ ent slow d ow n in th e im p lem en tation o f p olicies
favouring w om en certainly con tribu ted to th eir grow ing
passivity and m istru st in a revolu tion ary govern m en t th at h ad
p rom ised to rad ically change th eir situ ation . N otw ith stan d in g
the great efforts o f Zh en otd el, Alexand ra Kollon tai an d oth er
lead ers and activists, th ere w ere on ly 30,000 w om en in th e p arty
in 1923 - m ostly o f w orking-class origin .
Wh ile th e p olicies put forw ard by th e govern m en t o f
the Soviets w ere broadly supported by u rban w o m e n , th e
relationship w ith p easant w om en w as m u ch m or e p roblem atic
- in 1923 the latter m ad e u p on ly five p er cen t o f w om en p arty
m em bers. In m ost cases th e p rop osed p olicies w ere treated w ith
great su sp icion, even th e village nurseries seem ed to con fir m a
m yth accord ing to w hich th e new govern m en t w an ted to take
babies away from their fam ilies. Obviou sly th e backw ard n ess
of the cou ntrysid e, su p erstitiou s beliefs, p reju d ice, an d th e
strength o f p atriarchal stru ctu res exp lain to a large exten t th e
p easant w om en 's hostile reaction . Th ere is, h ow ever, a stron ger
exp lanation to be fou nd in th e p articu lar circu m stan ces p easan t
w om en fou nd them selves in d u ring th e Civil W a r . Alon gsid e
the seriou s econ om ic situ ation th at m ad e it h ard to im p lem en t
p olicies, one m u st rem em ber how w eak th e Soviets w ere in th e
cou ntrysid e. Th ey were n ot able to p rotect w om en fr om m ale
MARRIAGES 43
violence and harassm ent. Th e Great War and then the Civil War
had resulted in a very high n u m ber o f both widows and w om en
w ithou t hu sband s, m any o f w h om tried to cu ltivate their p ieces
of land w ithou t any help from m en .
These w om en w ere su bject to a real p rocess o f exp rop riation
by m en w h o, argu ing that w om en 's labou r was n ot su fficiently
p rod u ctive, w ere able to get land red istribu ted in th eir favou r.
It left w om en w ith the sm allest, least fertile p arcels o f lan d .
Wom en p easants w ho tried to assert th eir rights often becam e
su bject to d enigration and scorn and , in m ost cases, the Soviets
were n ot able to p u t a stop to these situ ations. Moreover, there
w ere cases o f violence, and even m u rd er, against m an y o f those
w ho d ecid ed to take p art in w om en 's m eetings organized by
the Soviets or the local sections o f the Bolshevik p arty. In these
cond itions the m ajority o f p easant w om en clu ng to the old
p atriarchal stru ctu res, that is, to m atrim on y and the fam ily,
how ever m u ch these w ere the sou rce o f th eir sp ecific op p ression.
It still seem ed safer to hang on to trad itional stru ctu res w hen
faced w ith the d ual u n certain ties o f social castigation and the
need to feed on eself and on e's fam ily.
Revolu tionary Ru ssia w as, at least up to the end o fth e 1920s, the
place w here w om en w ere able to taste u n p reced en ted freed om .
This was d espite the en orm ou s objective d ifficu lties, the lim its
of the actions o f th e Bolsheviks and th eir con trad iction s, and
the lack o f reflection abou t w om en 's sexu al self-d eterm in ation
and gend er id entity. In n o oth er historical event have we seen
so clearly the links betw een w om en 's em an cip ation , self-
organization and the w orkers' m ovem en t. After Stalin ism had
established its grip and infected the p olitics o f the com m u n ist
p arties organized in a now bu reau cratized Th ird In tern ation al,
those links w ere u tterly d estroyed .
1.6 W omen fighters

A few years before the Sp anish Civil W a r , n obod y cou ld have
im agined the sight of cou rageou s and d eterm in ed w om en
fighting in the fron t ranks against the Falangists w ho had com e
to d row n their d ream o f a better, fairer society in blood . Sp anish
w om en had , in fact, always been exclu d ed from p olitics an d

social life, kep t u ned u cated and su bject to th e om n ip resen t
influ ence of a p articu larly reaction ary Cath olic Ch u r ch . Th ey
becam e p oliticized very late. A few m on th s o f Civil W a r w as
enou gh for th em to catch u p . In th e Sp ain o f 1931 w om en m ad e
up only 12 p er cent o f the w orkforce bu t w ere p resent in great
nu m bers in som e o f the m ost m ilitan t ind u strial sectors an d
factories - p articu larly the textile w orkers w ho p layed a key role
in Catalonia. In 1913, 22,000 o f the 26,300 w orkers involved in
the textile w orkers' strike in Barcelon a w ere w om en . In 1936
nearly a fifth of textile w orkers w ere in Catalon ia an d w om en
com p rised a large m ajority o f th e w orkforce in th is in d u stry.
They w orked eleven h ou rs a day and on average w ere p aid h a lf
the m ale salary. Th e w orst w orking con d ition s w ere, h ow ever,
those of the farm w orkers w ho w ere forced to w ork u p to
eighteen hou rs a day w ith ou t a break an d w ho often received
only salary in kin d . A qu arter o f th e fem ale w orkforce w orked
in this sector. Wom en w ere fu rth er d isad vantaged by th eir gross
illiteracy rates: in 1931 n in ety p er cen t o f th e w om en in th e
cou ntrysid e and eighty p er cen t in th e tow ns w ere illiterate.
Th e 1931 con stitu tion ad op ted by th e Rep u blican govern m en t
was certainly in ad vance o f th e p olitical con sciou sn ess o f
Spanish w om en. It established w om en 's right to vote, be
elected , and form al gend er equ ality. Related laws also ban n ed
em p loym ent con tracts w hich p erm itted th e sacking o f w om en
if they got m arried , sou ght m ore equ al p ay, an d establish ed
m ixed schooling. Oth er m easu res follow ed these law s. In 1932
a d ivorce law was passed w hich recognized th e right to d ivorce
throu gh m u tu al con sen t w ith cu stod y o f ch ild ren goin g to
the w ife. "H on ou r " crim es w ere also ban n ed in th at year. In
1933 a law was passed against p rostitu tion . Finally, in 1936 an
abortion law was ad op ted . Th ese law s, w h ich w ere all rem oved
after Fran co's victory, w ere p rom u lgated in th e absen ce o f a
significant w om en's m ovem en t, even a bou rgeois fem in ist on e.
Th e m in or role of w om en in th e w orkforce, com bin ed
w ith the great influ ence of the Cath olic Ch u rch and a cu ltu re
MARRIAGES 45
that accep ted a certain "m a ch ism o" created a situ ation w here
w om en w ere forced to be largely passive recip ients of th eir
p olitical fortu n e. Wom en only began to m obilize in the m on th s
im m ed iately p rior to the Civil War. Initially, the d isorganization
of the regular arm y m ean t that w om en cou ld actively p articip ate
in the fighting and take im p ortan t roles in the stru ggle. Th ey
show ed incred ible cou rage. Th e Anarchists w ere the first to call
w om en to arm s.
Betw een 1936 and 1938 arou nd sixty to seventy p er cent of
w om en took a job ou tsid e th e h om e to rep lace m en engaged at
the fron t. Desp ite the d ecision o f Caballero, the w ar m in ister,
to exclu d e th em from the regu lar arm y, the Civil W a r op en ed
up en orm ou s op p ortu nities for w om en to becom e active and
organize. Th ey finally becam e m ore fu lly integrated in the
w orkforce, they took p art in m ass organizations. Th ey cou ld
at last get d irectly involved in p olitical and social life. Th e
sp ecific con d ition s o f being at w ar also con tribu ted to the m ass
entry o f w om en into the w orkforce in oth er cou n tries. H ere it
was com bin ed w ith the cau ld ron o f p olitical activity and the
em ergence o f w om en 's p u blication s. Th ere was an accelerated
grow th in th eir p oliticization .
On e o f the m ost ad vanced exam p les o f w om en 's p oliticization
was M ujeres Libre (Free W o m en ) w hich cam e ou t o f an
initiative taken by a grou p o f w om en from the Mad rid trad e-
u nion fed eration. In 1935 they w ere con vin ced o f the need for
a w om en -on ly organ ization. Th e grou p p u blished a m agazine
and set up literacy classes and sem in ars. By 1938 it had becom e
a league o f 30,000 w om en , m ostly w orkin g-class, w ith abou t
150 grou p s th rou gh ou t Sp ain. Althou gh n ot com p risin g on ly
anarchists, the grou p consid ered itself to be p art o f the an arch ist
m ovem en t. In its August 1937 Congress it set u p a fed eral
stru ctu re based on th e au ton om y o f local grou p s, a coord in atin g
com m ittee, and six secretariats. Th e fact th at it was set u p before
the Civil War m eant this grou p had m u ch lon ger-term p olitical
p ersp ectives. It was fou nd ed w ith th e u nd erstand ing that w om en
need ed to struggle ind ep end ently in ord er to bu ild th eir ow n
consciou sness and to fu rther th eir struggle for em an cip ation .
Consequ ently it lau nched tw o literacy cam p aign s, organized

cou rses and created institu tes w ith libraries in Valen cia, Mad rid
and Barcelona. W om en 's right to em p loym en t w as on e o f its
key d em and s.
Faced w ith the conservatism o f oth er Sp anish w orkers'
organizations, M ujeres Libres argu ed against th e id ea th at
w om en's em p loym ent was m erely a su bstitu tion in tim es o f
w ar. It cam p aigned to set up nu rseries in th e w orkp lace w h eth er
in factories, ru ral areas, or the p u blic sector. Th is grou p also
criticized the anarchist cam p aign for sexu al freed om th at h ad
led m any m en to behave in a w ay th at w as against w om en 's
interests. Th e qu estion these w om en raised w as "O kay, sexu al
freed om , bu t for w h om ?" Th is qu estion w as to be at th e cen tre
of d ebates d u ring the secon d wave o f fem in ism , in th e secon d
half o f the tw entieth cen tu ry. In Sp ain , how ever, th e d iscu ssion s
abou t self-d eterm ination w ith resp ect to m atern ity, con tr ol o f
their own bod ies, and p rostitu tion con tin u ed to be rid d led w ith
m any con trad iction s.
1.7. W omen in the Chinese revolution.
Th e oppressive con d ition s su ffered by w om en in p r e-
revolu tionary Ch in a are u np aralleled . Mid d le-class w om en
cou ld hard ly own any p rop erty excep t th eir jew ellery, an d w ere
not allow ed to inherit anything. Th eir feet w ere ban d aged an d
they were exclu d ed from p ractically all p rod u ctive em p loym en t.
Th ey w ere relegated to the role o f a h ou seh old or n am en t,
totally d ep end ent on and su bject to a h u sban d 's au th ority.
Fu rth erm ore, a secon d m arriage in th e case o f w id ow h ood w as
very m u ch frow ned on . With ou t lan d or m ean s o f su sten an ce,
single w om en cou ld n ot have an in d ep en d en t life in Ch in ese
society. Peasant w om en had slighly m ore au ton om y d u e to th eir
role as agricu ltu ral labou rers. Th is w as, how ever, a very relative
au tonom y w hich was p aid for d early th rou gh in cessan t w ork,
m isery, and d om estic violen ce.
By the nineteenth century some voices had already spoken
ou t against this situ ation . Li Ju -chen w rote a Utopian ro m an ti c
novel in 1825 w here he described a kingdom governed by
MARRIAGES ... 47
w om en in w hich m en w ere com p letely su bservient - a scenario

that overtu rned then existing gend er relations. A grow ing
n u m ber of w om en , su p p orted by Christian organizations
(p articu larly Protestan ts), began to op p ose arranged m arriages.
Finally, variou s w om en began to join organizations op p osed
to the p olitical regim e and to colon ialism - su ch as the secret
societies that played a role in the 1911 revolu tion.
Desp ite these early gains, the d ecisive m om en t in ad vancing
the struggle was m ad e w hen the grow ing w orkers' m ovem en t
com bin ed w ith the m ovem en t op p osed to Jap anese im p erialism .
Du ring the First World War rad ical grou p s op en to w om en
w ere form ed in w hich w om en 's situ ation in the fam ily and the
need for a reform o f m arriage laws w ere d iscu ssed . In 1919 Mao
Zed ong had alread y p u blished a series o f articles on w om en 's
op p ression w here he su p p orted the exten sion o f voting rights to
w om en and oth er form s o f equ ality. Th e new sp ap er, W omen s
Voice, was fou nd ed in 1921, at th e sam e tim e as th e Chinese
Com m u n ist Party, and it p roclaim ed th e necessity o f im p roving
w om en's w orking con d ition s. After th e 1927 sp lit betw een
the Com m u n ist Party and the N ation alists, and th e tu rn o f
the latter tow ard s Con fu cian ism and a strongly an ti-fem in ist
id eology, the com m u n ists con tin u ed to p u t forw ard a p olicy
clearly in favou r of w om en 's liberation . Th ey began to raise
these issues even in the ru ral areas w here they w ere forced to
retreat follow ing the N ation alists' victory and the su bsequ ent
an ti-com m u n ist p ersecu tion .
Follow ing the Secon d World War and the victory in the
Civil War against the N ation alists, th e Com m u n ist victory
inau gu rated a p eriod o f m ajor reform s th at aim ed at rad ically
changing w om en 's roles and living con d ition s. Du rin g the
Civil War n u m erou s w om en 's organizations had em erged in
the liberated zones. Ten m on th s before th e p roclam ation o f
the Peop le's Rep u blic, the Prep aratory Com m ittee for the All-
China Wom en 's Fed eration called a n ation al congress in ord er
to rationalize and u nify the w orking w om en 's organ izations
that w ere op erating in variou s p arts o f the cou n try. Th e id ea
was to bring together these associations so they cou ld establish

local sections of the n ation al W om en 's Fed eration .
Article 6 o f the Sep tem ber 1949 Con stitu tion d eclared : "Th e
Chinese Peop le's Rep u blic abolishes th e feu d al system w h ich
kept w om en in slavery. W om en w ill have th e sam e rights as
m en in p olitics, the econ om y, cu ltu re, ed u cation an d social life.
Freed om o f m arriage is gu aranteed in law for m en and w om en ."
A series o f m easu res was su bsequ ently im p lem en ted to give
su bstance to this d eclaration , above all in favou r o f w om en 's
econ om ic ind ep end ence. Th e May 1950 Lan d Refor m law
finally gave w om en access to lan d ow n ersh ip . Alongsid e th is, th e
new m arriage laws end ed the p ractice o f forced m arriages an d
gu aranteed equ al rights for m en and w om en w ith in th e fam ily
and the right to m on ogam y. Th is d efence o f m on ogam y m ay
raise a few eyebrow s tod ay given th e d ebate on sexu al freed om ,
bu t it had qu ite a d ifferent m ean in g in 1940s Ch in a w here th e
concu bine system and bigam y w ere im p ortan t elem en ts o f
w om en's op p ression. Oth er laws ad op ted in clu d ed : th e right
to d ivorce on m u tu al con sen t; th e right to take an active p art
in society; the right to ind ep end ently ad m in ister on e's ow n
finances; and the right to freely ch oose on e's career.
In 1951 the social secu rity and w elfare law w as p assed , w h ich
gu aranteed 56 days o f p aid m atern ity leave before an d after
the birth d ate. It also ban n ed th e firing o f p regn an t w om en
and p rovid ed sickness benefits for m en an d w om en . M or e
than elsew here, w om en cou ld find sp ace for au ton om y an d
ind ep end ence in agricu ltu ral com m u n es. Every w om an ru ral
w orker received a p ersonal salary based on w ork d on e, an d
the com m u n es had the ad d ed benefit establishing com m u n a l
canteens, nu rseries, and old p eop le's h osp ices. Th is freed
w om en from a large p art o f th eir d om estic labou r an d gave
them the tim e to actively p articip ate in p olitics an d social life.
Th e p roliferation o f w om en 's association s and organ ization s
also in the cou ntrysid e show ed an en th u siastic in volvem en t
that was com p letely new in Chinese society. Th r ou gh ou t th e
1950s variou s cam p aigns p rom oted con tracep tion w ith p ositive
MARRIAGES 49
m eetings, film show ings, exp osition s, and con feren ces. Abortion
was theoretically legal bu t this d id n ot m ean that ru ral w om en
had easy access to it.
Obviou sly the Chinese revolu tion also cam e up against
the sam e d ifficu lties as the Ru ssian revolu tion in its attem p ts
to change gend er relations. Wh ile agrarian reform had been
im m ed iately w elcom ed by w om en p easants, since they cou ld
see its d em onstrable ad vantage in m aking an ind ep end ent life
increasingly p ossible, challenging trad ition al fam ily stru ctu res
ran into greater resistance in the cou ntrysid e. Fu rth erm ore, the
Chinese w om en 's m ovem en t held on to a certain p u ritan ism for
a long tim e, n ot so m u ch becau se o f any m oralistic attitu d es bu t
becau se for centu ries w om en had p aid in flesh and blood for
m ale sexual freed om .
1.8. The new feminism
Du ring the first wave o f fem in ism , the d em an d for em an cip ation
had allow ed links to be m ad e betw een bou rgeois fem in ism
and fem inists insid e the w orkers' m ovem en t, and even led to
u nity o f action in certain circu m stan ces. Dem an d s for access to
ed u cation and em p loym en t, for frill citizenship and th e right to
take p art in p olitics w ere key, shared con cern s. Th e first wave
of fem inism cam p aigned for the inclu sion o f all those w ho had
always been exclu d ed and fou ght for the full ach ievem en t o f the
equ al rights p rom ised by the Fren ch Revolu tion . Dem an d in g
equ ality w ith m en was n ot necessarily su bord in ation to the m ale
fram ew ork - a criticism often m ad e against this first w ave. It was
rather that the con cep tu al tools w hich the bou rgeois revolu tions
and then the w orkers' m ovem en t had m ad e available w ere taken
up by w om en in ord er to brin g ou t th eir m ost rad ical d yn am ic.
"Equ ality can n ot be real u nless it is m ad e w ith u s" was the
challenge throw n d ow n by fem inists to those w h o, u n d er the
cover of a false u niversalism , had con ceived these valu es u p to
now only in m ale term s.
Th e second wave o f fem in ism w hich rose up betw een the
m id d le o f the 1960s and the 1970s rad ically qu estion ed this
p arad igm . In the p eriod betw een the tw o waves o f fem in ism ,
in 1949, a book had been p u blished th at w as to becom e

grou nd breaking - it was Sim on e de Beau voir's The Second Sex.
Th e new fem inism d evelop ed ou t o f a w hole range o f th e
1960s and 1970s m ovem ents - stu d ents and you th , new w orkers'
rebellions, national liberation stru ggles, civil rights an d black
p ow er. With these m ovem en ts that sp read th rou gh ou t th e
p lanet, fem inism fou n d the lifeblood for its resu rgen ce in th e
huge blow s stru ck against the existing social an d p olitical ord er
by a new generation of "th e u ngratefu l ch ild ren o f p rosp erity";
by the p oliticized stu d ents in th e cam p u ses o f Eu rop e an d th e
USA, by the new black m ovem en t in th e USA, an d by a you n g
rebelliou s w orking class. Wh ile it is tru e th at th e secon d w ave
of fem inism was also a tim e o f d ivorce betw een fem in ism an d
the w orkers' m ovem en t, the exten sion , strength an d rad icalism
of w om en's struggles and th e th eoretical d evelop m en ts
associated w ith th em are u n im agin able w ith ou t th e favou rable
context created by 1968 and th e m ovem en ts th at follow ed .
You th rebellions challenged existing society, criticizin g n ot
only the relations o f p rod u ction bu t also social relation s. Th ey
challenged the stereotyp es and fram ew orks im p osed on th em ,
the cu ltu re of con form ity and th e con servativism beh in d th e
often voiced id ea that "you 've never have h ad it so g ood ".
They took on au th oritarian ism and a m yriad o f social p ow er
relations. Th e new fem inists fou n d critical in stru m en ts to u se
against the sexist d om in ation o f cu ltu re, society, p r od u ction ,
p olitics, and the fam ily w ithin this rad ical challenge to existin g
society and am ong the attem p ts to try ou t d ifferen t social an d
sexual relationship s.
One of the characteristic featu res o f the secon d fem in ist w ave
was the rep lacem ent of the em an cip atory fram ew ork based on
d em and ing equ ality w ith m en w ith a refu sal, in th e n am e o f a
theory of d ifferen ce(s), o f an equ ality u n d erstood as su bjection
to a sexist, m ale fram ew ork. Dem an d in g th e right to d ifferen ce
was a pow erfu l con cep tu al tool w hich was to brin g abou t a
split from the m ixed social m ovem en ts w ithin w hich m ost o f
the fem inists in the second wave had first becom e p oliticized . It
MARRIAGES 51
was no longer enou gh to ask for full p articip ation o f w om en in

p olitics and society. Wh ile the exp erience o f activists from related
struggles that had criticized p olitics and society was u sefu l, this
had n ot led to a real qu estioning o f gend ered p ow er relation s.
Consequ ently, w om en began to system atically d econ stru ct and
criticize the form s o f p olitics, society and cu ltu re in ord er to
expose their p atriarchal n atu re. For thou sand s o f years only m en
had access to the sym bolic ord er, they had m ou ld ed it in th eir
image so w om en w ere inevitably exclu d ed from it. N ot even the
organization and p olitical p ractices o f the w orkers' m ovem en t
were sp ared . In fact the w orkers' m ovem en t also ech oed this
exclu sion o f sexu ality and gend er relations from p olitical
d iscou rse. Fem inists felt this and d en ou n ced it as foreign to th eir
own exp erience of p oliticization and in terven tion . A second
com m on featu re o f this wave o f fem in ism was the cen trality
of w om en 's self-d eterm in ation : the d em an d for free abortion
and con tracep tion on d em an d , along w ith the con d em n ation o f
m ale violence and new thinkin g abou t sexu ality, w hich inclu d ed
rad ical theories on the violence and d om in ation in h eren t in
sexual in tercou rse.
Tw o m ore central featu res w ere:
1) Theorizin g p atriarchy as a system o f op p ression th at p re-
existed cap italism , and consid erin g gend er p ow er relations as
the m atrix for all oth er form s o f d om in ation , op p ression and
exp loitation. In sh ort, there was a general rejection o f accep tin g
a hierarchy o f con trad iction s w hich saw class at th e top below
w hich lay gend er, race, n ation ality, etc;
2) Pu tting forw ard an id ea o f p olitics that draws th e p ersonal
and the p olitical togeth er, and th ereby theorizin g an im m ed iate
tran sform ation o f self and o f the form s o f p ersonal existence
and relationship s w ith oth er m en and w om en .
In spite of the central im p ortan ce given to new th in kin g
abou t sexu ality and its form s, th e fu n d am en tal con tribu tion
m ad e by lesbians to the fem in ist m ovem en t, as w ell as th eir
frontline activism and visibility, d id n ot always find favou r.
In cou ntries like Italy this led to a grow ing friction betw een
lesbians and the fem inist m ovem en t, and u ltim ately to a sp lit
and the form ation o f a sep arate lesbian m ovem en t. Th e latter
has sought to interp ret lesbianism n ot sim p ly as som eth in g
p ertinent to the field o f sexu ality, bu t as an em in en tly p olitical
p osition - the p olitics o f those w ho are so far on th e m argin s o f
an existing heterosexu al ord er th at they alon e are able to carry
ou t the m ost rad ical critiqu e.
Th e origins of second wave fem in ism w ere rooted in th e
Am erican college and u niversity cam p u ses o f th e 1960s. O n e
of the m ajor sou rces of in sp iration for th e m ovem en t w ere th e
African-Am erican m ovem en ts d evelop ing in th at p eriod th at
cam e to play a key role in th e US p rotests o f th e 1960s. Fem in ism
took som e new con cep tu al tools from these m ov em en ts: th e
d iscovery of d ifference as a p rocess o f affirm ation an d d efin ition
of one's id entity; self-d eterm in ation; and liberation stru ggle.
As in other cou n tries, secon d wave fem in ism w as a m ov em en t
m ad e up m ainly o f you ng w om en , w ho h ad taken p art in oth er
m ovem ents - for free sp eech, for civil righ ts, an d bu ild in g th e
New Left. Wom en becam e con sciou s w ithin these m ovem en ts
of the necessity of a sep arate w om en 's m ov em en t in w h ich
there w ou ld be space for th eir sp ecific need s an d asp iration s.
Desp ite the m assive involvem ent an d fu n d am en tal role w om en
played in these m ovem en ts and organ ization s, th ey d id n ot
gain a corresp ond ing lead ership role as th ey w ere su ffocated by
sexist m ale lead ership and m eth od s o f fu n ction in g. Th is ten sion
becam e so blatan t that it p u shed w om en activists to brin g th eir
own gend er-d ifference based d em and s to th e fore.
Three books w ere p u blished in 1970 th at p rofou n d ly
influ enced n ot only the fem in ist m ovem en t in th e Un ited
States, bu t also in m any oth er cou n tries: The Dialectic of Sex by
Shu lam ith Fireston e, SexualPoliticsby Kate Millet an d Sisterhood
is Powerful by Robin Morgan . In the latter, Mor gan , u sing th e
concep t of sisterhood , p u ts forw ard th e id ea o f a u niversal u n ity
betw een all w om en against th eir com m on op p ression , sexism .
Accord ing to the au th or, sexism rep resents th e m atr ix o f all
other op p ression w hether cap italist, racist or im p erialist. Th is
MARRIAGES 53
idea of u niversal sisterhood was strongly challenged by African -

Am erican, Chicana and w orking-class activists w ho refu sed to
id entify them selves w ithin a hierarchy o f op p ression ou tlined
by w hite rad ical fem inists or as a p art o f a sisterhood that they
accu sed of essentialism . Wh ile acknow led ging the sexism that
existed w ithin their ow n m ixed m ovem en ts, these w om en
activists cou ld n ot id entify w ith the "fem in ist category" d efined
by w hite fem inists, n or give u p th eir com m on struggle alongsid e
the m en in their com m u n ity or class against th eir exp loitation
as w orkers and their op p ression as African -Am erican s,
im m igrants or Ch ican os. Th e black fem inist Frances Beal, on e
of the fou nd ers o f the Th ird Wor ld W om en 's Alliance, w rote
a d ocu m en t entitled Double Jeopardy w here she d id n ot m in ce
w ord s: "It is useless to d elu d e you rself in to th in kin g abou t a
black w om en 's existence if you lim it you rself to seeing her as
looking after her hou se and child ren like a w hite m id d le-class
w om an. Most black w om en have to w ork to su rvive, to p u t
food on the table and d ress th eir fam ilies." As lon g as black
w om en exp erience a d ou ble or trip le op p ression as w om en , as
black p eop le, and as w orkers, it is n ot p ossible to establish a
hierarchy betw een th e d ifferent stru ggles, p u tting on e in fron t
and relegating the others to second ary con cern s.
United States fem in ism and Black Pow er w ere to d eeply
influ ence the British m ovem en t too, w hich m ore th an m an y
others m ain tain ed a rich d ialogu e w ith the w orkers' m ovem en t.
This was p artly d ue to the fact th at the Com m u n ist Party was
so w eak it was n ot able to exert a significant in flu en ce as was
the case in cou n tries like Fran ce and Italy. So in Great Britain
the first w om en 's liberation grou p s em erging at th e en d o f the
1960s kep t up good links both w ith th e stu d ent and w orkers'
m ovem en ts. Th ey took p art in d ebates abou t w orkers' con trol
and su p p orted w orkers' trad e-u n ion stru ggles. Fem in ists th ere
theorized the links betw een h om e and w ork, p rod u ction and
rep rod u ction , d om estic and p aid labou r. Th ey sou ght to create
a m ovem ent together w ith w orkers and u sers o f p u blic services
to rad ically reform the w elfare state, to challenge gend er roles
insid e the fam ily, and the sexu al d ivision o f labou r ou tsid e it.
The first fem inist grou p in Italy, the Demau (Dem ystification
of Patriarchal Au th oritarian ism ), was fou n d ed in 1965 an d
p u blished its Program m atic Man ifesto in 1966. A few years
later, follow ing the Italian you th rebellion , th e fou n d ation s
were laid for a new fem inist m ovem en t. In 1969 th e stu d en t
m ovem ent linked u p w ith the strongly rising new w orkers'
m ovem ent w hich was very rad ical an d very you n g. Th e tid e
of rebellion swelled th rou gh ou t th e n ext d ecad e u p to th e
m om en tou s events of 1977. Th e new Italian fem in ists, for th e
m ost p art - as elsew here - w ere m ad e u p o f you n g w om en w h o
cam e ou t o f the 1968 m ovem en t and often belon ged to th e N ew
Left organizations that em erged in its w ake. In 1970, th e Rivolta
Femminile (Fem in in e Revolt) and Anabasi grou p s w ere started ,
and Carla Lonzi w rote Sputiamo su Hegel (W e Sp it on H egel),
the fou nd ing text o f Italy's new fem in ism . Th e real ap ex o f th e
m ovem ent was reached in th e p eriod betw een 1974 an d 1977.
Th e first national m eeting o f fem in ist grou p s, w h ich h ad sp ru ng
up all over Italy, was held in 1973 in the sou th ern city o f Pin arella.
In 1970 a d ivorce law was finally p u t on the books. In 1974 th e
Italian p eop le w ere asked in a referen d u m if they w an ted to
repeal this law , bu t over 59 p er cen t voted against rep eal. Th e
abortion cam p aign lau n ch ed in 1975 en d ed in victory in 1978
w ith the passing o f a law w h ich , d esp ite its seriou s lim itation s,
introd u ced the right to free and legal abortion s for th e first tim e.
Italian fem in ism was also in flu en ced by th e Un ited States
rad ical fem inists, and fou n d a con tin u ou s sou rce o f in sp iration
in psychoanalysis and "Fren ch Th eor y ". Th e fem in ist m ov em en t
was im p elled in this d irection p artly d u e to th e h ostility o f th e
Italian Com m u n ist Party and the N ew Left organ ization s to
au ton om ou s w om en 's organ ization s. It m ostly took a sep aratist
p ath, bu t at the sam e tim e there was an u n p reced en ted w ave
of w om en's m obilizations insid e the trad e u n ion s. W o m en 's
trad e u nionization was due in p art to the rise in th e n u m ber
of w om en in the w orkforce - betw een 1973 an d 1981 w om en
provid ed 1,247,00 new w orkers w hile on ly 253,000 w ere m en .
MARRIAGES 55
Other reasons for increasing u nionization w ere the influ ence of

other favorable social m ovem ents and the generally p ro-w orker
p olitical clim ate. Th e first grou p s o f w om en trad e u nionists
were set up in 1975, and their d evelop m ent was p articu larly
strong in the big ind u strial centres w here the w orking class was
p olitically m ore active.
Ju st as in Italy, 1968 in France was characterized by the silence
of w om en w ho had not been able to exp ress them selves or p lay
a lead ing role insid e the m ovem en t. Th e Italian exp ression
"angelo del ciclostile" - the angel o f the d u p licating m ach in e -
p oints to this exclu sion. Th is was a recycling o f the trad ition al
"angel o f the h earth " exp ression, in oth er w ord s, from p ots
and pans to physically p rinting the leaflets ind icates how the
sexual d ivision o f labou r had n ot changed . Th e Fren ch fem inist
m ovem ent of the early 1960s was sim ilar to those in th e Un ited
States and Italy. It was m ostly m ad e u p o f you ng w om en w ho
w ere involved in the stu d ent m ovem en t and in the revolu tionary
left.
On 26 August 1970 som e w om en p laced flow ers on the tom b
o f the Unknow n Sold ier in Paris stating: "Th er e is som eon e
even m ore u nknow n than the Un kn ow n Sold ier and that is
his w ife!" Th is sym bolic act threw the sp otlight o f the m ass
m ed ia for the first tim e on th e Mou vem en t de liberation des
fem m es (MLF, w om en 's liberation m ov em en t), a w om en -on ly
organization, one o f w hose lead ers was Mon iqu e Wittig. On 5
April 1971, 343 w om en p u blished a m an ifesto in the m agazine
N ouvel Observateur d eclaring, to great con stern ation in Fren ch
society, that they had had abortion s. It was th e starting p oin t
of the cam p aign for abortion rights w hich led to legislation in
1974. In the m ean tim e, fem inist grou p s and collectives w ere set
up th rou gh ou t Fran ce, in the n eigh bou rh ood s, in w orkp laces,
and in the u niversities. Th ey brou gh t togeth er d em and s for
the freed om to con trol th eir ow n bod ies w ith a criticism o f
p atriarchy and sexism insid e the m ixed organization s o f the
w orkers' m ovem en t and the New Left.
Chapter 2
. . . AND DIVORCES
2.1 A problem from the start
It w ou ld be qu ite w rong to th in k that the com in g together o f
fem inism and the w orkers' m ovem en t w ou ld hap p en natu rally,
w ithou t con trad iction s or d ifficu lties. In th e first p lace, as we
have alread y show n, fem in ism originally em erged w ithin the
corner o f liberty op ened u p by the bou rgeois revolu tion and was
first theorized by m id d le-class and u p p er-m id d le-class w om en .
In the second p lace every w orkers' m ovem en t is a child o f its
tim e. It is u n h istorical to th in k th at its m em bers, lead ers and
theoreticians w ou ld be natu rally free o f p reju d ice, stereotyp ical
attitu d es and resistance to fem in ism . Th eir reaction is th e fru it
of thou sand s o f years of w om en 's op p ression. Finally alongsid e
this long term h istorical con text, we can ad d oth er su bsequ en t
reasons resu lting from sp ecific h istorical p rocesses su ch as the
bu reau cratic d egeneration o f the Soviet Un ion and its im p act
w ithin the in tern ation al w orkers' m ovem en t, and the in tern al
d ynam ics o f the New Left grou p s form ed in the 1960s and 1970s.
Whatever ou r ju d gm en t on his relations w ith w om en in his
private life, the you ng Mar x d id w rite in the 1844 Economic and
Philosophical M anuscripts:
"In the relationship w ith w om an , as th e sp oil and h an d m aid
of com m u n al lu st, is exp ressed th e in fin ite d egrad ation in w hich
m an exists for h im self."
Engels and Bebel w rote tw o books w hich for a lon g tim e
were the p rim ary references for socialist fem in ism ; in these
the relationship betw een m en and w om en was com p ared to

that betw een a cap italist and the p roletarian . Fou rier saw th e
fem ale con d ition as a barom eter o f how civilized a society
is and p rop osed a rad ical shake u p o f sexu al roles... H ow ever
Pierre-Josep h Prou d h on , one o f th e lead ers o f th e d evelop ing
n in eteen th -cen tu ry w orkers' m ovem en t, was a com p lete
m isogynist.
Prou d hon was a strenu ou s d efend er o f th e fam ily an d o f a
w om an's role as d eterm ined by n atu re. H e w as firm ly against
w om en going to w ork ou tsid e th e fam ily h om e. Even w orse
he d eclared w om en shou ld natu rally su bm it to m en as th eir
su bord inates. Con trary to th eir claim s for equ ality, w om en w ere
natu rally inferior to m en m orally, p hysically an d in tellectu ally.
H e u nreserved ly con d em n ed any p roject o f w om en 's liberation
p u rsu ed by w om en them selves, and obviou sly th ere w as n o
qu estion of broach in g the issue o f sexu al freed om .
This p olitical stance was n ot excep tion al an d it is n ot
su rprising that th e First In tern ation al d id n ot envisage th e
p articip ation of w om en . W e can see how m isogynist p reju d ice
played ou t d ram atically in the story o f Jean n e Der oin . She w as
an ed itorial board m em ber o f Voix des Femmes (W om en 's
Voice), a fou nd er o f an oth er new sp ap er, VOpinion des
femmes (Wom en 's O p in ion ), she was heavily involved in th e
fem inist m ovem en t and actively su p p orted w orkers in th e
1848 French Revolu tion. Betw een Au gu st 1849 an d May 1850,
Deroin d ed icated h erself to bu ild ing an association o f w orkers'
organizations based on p arity o f rights for w om en an d m en . She
also w rote the p rogram m atic d ocu m en ts for this association . In
May 1850, 400 w orkers' organizations em ergin g in th e w ake o f
the 1848 revolu tion join ed the association . W h en Jean n e Der oin
was arrested on 29 May 1850 and accu sed o f con sp iracy, h er
com rad es asked her n ot to reveal h er role in th e organ ization .
If it were to be know n that a w om an had bu ilt it u p an d w ritten
its p rogram m e, the w orkers' association w ou ld be generally
d iscred ited . Torn betw een her strong fem in ist con viction s an d
the d esire n ot to d am age the w orkers' organ ization s, Jean n e
AN D DIVORCES 59
Deroin cap itu lated in the end and d ecid ed n ot to u nveil her
secret. Exile in England follow ing N ap oleon Ill's cou p d 'etat
m arked the erasing o f her n am e from ou r history. Jean n e Deroin
had to w ait for the second fem inist wave for her p lace in history
to be restored .
Ferd inand Lassalle in Germ an y also took a p osition against
w om en w orking ou tsid e th e h om e, in d efence o f the trad itional
fam ily. H e rep resented a rather com m on p olitical line w ithin
the w orkers' m ovem en t. Fr om th e start, w hen w om en 's labou r
was generally p aid m u ch less than m en 's and the rate o f fem ale
em p loym ent was very m u ch low er, w om en w ere seen as a
threat for m ale w orkers insofar as they w ere an en orm ou s,
low p aid reserve arm y o f labou r. Lassalle d id n ot th in k on e
shou ld fight the com p etition o f low p aid w om en 's labou r by
d em and ing equ al p ay and rights o f all w orkers. H e th ou gh t
it was m ore u sefu l to relegate w om en to th eir trad ition al role
w ithin the fam ily. Male w orkers had to receive wage increases
so that m en w ou ld be in a p osition to su p p ort th e w hole fam ily
w ithou t need ing their w om en or child ren to w ork. W om en 's
em p loym ent was also seen as an elem en t o f d isaggregation and
corru p tion o f the w orking-class fam ily. Con sequ en tly econ om ic
consid erations w ere closely tied u p w ith a fu nd am entally
m oralistic and conservative m entality. Th e sp read o f su ch id eas
w ithin the w orkers' m ovem en t was n ot only d u e to sexism and
conservatism . On e ju st has to read the d escrip tion o f w orkin g-
class living con d ition s in Engels' The condition of the working
class in England or in Volu m e 1 of Marx's Capital to see th e
d evastating effects o f intensive ind u strial exp loitation on the
fam ilies, lives and bod ies o f m ale, fem ale and child w orkers
and to u nd erstand how the rejection o f fem ale and child labou r
was also a form o f self-d efence against this overw helm ing
exp loitation.
After the u n ification w ith Bebel's organization w hich created
the Germ an Social Dem ocratic Party, th e Lassallian stan d p oint
obviou sly created lots o f p roblem s and ad d itional obstacles for
Clara Zetkin 's w ork. She alread y had to d eal w ith m isogynist
tend encies w ithin a w orking class m arked by th e p reju d ices o f th e

tim e. Problem s w ere later cau sed by th e revisionists in th e years
p reced ing the First World War at a tim e w hen th e au ton om ou s
w om en's organizations insid e the Social Dem ocr atic p arty
and the Gleichheit new sp ap er generally su p p orted clearly
revolu tionary and an ti-im p erialist p olicies. W h en on e ad d s th e
fact that it was a w om an , Rosa Lu xem bu rg, w h o w as th e m a jor
theorist of the revolu tionary cu rren t th en we can u n d erstan d
why p eop le took a p osition against w om en , th eir organ ization s
and p u blications in ord er to attack revolu tion ary id eas.
Things were n ot m u ch better d u ring th e Paris Co m m u n e
d espite the fact that Parisian w om en p layed an extraord in ary,
active role. Ind eed the qu estion was never raised o f exten d in g
voting rights to w om en and in this first exp erien ce o f class
d em ocracy and the con stru ction o f a state u tterly d istin ct fr om
that o f the bou rgeois, we nevertheless saw th e exclu sion o f h alf
the p op u lation.
Generally the issue o f extend ing w om en 's su ffrage w as th e
su bject of fierce d ebates insid e th e w orkers' m ov em en t. W h a t
p eop le were afraid o f was th at w om en , having a m or e restricted
p articip ation in w ork or society d u e to th eir op p ression , w ou ld
perhap s be m ore con d ition ed by th e in flu en ce o f religion ,
su p erstition and conservative p olitics. Con sequ en tly exten d in g
w om en's su ffrage w ou ld con tribu te to th e sh ifting o f th e
p olitical terrain to the right and ad versely affect th e socialist
p arties. H istorically we see this argu m en t has been regu larly
d usted off and u sed . After the victory over fascism in Italy
d uring the Con stitu ent Assem bly p eriod , Palm iro Togliatti an d
a good n u m ber of the oth er Italian Com m u n ist Party lead ersh ip
m em bers w ou ld have p referred to avoid th e exten sion o f
w om en's su ffrage, fearing that it w ou ld favou r th eir op p on en ts,
the Christian Dem ocrats.
Th e bogey o f the com p etition o f w om en 's labou r w as also
agitated in Great Britain after a p rom isin g start w hich h ad seen
w om en play a real role in th e em erging trad e-u n ion m ov em en t.
Th e institu tionalization o f the English trad e-u n ion m ov em en t,
AN D DIVORCES 61
how ever, brou ght abou t the exclu sion o f w om en from trad e
u nions for a long p eriod . It was p recisely d ue to this that
w om en-only trad e u nions and organizations w ere established ,
such as the Wom en 's Trad e Un ion League fou nd ed in 1874 by
Em m a Paterson.
2.2 The Stalinist family
Difficu lties and con trad iction s existed from the beginning and
the establishm ent o f fem inist d em and s and ind ep end ent form s
of organization w ere a con stan t issue o f con flict, n egotiation
resu lting in steps forw ard follow ing by p artial setbacks.
H ow ever, the bu reau cratization o f th e Soviet Un ion and the
victory o f Stalinism brou gh t the first real and com p lete d ivorce
betw een the w orkers' m ovem en t and w om en 's sp ecific interest
and need s. Clara Zetkin , Alexand ra Kollon tai and Ines Arm an d
had set up an in tern ation al w om en 's secretariat w ithin the Th ird
In tern ation al w hich had been organizationally strengthened
after the October revolu tion . Th e w om en 's secretariat
p u blished a m agazine and organized fou r con feren ces. After
Lenin's d eath and the onset o f bu reau cratization , there was
a stead y elim in ation or neu tralizing of all stru ctu res th at
enjoyed any sort o f au ton om y. In 1926 th e sixth Plen u m o f
the In tern ation al's Execu tive Com m ittee d ecid ed to d issolve
the w om en 's secretariat. Th e m ain reason u sed to ju stify this
d ecision was now to be u sed tim e and tim e again - sep arate
stru ctu res threatened the coh esion o f p arty organization s and
of the w orkers' m ovem en t and ran the risk o f cau sing d ivision.
This d ecision was only the start o f a long series o f m easu res th at
w ithin tw enty years w ou ld resu lt in a com p lete overtu rn in g o f
all the revolu tion had su cceed ed in d oing d u ring the early years,
in spite o f the lim its related to the d ifficu lt circu m stan ces and
the inad equ acies o f the lead ership . In 1929 even th e Zh en otd el
was w ou nd u p , the official reason being that there was n o reason
for the con tin u ation o f an ind ep end ent w om en 's m ovem en t. In
the 1930s the official line on the fam ily com p letely ch an ged . In
the first years after the revolu tion , the fam ily was d efined as a
place w here su p erstition, p reju d ice and w om en 's op p ression
were p erp etu ated and that w ou ld p rogressively be su p ersed ed

by the new society. N ow it becam e rep ackaged in a p atern alistic
fram ew ork.
One of the first m easu res taken by th e O ctober Revolu tion
was the abolition of the "cr im e" o f h om osexu ality as d efined
by the Tsarist p enal cod e. Article 121 o f th e p en al cod e ad op ted
in 1933 re-established h om osexu ality as a p u n ish able offen ce
w ith a sentence of five years forced labou r, exten d able to eigh t.
Fu rtherm ore hom osexu als w ere accu sed o f bein g "objectiv ely"
cou n ter-revolu tion ary and th e regim e even started to d escribe
hom osexu ality as a sym p tom o f "fascism ". H om osexu ality,
thanks to this m ixing u p o f p olitical stance an d sexu al
orien tation , becam e an effective tool u sed in th e p ersecu tion o f
d issid ents, often w ithou t any con n ection w ith th eir real sexu al
p references. It was n ot u ntil 1993 th at h om osexu ality w as d e-
crim inalized .
In 1936 the regim e tu rn ed its atten tion to w om en 's self-
d eterm ination. Abortion was alread y in p ractice qu ite d ifficu lt
to access, now it was ban n ed for th e first p regn an cy. It w as totally
banned in 1944. A tax was in trod u ced on single p eop le an d th e
fees incu rred in obtain in g a d ivorce w ere in creased . Mean w h ile
legislation w hich recognized com m on -law p artn ersh ip s
was repealed and w om en w ere only gran ted alim on y rights
w hen sep arating if they had been m arried . A 1944 law forced
single m others to m eet the ed u cation costs o f th eir ch ild ren -
p enalizing th em econ om ically an d fu rth er stigm atizing th em .
Th e new inheritance law p assed in 1945 stren gth en ed th e
p osition o f the father as head o f th e fam ily. Alongsid e th ese legal
m easu res all the old p atriarchal id eological baggage w as w heeled
ou t - con d em n ation of free sexu ality an d "sexu al p erv ersion s",
glorification of m atrim on ial ritu als and sym bols (cerem on ies
and rings) and new p raise for d ivid ed gend er roles.
Critics o f the October Revolu tion , n ot on ly liberals or
conservatives bu t also som e on th e left, generally ten d to show
a line of con tin u ity betw een th e revolu tion and its bu reau cratic
d egeneration, betw een Bolshevism and totalitarian ism , betw een
... AN D DIVORCES 63
Lenin and Stalin. H ow ever, the history o f the u nd isp u ted

changes on the qu estion o f w om en 's rights and living con d ition s,
their self-d eterm in ation, the extent to w hich the trad ition al
p atriarchal fam ily was su persed ed and the qu estion o f sexu al
freed om , is a valid criteria for verifying the tru th o f this so-
called con tin u ity. For the first generation o f Bolshevik lead ers
the fam ily rep resented one o f the p illars of social ord er. As they
w anted to sweep away the p ast to op en up space for the new ,
they u nd erstood the need to u n d erm in e the stru ctu re o f fam ily.
As long as w om en rem ained closed w ithin th eir h ou seh old w alls,
u nd er the au thority o f th eir hu sband s, econ om ically d ep end ent
and w ithou t any p ossibility o f living in n on -trad ition al or
n on -p atriarch al relationship s, they w ou ld n ot be able to
actively su p p ort the creation o f a new society. If you w anted to
subvert the old ord er, w om en 's liberation was a necessary step .
Obviou sly this d id n ot m ean that there w ere n o con trad iction s
or resistance to change (inclu d ing w ithin the Bolshevik p arty)
d uring the first years o f the revolu tion. Errors w ere m ad e and
the m ale and fem ale Bolshevik lead ers d id n ot at th at tim e have
a com p lete theory o f w om en 's liberation . Also th e p ressu re
exerted by the au ton om ou s w om en 's organization s played a n ot
insignificant role in the p rocess. N evertheless we can n ot d eny
that w om en 's objective need s and interests coin cid ed to a large
extent w ith those o f th e revolu tionary p rocess.
Th e trad itional fam ily was restored by Stalin ism for the
very sam e reasons that the October revolu tionaries w anted
it to be su p ersed ed . It was n o lon ger a qu estion o f sw eeping
away the p ast, getting rid o f the straightjacket o f bu reau cracy
and au tocracy or o f abolishing exp loitation . N o, now it was all
abou t gu aranteeing the conservation and rep rod u ction o f a new
bu reau cratic caste. Strengthenin g the fam ily th erefore becam e
an im p ortan t w eap on for the Stalinist Thermidor in sofar as it
helped to gu arantee w hat the regim e need ed - the com bin ation
of obed ience and p rod u ctivity. As Trotsky has alread y p oin ted
ou t in the Revolution Betrayed:
DANGEROUS LIAISONS
64
Th e m ost com p elling m otive o f th e p resent cu lt o f the fam ily

is u nd ou bted ly the need o f th e bu reau cracy for a stable
hierarchy o f relations, and for th e d iscip lining o f you th by
m eans o f 40 m illion p oin ts o f su p p ort for au th ority an d
p ow er.
Desp ite its lim its, w ith the O ctober Revolu tion w om en
exp erienced freed om s and a p ossibility o f liberation th at bear n o
com p arison w ith any oth er cou n try o f th e tim e. Th e exp erien ce
is still on a d ifferent level to th at o f w om en in a great p art o f
the w orld tod ay. Th ere is a hu ge gap betw een th e ard ou r o f th e
freed om exp erienced in the first years o f th e revolu tion an d th e
su ffocating p u ritanism o f bu reau cratic restoration .
2.3 "Trash": communist parties and women

The d egeneration o f the revolu tion in th e Soviet U n ion h ad a
decisive influ ence on all the com m u n ist p arties belon gin g to th e
Third In tern ation al. Ju st as w ith all oth er p olicies, th e Krem lin
laid down the line to be follow ed . Am on g th e first to p ay th e
costs w ere Sp anish w om en d u ring th e Civil W a r . Fr om th e
beginning o f the Civil W a r th e Com m u n ist Party took a p osition
d irectly op p osed to the Anarchists by p u ttin g p ressu re on Largo
Caballero, the Socialist w ar m in ister, to liqu id ate th e m ilitia -
w here w om en w ere also fighting - in favou r o f a solely m ale,
d iscip lined , regu lar arm y. Th e cou rage show n by w om en in th e
heat o f battle was n ot enou gh to ensu re th eir right to rem ain in
the front line alongsid e the m en . Caballero d id n ot ju st d issolve
the m ilitia, he also ban n ed w om en fr om any com bat roles -
their place was to be in the rear assigned to p rod u ctive w ork.
From Sep tem ber 1936 on the elim in ation o f all th e organs o f
dual pow er that had arisen d u ring the Ju ly Days also ten d ed to
m ake the situ ation w orse - it was p recisely w ithin these bod ies
that m any w om en had for the first tim e th e ch an ce to becom e
p olitically active.
Com m u n ist Party p olicy was ch an n elled th ou gh a w om en 's
mass organization, M ujeres antifascistas (An ti-Fascist W o m e n ),
set up as the Sp anish section o f th e Th ir d In tern ation al's
AN D DIVORCES 65
Wom en against War and Fascism . As the nam e suggests, the

organization was essentially focu sed on the anti-fascist struggle
and was used as a fron t for the Com m u n ist Party, often d raw ing
on w om en's sense o f guilt and resp onsibility for their child ren
to convince th em to give up the id ea o f fighting alongsid e m en .
Obviou sly this p olitical p osition was tied u p w ith the general
p olicy o f com p rom ise w ith the bou rgeoisie w hich m ean t the
Com m u n ist Party d rop p ed the slogan o f a "p eop le in ar m s" in
favou r of su p p orting a regu lar arm y. W om en 's em p loym en t
was the central qu estion for M ujeres antifascistas but at th e sam e
tim e in m any official sp eeches its lead ers w ere qu ick to stress th at
w om en join in g the w orkforce was only a p rovisional m easu re.
In other w ord s, they w ere stand ing in for m en involved in the
fighting, w hose legitim ate jobs w ou ld be retu rned to th em at the
end o f the w ar.
Th e Com m u n ists w ere n ot alone in w anting to send w om en
back to the rear. Th e Partid o Obrero de Un ification Marxista
(PO U M , Workers' Party o f Marxist Un ification ) also d ecid ed
against w om en join in g the regu lar arm y. Fu rth erm ore w hile
PO UM w om en had taken u p m an y o f th e Bolshevik p olitical
p ositions - p articu larly in relation to d ual exp loitation and
the sp ecific op p ression o f w om en , the need to socialize m an y
d om estic caring tasks, and equ al pay - these p olicies w ere
m ostly absent from the p rogram m e ad op ted at th e fou n d in g
congress in 1935, the 1936 p rogram m e and Th irteen Poin ts
m anifesto o f March 1937. As for the An arch ists, w hile they h ad
m u ch m ore ad vanced p osition s in term s o f w om en 's liberation ,
they still refu sed to recognize M ujeres libres (Free W o m en ) as
an official p art o f th e Anarchist m ovem en t. Th e d em an d for it
to be recognized as a sector o f the m ovem en t was m ad e in 1938
at a regional p len u m in Catalon ia, bu t it was rejected w ith th e
argu m ent that a sp ecifically fem inist organ ization was a d ivisive
factor for the m ovem en t and risked d am aging w orking-class
interests.
Som e years later, on the oth er sid e o f the Pyrenees, Sim on e
de Beau voir's The Second Sex was p u blished in 1949 to a
nationw id e choru s o f in d ign ation . Jean Kan ap a, an in tellectu al

and m em ber of the Parti com m u n iste fran^ais (P CF, Fren ch
Com m u nist Party) m em ber, ad d ed his voice to th e ou trage by
calling the book "d isgu sting trash ". Kan ap a's negative reaction
was very m u ch in line w ith the m oralizin g and "r esp ectable"
cu ltu re p rom oted by the PCF - th e con sequ en ce o f bu reau cratic
d egeneration and the 180 d egree tu rn m ad e by th e Th ir d
International. In France reaction ary laws w ere p assed in 1920
and 1923 w hich ban n ed abortion and con tracep tion . In itially
the PCF took a p osition o f ou tright op p osition to these law s
and in the 1920s the p arty sou ght to organize cam p aign s to
repeal the law s. As a resu lt m ore w om en sw elled th e ranks o f th e
p arty, inclu d ing fem in ists. H ow ever in th e 1930s th e PCF w en t
into reverse gear on these issues and shifted tow ard s alm ost
grotesqu ely p ro-fam ily p olicies. Su p p ort for birth con trol rights
was d eclared to be a p etty-bou rgeois d eviation . Th e p arty m ad e
d efence o f the fam ily on e o f th e key p lanks o f its p latform
and as an inevitable con sequ en ce th e w om en 's secretariat w as
liqu id ated in 1936. Th e year before th e PCF d aily new sp ap er
pu blished an article u n am bigu ou sly stating "Com m u n ists w an t
to inherit a strong cou n try, a m u ltitu d in ou s r a ce."
Contracep tion and abortion rem ain ed taboo su bjects for a
long tim e w ithin the ranks of th e Fren ch w orkers' m ov em en t.
Th e m ain trad e u n ion led by th e PCF, th e Con fed eration generate
du travail (CGT - General Labou r Con fed er ation ), refu sed to
inclu d e anything abou t rep ealing these rep ressive laws in its ow n
p rogram m e even w hen it chose to d efend w om en 's in volvem en t
in the labou r force. Th e m on th ly m agazine, A ntoinette, w h ich
it started in 1955, cam p aigned in d efence o f w om en w orkers as
m others and w ives, for exam p le d em and ing extra tim e o ff an d
p ensions at 55 - m easu res w hich took in to accou n t w om en 's
role as m others and the d om estic labou r they took on w ith in
the fam ily. Con tracep tion and abortion , on th e oth er h an d ,
rem ained a private m atter w hich w om en w orkers h ad to sort
ou t for them selves. Even the Un ion o f Fren ch W o m en (U FF),
the PCF front organization, con tribu ted greatly to th is p r o-
AN D DIVORCES 67
fam ily cu ltu re by organizing w om en m ainly as m oth ers.

In Italy the p olitical stance o f the Com m u n ist Party on
w om en's qu estions was strongly influ enced n ot ju st by the line
of the Soviet p arty bu t also by the con cern o f m ain tain in g a good
relationship w ith the Cath olic p op u lation . Th e com m u n ists
were always obsessed w ith d em onstratin g th at you cou ld be
both a religiou s believer and a p arty m em ber, for Italy was a
cou ntry w here the Cath olic Ch u rch exerted great influ ence and
continu ally intervened in p olitical affairs. In a fren etic attem p t
to show itself to be m ore Cath olic than the p op e, the Partid o
Com u nista Italiano (PCI - Italian Com m u n ist Party) w ent to
even m ore grotesqu e lengths than the PCF (althou gh less w ell-
know n ou tsid e the cou n try). Ju st after the Secon d Wor ld War
d u ring the Con stitu ent Assem bly phase o f the new rep u blic,
Togliatti and the oth er lead ers took a clear stand against the id ea
of introd u cing the right to d ivorce - argu ing th at th e cou n try
was n ot m atu re enou gh for su ch "ad van ced p olicies". So Italy
along w ith Ireland and fascist Sp ain w ere th e only cou n tries in
Western Eu rop e n ot to inclu d e d ivorce as a right in th eir law s.
Official op p osition to d ivorce con tin u ed right up to the m id -
1960s, w hen, ou tflanked on its left by the Partid o Socialista
Italiano (PSI - Italian Socialist Party) w hich h ad p u t forw ard a
d raft law , the PCI lead ership finally had to p u blicly accep t th e
need to also in trod u ce d ivorce laws in Italy. Wh en th e right-
wing Christian Dem ocrats lau n ch ed a referen d u m to abolish
the law , the PCI d id everything it cou ld to reach a com p rom ise,
p rop osing a lot o f am en d m en ts and changes th at w ou ld have
com p letely nu llified d ivorce rights. Th e PCI lead ership was n ot
only terrified o f clearly breaking w ith Cath olic op in ion bu t was
also totally con vin ced that conservative views w ere going to
triu m p h in the referen d u m . En rico Berlin gu er, w ho w as Party
secretary at the tim e, confid ed to Ugo Bau d el, a jou rn alist o f
Vunita, that accord ing to his estim ates the p ro-d ivorce sid e
w ould only get a m axim u m o f 35 p er cen t o f the vote. Th e 1974
referend u m was a clear victory for the su p p orters o f the right to
d ivorce w ith alm ost 60 p er cen t, w hich show ed how ou t o f tou ch
the PCI was w ith Italian society. W e had reached th e absu rd

p osition w here the Com m u n ist Party was m ore con servative,
p etty-bou rgeois and m oralizing th an society as a w h ole.
Op p osition to d ivorce was n ot on ly d ictated by a ju d gm en t o f
the specific con text o f Italian society bu t was also in form ed by a
w hole vision of gend er relations, o f th e fam ily, o f w om en w hich
m eant that d ivorce was seen as an evil w hich was on ly to be u sed
in the last resort. Obviou sly th ere was n o qu estion o f raising
the abortion issu e. In that p eriod it was still illegal in th e Soviet
Union - an u nd isp u ted m od el to be follow ed . For d ecad es th e
Com m u nist Party had p rom oted a stifling, p atern alistic cu ltu re
where w om en w ere always valu ed as m oth ers, d au ghters or
sisters... Th e fam ily was p raised and d efend ed as th e corn erston e
of society althou gh there w ere vague m en tion s o f a "d ifferen t
fam ily", supposed ly fou nd ed on a d ifferent basis, w h ich w as
never really seriou sly argu ed for in p ractice. Even PCI m em bers
were victim s of this p ro-fam ily, p etty-bou rgeois p olitical lin e.
Activists w ho split u p or show ed sexu al or r om an tic beh aviou r
that fell ou tsid e this m oral au sterity w ere often called in to
the party offices and asked to ju stify th eir p rivate lives an d
choices. Th e p arty's attitu d e to h om osexu ality w as even m or e
reactionary - for exam p le in the in fam ou s case o f Pier Paolo
Pasolini's exp u lsion from the PCI.
Th e PCI lead er Togliatti h im self was p artially victim o f
this m oralistic and stifling atm osp h ere in th e 1940s. H e h ad
separated from his w ife Rita Mon tagn an a, w h o w as also a
PCI lead er and the d irector o f N oi Donne (W e W o m e n ), th e
new spaper of the Un ion e Don n e Italiane (U D I, U n ion o f Italian
W om en ), a PCI fron t organ ization . She h ad u sed th e pages o f
N oi Donne to intervene against d ivorce an d in su p p ort o f th e
fam ily. Th e relationship betw een Togliatti and his new p artn er,
N ild e Iotti, m et w ith the d isap p roval o f th e p arty lead ersh ip
when it m et to d iscuss this very m atter. In any case Togliatti on ly
had h im self to blam e since, along w ith oth er lead ers, th ey h ad
issued m oral ad m on ish m en ts in every d irection , exaltin g th e
austere m orality o f the p erfect com m u n ist activist, w h ose fam ily
hom e m u st be like a glass hou se - transp aren t to everybod y -

w hile in p rivate their relationship s w ere u nstable and far from
m on ogam ou s. Wh en the relationship betw een N ild e Iotti and
Togliatti becam e finally officialized , Rita Mon tagn an a was
rem oved from all lead ership p osts and d isap p eared from the
p olitical scene. Th e sam e fate also aw aited Lu igi Lon go's w ife,
Teresa N oce. On e o f the m ost brilliant m asters o f these d ou ble
stand ard s was Salvatore Cacciap u oti, p arty secretary in N ap les
in the 1940s. As Erm an n o Rea recou n ts in M istero napoletano
(N eap olitan Mystery), w hile he lectu red his com rad es on th eir
private lives w hen they con trad icted th e p arty's so-called "eth ics
of the p eop le", Cacciap u oti had n o scru p les in requ esting
sexual favou rs from p arty m em bers, exp loiting his p osition o f
au thority.
2.4 "Prone"! The divorce of the Seventies

In 1964 Casey H ayd en and Mary King, tw o w hite activists in
one of the m ain organizations o f the Am erican Civil Rights
m ovem en t, the Stu d ent N on -Violen t Organizing Com m ittee
(SN CC), w rote a d ocu m en t entitled : "Position Pap er: W om en in
the Movem en t." Th e d ocu m en t was conceived as a con tribu tion
to a SN CC con feren ce to be held in N ovem ber o f that year
to d iscuss the p olitical p ersp ectives and organization o f the
m ovem en t. H ow ever, it was n ot signed by the tw o m ilitan ts,
for they feared the sarcasm and d erision o f oth er activists -
p articu larly since they w ere tw o w hite w om en . Th ey d ecid ed
to anonym ou sly slip it in to the p ile o f d ocu m en ts. H ayd en and
King w ere certainly n ot the only w hite w om en to p articip ate
actively in the civil rights m ovem en t. Ind eed w hite w om en
were p rop ortion ately m ore involved th an w hite m en . With in
the m ovem ent w hite w om en had finally been able to com e in to
con tact w ith w om en w ho d iffered from the stereotyp e p revalent
am ong the w hite Am erican m id d le classes. Th ey m et stron g,
m ilitant w om en w ho played a fu n d am en tal role in th e stru ggle
for civil rights and w hose strength was n ot rid icu led in th eir ow n
com m u n ity. Black w om en active in the civil rights m ovem en t
finally p rovid ed a role m od el w ith w h om they cou ld id entify
DANGEROUS LIAISONS
70
and by w hom be insp ired . H ayd en and Kin g's d ocu m en t w as

one o f the first m anifestos o f w om en 's new rad icalization ,
bu t it was also on e of the first attem p ts to highlight h ow even
w ithin the civil rights m ovem en t th e u su al m ale d om in ation
was p erp etu ated ju st as it ru led in th e N ew Left w h ite-led
organizations. "W om en in the M ov em en t" started by listing
eleven facts or events th at show ed the p ersistence o f p atriarch al
organizational attitu d es. It highlighted h ow th e sensitivity u sed
to u nm ask even the ap p arently in sign ificant ways th at w h ite
su p eriority was assu m ed was n ot ap p lied to th e reality o f gend er
relations. Wom en w ere generally assigned fu n ction s an d tasks
w hich did n ot corresp on d to th eir p erson al com p eten ce bu t
rather to a sexual d ivision o f roles. In this way w om en in variably
end ed up d oing m erely ad m inistrative an d organ ization al jo b s.
The d ocu m ent is often rem em bered for th e n otor iou s
response of Stokely Carm ich ael, on e o f th e lead ers o f th e
m ovem ent and am ong the lead ing p rotagon ists o f th e later
tu rn to Black Pow er and th e form ation o f th e Black Pan th ers:
"Wh at is the p osition o f w om en in th e SN CC? Th e p osition
of w om en in the SN CC is p ron e." Th e com m en t w as m ad e in
a break after the m eeting and was p erhap s in ten d ed m ore as
an ironic statem ent th an a seriou s d eclaration . Bu t w hatever
Carm ichael m eant by it, this revealed th e sexist p reju d ices insid e
the organization as w ell as triggering fu rth er sexist com m en ts
by other m em bers. H ow ever th e d isp u te was far fr om sim p le.
Very few black w om en w ere su p p ortive o f H ayd en an d Kin g's
d ocu m ent w hich was in terp reted as a sym p tom o f w hite
w om en's d issatisfaction. Th ey had n ot m an aged to assert th eir
own role in the m ovem en t n ot becau se o f sexism bu t becau se o f
racial d ivisions. In oth er w ord s at the en d o f th e d ay th ey w ere
accu sed of speaking for w hite w om en and o f n ot recogn izing th e
very d istinctive lead ership role that black w om en w ere p laying
insid e the organization.
Things w ere n ot m u ch better in th e Stu d en ts for a Dem ocr atic
Society (SDS), an organization form ed in th e n orth ern Un ited
States am ong cam p u s stu d ents bu t w hich sou gh t to attract an d
AN D DIVORCES 71
organize the u rban su b-p roletariat and th e u nem p loyed . A

com p lete sexual d ivision of p olitical roles was established insid e
the organization. Wom en con cen trated on qu estions related to
w om en's living con d ition s - ed u cation , social services, street
lighting - and they d id this m ore su ccessfu lly th an m en . In
this way they su cceed ed n ot only in rootin g them selves m ore
in society than m en bu t also w ere able to acqu ire a greater
confid ence in them selves and th eir ow n strengths. A con sequ en ce
of this d ivision in th e spheres o f p olitical in terven tion was a
grow ing tension insid e the organization. SDS m en w ere in d aily
con tact w ith the m ost violen t, m arginal and p oorest sectors
of society and began to take on their beh aviou r and ou tlook,
w hich natu rally inclu d ed d eeply sexist attitu d es. In a m eetin g
at the University of Wash in gton , a SDS m em ber, exp laining
how the w hite u niversity stu d ents w ere bu ild ing relationship s
w ith p oor w hites, cand id ly d eclared th at they "all w ent ou t
together to screw a ch ick" and th at this was a u sefu l form o f
p oliticization. Th e p oliticization of th e "ch ick " in qu estion
was evid ently n ot m u ch taken in to con sid eration . Th e size and
grow th o f the an ti-Vietn am w ar m ovem en t also d id n ot m ake
it any easier for w om en to take on an im p ortan t role w ithin
it. Since w om en w ere n ot su bject to the d raft, the focu s o f the
m obilization d evelop ing on cam p u ses w ere m en w ho refu sed
the d raft. Wom en w ere lim ited to offering th em su p p ort.
In 1967 the black m ovem en t was still a sou rce o f in sp iration
for fem inists. In August the N ation al Con feren ce for N ew Politics
(N CN P) called a n ation al m eetin g w hich attracted 2000 activists
from abou t 200 organizations. Black d elegates d em an d ed a 50
p er cent qu ota in the com m ission s and w hen votin g. At th at
p oint w om en d elegates also m ad e th e sam e requ est asking
for a qu ota of 51 p er cent as w om en w ere 51 p er cen t o f the
p op u lation. Wh ilst the d em and from the black d elegates was
in the end accep ted , the w om en 's p rop osals w ere sim p ly n ot
taken seriou sly and they w ere n ot even allow ed sp eaking tim e
to d ebate the issu e. Wh en five w om en th en tried to occu p y the
p od iu m to intervene the m an chairing the m eetin g gave on e o f
them a slap saying, "Calm d ow n girl, we have m ore im p ortan t

things to d iscuss than w om en 's p r oblem s." Th e girl in qu estion
was Shu lam ith Firestone.
For thou sand s of Am erican w om en involved in th e civil
rights, stu d ent or anti-w ar m ovem en ts they cam e u p against th e
same old sexism . Th e sarcasm , d erision and op en con tem p t th ey
were su bject to w henever they p u t forw ard d em an d s or raised
issues concernin g their sp ecific op p ression as w om en , led in th e
end to a sole consequ ence - th e d efinitive d ivorce betw een th e
fem inist m ovem en t and oth er m ovem en ts.
On the one h an d , the anti-w ar m ovem en t d eclin ed at th e
beginning of the 1970s, th e stu d ent m ov em en t d isintegrated
and Black Pow er was literally d ecim ated by u n p reced en ted
p olice rep ression. On the oth er h an d , th e Am erican fem in ist
m ovem ent was established and grew stron ger. Th e key texts o f
rad ical fem inism began to be p u blish ed . O n e o f these w as The
Dialectic ofSexby Shu lam ith Fireston e. Sep aratist organ ization s
in the United States d id n ot only coin cid e w ith a sp lit fr om th e
m ixed w orking-class and stu d ent organ ization s, bu t also fr om
the w orking class as a w hole and th erefore fr om w orkin g-class
w om en. Th e new rad ical fem in ism sp read essentially am on g
the ed u cated p etty bou rgeoisie and m id d le classes, th rou gh th e
em ergence o f a m yriad o f sm all grou p s w hich in m ost cases
d ed icated them selves to con sciou sn ess-raising as w om en . Th e
focu s for activity was shifted to th e necessary ways o f id en tifying
and then freeing on eself from d eep -seated m ale con d ition in g.
Wom en 's m ain p riority was said to be the analysis o f th eir ow n
p ersonal, fam ily and sexu al relationship s sin ce it w as believed
that p ersonal em an cip ation and tran sform ation w as a p re-
cond ition for a m ore general ch an ge.
Wh ile in the Un ited States w om en involved in th e
m ovem ents had to d eal w ith the ram p an t sexism o f th e N ew
Left organizations, in Italy and Fran ce they fou n d them selves
betw een the devil and the d eep blu e sea. On th e on e sid e th ey soon
d iscovered , ju st like th eir Am erican sisters, th at th e 1960s an d
1970s m ovem ents w anted to su bvert everything excep t gend er
relations. On the oth er sid e the French and Italian Com m u n ist
Parties follow ed a conservative, rigid p olitical line on everything
to do w ith w om en's self-d eterm ination and freed om . In Fran ce
three d istinct tend encies qu ickly em erged insid e the w om en 's
liberation m ovem en t. Th e first, Psychoanalysis and Politics
(know n as Psych et Po) led by An toin ette Fou qu e based itself
generally on p sychoanalysis, elaborating a th eory fou nd ed on
an essentialist d efinition o f "d ifferen ce" d erived from w om en 's
sexual characteristics. Given this vantage p oin t they refu sed
to id entify w ith the h istory o f fem in ism . Fr om th eir p oin t o f
view fem inists, rather than challenging p hallocracy, had instead
looked to assim ilate w om en to m en . Psych et Po argu ed for a
separatist p olitics rejecting any sort o f join t action or alliance
w ith m en even on qu estions su ch as abortion rights. Th e secon d
cu rrent was the m aterialist fem inist on e, w hose m ain id eologu e
was Christine Delp hy, w hich su p p orted the n otion o f exp loitative
relations betw een m en and w om en and saw p atriarch y as th e
m ain enem y. Th e th ird cu rren t was "class-stru ggle fem in ism "
m ad e up m ainly o f the activists from th e m ixed trad e-u n ion or
revolu tionary left organizations. In 1972 th e Th u rsd ay Grou p
d ecid ed to break w ith Psych et Po in op p osition to the latter's
sectarianism and sou ght to bu ild alliances w ith th e oth er
fem inist cu rren ts. Th ese con flicts con tin u ed th rou gh ou t the
1970s and exp lod ed w hen Psych et Po u nsu ccessfu lly tried to
ap p rop riate the MLF n am e. Th e d ebate insid e th e m ovem en t
on the type of relations to have or n ot have w ith the m ixed
left organizations was certainly the m ost lively and com p lex
and rem ained a factor o f d ivision and d ifficu lty w ithin the
m ovem en t. Fem inists com in g from m ixed organization s bu t
w ho id entified w ith the class stru ggle fem inists tried over a lon g
p eriod to play a m ed iatin g, com m u n icative role betw een the
fem inist m ovem en t and th eir organ ization s. H ow ever, to d o
this they had to d eal w ith sexism and strong resistance w ithin
the m ixed revolu tionary left grou p s. Th ey had to qu estion th eir
internal fu n ction in g, cu ltu re and attitu d es as w ell as fighting to
integrate a gend er p ersp ective w ithin any p olitical analyses th at
were m ad e. Th is was n ot an easy task and ran in to generalized

op p osition as fem in ism was accu sed o f con tribu tin g to th e
d ivision of the w orkers' m ovem en t and o f p u ttin g forw ard
a p etty-bou rgeois p olitical lin e. It was con stan tly an d lazily
d efined as p etty-bou rgeois becau se o f th e im p ortan ce given to
the p ersonal sp here and to the coh eren ce betw een th e p erson al
and the p olitical.
In Italy the con flict was even m ore exp losive, firstly becau se
the influ ence of sep aratist, rad ical fem in ism was m u ch stron ger
from the start, influ encing the later d evelop m ent o f th e W LM .
Second ly becau se the sexism o f the N ew Left organ ization s w as
even m ore deeply rooted and th ere was a m u ch m or e h ostile
reaction to the grow ing fem in ist m ov em en t. Carla Lon zi's
w ritings - p articu larly the m an ifesto Sputiamo su Hegel (W e sp it
on H egel) - w ere very m u ch along th e sam e lines as th ose o f th e
Shu lam ith Firestone's Am erican rad ical fem in ism . Th ey w ere th e
fou nd ing d ocu m ents of the new Italian fem in ism . H er w ritin gs
com p letely broke w ith the h istory o f th e w orkers' m ov em en t
and its theory. In the glib style o f W e Spit on Hegel, M a r x, Engels
and Lenin are d ism issed as bearers o f a p rofou n d ly p atriarch al,
male cu ltu re and the p recu rsors o f w hat w ou ld becom e th e
conservative and an ti-fem in ist p olitics o f th e bu reau cratized
Com m u nist Parties. As Carla Lonzi w rote in th e p reface to th e
1974 ed ition of W e spit on Hegel an d Donna Vaginale e Donna
clitoridea (Vaginal women and clitorial women):
I w rote W e Spit on Hegel becau se I was very d istu rbed to

see that nearly all Italian fem inists gave m or e cred it to th e
class struggle than to their ow n op p ression . (...) W o m e n
them selves seem ed to accep t being con sid ered 'secon d r ate'
if the p eop le d oing the con vin cin g w ere h eld in esteem by
hu m anity - Marx, Lenin , Freu d and all th e oth ers.
Carla Lonzi and her grou p , follow ing the lead o f th e Am erican
fem inists, ch am p ion ed the re-d iscovery o f d ifferen ce - an
au thentic d ifference to be fou nd on the existential level m or e
AN D DIVORCES 75
than in p olitics. They op p osed the idea o f equ ality betw een the
sexes, d enou ncing it as a m eans o f op p ression, o f annihilatin g
d ifference and throu gh w hich w om en 's inferiority was hid d en.
Sep aratist fem inism n ot only criticized any sort o f
collaboration or alliance w ith m ixed organizations bu t also any
p olitical intervention that rep rod u ced m ale form s or w hich
involved any sort o f com p rom ise w ith m ale in stitu tion s. For
exam p le, on the abortion qu estion Carla Lonzi's grou p took a
d istinct p osition , d enou ncing abortion as yet an oth er form o f
violence against w om en 's bod ies alongsid e the in n ate violen ce o f
coitu s and o f m ale p leasu re. Th is hostility extend ed to op p osing
d em ostrations held in d efence o f abortion rights, w hich w ere
d enou nced as a m ale form o f p olitical action w here fem inists
accep ted to be su bord inated to m en 's p olitics, w hile at the sam e
tim e d elu d ing them selves to believe they w ere th e p rotagon ists.
On the other h an d , the N ew Left's m ixed organizations
show ed they w ere d iam etrically op p osed to w elcom in g and
accep ting the self-organization o f th e w om en activists w ho
w ere fed up o f being relegated to the role o f "angels o f the
d u p licating m ach in e". Un d ou bted ly the sym bolic exp ression
o f this con flict and d ivorce w ere the events o f Decem ber 1975.
On 6 Decem ber an abortion rights d em on stration was called
by fem inists w ho w ished it to be w om en only. Lotta Con tin u a,
the biggest grou p on the Italian N ew Left, d ecid ed to n ot
resp ect the organizers' d ecision and u sed its ow n stew ard ing
force to con fron t the d em on stration 's stew ard s in an attem p t
to im p ose a m ixed organization on th e d em on stration w here it
cou ld d isplay its ow n p arty ban n ers an d sym bols. Th is in cid en t
had an extraord inary im p act and aggravated the ten sion s th at
alread y existed insid e the organization as a resu lt o f the fem in ist
rad icalization o f its ow n m ilitan ts w ho h ad alread y raised issues
abou t its internal fu n ction in g. Th ese ten sion s exp lod ed th e
follow ing year at the Rim in i Congress w hen th e organ ization ,
rid d led by con flicts betw een its you th , w om en and th e p arty
secu rity stew ard s, d ecid ed to w ind itself u p . At the sam e tim e
other m ixed grou p s, su ch as "II Man ifesto" also su ffered a
significant loss o f activists d ue to the breakin g ou t o f w om en

who were to join the sep aratist w om en 's m ovem en t.
Sim ilar d ivisions broke ou t d u ring th e 1977 m ov em en t,
w here a d ecisive role was played by the au ton om ou s grou p s.
These grou ps w ere com p letely against th e self-organ ization o f
w om en w ho w ere accu sed o f cau sing sp lits insid e th e w orkin g
class. Du ring 1977 we saw a n u m ber o f attacks organized by
the au ton om ou s grou p ings on sep aratist d em on stration s. Th e
first m ajor split hap p ened on 26/27 Febru ary at th e n ation al
coord inating m eeting of u niversity stu d en ts, in Rom e. Th is hu ge
m eeting d egenerated tow ard s the en d in to ch aos w ith d ifferen ces
being d ealt w ith throu gh w histling, booin g an d ch an ted slogans
rather than seriou s d ebate. Con sequ en tly on 27 Febru ary som e
of the fem inist grou p s d ecid ed to leave th e m eetin g d en ou n cin g
"th e appalling clim ate o f violen ce and abu se th at d oes n ot allow
the views of the m ovem en t to be exp ressed ."
In the sam e year there was a fu rth er d ivision insid e th e
fem inist m ovem en t w ith th e sp lit o f lesbians fr om th e fem in ist
com m ittees, d en ou n cing th e d om in an t h eterosexu al n or m s
w ithin the m ovem en t and th e d ifficu lty for lesbians to have
a visible role. Th is led to th e fou n d ation o f th e first sep ar-
ate lesbian com m ittees: "Rifiu tar e" (Refu se), "A r tem id e"
and "Id en tita n egate" (Id en tity d enied ) in Rom e, "D o n n e
om osessu ali" (Lesbian W o m en ) in Milan an d "Brigate d i Sa ffo"
(Sap p ho Brigad e) in Tu r in . Th e grow ing lesbian m ov em en t
in m any cases p u shed sep aratist organ ization to th e extrem e,
shifting from an exclu sively p olitical level to th e sp here o f
interp ersonal relationship s. Th ey d en ou n ced th e con trad iction
of heterosexu al, sep aratist fem inists w h o, w hile d en ou n cin g
p atriarchal d om in ation , con tin u ed nevertheless to have
sexual relationship s w ith m en , in this way de facto accep tin g
exp loitation and d om in ation .
Am erican rad ical fem in ism exerted a significant in flu en ce
also over the British fem inist m ovem en t even if th e con text an d
the trad itional relations betw een th e fem in ist m ov em en t an d
the w orkers' m ovem ent w ere rather d ifferent fr om th e situ ation
in the United States or in cou ntries w ith big com m u n ist p arties.
In m any ways the fem inist m ovem en t's d em and s initially
coincid ed w ith those o f the trad e u n ion s and related to the
needs of w orking-class w om en . N evertheless as the influ ence o f
rad ical fem inism grew so too d id the sep aration o f the fem inist
m ovem ent - accentu ated by the d ifficu lty o f com m u n ication
betw een w orking-class w om en , organized in trad e u n ion s,
and the w om en o f the fem inist m ovem en t w ho generally had
p rofessional "in tellectu al" jobs. An oth er factor th at p robably
also w eighed , at least in the English con text, was a certain
resistance by w orking-class w om en to the new fem in ist p ractice
o f grou p consciou sness-raisin g and o f d iscu ssing the p erson al.
Th e British fem inist m ovem en t organized in sim ilar ways
to the Am erican on e and began to really d evelop d u ring the
1970 to 1974 p eriod w hen there w ere a significant n u m ber o f
w orkers' stru ggles. Th e first bod y to be set up was the W om en 's
Liberation Worksh op , w hich coord in ated a n etw ork o f sm all
grou p s. Th e first N ation al W om en 's Liberation Con feren ce
took p lace in Febru ary 1970 in Oxford , w ith th e 600 w om en
com ing for the m ost p art from the local w om en 's liberation
groups as well as from the N ew Left. Th is con feren ce led to a
stable netw ork o f w om en 's grou p s and established a n ation al
coord inating com m ittee.
On 6 March 1971 the N ation al W om en 's Liberation
Conference organized w om en 's day m arch es in Lon d on and
Liverp ool w ith fou r key d em and s: equ al p ay, equ al ed u cation
and em p loym ent op p ortu n ities, free con tracep tion and
abortion , and 24 h ou r nu rseries. In the follow ing years fu rth er
d em and s w ere ad d ed that p laced op p osition to m ale d om in ation
and its stru ctu res o f op p ression as a focu s o f the action . Th e
interp ersonal relationship s at the heart o f this d om in ation w ere
raised . In 1975 the N ation al W om en 's Con feren ce finally ad d ed
to its list o f d em and s the end ing o f any d iscrim in ation against
lesbians and for the right o f w om en to d efine th eir ow n sexu ality.
In the au tu m n o f 1970 the Gay Liberation Fron t (GLF) was
set up in Lond on and on 28 Au gu st 1971 it organized its first
d em onstration o f 2000 p eop le. In 1972 w om en d ecid ed to sp lit

from the GLF, d enou ncing the chau vinist, sexist attitu d es o f th e
m en insid e the organization .
N otw ithstand ing the n ow clear d ivorce betw een trad e u n ion s
and the fem inist m ovem en t, they w ere still able to collaborate
to som e degree in the cam p aign to d efend th e legal right to
abortion lau nched in 1975 against a p rop osed am en d m en t
to the abortion law w hich aim ed to de facto lim it th is right
w ithou t d irectiy attacking the fu n d am en tal right to abor tion .
Th e cam p aign organized a m ixed d em on stration in 1975. Th e
p rop osed am en d m en t was never ad op ted bu t oth er attacks
follow ed . A second p rop osed legal change in 1976 tried to
red u ce the tim e lim it for abortion s. Again this tim e a cam p aign
w ith thou sand s o f p eop le involved was lau n ch ed an d th e
cou n ter-reform failed . In 1979, follow ing th e election o f a Tor y
governm ent, there was an oth er attem p t to w eaken abortion
rights. This tim e the Trad es Un ion Congress (TU C ) ad op ted a
resolu tion p u t forw ard by the W om en 's TU C an d called a m ass
d em onstration o f 80,000 p eop le. Th is con servative-led attem p t
to lim it abortion rights also failed .
Chapter 3
DANGEROUS LIAISONS BETWEEN
GENDER AND CLASS
3.1 Once upon a time ...
On ce u p on a tim e w ere there w om en? Th e answ er to this qu estion
and the qu estion itself are n ot at all obviou s, p articu larly if we
take on w hat Sim on e de Beau voir w rote in The Second Sex, th at
w om en are n ot born bu t becom e w om en . Th is statem en t was to
have a strong influ ence on the th eory o f secon d wave fem in ism .
De Beau voir w anted to u nd erline the w ay w om an h ood was
socially, cu ltu rally and historically con stru cted . In oth er
w ord s the "w om an h ood " or essence o f being a w om an is the
totality o f ed u cation, p roh ibition s, n orm ative p rescrip tion s
and con d ition in g that all th ose d estined to be w om en receive
from birth onw ard s. Th e "w om a n h ood " o f w om en is then
transform ed in to a natu ralized given by th e effects o f op p ression
and the exclu sion from p ow er and from p articip ation in the
cu ltu ral sp here, esp ecially p rod u ction . Sin ce it is m en w ho
have historically w ritten, com p osed m u sic, p ain ted , p reach ed
and governed there is n o d efinition o f w om en and w hat th eir
essence shou ld be that it is n ot at the sam e tim e a p rod u ct o f this
m ale m on op oly and the p arallel system atic exclu sion o f w om en .
Wom en "a r e" w hat m en have d ecid ed they shou ld be in th e
fantasy w orld o f con trad ictory bu t in tim ately lin ked d efin ition s:
saint and w hore, d evoted w ife and d esirable lover, h ou seh old
angel and u nfaithfu l p artn er, w elcom in g m oth er and nagging
harp y... All these variou s p ositive and negative ch aracteristics
attribu ted to w om en , w ho are always th ou gh t o f as "th e oth er ",

are fu nctional to their exclu sion from p ow er. Th ey are th e rotten
core w hich both ju stifies and con ceals op p ression th rou gh a
p rocess of natu ralization th rou gh w hich w om en are nailed to
their physiology, becom in g p risoners o f th eir u teru ses.
In The Second Sex Sim on e De Beau voir m erely states th at
the system atic exclu sion and op p ression o f w om en an d th e
consequ ent creation o f "w om a n h ood " by m en , has always
existed . Th e basis for this p oin t o f view can be fou n d in som e
key 1950s and 1960s an th rop ological w ritings th at w ere to
have an im p ortan t influ ence on Jacqu es Lacan an d th rou gh
him on w hat becam e Lacan ian -in sp ired fem in ist th eory or
"Fren ch Fem in ism ". These w ere w orks by Clau d e Levi-Strau ss,
p articu larly Structural A nthropology and Elementary Kinship
Structures. Insp ired by Ferd in an d de Sau ssu re's stru ctu ralist
lingu istics, he applied it to eth n ological stu d ies an d d evelop ed
a theory of the birth of cu ltu re based on th e invariable an d
universal stru ctu res o f exch an ge. Exch an ge is in fact th e
m eans by w hich h u m an ity con fron ts n atu re an d establish es, in
op p osition to it, cu ltu re and thu s society. N ow , accord in g to
Levi-Strau ss, exchange con stru cts its basic stru ctu re th rou gh
the exchange o f w om en . In oth er w ord s, society an d cu ltu re
begin w here m en start exchanging w om en am on g them selves
- a m an receives a w om an from an oth er m an . Th is is th e
fram ew ork for his exp lan ation for the incest ta b oo, in sofar as
it is only throu gh forbid d ing sexu al relation s betw een blood
relatives that you can in trod u ce exogam ou s relation sh ip s an d
the su bsequ ent exchange o f w om en betw een d ifferen t grou p s.
Th e sexual d ivision o f labou r is itself a m ean s for creatin g a
state o f recip rocal d ep end ency betw een th e sexes in ord er to
gu arantee the incest taboo an d th e regu lation o f exch an ge o f
w om en. Moreover the latter rep resents a very clear sense o f
a stru ctu re (in stru ctu ralist term s) insofar as it is a u niversal
p h en om en on evid ent in alm ost all h u m an societies.
Wh at are the consequ ences o f this theory? Th e first is th at
in the op p osition betw een n atu re and cu ltu re and in th e
BETWEEN GENDER AND CLASS 81
establishm ent o f society m en play an active role w hile w om en

are lim ited to being the passive object o f the exchange and
negotiations betw een m en . Society is th erefore created by
m en and is essentially m ale. Th e second con sequ en ce is that
the su bord ination o f w om en and the con trad iction betw een
m ascu linity/activity and fem ininity/ passivity are as old as
society itself. On the on e h an d this has always existed p recisely
becau se the establishm ent o f society is essentially the bu siness o f
m en , and on the oth er h an d it rep resented a tran sition necessary
for the birth o f cu ltu re in op p osition to natu re becau se w ith ou t
the exchange o f w om en this w ou ld n ot have been p ossible.
Sim on e de Beau voir's affirm ation th at "th is has always been
a m an 's w orld " reflects Levi-Strau ss's thesis accord in g to w hich
the recip rocal ties laid d ow n in m atrim on y are n ot betw een
a m an and a w om an bu t betw een m en over the allocation o f
w om en. W om en have always been op p ressed , d u e to th eir
rep rod u ctive role, biologically in ferior to m en becau se o f th eir
continu al p regnancies w hich m ad e th em w eaker in th e face
of a hostile natu ral w orld and w hich exclu d ed th em from the
m ore creative and p restigiou s types o f w ork. Levi-Strau ss's
thesis, w hich was far from valid ated in eth n ograp h ic field
stu d ies, was later revised and criticized by Levi-Strau ss him self.
In later d ecad es it has been overtaken by new d evelop m ents in
anthrop ological research. N evertheless it has con tin u ed to exert
a form id able influ ence ou tsid e o f the an th rop ological field ,
above all throu gh the ap p lication o f stru ctu ralist m eth od ology
and p articu larly o f th e stru ctu ralist u nd erstand in g o f the incest
taboo in p sychoanalysis.
In this fram ew ork, the resp onse to the qu estion "W er e there
once u p on a tim e w om en ?", or m ore clearly "H ave th ere always
been w om en ?" is certainly yes, on ce you d efine th e stru ctu re as
abstracted from social and h istorical changes and you p resent it
in its universal and u nchangin g form . Variou s th eories lin ked
to biology or p sychology have been p u t forw ard to su p p ort th e
idea that w om en 's op p ression has always existed . Th e reasons
exam ined have been qu ite d iverse - th e d ifference in size and
m orp hology characterizing all p rim ates, m en 's in stin ct to take

over and con trol w om en 's rep rod u ctive cap acity, th e aggression
and drive for p ow er that su p p osed ly are essential ch aracteristics
of m en ... These types o f exp lan ation have been challenged
by som e anthrop ologists and sociologists from a Marxist
backgrou nd w ho start from an oth er research hyp othesis - th at
w om en's op p ression has n ot always existed bu t em erged as a
result of a com p lex series o f social p rocesses.
Th e attem p t to link the d evelop m ent o f m ale d om in ation to
the birth of class society and ind ivid u al p rivate p rop erty an d
to the overcom ing of lineage societies w as alread y m ad e a lon g
tim e ago by Engels in The Origin of the Family, Private Property
and the State. Lineage-based societies have a fu n d am en tal grou p
of kinship relations w hich brin g togeth er all th e d escen d an ts o f
a know n com m on an cestor accord in g to a line o f d escen t th at
can be either p atrilineal or m atrilin eal. In th e first case th e lin e o f
d escent is m ale and th e child ren belon g to th e fath er's clan , w hile
the second is fem ale and the ch ild ren belon g to th e m oth er 's
clan. In lineage societies, lineage rep resents th e basic social
stru ctu re and social relations are articu lated arou n d kin sh ip
lines and relations. For his analysis o f lineage societies an d
m arriage relationship s Engels to a large exten t d rew on th e w ork
of two w riters: Joh an n Bach ofen and his th eory o f an origin al
m atriarchy that was later su p p lanted by p atriarch y, an d H en ry
Morgan , au thor o f A ncient Society, a w ork w h ich established
evolu tionary anthrop ology. Th e scarcity o f m aterial available to
Engels and the p ioneerin g n atu re o f the eth n ograp h ic research
at the tim e, exp lain m an y o f th e factu al errors in his b ook . Engels
linked the change in the con d ition o f w om en an d th eir h istorical
"d efeat" to tw o p rocesses: the p rogression tow ard s ind ivid u al
private p rop erty - against th e collective p rop erty o f th e tribe
- and the shift from grou p m arriages to m arriages betw een
cou p les. Th e overtu rning o f m atriarch y and m atrilin eal d escen t
is consequ ently d ue to m en w anting to en su re th e in h eritan ce
of their own sons, w hich necessarily involved th e con tr ol o f
w om en's rep rod u ctive cap acity and the breakin g o f th e lin k
BETWEEN GENDER AN D CLASS 83
betw een w om en and th eir kinship grou p . Th is recon stru ction

is based on a m yth and on a confu sed analysis. Th e m yth is that
m atriarchy existed . In fact it has n ot been p roved and has been
d irectly d isp u ted by the overw helm ing m ajority o f m od ern
anthrop ological researchers. N otw ithstand ing th is, th e m yth
of an original m atriarch y has n ot necessarily played a negative
role w ithin the fem inist m ovem en t, con tribu tin g in p ractice
to giving w om en confid ence in them selves and in their ow n
abilities. Th e con fu sion arises from n ot d istingu ishing betw een
m atriarchy and m atrilineal d escent. Th e latter d oes n ot im p ly
in itself a greater p ow er for w om en or a m ore p restigiou s or
im p ortant role in society. Desp ite these errors th e m eth od
Engels tried to apply to the u nd erstand in g o f the origins and
causes o f m ale d om in ation is still u sefu l. In oth er w ord s it is a
qu estion o f reform u lating this p h en om en on w ithin th e com p lex
totality o f social relations and th eir evolu tion , starting from
the p osition that in society before class d ivision m atrim on ial
exchange and kinship relations d om in ated and stru ctu red social
relations in general. It is p recisely th rou gh those relationship s
that p rod u ction and d istribu tion relations w ere articu lated and
organized w ithin a d eterm in ed social grou p . H ere the qu estions
raised are still relevant. Were w om en alread y living u nd er
cond itions of su bord in ation in h u n ter-gath erer societies? Wh at
changes in their statu s took p lace w hile the follow ing p rocesses
were u nfold ing: the increase in the p rod u ction o f a su rp lu s;
the in trod u ction o f h orticu ltu re, th en agricu ltu re and anim al
rearing; the em ergence o f p rivate land ow nership and the initial
social d ifferentiations w ithin p op u lations?
Th e anthrop ologist Elean or Bu rke Leacock sp ent years re-
searching in an attem p t to show how h u n ter-gath erer societies
were generally characterized by a su bstantial egalitarianism ,
not only am ong the m ale m em bers o f d ifferent grou p s bu t also
betw een the sexes. Presu m ably the sexu al d ivision o f labou r
was less rigid than has been believed and d id n ot in itself
lead to hierarchical relations betw een the sexes. In h er w ork
Leacock show s the d eterm in an t role played by the im p act o f
the con fron tation w ith Western colon ialists on h u n ter-gath erer
societies. This im p act can be m easu red both on th e econ om ic
level - d estroying the equ ilibriu m th at allow ed w om en to
control their ow n labou r and p rod u ction - an d th e cu ltu ral
level, introd u cing a "m or a l" rigid ity in sexu al cu stom s an d
m atrim onial relationship s that d id n ot exist p reviou sly. In th e
case of the Mon tagn ais-N askap i p eop le o f Labrad or, w h om
Leacock stu d ied in the field , the Jesu it m ission aries m ad e a
p articu lar effort to in trod u ce p reviou sly u n kn ow n social valu es
such as the obed ience and su bord in ation o f th e w ife to th e
hu sband . Th e collision w ith colon ialism can to a large exten t
explain w hy once-egalitarian h u n tin g and gathering societies
saw the in trod u ction o f h ierarch y an d d om in ation betw een th e
sexes. Moreover the influ ence o f a society w here th e p rocess o f
social d ifferentiation was m ore ad vanced certain ly p layed a role
in the spread o f m ale d om in ation in oth er societies. H ow ever
the qu estion is still p osed : W h a t is th e general cau se o f th e
establishm ent o f h ierarch ical relation s betw een th e sexes?
Engels' answ er is u n satisfactory, becau se on th e on e h an d
it refers to changes in the social and p rod u ction relation s an d
on the other h an d has recou rse to a su p p osed m ale in stin ct to
p erp etu ate his ow n in h eritan ce and th erefore to con trol w om en 's
rep rod u ction. Bu t w hat are the fou n d ation s o f this in stin ct? Is
it becau se of this in n ate d esire to ensu re a d escen d an t an d th e
transm ission o f in h eritan ce to his ow n sons th at m en w an ted to
con trol w om en 's rep rod u ction , or d oes this in ten tion to con tr ol
rep resent the effect o f a m ore com p lex totality o f p h en om en on
and processes?
Step hanie Coon tz, along w ith oth er research ers, has tried
to provid e a d ifferent answ er, exp lorin g th e con n ection s
betw een m atrim on ial in stitu tion s and p rod u ction . It w as n ot
m ale con trol over the w om en 's rep rod u ctive cap acities bu t th e
control of her labou r p ow er and o f h er p oten tial to p rod u ce a
surplus w ithin a d eterm inate set o f p rod u ction relation s an d
d ivision o f labou r that exp lains th e tran sform ation o f kin sh ip
relations and thereby the con d ition o f w om en . In lineage
BETWEEN GENDER AND CLASS 85
societies before the birth o f class society it is in fact the kinship

relations that organize the p rod u ction and d istribu tion o f good s
on the basis o f grou p or collective p rop erty. We can d iscover
the origin of m ale d om in ation w ithin the tran sform ation s
that took p lace in these types o f society before the birth of real
classes and the em ergence o f p rivate p rop erty and the state. Th e
hierarchy betw een the sexes and its ap p lication to the sexual
d ivision o f labou r are therefore at the origin o f th e p rocesses
of social d ifferentiation that su bsequ ently led to the em ergence
of classes. Th e hierarchical relations betw een th e sexes cou ld be
said to rep resent a p rototyp e for the latter.
Wh ere kinship relations organize p rod u ction the analysis and
stud y of their tran sform ation are fu n d am en tal to u nd erstand ing
both w om en 's role in p rod u ction and the changes to her statu s.
From this p oin t o f view the central con cep t is n ot m atrilin eal
relations bu t "m atrilocation " becau se th e d eterm in an t factor is
n ot the rules o f d escend ence bu t th at o f residence. In m atrilocal
societies in fact it is m en w ho have to go and live in th eir
w ife's p arental h om e. Th is m eans th at th e p rod u ct o f w om en 's
labou r rem ains w ithin h er kin or lineage, w here th e w om an
generally benefits from collaborative rather th an su bord in ate
relationship s. Th e tran sition from m atrilocal to p atrilocal
arrangem ents allow ed m en to exp rop riate th e w ork and su rp lu s
p rod u ced by w om en becau se m oving in to th e h u sban d 's
p aternal h om e p laced the w ife in a con text foreign to h er w here
she was d eprived o f fam ily ties o f p rotection . Th e p rod u ct o f h er
labou r n o longer belonged to her or to h er kin bu t to th ose o f
her hu sband .
Th e reasons w hy p atrilocality p revailed over m atrilocality are
varied and the d ebate rem ain s op en . Som e researchers su p p ort
the hyp othesis o f a con flict w ith m en th at w om en lost. Evid ence
for this is su p p osed ly seen in the m yths existing in d ifferent
societies that recou n t a w ar betw een m en and w om en or o f
w om en reigning over chaos w hich is overthrow n and m ale ord er
is established . Oth er w riters, su ch as Step hanie Coon tz, su p p ort
the idea of a com p lex d ynam ic p rocess involving d ifferent
DANGEROUS LIAISONS
86
factors from p roblem s over the d istribu tion o f th e su rp lu s to

sym bolic and religiou s roles w ithin the com m u n ity or to th e
need to m axim ize p rod u ction . Over and beyon d these variou s
hypotheses how ever there is broad agreem en t abou t p lacing th e
origins o f w om en 's op p ression in the tran sition to p atrilocality.
Men exp rop riated w ork d on e by w om en an d p olygam y
contribu ted to social d ifferen tiation betw een m en . H aving m or e
wives was in fact equ ivalent to exp rop riatin g a bigger qu an tity o f
labou r p ow er and su bsequ ently accu m u latin g a bigger su rp lu s.
Fu rth erm ore, the coin cid en ce betw een p rod u ction relation s an d
kinship relations led to coin cid en ce betw een th e exp rop riation
of w om en's labou r p ow er an d p rivileged access to an d con tr ol o f
their rep rod u ctive cap acities. In this w ay econ om ic an d sexu al
op p ression overlap p ed and was m u tu ally em bed d ed .
Th is type of exp lanation em p hasizes th ree elem en ts:
1) the fact that w om en 's op p ression d id n ot always exist, bu t
rather was linked to th e p rocesses o f social tran sform ation an d
transition from the egalitarian lineage societies to class society;
2) the fact that the sexu al d ivision oflabou r was origin ally less rigid
than we had th ou gh t and was n ot in itself a basis for a h ierarch y
betw een the sexes. From this p oin t o f view th e origins o f w om en 's
op p ression shou ld n ot be sou ght eith er in th e greater sed en tary
activity of w om en com p ared to m en (d u e to th eir rep rod u ctive
role - child birth, breastfeed ing, ch ild care) or in th e lesser im -
p ortance or p restige o f foraging and gath erin g, food p rep aration
or artisanal p rod u ction com p ared to h u n tin g an d w arfare; an d
3) the fact that social and econ om ic factors con n ected to th e
p rod u ction , exp rop riation and d istribu tion o f th e su rp lu s an d
labou r pow er rather than biology are cru cial in exp lain in g th e
origins of w om en 's op p ression. Th e cen tral factor is th e typ e o f
w ork that w om en m ostiy carry ou t in these societies - gath erin g,
horticu ltu re and food p rep aration th at m akes m en m u ch m or e
econom ically d ep end ent on w om en 's labou r th an w om en w ere
d ep end ent on m en . Takin g con trol o f this labou r m ean t n ot
only ensu ring the con trol o f p rod u ction o f su bsisten ce good s
bu t also being able to m axim ize this p rod u ction an d gu aran tee-
ing the accu m u lation o f a su rp lu s.
3.2 Class without gender

Wh at are the consequ ences o f a research hyp othesis th at tries to
seek the origins o f w om en 's op p ression in a totality o f social and
econ om ic p h en om en a, linked to th e tran sition from collectivized
or grou p ow nership to p rivate p rop erty, the p rod u ction o f
surplus and its d ynam ics o f ap p rop riation and d istribu tion and
the transition from m atrilocality to p atrilocality?
If one thinks that w om en 's op p ression d id n ot always exist
and that its roots are n ot biological or p sychological d oes
it necessarily m ean that gend er op p ression is a second ary
op p ression, hierarchically su bord inated to class exp loitation ?
Does it m ean d enying its au ton om y and sp ecificity? Fu rth er,
by focu sing on only the econ om ic ch aracter o f op p ression
does one d eny those asp ects o f m ale d om in ation linked to the
con trol o f w om en 's rep rod u ctive cap acity, the p sychological
asp ects, the sp ecificity o f sexu al violen ce, th e au ton om y and the
d u rability that p atriarchal stru ctu res su ch as the fam ily have
acquired ? Does it m ean reabsorbing gend er op p ression in to
class exp loitation?
From a th eoretical p oin t o f view there is n o reason to com e to
this sort o f con clu sion . H ow ever th e ten d en cy to create artificial
and u nhelp fu l hierarchies o f op p ressions and exp loitation s
rather than u nd erstand ing the recip rocal in tercon n ection s has
always been p resent in the w orkers' m ovem en t. Th is ten d en cy
thou ght that the end ing o f cap italism w ou ld lead natu rally and
au tom atically to the em an cip ation o f w om en and also saw th e
au ton om ou s organization o f w om en as a th reat to class u n ity -
a u nity that was su p p osed to m agically resolve w om en 's issu es.
This id eology con tribu ted in a d ecisive way to th e w orker's
m ovem ent d ivorce w ith fem in ism . Engels' op tim ism over h ow
w om en's join in g the labou r force w ou ld be th e key to th eir
em ancip ation has been d isp roved by reality itself.
This certainly d oes n ot m ean that Engels was w rong to
em phasize the fu nd am ental im p ortan ce o f w om en 's econ om ic
ind ep end ence, w hich is one irrefu table con d ition o f th eir
liberation. N o one can d eny that the increase in fem ale
em p loym ent in the last h u n d red years has changed w om en 's

lives in a su bstantial way, ind eed it has tran sform ed th e form s in
w hich gend er op p ression is articu lated . N evertheless p atriarch al
stru ctu res have p roved to be m u ch m ore resistant an d d u rable
than foreseen. Even the obviou s, bitter evid ence before ou r eyes
of the ongoing op p ression o f w om en in p ost-cap italist societies
(from the Soviet Bloc to Cu ba...) shou ld teach u s som eth in g
and raise som e seriou s qu estion s. Privatizing th e sp here o f
rep rod u ction - that is all those activities th at gu aran tee th e
physical, m ental and em otion al rep rod u ction o f labou r p ow er
(eating, sleeping, d ressing, w ashing, relaxin g...) w h ich is
encou raged and used by cap italism , has given en orm ou s p ow er
to fam ily ties and m akes the socialization o f these rep rod u ctive
fu nctions d ifficu lt to im agine and even m ore d ifficu lt to get
accep ted .
One ju st has to th in k o f th e resistance often p u t u p to
attem p ts d u ring revolu tionary p eriod s to free w om en fr om th e
caring role by transferring it ou tsid e o f th e fam ily th rou gh th e
setting up of can teen s, lau nd ries and com m u n al n u rseries. Th e
op p osition betw een p u blic society and th e p rivate sp here has
d eveloped arou nd the d em arcation th at sep arates th e fam ily,
the private space p ar excellen ce, from th e state, society an d
the m arket. Th erefore the fam ily has becom e th e sp ace - often
m ore im aginary than real - w here on e's tru e self is exp ressed
in op p osition to the external w orld o f exp loitation , alien ation ,
bru talization, aggression and com p etition . A p lace w here
affection and sen tim en t, that are im p ossible in th e extern al w orld ,
can blossom . Alread y in the 1844 Economic and Philosophical
M anuscripts Marx had a basic u n d erstan d in g o f this p articu lar
fram ing of relationship s brou gh t abou t by cap italism :
As a resu lt, th erefore, m an (th e w orker) on ly feels h im self

freely active in his anim al fu n ction s - eatin g, d rin kin g,
p rocreating, or at m ost in his d w elling an d in d ressin g-u p ,
etc; and in his hu m an fu n ction s he n o lon ger feels h im self to
be anything bu t an an im al. Wh at is an im al becom es h u m an
and w hat is hu m an becom es an im al.
Certainly eating, d rinking, p rocreating, etc., are also

genu inely hu m an fu n ction s. Bu t taken abstractly, sep arated
from the sp here o f all oth er h u m an activity and tu rn ed in to
sole and u ltim ate end s, they are anim al fu n ction s.
In the con text o f this shake u p o f h u m an relations the fam ily

stru ctu re has ceased to be a u n it o f p rod u ction (excep t for som e
sectors o f p rod u ction su ch as fam ily-based agricu ltu re) and
has been relegated to a p rivate space rigid ly sep arate from the
p u blic sp here. It has lost one fu n ction bu t has acqu ired an oth er
that gives it a p articu lar p ow er. It w ou ld be - and alread y has
been - a massive error to u nd erestim ate its id eological natu re
and the scale o f the p sychological attach m en t to this stru ctu re
and to its d ynam ics, inclu d ing th e role w om en have w ithin it
insofar as they carry ou t the m ajority if n ot the totality o f the
rep rod u ctive fu n ction s. To have th ou gh t th at th e class stru ggle
alone cou ld resolve this qu estion , m agically d issolving fam ily
ties and rad ically changing its ch aracter w ith ou t an ad equ ate
analysis o f the p roblem , w ith ou t challenging sexu al roles an d
w ithou t a sp ecific p oliticization o f w om en is in the best o f cases
to be blind ed by op tim ism , and in th e w orst o f cases to show
u tter bad faith.
Th e sam e p oin t can be m ad e in relation to th e u n d erestim ation
of the effects o f gend er and its h ierarch ical relation s on the
w orking class and its p oliticization . Con sid ering the w orking
class only in its m ascu line form m eans in the first p lace to fail
to grasp or to grasp only p artially the way in w hich the relations
of p rod u ction and exp loitation fu n ction and are stru ctu red and
therefore n ot to u nd erstand or to only p artially u n d erstan d how
cap italism w orks. Second ly it resu lts in failing to u n d erstan d
how gend er op p ression p rovid es a p ow erfu l w eap on to
divide the w orking class, to create hierarchies w ithin it and to
id eologically con trol it. It is the sam e blind ness th at has led the
w orkers' m ovem en t over the long term to be u n able to d eal w ith
racist or eth n ic rep ression and to fail to p rovid e a satisfactory
analysis or p olitical ap p roach.
DANGEROUS LIAISONS
90
3.3 Gender as class

While the p ersp ective o f a gend erless class w as on e o f th e m ain
lim its of the bu lk of the w orkers' m ovem en t and o f th e Marxist
trad ition, m aterialist and "w ages for h ou sew ork" fem in ism have
attem p ted to rethink the relationship betw een class an d gen d er
from a rad ically d ifferent p oin t o f view : th at o f gend er as class.
The analyses m ad e in th e 1970s by th eorists su ch as Ch ristin e
Delphy, the fou nd er o f m aterialist fem in ism , fr om Fr an ce,
and the Italian thinkers Alisa Del Re an d Mariarosa Dalla
Costa, w ho are am ong the m ain exp on en ts o f "w ages for
hou sew ork" fem in ism , overlap on som e id eas abou t th e n atu re
of female d om estic labou r insid e the fam ily. Both ten d en cies
talk abou t the exp loitation o f w om en 's rep rod u ctive w ork,
w hich is assigned a p rod u ctive ch aracter in Marxist ter m s.
Contrary to orth od ox Marxist p osition s, w h ich are accu sed o f
und ervaluing the fu n ction o f rep rod u ctive labou r an d d enying
its p rod u ctive role, this in terp retation argu es d om estic labou r
prod u ces com m od ities and su rp lu s valu e. It is a qu estion o f
p rod u ctive labou r for w hich w om en are n ot p aid . Con sequ en tly
the d istinction betw een op p ression (ap p lied to w om en ) an d
exp loitation (ap p lied to classes an d class relation s) has n o
sense, to the extent that w om en are n ot ju st op p ressed bu t are
exp loited , in other w ord s th eir w ork p rod u ces su rp lu s valu e
w hich is ap p rop riated by som eon e else.
In fact for "w ages for h ou sew ork" fem in ists w h en M a r x in
Capital states that the valu e o f th e com m od ities n ecessary for
a w orker's rep rod u ction is con tain ed in labou r p ow er valu e
(clothing, food , h ou sin g...) he d oes n ot take in to con sid eration
another value - the w ork o f caring w hich is n ecessary for th e
fu nctionality of labou r com m od ity valu e. As Ch ristin e Delp h y
w rites, if you follow Marx's analysis h ere it w ou ld m ean p ork
and p otatoes w ith their skins in tact w ou ld be con su m ed raw
after their p rod u ction and p u rch ase. Betw een th e p r od u ction
or pu rchase of the p ork and p otato com m od ities an d th eir
consu m p tion you have th eir p rep aration an d cookin g w h ich
transform these com m od ities in to a u sable for m . In th e sam e
way one p resu m es that clothes, as w ell as being bou gh t and

w orn also have to be p eriod ically w ashed , ironed and m en d ed .
Materialist and "w ages for h ou sew ork" fem in ism criticize
Marxism from n ot consid ering this w ork that takes p lace w ithin
the isolated fam ily h om e as p rod u ctive labou r. To m ake th eir
p oint that we are d ealing w ith p rod u ctive labou r and n ot ju st
use valu e, as claim ed by orth od ox Marxists, both these cu rren ts
use the exam p les o f how a series o f d om estic labou r services are
clearly p rod u ced and exchanged as com m od ities. Ind eed a m eal
can be p rep ared at h om e bu t it can also certainly be con su m ed
read y to eat in a restau rant - in this case the valu e con n ected to
the p rep aration is ad d ed to the com m od ity valu e o f the food .
Th e sam e thing applies to lau nd ry services, cleaning, th e care
o f child ren carried ou t in the nu rsery or by babysitters and also
for looking after old or ill p eop le. Th e fact th at all these series
o f services, w hen n ot bein g carried ou t insid e th e fam ily h om e,
can be p rod u ced and exchanged as com m od ities, d em on strates
that n oth in g can ju stify d efining th e w ork th at w om en carry
ou t insid e the h om e as being n on -p rod u ctive labou r. Th e on ly
reason for it to be consid ered in this way is th at it is n ot p aid
- the u np aid or ap p arent "fr ee" asp ect o f it covers up its real
character.
Th e analogy betw een "w ages for h ou sew ork" fem in ism and
m aterialist fem in ism end s at this p oin t - th e con clu sion s that
are drawn from consid ering d om estic labou r as p rod u ctive are
d iam etrically op p osed . For the "w ages for h ou sew ork" fem inists
it is cap italism th at has tran sform ed th e fam ily's role and
stru ctu re, creating th e n u clear fam ily in su ch a w ay as to d eny its
role as a p rod u ctive u n it and relegating w om en to a su bord in ate
p osition rep rod u cing labou r p ow er. Cap italism has tend ed to
exclu d e w om en from p rod u ction ap art from insid e th e fam ily
and assigns m en a wage su fficient to m ain tain h im self and his w ife
and fam ily, absolving itself o f any resp onsibility for the econ om ic
survival o f the w hole fam ily and in th is way en su rin g th at th e
m u ch m ore costly w ork o f rep rod u cing labou r p ow er is d on e
solely by w om en insid e th e fam ily h om e. Com p letely socializing
DANGEROUS LIAISONS
92
this w ork w ould incu r costs and tech n ological in vestm en t

m u ch higher than those involved in w om en 's d om estic labou r.
In this way the labou r con tract betw een th e cap italist an d th e
w orker as the "h ead o f the fam ily" in a sense also in clu d es th e
other m em bers o f the fam ily. At on e and th e sam e tim e th ere
is a labou r con tract and a "sexu al con tr a ct" w h ich gives m en
free access to w om en 's bod ies an d th eir ch ild ren . Th r ou g h
this contract u np aid slaves (hou sew ives an d any w om en w h o
carry ou t d om estic labou r) are u sed to rep rod u ce w age slavery
(both m ale and fem ale w orkers) an d w om en b ecom e an in tegral
part of the w orking class, even if they are n ot form ally h ired
as em ployees. Ju st like their h u sban d s, sons an d fath ers th ey
suffer from cap italist exp loitation an d p rod u ce su rp lu s valu e,
p rod u cing the com m od ity o f labou r p ow er. Th is is th e basis on
w hich "wages for h ou sew ork" fem in ists p rioritize th e d em an d
for wages for hou sew ork so that th e w ork o f rep rod u cin g labou r
power is fully recognized as p rod u ctive labou r an d ceases to be
an ind irect retribu tion th rou gh th e h u sban d 's salary.
Delphy's conclu sions are m ore or less in d irect con tr ad iction
to this. Contrary to the "w ages for h ou sew or k" fem in ists,
Christine Delp hy argues th at it is n ot cap italism th at
appropriates d om estic labou r, even if it certain ly ben efits
from it, bu t rather m en them selves. Th e d irect ben eficiary o f
w om en's p rod u ctive/rep rod u ctive w ork is h er m ale relation
(hu sband , father, broth er) or p artn er. Alongsid e th e cap italist
m od e of p rod u ction th ere is an oth er on e, w h ich is gen erally
not recognized as su ch - the p atriarch al m od e o f p r od u ction .
Th e latter d eterm ines th e p rod u ction relation s betw een m en
and w om en and is based on th e total ap p rop riation by m en
of w om en's d om estic labou r. Men an d w om en for m tw o
antagonistic classes w ithin p rod u ction relation s th at are based
on an exp loitative relationship w here m en p rofit fr om w om en 's
w ork. From this p oin t of view , seeing w om en as belon gin g to th e
hu sband 's social class sim p ly arises from u n critically assu m in g
a p atriarchal p osition , tend ing to cover u p th e relation s o f
exp loitation and su bord in ation w hich p lace m en in op p osition
BET WEEN GENDER AN D CLASS 93
to w om en . All w om en are m em bers o f the sam e class and

u nd ergo the sam e exp loitation , as a con sequ en ce o f d om estic
labou r, w hich can take on very d ifferent form s d ep end ing on
their father or h u sban d 's class, w hether it is Bill Gates or a shop
w orker. Cap italism certainly con tribu tes to th e m ain ten an ce o f
the p atriarchal m od e o f p rod u ction th rou gh its m ech an ism s
exclu d ing w om en from p rod u ction and establishing hierarchies
o f labou r. Given th at w om en are d iscrim in ated against th rou gh
in h eritan ce and p rop erty law s, and are eith er exclu d ed from the
labou r m arket, con stan tly th reaten ed w ith red u nd ancies (for
exam p le they are u su ally th e first to lose th eir jobs at tim es o f
crisis) or u nd erp aid , th e only solu tion they are offered is often
m arriage. H ow ever w hen m arrying they en ter in to a sort o f
con tract o f servitu d e w ith m en becau se they exchange th eir
ow n labou r for th eir h u sban d 's con trol o f th eir m ain ten an ce
rather th an a salary. It is exactly th e sam e way in w hich slavery
op erates.
Th e p olitical con sequ en ces o f these tw o ap p roaches to the
qu estion o f d om estic labou r and o f w om en 's role in th e fam ily
are obviou sly very d ifferent. In th e first case w hat is em p hasized
is the w ay w om en u nd ergo the sam e exp loitation as m en and
th erefore share a com m on en em y w ith th em - cap italism .
Workin g-class hou sew ives are fu ll m em bers o f th eir class
becau se they carry ou t p rod u ctive labou r th at is absolu tely
central for th e social rep rod u ction o f cap ital and con tribu tes to
creating com m od ity valu e and has a very sp ecific role w ithin
the cap italist d ivision o f labou r. Th is ap p roach , w hile correctly
p oin tin g ou t th e gaps in Marxist th eory w ith resp ect to the
analyses o f the role o f labou r in rep rod u cin g labou r p ow er and
w hile correctly em p hasizin g th e cen trality o f this asp ect for a
full u nd erstand ing o f th e m ech an ism s o f cap ital's fu n ction in g
and social rep rod u ction , has p u shed its logic too far so th at it
end s up w ith a rather ineffective p olitical p osition . Obviou sly
the labou r o f rep rod u ction in d irectly con tribu tes to th e
p rod u cing com m od ity valu e. Male or fem ale w orkers p rod u ce
com m od ities - w hether visible or invisible - exp en d in g m en tal,
physical and em otion al energies th at have to be regen erated . If

these energies are not regenerated th en labou r p ow er can n ot
be sold as a com m od ity and th erefore can n ot p rod u ce su rp lu s
value. From this p oin t o f view the fact th at ch ap ter 7 o f Capital
Volume 1 does n ot d irectly d eal w ith th e qu estion o f d om estic
labou r w ithin its analyses o f the rep rod u ction o f labou r
pow er and its valu e, d oes leave op en a sign ifican t p r oblem .
Nevertheless to claim that d om estic labou r p rod u ces su rp lu s
value m eans overlooking w hat m u st be th e essential p oin t for
u nd erstand ing the natu re and th e w ay in w h ich cap italism has
transform ed the fam ily. Th e fu n d am en tal p oin t in fact is th at
this w ork o f rep rod u ction takes p lace outside o f th e cap italist
m arket, in isolation w hich m akes it im p ossible to talk o f average
socially necessary labou r becau se this labou r is n eith er form ally
or inform ally hired u nd er cap italism . In this sense it is d ifficu lt
to talk abou t the p rod u ction o f su rp lu s valu e p recisely becau se,
on the one h an d , cap italism has taken th e fu n ction o f a u n it o f
p rod u ction away from the fam ily an d , on th e oth er, has en su red
that the w ork o f rep rod u cing labou r p ow er takes p lace m ostly
insid e the fam ily, relegating it to a sort o f lim bo sep arated fr om
the process of p rod u ction and circu lation o f com m od ities.
This p articu lar asp ect has been largely ign ored by Ch ristin e
Delphy, as if the qu estion is abou t th e nature o f th e services
offered by the w ork o f caring rath er th an th eir location w ith in
the context of the p rocess o f p rod u ction an d circu lation o f
com m od ities. Clearly cookin g or clean in g in them selves are
services that can be sold as com m od ities an d th at it is n oth in g to
do w ith their nature w hich ju stifies th e fact th at th ey are offered
freely. Surely the p oin t is that w ithin th e fam ily th ese services
are offered freely and are th erefore taken ou t o f th e sp h ere o f
exchange and are n ot p rod u ced or exch an ged as com m od ities.
A com m od ity is a thing bu t w hat m akes it a com m od ity is n ot
the physical natu re o f the th in g - w h eth er it is a p ear or softw are
is u nim p ortant - bu t its social form - h ow is it p rod u ced an d
consu m ed .
Insisting on the p rod u ctive ch aracter o f d om estic labou r
has certainly highlighted its im p ortan ce against its p reviou s

u nd ervalu ation and can p rovid e a d egree o f "effective"
exp lanation. Th e p roblem is th at in both cases it creates
analytical con fu sion th at has p olitical con sequ en ces. In the
first case the logical con clu sion is th at this w ork shou ld be p aid
and the p olitical d em an d th at flow s from it is th at o f wages for
hou sew ork. H ow ever this d em an d far from challenging the
sexual d ivision o f labou r actu ally rein forces it - con tribu tin g to
keep ing w om en insid e th e fam ily h om e and th erefore isolating
th em from p rod u ction and a broad er social life. Fu rth erm ore
p rop osing wages for h ou sew ork was u n d erstood as a p aym ent
for the p rod u ction o f a com m od ity (th at is, labou r p ow er). In
reality the hou sew ife's w ork rem ain s w ithin the sector o f the
rep rod u ction o f th e con d ition s th at allow labou r p ow er to be
p resent on th e m arket as a com m od ity. Th erefore rath er th an
talking abou t wages we shou ld talk abou t an in com e or retu rn
(equ ivalent to a retu rn on in vestm en t or p rop erty). Fr om this
p oin t o f view we can see som e con tin u ity in th e "p ost-w orker "
theorists w ho p u t forw ard th e id ea o f a citizen 's basic or living
in com e. Th e sam e p roblem arises - p rop osals for a citizen's
in com e d oes n ot in fact th reaten the basic m ech an ism s o f
cap italist exp loitation and d oes n ot challenge p rod u ction
relations.
In th e secon d case th e m ajor p olitical con sequ en ce arises
from the p resu p p osition o f th e existen ce o f p rod u ction relations
d ifferent from cap italist ones an d based on th e sexu al d ivision o f
labou r w ithin the fam ily. Th e logical con clu sion o f this p osition
is the id ea th at a d efined class, w om en , exists w h eth er they are
wives o f ind u strial m agnates or the very p oorest and they are
in an an tagon istic relation sh ip w ith a m ale class o f exp loiters.
Th e p olitical con sequ en ces o f this ap p roach are ou tlin ed by
Delp hy h erself in The M ain Enemy (L'en n em i p rin cip al). Wh ile
cap italism con tribu tes in a d eterm in an t w ay to su staining the
"p atriarch al m od e o f p r od u ction " and th erefore m ost be fou gh t,
the "m ain en em y" o f w om en nevertheless is p atriarch y. From
this p oin t o f view it is necessary:
1) To cam p aign aggressively on th e qu estion o f "false

consciou sness" - that is a class con sciou sn ess d eterm in ed by
belonging to a class w ithin the cap italist m od e o f p r od u ction
w hich m eans that w om en id entify w ith th e an tagon istic
p atriarchal class (i.e. their h u sban d 's class) instead o f d evelop ing
a tru e consciou sness of the w om en 's class d eterm in ed by th e
p atriarchal m od e o f p rod u ction .
2) To d em onstrate how this false con sciou sn ess is h arm fu l
to the struggle against p atriarchy an d serves th e latter's in terests.
In other w ord s, in the first in stan ce w om en m u st stop
id entifying w ith the basic cap italist classes (th e w orkin g class
and the bou rgeoisie) in ord er to becom e con sciou s o f th eir
class p osition w ithin p atriarchy an d th erefore th eir solid arity o f
interests as w om en.
Such an ap p roach p re-su p p oses th at th e h ou sew ife o f a
p etrochem ical w orker, forced to ju ggle final d em an d bills,
having rent to pay and lu ng can cer th at is p robably d estroying th e
health of her hu sband , has m ore m aterial in terests in co m m o n
with the of Bill Gates' w ife th an w ith h er ow n h u sban d in sofar as
she shares the sam e relations o f servitu d e tow ard h er h u sban d .
Obviously it is tru e th at w om en 's op p ression is tran sversal an d
involves all social classes. As far as p ossible th erefore it is correct
to envisage w orking for all w om en organ izin g ar ou n d co m m o n
interests concernin g w om en 's self-d eterm in ation , th eir sexu ality
and their bod ies. H ow ever th ere is a real d ifferen ce betw een th is
p osition and thinking th at w om en 's op p ression takes th e sam e
form irrespective of on e's class p osition ; th at th e d eter m in ation
of one's class by w here a w om an lives an d w orks (or d oes n ot
w ork) or w hether she is a cap tain o f ind u stry is sim p ly a qu estion
of false consciou sness and n ot th e sharing o f certain m aterial
interests. It d oes n ot im p ly in th e en d th at th e strategy n eed ed
to respond to her ow n op p ression is always th e sam e for all
w om en. Fu rth erm ore, Ch ristine Delp h y has often em p h asized
the fact that it was n ot her in ten tion to analyse th e en tire reality
of w om en's op p ression bu t only its econ om ic asp ect. H ow ever,
once the relations betw een m en and w om en are d efin ed in
term s o f "slavery" it is a little d ifficu lt to u nd erstand how this

d oes n ot over-d eterm in e the oth er areas o f life - w hat type o f
affection , sexu ality, relationship s and alliances is it p ossible to
have betw een a slave and her m aster?
Both m aterialist fem in ism and th e wages for hou sew ork
version have highlighted som e fu n d am en tal asp ects o f d om estic
labou r, bu t th eir th eoretical ap p roach , taken as a w h ole, risks
being n oth in g bu t th e reverse reflection o f the w ay in w hich
the role o f rep rod u ction and w om en 's op p ression was n ot
consid ered to be im p ortan t by a good p art o f th e w orkers'
m ovem en t. Sin ce for th e latter th e m ain p olitical focu s is the
class, th en these fem in ist au th ors try to tran sform gend er in to
class. Th e resu lt is th e sam e, fr om op p osed p oin ts o f view :
gend er is red u ced to class, in th e first case to th e w orking class,
in th e oth er to a p atriarch al class created ad h oc. In this way the
sp here o f rep rod u ction is su bm erged in to p rod u ction , th ereby
losing its very sp ecificity.
H ow ever a d ou bt rem ain s w h eth er an oth er ap p roach cou ld
be p ossible, an ap p roach th at d oes n ot ren ou n ce the categories
o f th e critiqu e o f p olitical econ om y, u nd erstand ing nevertheless
n ot only th at these categories are n ot su fficient to grasp the
reality o f gend er, bu t th at it is n ot p ossible or u sefu l to apply
th em in a m ech an ical w ay.
3.4. Gender without class
"Wages for h ou sew ork" fem in ism an d m aterialist fem in ism have
n ot been the only w ay o f tacklin g th e qu estion s o f rep rod u ction
and sexu ality w ithin th e fem in ist th eory o f th e secon d w ave.
On the con trary, w ithin the m aelstrom o f cu rren ts, thread s and
p u blication s th at em erged w ith th e new flow ering o f fem in ist
th ou gh t th e qu estions o f rep rod u ction , sex and sexu ality have
em p hatically occu p ied cen tre stage - even if the n ebu lou s n atu re
of the m ovem en t m akes it very d ifficu lt to d efine or recon stru ct
d efin ition s, labels, genealogies and intellectu al affinities.
Dem an d in g the p oliticization o f sex an d sexu ality as op p osed to
the centrality o f p rod u ction and class relation s was a form ative
elem ent in the fem in ist sp lit from th e m ixed social m ovem en ts
DANGEROUS LIAISONS
98
in the 1970s. H ow ever the ways in w hich sex, sexu ality an d th en

gender had eru p ted in to p olitical d iscou rse took m an y d ifferen t
paths w hich w ere often very d iverse. W ith in this p roliferation
of theoretical p rop osals, w hich had variable links w ith collective
p olitical action (from the absence o f any lin ks to attem p ts at
total absorp tion ), p sychoanalysis was on e o f th e m ain p layers.
It was a negative in terlocu tor for cu rren ts an d th in kers w h o h ad
w anted to u nm ask its fu n d am en tal m isogyny, qu estion in g th e
Oed ipus com p lex theory and th at o f p enis envy as exp lan ation s
for the form ation of sexu al id en tities. O n th e oth er h an d
throu gh a p rocess o f assim ilation , m od ification s an d som etim es
real m isu nd erstand ing it was a gold m in e, p articu larly in its
Lacanian version, for oth er cu rren ts.
In the sam e way the in terp retation s o f th e ter m "g en d er ",
suggested again by a p ap er w ritten in 1974 by Gayle S. Ru bin ,
The Exchange of W omen. N otes on the political economy of Sex,
were very d iverse. Ru bin 's p ap er p rop osed a d istin ction sh ou ld
be m ad e betw een the tw o con cep ts o f "sex" an d "g en d er ".
While the form er, accord ing to Ru bin , in d icated biological an d
anatom ical sexual d ifference betw een m en an d w om en , th e
latter is the resu lt o f a h istorical, social an d cu ltu ral con str u ction .
The d ifference related to gend er, and n ot sex, is claim ed to be
the seed bed o f hierarchy an d su bord in ation an d th erefore is th e
enem y that has to be fou ght. Over th e cou rse o f th e last th irty
years the natu re o f gend er and its sign ifican ce, its relation sh ip
w ith sex and sexu ality, have been th e su bject o f in ten se d ebate,
w hich also in this case has led to d iverse con clu sion s.
Rad ical fem inism em erged first in th e Un ited States tow ard s
the end o f the 1960s. Wh at the variou s th eories o f th is cu rren t
share, over and beyond any d ifferen ces, can be u n d erstood
by the d em and encap su lated in its very n am e. It is a qu estion
of d irectly con fron tin g the "r o o t s" [roots = rad ix, r a d icin
Latin, translator's n ote] o f w om en 's op p ression , o f op p osin g
p atriarchy head on . Patriarchy is u n d erstood as an a u ton om ou s
system of op p ression by m en and is d efined as th e m ain en em y.
In this way rad ical fem inists d ifferentiate th em selves fr om b oth
liberal fem inists and socialist fem in ists. To fight th eir op p ression
w om en m u st equ ip them selves w ith th eir ow n in terp retation o f
the w orld , rejecting any existing id eologies since they are a resu lt
of m ale su p rem acy and d efine th eir ow n p olitical line th at p u ts
w om en 's interests at th e cen tre in op p osition to m ale interests.
With in the p atriarchal system all w om en su ffer op p ression by
all m en , all m en ben efit from the su bord in ation o f w om en and
all the oth er form s o f exp loitation , h ierarch y and su p rem acy are
only the exten sions o f m ale su p rem acy. Patriarch y, th erefore,
p re-d ating cap italism , racism and colon ialism rep resents
w om en 's p rin cip al, com m on en em y. As Kate Millet argues
in Sexual Politics (1970) sexu al op p ression is n ot only a form
o f p olitical d om in ation bu t it is the first form o f d om in ation ,
p reced ing all others and m u st th erefore be fou ght before the
oth ers.
In The Dialectics of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution, a
w ork w ritten in th e sam e year, Sh u lam ith Fireston e id entified
the biological d ifference betw een m en and w om en as the roots
o f fem ale su bord in ation . N atu re has clearly p laced w om en
in a p osition o f w eakness com p ared to m en , assigning h er a
rep rod u ctive role th at on ce p regn an cy an d birth is over m ean s
w om en have to take care o f th e baby and breastfeed w hich are
p hysical d u ties and con d ition s p u ttin g h er in to a situ ation o f
insecu rity and d ifficu lty, necessarily requ irin g m ale p rotection .
Wh ile n atu re m ad e w om en in to slaves th at d oes n ot m ean that
this slavery is h er u n ch an gin g d estiny. O n th e con trary, the
p ossibility o f sep arating sexu ality from p rocreation , liberation
from com p u lsory h eterosexu ality, and socialization o f child care
m ad e p ossible by cu ltu re, scien ce and tech n ology, rep resent
the key to w om en 's liberation . By id entifying n atu re, biological
and an atom ical d ifferences as th e roots o f w om en 's op p ression ,
Firestone rejects both th e Marxist exp lan ation th at relates
it to the m ore general p rocess o f social d ifferen tiation and to
the em ergence o f p rivate p rop erty an d also th e p sychoanalytic
thesis.
Criticism o f p sychoanalysis was on e o f th e battle cries o f a
, 0 0 DANGEROUS LIAISONS
su bstantial n u m ber o f rad ical fem in ists. Th ey h ad su bjected it

to a sim ilar critical analysis aim ed at u nveiling th e m isogyn ist or
sexist natu re of variou s form s o f cu ltu r a l artistic, p h ilosop h ical
and literary exp ression, w hich are inevitably sexist becau se
m en had historically m on op olized cu ltu re. Psychoanalysis
was attacked for having p rovid ed a n atu ralistic an d th erefore
tend entially u nchangeable vision o f h ow a h ierarch y w as
form ed w ithin the p rocess o f the form ation o f gend er id en tity,
throu gh the theory o f the Oed ip u s com p lex, p en is envy an d
the castration com p lex. In d eed , accord in g to Freu d , in th e first
years o f infancy babies o f both sexes share th e sam e object o f
desire - the love o f the m oth er and th e sam e sexu ality, oral th en
anal and initially also p hallic. Both sexes in fact see th em selves
having a penis given that the baby girl sees h er ow n clitoris as a
p enis. Throu gh recip rocal exp loration th e ch ild ren at a certain
p oint realize their ow n an atom ical d ifferences an d th e m ale
child sees the absence o f a p enis on th e girl ch ild 's bod y as th e
confirm ation of his ow n fear o f castration . In this recip rocal
recognition the m ale child carries ou t a negative evalu ation o f
the im p erfect an atom y o f th e fem ale ch ild , w hile th e latter for
her part develops envy for the p enis she d oes n ot h ave. Fr o m th at
m om en t the pathw ays d iverge. Th e m ale ch ild is p u sh ed to be
freed up from the Oed ip u s com p lex - th at is th e com p etition w ith
his father for the m oth er's love - for fear o f im p licit castration
as a threat if the incest taboo was br oken . Law , rep resen ted by
the social figu re o f the fath er, find s a p ositive stru ctu ral effect
in h im , w hich con tribu tes to th e breakin g o f Oed ip al b on d s,
drawing on the castration th reat. Th e fem ale ch ild on th e oth er
hand has qu ite a d ifferent jou rn ey. She d iscovers h er an atom ical
incom p leteness and is p u shed to aban d on h er m oth er as an
object of love insofar as the latter d oes n ot have a p en is an d
shares with her d au ghter the sam e biological p rivation an d
consequ ently has to d eflect the fath er's d esire. Sh e goes in to th e
Oed ipal com p lex at the tim e she recognizes h er ow n an atom ical
incom p leteness and the incest taboo is less effective w ith h er
since the threat of castration carries n o w eight sin ce th e fem ale
child is alread y castrated . Th e Oed ip al ties w ith a p aternal father

that rep resents Law at the sam e tim e are never com p letely
broken w hich has a series o f con sequ en ces for the stru ctu re of
the w om en 's p ersonality: d ep end ence on au th ority, little social
interests and the u nfu lfilled requ est for p rivileges to com p en sate
for the lack o f a p enis ...
N ow it is rather clear w hy this in terp retation o f the form ation
of sexu al id entity and its d ifferen tiation have been bitterly
criticized by m an y fem in ists. Firstly, it consid ers the w om an 's
bod y as an atom ically lacking som eth in g insofar as it d oes n ot
have a p en is. Second ly, it attribu tes to w om en a series o f natu ral
characteristics that is su p p osed to exp lain th eir sp ecific role
w ithin society rather th an bein g seen as the effects o f the role
w om en have historically been assigned - getting the cau ses
and effects totally th e w rong w ay arou n d w hich is typ ical o f
id eology. Th ird ly, it interp rets these ch aracteristics as som eth in g
invariable, to the exten t th at they are em bed d ed in th e p rocess
of stru ctu ring o f th e id entity d eterm in ed by sym bolic (an d
th erefore p re-social) figu res o f th e m oth er and fath er. Finally,
the very rigid ity and invariability o f th e sym bolic m oth er and
father figu res, th eir id en tification w ith social beings (th e m oth er
and father in th e flesh) and th erefore read ing th e stru ctu ring o f
sexu al and gend er id entity arou n d th e m ale/fem ale d ich otom y
and heterosexu al d esire so th at both h om osexu ality and oth er
form s o f sexu al id entity are su p p osed to rep resent p ath ologies.
Alongsid e these criticism s An n e Koed t adds an oth er in her
article p u blished in 1970, The M yth of the Vaginal Orgasm. In
this w ork, Koed t, basing h erself on a n u m ber o f stu d ies th at
d em on strated that th e on ly sexu al fem ale organ able to p rod u ce
an orgasm is th e clitoris, d ism antles th e Freu d ian id ea o f the
tran sition from clitoral orgasm s to vaginal ones as being a
p rocess o f m atu rin g as w om en as a w ay o f freeing h er - bu t only
p artially - from p enis envy and th ereby allow ing h er to em erge
from an ad olescent p hase.
On th e oth er h an d , p sychoanalysis has fared qu ite d ifferently
in an oth er cu rren t o f fem in ist th ou gh t kn ow n as th e fem in ism
| 0 2 DANGEROUS LIAISONS
of d ifference or "Fren ch fem in ism " accord in g to a d efin ition

that em erged in reality in th e Un ited States (so id en tifying it in
geographical term s m akes little sen se). Th e id ea o f d ifferen ce
is central for rad ical fem in ism and in fact is o f key im p or tan ce
as a concep tu al ju stification for "sp littin g" fr om th e social
m ovem ents throu gh the assertion o f w om en 's d ifferen ce.
How ever this takes on a d ifferent sign ifican ce in "Fr en ch
fem in ism ", w hose m ain th eorists, Lu ce Irigaray, Ju lia Kristeva
and H elene Cixou s, have refu sed an d even criticized th e n otion
of "fem in ist" and have had very little con n ection w ith th e
fem inist m ovem ents, p articu larly in Fran ce. Both Irigaray an d
Kristeva stu d ied w ith Jacqu es Lacan an d have a close bu t critical
relationship w ith his id eas. Lacan h ad in trod u ced an im p or tan t
am end m ent to Freu d 's th eory o f p enis envy, p referrin g to
d efine it as p hallic envy w here th e p hallu s essentially signifies
p ow er. Th e fem ale baby th erefore d oes n ot envy th e m ale
rep rod u ctive organ bu t th e p hallu s as th e signifier o f au th ority,
of the access to th e sym bolic ord er an d facu lty o f sp eakin g
from all of w hich she is exclu d ed . Recogn ition th at she d oes
not have a phallus is equ ivalent to in tern alizin g this exclu sion
from the sym bolic ord er. Th is castration m ech a n ism , lin ked
to an historicization o f the p hallu s an d its role as a sign ifier o f
pow er, is p otentially p rod u ctive for an u n d erstan d in g o f th e
psychological consequ ences th at op p ression has for w om en
and the way in w hich su bord in ation , w ith its trap p in gs o f
insecu rity and m asoch ism , is in tern alized . H ow ever, w h at m u st
be avoided is to enclose th e p hallu s in th e sym bolic an d p r e-
social realm s, thereby m aking this an d th e exclu sion fr om it,
the cause o f w om en's su bord in ation rath er th an seeing h ow th e
id entification betw een the au th ority signifier an d th e p en is is
the effect of a p re-existing h ierarch y betw een th e sexes w h ich
has quite d ifferent cau ses.
On the contrary, Irigaray and Kristeva's trajectory is qu ite
d ifferent - they essentialize sexu al d ifferen ce. Irigaray takes u p
and ind irectly criticizes Lacan's "m ir r o r " con cep t d evelop ed by
the psychoanalyst in his p ap er Le stade du miroir (Th e M ir r o r
Stage). For both baby girls and boys seeing them selves reflected
in the m irror for the first tim e is a key exp erience in the p rocess
of con stru ction o f th eir id entity insofar as seeing th eir ow n
image in the m irror initiates th e p ercep tion o f them selves as
sep arate from th eir m oth ers. After th at we have the im p osition
of the sym bolic ord er o f th e Fath er w ho lays d ow n the
d istinction betw een m ascu lin ity and fem in in ity, assigning th em
p articu lar roles. Irigaray cou n terp oses the sp ecu lu m to th e flat
su rface o f th e m irror th at reflects external visible im ages. Th e
sp ecu lu m is a concave op tical in stru m en t u sed in m ed icin e to
look insid e h u m an orifices. W o m en fu n ction as m irrors for
m en becau se m ale su p eriority is reflected in th e in feriority o f
w om en . Men th erefore see w om en in referen ce to them selves,
as th eir ow n op p osites, th e ow n inverted im ages, she is d ep rived
o f w hat he has - th e p hallu s. In this w ay th e w om an becom es
em p ty, an absence the m ale p hallu s has to fill. Wh ereas the
sp ecu lu m allow s on e to look insid e and to see th at th e fem ale
genital organs are n ot sim p ly lacking som eth in g, an em p tiness
to be filled by th e p hallu s, bu t on th e con trary have a m u ch
greater sexu al richness th an the m ale. Th is richness becom es
u nrecognizable in m en 's p h allocen tric d iscou rse in sofar as they
are afraid o f sexu al d ifference and need to see th eir ow n inverted
im age in the fem ale an d n oth in g m or e. Th e natu ral con sequ en ce
o f this p ersp ective is th e affirm ation o f th e red iscovery o f a
d ifference th at althou gh alread y existing has to be red iscovered
and re-in terrogated after having been for so lon g su ffocated ; a
d ifference that has its roots in biology, th e d ifference betw een
m ale and fem ale rep rod u ctive organ s.
Ju lia Kristeva carries ou t a d ifferent type o f th eoretical
op eration w ith Lacan bu t, all things con sid ered , uses the sam e
m eth od as Irigaray - giving valu e to w hat has been historically
u nd ervalu ed , changing a negative sign in to a p ositive on e.
In this case Kristeva con cen trates on th e p re-oed ip al p hase,
p reced ing the im p osition o f the Fath er's sym bolic ord er, the
origins o f langu age. She d efines this p eriod as th e "sem iotic
ord er" - the ord er o f signs. Th e sem iotic ord er is th at o f th e
m other and rep resents the p eriod o f th e exclu sive relation sh ip

betw een the baby and its m oth er before th e sep aration carried
ou t by the father throu gh the th reat o f castration . Kristeva's
intentions are to highlight the role o f th is p re-oed ip al p h ase,
generally u nd ervalu ed by p sychoanalysts, w ith in th e p rocess
of the form ation o f th e su bject. In this p hase com m u n ica tion
betw een m others and babies takes p lace essentially th rou gh
gestures (caresses, bod ily con tact an d general care) rath er
than w ord s. Th e com in g o f the Fath er's sym bolic ord er an d
thereby language strangles the sem iotic ord er th at n everth eless
never entirely d isappears given th at w hat is rep ressed is n ever
elim inated . Th e real task is to try an d red iscover an d sp eak
abou t everything that m ale con cep tu alization an d langu age
have su ffocated and to talk abou t th e m oth er 's sem iotic ord er
ju st as artists and p oets transgress th e sym bolic ord er th rou gh
rebelling against its law s.
Irigaray and Kristeva becam e th e fu n d am en tal referen ce
p oint for m any theorists o f "Fr en ch fem in ism " su ch as Lu isa
Mu raro, w ho d evelop ed th e id ea o f sexu al d ifferen ce in an
organic vision based on th e necessity for w om en to bu ild a
sym bolic fem inin e ord er in h er book V ordine simbolico della
madre [The m oth er's sym bolic ord er, 1997]. In a sim ilar vein ,
Ad riana Caverero w rote Per una teoria della differenza sessuale
[For a theory of sexu al d ifferen ce, 1987] an d is a su p p orter
of the p ossibility of con stru ctin g a langu age th at gives a voice
to sexual d ifference - refu sing th e m on olith ic im p erialism o f
m ale langu age, w hich tries to absorb an d assim ilate th e O th er
to him self. Th e con d ition s o f w om en 's sep aration in th is w ay
becom es an op p ortu n ity to red iscover an d research d ifferen ce
and the confiscated Oth er.
This binary logic of d ifference w as ch allen ged in th e 1980s
in the theoretical d evelop m ents o f Lesbian fem in ism . M o n iq u e
Wittig, for exam p le, w ho com es fr om th e m aterialist fem in ist
cu rrent, w rote a p ap er in 1980, One is not Born a W oman w h ere
she rejects the d efinition o f lesbians as w om en . W o m en an d m en
in fact rep resent tw o antagonistic classes an d h eterosexu ality is
a n orm established to su stain the d ivision in to sexu al classes,

rep rod u cing the con d ition s for the exp loitation o f w om en .
Lesbians are n ot w om en becau se they break the heterosexu al
con tract, they are fu gitives from the classes to w hich they have
been assigned . Th ey are th erefore "n on -w om en " and their
con d ition s op en the way to th e liberation o f all oth er w om en .
Generally lesbian th in kers have com e to challenge th e bin ary
con cep t o f "w om en " and "m e n ", attem p tin g to p u t forw ard a
rethinking o f sexu ality, sexu al id entity, sex and gend er. Qu eer
theory, d evelop ed in th e 1990s, p articu larly w ith Ju d ith Bu tier's
w ork, has m ore th an anything else ad vanced th e challenge to
gend er id entity and its con n ection to sexu ality. Perhap s Bu tler's
greatest con tribu tion has been th e in trod u ction o f th e con cep t
o f gend er as "p erform ative" - being con stru cted th rou gh
the rep etition o f stylized acts in tim e th at she p articu larly
elaborated in Gender Trouble and Bodies that M atter. She
attem p ts to p rovid e a th eoretical alternative both to conceivin g
d ifference as an on tological essence an d social con stru ctivism .
Both p osition s, accord in g to Bu tler, end anger th e p ossibility o f
free su bjective action th rou gh a d eterm in ism w hich in the first
case elim inates it from th e insid e eith er th rou gh d eterm in ed
sexu al or biological id entity or th rou gh th e sym bolic p rocess
o f id entity form ation or th rou gh both togeth er. In th e second
case the restriction com es fr om the ou tsid e, th rou gh the
social con stru ction o f gend er as a given reality to w hich on e
su bm its. Con cep tu alizin g gend er as a "p er for m a n ce" m eans
n ot consid erin g it as som eth in g static, alread y set on ce an d
for all, bu t rather as a totality o f acts, gestu res an d behaviou rs
that rep resent "gen d er d iscip lin e" and w hich con tin u ally create
gend er id entity. Accord in g to th e classical inversion o f cau se
and effect th ere is th e ten d en cy to u n d erstan d the action s and
behaviou rs that d istingu ish on e gend er from an oth er as being
the p rod u ct o f an alread y d efined id en tity, o f a su bject th at is
alread y "gen d ered ". Bu t it is p recisely th e op p osite - it is these
actions and beh aviou rs th at "p er for m " gend er, as regu latory
ritu als th at ten d to be con tin u ally rep eated , th at d efine w ho is
a w om an and w ho is a m an and w hich en d u p even shap ing

the bod y m aterially. Pow er relations in fact for m th e bod y,
d iscip lining, shaping and sexu alizing it to con for m w ith gen d er.
Thu s the bod y is con stru cted by d iscou rse to th e p oin t th at
som e bod ies - those o f transsexu als for exam p le - d o n ot cou n t
and have no right to existence or exp ression in th e d iscou rse.
Fu rther rad icalizing Fou cau lt, Bu tler in this w ay exten d s
the process of d issolu tion o f th e su bject to th e p oin t th at th e
bod y itself is n o longer a core su bjective id en tity bu t rath er th e
p rod u ct of extensive p ow er relation s.
In ord er to exist, gend er need s to con tin u ally rep eat th ose
actions that form it - it is n oth in g w ith ou t th is con tin u al
rehearsal w hich, far from bein g con tin gen t, is u n d er con stan t
regu lation. Continu ally "m akin g" gend er also at th e sam e tim e
"u n d oes" gend er in the sense th at, in con stan tly p erform in g th e
gend er p rocess throu gh acts th at fit w ith cod es o f beh aviou r ,
cracks, con trad iction s and fissu res con tin u ally occu r . Th is
breakd ow n in the p erform an ce op ens u p th e p ossibility for th e
su bject to u nd o gend er and thu s for its p ossible su bversion .
Rad ical fem in ism , th eories o f d ifferen ce an d qu eer th eory p u t
forw ard d ivergent visions o f gend er, sex an d sexu ality alth ou gh
they do have som e p oin ts in co m m o n . W h a t th ey generally
do have in com m on is a rad ical shift in atten tion tow ard s
the level of d iscou rse and langu age as th e p lace for d efin in g
gender id entity and form in g a h ierarch y betw een th e sexes.
Using d econstru ction m eth od s th ey have eith er revealed th e
misogynist character o f m any cu ltu ral p rod u cts or analysed th e
lingu istic lapses or stam m erin g th at p oin t back to th e rep ressed ,
to the Oth er w ho is n ot allow ed to sp eak. Th e atten tion
given here to the id eological ch aracter o f gen d er op p ression
and its p sychological im p lication s has certain ly filled a gap
in the study o f w om en 's op p ression , bu t at th e cost o f often
red ucing the com p lexity o f reality to th e level o f langu age an d
d iscourse and m aking p sychoanalysis th e key to u n d erstan d in g
everything. Both rad ical fem inists an d d ifferen ce th eorists
("French fem in ists"), albeit for d ifferent aim s an d objectives,
have con tribu ted to the d ehistoricization o f th e relations o f

op p ression betw een the sexes.
Seeking the roots o f p atriarchy in the biological d ifferences
betw een m en and w om en , as for exam p le Fireston e d oes, and
to claim therein lie th e origins o f m ale su p rem acy, w hich is then
extend ed to oth er sp heres and creates oth er equ ivalent systems
o f d om in ation and op p ression , is th e exact reversal o f the
orth od ox Marxist m eth od w hich aim s to show that w om en 's
op p ression is sim p ly d erived from class exp loitation . It also
m eans m aking p atriarch y in to som eth in g static and invariable
as if the form s o f gend er op p ression and th e role it plays are
historically always th e sam e and u n iform th rou gh ou t the w orld .
Th e sep aratist ch oice, w hich in m ost cases goes h an d in h an d
w ith calling for th e stru ggle against p atriarch y to be th e p rim ary
one as op p osed to all oth ers and w ith d efining m en and w om en
as antagonistic classes, has hard ly con tribu ted to bu ild ing an
effective w om en 's p olitical p ersp ective. In fact it has rather
con tribu ted to th e fem in ist m ovem en t's isolation and closu re
p u shing it exclu sively tow ard s cu ltu ral and id eological critiqu es,
m ore or less system atically and rap id ly steering it away from
the qu estion o f social alliances. Th is state o f affairs was fu rth er
aggravated by th e extrem e fragm en tation - inclu d in g on a
th eoretical level - o f th e m ovem en t in to variou s com p on en ts -
heterosexu al, lesbian , black, black lesbian s...
Th e sp lit from th e w orkers' and social m ovem en ts is
accom p an ied by th e obliteration o f any critiqu e o f th e relations
o f p rod u ction w hich are rep laced by relation s o f p ow er
and d om in ation in th e w ake o f p ost-m od ern ist ten d en cies,
p articu larly insp ired by Fou cau lt's id eas. Con sequ en tly
they tend to con cen trate exclu sively on th e in stitu tion s th at
gu arantee and m ain tain the system o f sexu al roles - m atrim on y,
the fam ily, p rostitu tion and h eteron orm ativity. Th e p ositive
u nd erstand ing th at relations o f sexu al op p ression are p olitical
relations is n ot lin ked to a criticism o f class relations w ith
w hich p atriarchal op p ression is inevitably articu lated , n or o f
p rod u ction relations w here they are em bed d ed . Inevitably this
I 0 8 DANGEROUS LIAISONS
has p olitical and th eoretical con sequ en ces. Firstly, th e d ifficu lty
in u nd erstand ing how oth er factors su ch as class an d race have
an influ ence n ot only on the form s o f op p ression su ffered bu t
also on the p rocesses o f w om en 's id en tification an d su bjectivity.
Conflicts arose qu ite qu ickly as they cam e u p against black
w om en in the liberation m ovem en ts w ho refu sed to p u t th eir
class or racial id entity in to the backgrou n d below th eir fem ale
id entity. It led to black fem inists sp litting aw ay. Often an id ealist
or purely p sychological read ing was given o f th e roots o f m ale
d om ination. For exam p le, the N ew York Rad ical Fem in ist grou p
claim ed that m en w anted to d om in ate w om en n ot so m u ch for
a m aterial benefit bu t to satisfy th eir ow n egos. O n e th in g is
not u nd erestim ating the p sychological d im en sion o f op p ression
and the relative p sychological ben efits en joyed by th ose w h o
op p ress, bu t it is qu ite an oth er th in g to th in k th e satisfaction
of the ego can be the cau se o f an en tire system o f d om in a tion .
Som e tend encies of rad ical fem in ism in fact have gon e so
far in their criticism of m en in th e sexu al area th at th ey have
arrived at a p osition th at stand s alongsid e - th rou gh a sort o f
coincid ence o f the op p osites - m oralists or even reaction aries.
This is the case for exam p le w ith th e grou p W o m e n against
Pornograp hy and o f w riters an d activists like Cath arin e
McKin n on and And rea Dw orkin , w ho in th e 1980s en d ed u p
p rom oting a cam p aign in favou r o f a law to ban p orn ograp h y as
a form of sexual d iscrim in ation (a law th at w as later ad op ted in
various states in the USA and Can ad a). In th is w ay th ey h elp ed
strengthen p olitical and state con trol over sexu ality, giving it
a big progressive gloss. So p eop le cou ld n ow ju st brin g in th e
struggle against sexu al d iscrim in ation w hen raising th e qu estion
of offend ing p u blic m orality.
By a strange convergence som e p rop osals by th e sexu al
d ifference theorists also com e d angerou sly close to m oralizin g
or conservative p osition s on sexu ality. In th e Temps de la
Difference [Tim e of d ifferen ce], Lu ce Irigaray is in favou r o f a
law on virginity w hich gives a sp ecial statu s to girls w h o d ecid e
to keep their virginity as lon g as th ey w an t, w ith ou t u n d ergoin g
pressu re from m en . A virginity law p rovid ing a reference p oin t

on this qu estion w ou ld su p p osed ly in this way help you ng
w om en have an au ton om ou s, p ositive id entity. An officially
recognized virginity statu s w ou ld be a p recon d ition for loving
relations w ith the op p osite sex to be really free. It ap p ears to be
d ifficu lt for Irigaray to con sid er th at you ng w om en can d evelop
a p ositive id entity th at d oes n ot d ep end on w hether th eir hym en
is in tact. On ce again, w om en are red u ced to th eir bod ies and
their sexu al organs. It is n ot an arbitrary p rop osal, in fact it is
the natu ral con sequ en ce - althou gh an extrem e on e - o f the
theoretical fram ew ork p rop osed by Irigaray and taken u p by a
great m an y o f the d ifference th eorists. Wh ere d o we seek this
d ifference betw een m en an d w om en in ord er to analyse and
u nd erstand it? Eith er we find it in th e last analysis in the basic
bod ily d ifference and th erefore retu rn to biological d eterm in ism
- even if it is en rich ed and d ressed up w ith p sychoanalytical
consid eration s on th e p rocesses o f th e form ation o f sexu al
id entity. O r d ifference is socially and h istorically p rod u ced
and a resu lt o f thou sand s o f years o f w om en 's op p ression and
consequ ently it is d ifficu lt to see it as som eth in g to be valu ed .
Th e risk is th at in this in fin ite research for rep ressed d ifference
that m u st be highlighted , w e en d u p id ealizing m isery. Ind eed
the fem ale ch aracteristics, w hich are n orm ally p rom in en tly
raised by th e d ifference th eorists, are d angerou sly close to the
stereotyp es created by m en and have generally been qu ite effective
in id eologically rein forcin g op p ression . For exam p le valu ing the
sem iotic ord er o f the m oth er against th e sym bolic ord er o f the
father, as Kristeva d oes, lead s to con ceivin g w om en 's exclu sion
from th e sp heres o f langu age an d con cep ts as bein g som e
fu nd am ental fem ale essen ce. Con cep tu al reason in g, langu age
and d iscou rse are th e p rop erty o f th e fath er and m en w hereas
in tu ition , extra-ration al and a-con cep tu al u nd erstand in g are
the essence o f the m oth er and w om en . W o m en having in tu ition
is an old , rather recognizable stereotyp e. Th e oth er sid e o f this
coin is the p re-su p p osition th at w om en are con trad ictory and
n ot very good at logical th in kin g. Along the sam e lines you
HO DANGEROUS LIAISONS
have the id ea that w om en possess a con crete in telligen ce o f

the p articu lar w hich contrasts w ith m ale abstract reason in g.
Within left m ixed organization s this lin e o f argu m en t
supposed ly aim ing to give valu e to fem ale d ifferen ce has on ly
led to theoretical ju stification s as to w hy w om en are con tin u ally
attribu ted organizational, rather th an p olitical roles. Th e sam e
positive estim ation o f hosp itality, h elp fu ln ess, th e absen ce o f
aggression and com p etitiveness th at su p p osed ly is en sh rin ed
in w om enhood leaves ou t the fact th at th e cou n terp art o f th e
absence of aggression and com p etiveness tow ard s th e ou tsid e is
the violence that w om en com m it in m yriad even bizarre w ays
against them selves. Th is is n ot th e resu lt o f som e v ocation for
m aternal caring inscribed ind elibly on th e fem ale bod y bu t o f
the sim ple fact hat w om en have been h istorically exclu d ed fr om
the use of violence insofar as they have been kep t aw ay fr om th e
control of its w eap ons.
As Lid ia Cirillo in h er book Letter a alle Rotnane [Letter to
Rom an w om en ] states:
Th e fem inine only exists as a resu lt o f an act o f p ow er an d as

an id eology, d enying fem in in ity is to refu se to fall in to th e
trap of p h allic-logo-cen trism , to reject th e bin ary op p osition .
Wh en a system th at d enies you is u sed to affirm you p ositively
then the n on -bein g is tu rn ed in to its op p osite an d an ti-
m etap hysical, anti-essentialist an d an ti-id en tity in ten tion s
are transform ed in to fem in in e id en tity an d th e m etap h ysics
of sex.
Fu rth erm ore, this bin ary logic rem oves th e p ossibility o f
thinking abou t gend er ou tsid e o f th e w om en /m en d ich otom y
leaving ou t the exp eriences and reflection s o f all th ose th at
cannot and d o n ot w ant to fit in to it - gay m en , lesbian s,
transsexu als, bisexu als...
On the contrary, it is on th e basis o f exactly these exp erien ces
that qu eer theory has d evelop ed p osin g th e p r oblem n ot on ly
of the form ation o f gend er bu t o f its relation sh ip w ith sex
BET WEEN GENDER AN D CLASS I 11
and sexu ality. Ju d ith Bu tler's w ork p robably p rovid es us w ith

the m ost interesting and intelligent insights on the gend er
d ebate in recent years. She has p rovid ed us w ith a n u m ber of
very interesting and th ou gh t-p rovokin g id eas that give her a
p articu lar role and p osition w ithin cu rren t fem inist d ebates: the
n otion o f gend er p erform an ce; th e refu sal o f narrow biological
p ositions or id eas o f w om en 's essence; breaking w ith the w om en /
m ale d ich otom y; th e focu s on th e m aterial asp ects o f gend er
op p ression (th e in stitu tions th at rep rod u ce it, the consequ ences
in term s o f red istribu tion , access to w elfare, w ork...); th e way
in w hich gend er op p ression is closely tied u p w ith cu ltu re;
criticism o f heterosexu al n orm s; the refu sal o f sep aratism and
the atten tion given to stru ggles and th eir fram ew ork.
In an article, "Merely Cu ltu ral", in w hich she resp ond s to
som e o f the objection s to h er id eas m ad e by N an cy Fraser,
Bu tler d efines in exp licit term s th e qu estion o f the role played
by "obligatory" h eterosexu ality w ithin cap italist society.
H eterosexu ality, w ith its misrecognition o f h om osexu ality and
oth er ways o f living on e's sexu ality, is a valid su p p ort for the
con stitu tion o f th e m on o-n u clear fam ily w hich plays a central
role in the p rocess o f rep rod u ction o f th e labou r force and
th erefore o f th e overall p rocess o f social rep rod u ction o f cap ital
as highlighted by Marxist fem inists in th e 1970s. Im p osin g the
n or m o f h eterosexu ality in this w ay is n ot a "m erely cu ltu ral"
factor bu t op erates w ithin th e econ om ic stru ctu re. Th is is an
extrem ely interestin g p oin t an d grasps th e w ay in w hich the
role assu m ed by th e fam ily in cap italism is con n ected to the
im p osition o f obligatory h eterosexu ality. As N an cy Fraser n otes
in her resp onse to this article ("H eterosexism , Misrecogn ition
and Cap italism : A resp onse to Ju d ith Bu t ler "), Bu tler has a
certain ten d en cy to con fu se w hat is "m a ter ia l" w ith w hat is
"econ om ic". Obviou sly gay, lesbian , transsexu al and bisexu al
op p ression has a sp ecifically m aterial asp ect becau se it has
con sequ en ces and u ses m ean s th at are d efinitely m aterial and are
n ot con fin ed to th e realm o f th e "d iscou rse". H ow ever an oth er
qu estion is w hether h eterosexism plays a d irect role for exam p le
,, 2 DANGEROUS LIAISONS
in the d ivision o f labou r and is essential to it, in oth er w ord s,

does it play any role in th e stru ctu rin g o f p rod u ction relation s.
This theoretical ap p roach , w hile p oten tially a very fru itfu l on e,
has not yet been taken u p by Ju d ith Bu tler in h er w ritings ap art
from a few allu sions in som e articles like "Mer ely Cu ltu r al".
N evertheless it is necessary to th eoretically exp lain h ow gen d er
p erform ativity op erates w ithin cap italist relation s o f p r od u ction
for a n u m ber o f reasons. First, w e n eed to avoid an id ealist or
cu ltu ralist ap p roach to how this p erform ativity fu n ction s an d
to steer clear o f any ahistorical p ersp ective. W h a t d efines a
w om an as a w om an is n ot invariable an d it takes on extrem ely
d ifferent con n otation s th rou gh h istory an d th e p rocess is n ot
based on the sam e m ech an ism s. Wh ile gend er is con tin u ally
p erform ed , w hat is the natu re and basis o f th e coercion o f th e
n orm that gu arantees the con tin u ed rep etition o f th e acts th at
p rod u ce gend er p erform ativity an d w h ich allow s for on ly tw o
genders to be legitim ized ? Ju d ith Bu tler takes u p th e qu estion o f
the m aterial natu re o f how gend er is p erform ed an d th erefore
the totality o f the m aterial in stitu tion s th at u n d erp in it w h ich
are not red u cible to a "lan gu age". H ow ever d ealing w ith th e
qu estion only from th e p oin t o f view o f p ow er relation s risks
obscu ring the relations o f p rod u ction w h ich offer th e fram ew ork
for these p ow er relations. Seeing p ow er as on ly som eth in g
that is d iffuse and everyw here ru ns th e risk o f n ot p lacin g it
anyw here, thereby eith er overestim ating th e p ossibility o f th e
au tonom ou s invention o f gend er or o f elim in atin g it in sofar as
it is cru shed by the u n fath om able p ow er relation s. In terven in g
throu gh a "rein ven tion " w ithin th e fissu res th at are p rod u ced in
the rep etition o f the acts th at generate gen d er cou ld be a valid
p osition (also if this is often on p ap er) by a very lim ited circle
of p eop le equ ip p ed w ith ad equ ate m ean s an d w ith a d egree o f
au tonom y that is generally broad er th an th at reserved for m ere
m ortals, bu t it is n ot a real op tion for th e rest o f h u m an ity. In
ord er to d e-con stru ct or re-in ven t gend ers th erefore you ca n n ot
avoid posing the qu estion o f w h ich collective su bject can d o it,
able to challenge the m aterial bases w h ich back u p coercive
heterosexu al n orm s and th e w om an /m an d ich otom y. To claim

that the su bject's gend er id entity can be con stru cted throu gh
the rep etition o f p erform an ce action s certainly has a grain o f
tru th bu t risks in tim e d issip ating a su bject alread y su ffering
from three d ecad es o f p ost-m od ern ism and encou rages the id ea
that it is enou gh to su sp end the rep etition in ord er to escap e
from a su ffocating p rocess o f id en tification . Th is is certainly n ot
Bu tler's p osition - h er th eoretical solid ity p revents her slid ing
in to su ch naive solu tion s; bu t th e p roblem o f how to th in k
throu gh the bu ild ing o f collective su bjects and the p rocesses
becom in g su bjects - p articu larly w here the su bject has
u nd ergone the m ost p ow erfu l d econ stru ction s - rem ains op en .
Chapter 4
A QUEER UNION BETWEEN
MARXISM AND FEMINISM?
4.1. One theory for dual systems
In 1979, H eid i H artm an n p u blished an essay titled "The
unhappy marriage of M arxism and Feminism". Lydia Sargent's
1981 anthology, W omen and Revolution: a Discussion of the
Unhappy M arriage of M arxism and Feminism, com p iled m an y
of the criticism s and d ebates su rrou n d in g H artm an n 's essay,
w hich cam e from Marxist and rad ical fem inists alike.
In this long article H artm an n d evelop s th e so-called d u al
systems th eory, th eorizing the in tersection o f p atriarchy and
cap italism , starting ou t from th e u nsu ccessfu l en cou n ter o f
Marxism and fem in ism . Marxism m issed th e op p ortu n ity
p rovid ed by th e new fem in ist wave to renew itself th orou gh ly.
Instead , it tend ed to view gend er op p ression as an op p ression
of second ary im p ortan ce an d su bstantially su bord in ated to
class exp loitation . Th e m arriage o f Marxism and fem in ism was
analogou s to m arriage o f a m an and a w om an as in stitu tion alized
u nd er English com m on law : like h u sban d and w ife, Marxism
and fem in ism w ere on e th in g, an d th at th in g was Marxism .
Engels' in tu ition in The Origin of the Family, th at p rod u ction
and rep rod u ction o f im m ed iate life, as a d eterm in in g factor in
history, consisted o f tw o asp ects - p rod u ction o f th e m ean s o f
existence and p rod u ction o f h u m an beings them selves - has
n ot been exam in ed in greater d ep th by Engels h im self or by
su bsequ ent Marxists. Th is has con tribu ted to Marxist categories
M 6 DANGEROUS LIAISONS
rem aining "sex-blin d ", w ith con sequ en ces n ot on ly in term s o f

u nd erestim ating w om en 's con d ition o f op p ression , bu t also
u nd erm ining the cap acity to u n d erstan d th e com p lex reality o f
cap italism . Marxist categories su ch as "class", "reserve a r m y ",
and "labou r force" are "sex-blin d " as th ey are p attern ed after
the "sex-blin d " natu re of th e laws o f cap italist d evelop m en t.
Accord ing to H artm an n , cap italism creates h ierarch ies
w ithin the labou r force, bu t its laws o f d evelop m en t can n ot
d eterm ine w ho will be d estined to occu p y th e d ifferen t ran ks
w ithin this hierarchy. Fr om the stan d p oin t o f cap ital's p u re
"law s of m ovem en t", w orkers occu p y a su bord in ate p osition
w hether m en or w om en or w hite or black, cap italism is u tterly
ind ifferent. As long as the categories o f th e critiqu e o f p olitical
econ om y reflect the laws o f cap italist d evelop m en t, even th ese
cannot exp lain w ho w ill fit in to w hich ran k w ith in th e variou s
hierarchies. Th e con cep t o f class alon e is n ot su fficien t in th is
case and m u st be integrated w ith th e con cep ts o f gen d er, race,
nationality and religion. In oth er w ord s, th e factor allow ing
cap italism to con fin e w om en to th e low er step s o f th e h ierarch y
of labou r force is n ot the logic o f cap italism 's in tern al fu n ction in g
itself, bu t that o f an oth er system o f op p ression . Alth ou gh this
p atriarchal system is intertw ined w ith cap italism , it has its ow n
au tonom y. Th u s the su bord in ation o f w om en created by th e
p atriarchal system , w hose origins are p re-cap italist, is u sed by
cap italism for its ow n p u rp oses.
H artm an n 's d efinition o f p atriarch y attem p ts to avoid th e
pitfall o f im agining a u niversal and invariable stru ctu re, rath er
taking into accou n t its h istoricity an d th u s th e tr an sfor m ation s
it has u nd ergone. From this stan d p oin t it is n ot p ossible to sp eak
of p u re p atriarchy, as its m aterial stru ctu res are alw ays r ooted
w ithin d eterm ined relations o f p rod u ction an d this in extricable
relation m od ifies th eir ch aracteristics an d n atu re. In stead , on e
m u st speak rather o f slavehold ing p atriarch y, feu d al p atriarch y,
capitalist p atriarchy and so on . Insisting on th e h istorical n atu re
of p atriarchy and its tran sform ation , H ar tm an n d evelop ed an
ou tlook con cern ing relations betw een cap italism an d p atriarch y
A QUEER UN I ON
d ifferent from the on e Ju liet Mitch ell p u t forth in Psychoanalysis

and Feminism. Accord in g to Mitch ell, p atriarchal stru ctu res
have a u niversal and ahistorical p sychological and id eological
natu re, w hich p ersists from on e m od e o f p rod u ction to the
n ext. In teraction betw een these stru ctu res and a given m od e o f
p rod u ction then p rod u ces variations in the way these u niversal
stru ctu res are articu lated and d ifferentiated . Based on these,
fem ale op p ression takes d ifferent form s and exp resses itself in
d ifferent w ays, d ep end ing on this h istorical m om en t, location
and class affiliation.
Instead , H artm an n em p hasizes th e h istorical tran sform ation s
that p atriarchal stru ctu res them selves, and n ot ju st their
exp ressions, u n d ergo. Desp ite this close correlation betw een
m od e o f p rod u ction and p atriarch al system , each o f these
op erates accord ing to an in tern al logic and sp ecific laws th at
can be on th e sam e w avelength bu t also in con flict. Desp ite the
fact that cap italism has u sed and con tin u es to use the p atriarch y
to shore u p its ow n ru le and articu late exp loitation , in certain
circu m stan ces th e "sex-blin d " laws m ovem en t o f cap ital can
com e in to con trad iction w ith th ose o f th e p atriarch al system .
A failu re to grasp th e laws p rop er to th e tw o system s p revents
us from u nd erstand ing the n atu re o f these con trad iction s.
Based on these con sid eration s, the hap p y m arriage H artm an n
hop es for shou ld give way to a u nified th eory able to read and
interp ret the in tern al op eration al laws o f the d u al cap italist and
p atriarchal system s and th e way in w hich these relate to on e
an oth er, w ith ou t seeking to red u ce on e to th e oth er.
In the first chap ter o f h er book Justice Interruptus, p u blished
in 1997, N an cy Fraser d evelop ed a th eoretical p rop osal that
som e critics have also d efined as a d u al-system s th eory. H ow ever
- as we shall see - Fraser's ap p roach is a rath er p articu lar d u al-
system s th eory, very d ifferent from H artm an n 's ou tlook.
Starting ou t from th e observation th at d em and s for recogn ition
have becom e alm ost a p arad igm atic for m o f p olitical con flict
at the end o f th e tw entieth cen tu ry and a fu lcru m o f stru ggles
relating to n ation ality, gend er, race and sexu ality, Fraser
,, 8 DANGEROUS LIAISONS
proposes a concep tu al schem a m aking it p ossible to take in to

consid eration both the sp ecific d ifferences betw een d em an d s
for ju stice based on "red istribu tion " and th ose based on
"recogn ition " as well as the p ossibility o f lin kin g th ese. Th is
schem a is based on a d istinction betw een in ju stice w ith econ om ic
roots (exp loitation, d isp ossession, econ om ic m argin alization )
and inju stice of a sym bolic and cu ltu ral n atu re (cu ltu ral
d om in ation , n on -recogn ition , con tem p t). In analytical ter m s,
d isregard ing the fact that in reality both form s o f op p ression are
alm ost always closely intertw ined , class exp loitation rep resen ts
a case of "p u r e" econ om ic in ju stice, w hile th e op p ression
of gays and lesbians is a case o f cu ltu ral in ju stice: th e for m er
case of inju stice gives rise to d em and s for "r ed istr ibu tion "; th e
latter to d em and s for "r ecogn ition ". Asserting th at in an alytical
term s econ om ic and cu ltu ral in ju stice requ ire d istin ction d oes
not at all equ al a failu re to recognize th eir correlation in real
life and the circu m stan ce th at, for exam p le, th e op p ression o f
gays, lesbians, trans and intersexu als exerts leverage on m aterial
stru ctu res and in stitu tion s and has econ om ic con sequ en ces an d
aspects, su ch as d iscrim in ation in th e labou r m arket an d th e
healthcare system . Bu t, for exam p le, cu ltu ral in ju stices are n ot a
cornerstone of the relations o f p rod u ction , d o n ot stru ctu re th e
d ivision of labou r, and requ ire a sym bolic or cu ltu ral ch an ge to
be overcom e. Betw een these tw o p oles, econ om ic in ju stice an d
m isrecognition, there is a range o f in ju stices th at en com p ass
both of these asp ects: this is the case o f w om en 's an d racial
op p ression. Both have econ om ic roots an d are d eterm in an t in
the d ivision o f labou r in d ifferent w ays. In th e case o f w om en ,
this involves both a d ivision o f rep rod u ctive an d p rod u ctive
labou r, assigning the form er as an u n p aid task for w om en ,
and a hierarchy w ithin the labou r force, w here gen d er is u sed
to d istinguish betw een p red om in an tly m ale, better-p aid jo b
sectors and low er-p aid , p red om in an tly fem ale w ork sectors.
H ow ever, this is only one asp ect o f op p ression , as w om en
are also su bject to d ep reciation o f a sym bolic an d cu ltu ral
natu re, w hich gives rise to m an y form s o f d iscrim in ation an d
A QUEER UN I ON
violence: d om estic and sexu al violen ce, sexu al exp loitation ,

com m od ification o f w om en 's bod ies in com m u n ication s and
in form ation , m olestation ...
Th u s, op p ression o f w om en , like racial op p ression, calls
for both types o f resp onse, nam ely d em and s for red istribu tive
ju stice and for recogn ition . Fraser d oes em p hasize how this
bivalent situ ation p rod u ces con trad iction s. Th e logic o f
d em and s for red istribu tive ju stice, in fact, w ou ld lead to d oing
away w ith gend er or racial d istin ction s. Calling for econ om ic
changes th at w ou ld entail th e end o f d iscrim in ation on a gend er
or racial basis in th e d ivision o f labou r, for exam p le, p u ts the
accen t on su rp assing these id entities and d ifferentiation on
the basis o f these id entities. O n th e oth er h an d , th e d em and
for recogn ition tend s to p u t a p rem iu m on d ifference and
id entity, d em and ing th at these be valu ed p ositively, instead o f
as sou rces o f d iscrim in ation . H ow can these tw o d ifferent logics
be reconciled ? Fraser's resp onse consists in cou n terp osin g
an "affirm ative" ap p roach to a "tran sform ative" on e, to
the qu estion o f red istribu tion and recogn ition . Affirm ative
ap p roaches involve a series o f m easu res in resp onse to econ om ic
and social inju stices th at d o n ot challenge th e stru ctu re at th eir
roots. Th is ap p roach w ou ld inclu d e for exam p le w elfare state
p olicies, based on red istribu ting existing good s to existing
grou p s (for exam p le, social assistance p olicies in relation to
the p oor ), actu ally su staining d ifferen tiation betw een grou p s.
Or m u lticu ltu ralism , w hich tend s to highlight d ifferences
and d ifferent id en tities, d em an d in g resp ect for th ese. On the
oth er h an d , the tran sform ative ap p roach tend s to qu estion the
stru ctu re generating the in ju stices, as in th e case for socialism
in term s o f th e qu estion o f d eep tran sform ation o f the relations
o f p rod u ction and su rp assing class d ivisions, or d econ stru ction
aim ing to restru ctu re relations o f recogn ition on a cu ltu ral level,
playing d ow n or abolishing th e d ifferen tiations am on g grou p s.
Qu eer th eory belongs to th e latter category. It d oes n ot raise
the d em and for h om osexu al, trans or intersexu al id entity as an
objective, bu t rather for th e d econ stru ction o f the h om osexu al/
,20 DANGEROUS LIAISONS
heterosexu al d ich otom y, d estabilizing all fixed sexu al id en tities.

Qu eer theory seeks to d econ stru ct gen d er, as socialism seeks
to d econstru ct class: n eith er aim to m ain tain or affirm gend er
and class id entity - althou gh in p olitical p raxis th e p r oblem o f
id entity is raised for both - bu t rath er to finally su rp ass gen d er,
as with class d ivisions. Based on this co m m on tran sform ative
and d econstru ctionist n atu re, it is p ossible to h yp oth esize a
com bin ation o f socialism and d econ stru ction ist fem in ism , able
to lau nch a com m on attack on econ om ic an d cu ltu ral in ju stice
alike, offering resp onses in term s o f red istribu tion an d in term s
of recognition. Th is com bin ation is all th e m or e n ecessary as
gend er and racial op p ression can n ot be red u ced to eith er o f
these form s of in ju stice, bu t en com p asses b oth .
4.2. One theory for a single system

Iris You ng has criticized both Fraser's th eory an d H a r tm a n 's,
in two articles: "Beyond the Unhappy M arriage: a Critique of
the Dual Systems Theory' and "Unruly Categories: a Critique
of N ancy Fraser' s Dual System Theory". Accord in g to You n g,
H artm ann's attem p t d oes have th e m erit o f p rovid in g an
alternative to an ahistorical con cep t o f th e p atriarch y, bu t raises
other p roblem s. O f cou rse, th e op p ression o f w om en goes
back m u ch fu rther than th e ad vent o f cap italism , so its cau se
cannot be fou nd w ithin the cap italist m od e o f p r od u ction .
H ow ever, the sam e d iscou rse is ap p licable to class d ivisions an d
exp loitation: they are n ot an original in ven tion o f cap italism
and ind eed also con stitu ted the basis o f th e fu n ction in g o f th e
econom y w ithin slavehold ing an d feu d al m od es o f p r od u ction .
We m u st d ed u ct from this th at class d ivision an d exp loitation
rep resent a freestand ing stru ctu re ch an gin g h istorically w ith
the su ccession o f m od es o f p rod u ction , bu t n everth eless
m aintaining au ton om y from the m od e o f p r od u ction itself. In
this sense cou ld class d ivision con stitu te a system ap art for m
cap italism , bu t intertw ined w ith it afterw ard s? Accep tin g th e
fact that there is n o "p u r e" d ivision in to classes, sep arate fr om
a specific m od e of p rod u ction d eterm in in g it, generally lead s to
the idea that class d ivision in itself d oes n ot con stitu te a system
A QUEER UN I ON 121
that end u res w hile changing over the cou rse o f cen tu ries. Why
w ou ld the sam e n ot apply also to p atriarchy? Moreover, the
d ual systems th eory enables trad ition al Marxism to con tin u e to
bu ild its th eory o f p rod u ction relations and social changes and
analyse cap italism in an u n ch an ged w ay, applying "sex-blin d "
categories, and to leave th e task o f analysing the p atriarchal
system u p to fem in ism . Against this op tion , You n g p rop oses
instead to integrate Marxism by d evelop ing a th eory o f gend er
d ivision o f labou r, referring to all d ifferentiation s o f labou r
by gend er w ithin society, from rep rod u ctive labou r w ithin
the fam ily to gend er h ierarch y w ithin th e labou r force in the
p rod u ctive sp here.
On e o f the reasons m otivating You n g's critiqu e o f H artm an n ,
and that recu rs in th e case o f the critiqu e o f Fraser's d u al systems
theory, is the refu sal to assign on ly th e categories o f th e critiqu e
o f p olitical econ om y to Marxism , and n ot th ose p ertaining to
cu ltu ral criticism . Makin g Marxism coin cid e w ith th e econ om ic
analysis o f cap italism , actu ally m akes it a red u ctive con cep t. In
the sam e w ay, it is an error to cou n terp ose the econ om ic and
cu ltu ral sp heres as if they w ere tw o com p letely au ton om ou s
sp heres th at com e to in teract in a recip rocal relation sh ip . And
yet we m u st say, con trary to You n g's critiqu e, Fraser's w riting
was and rem ains gu id ed by a d iam etrically op p osite objective,
su rp assing th e sep aration betw een the cu ltu ral and econ om ic
spheres and bu ild in g a th eoretical fram ew ork cap able o f
highlighting how they in tertw in e. Fr om this stan d p oin t, it is
d ifficu lt to con sid er h er p osition as a version o f th e d ual system s
theory, or if so, it is an u tterly sp ecific version . Accord in g to You n g,
w hen on e m oves from an abstractly analytical en viron m en t to
exam in in g h ow op p ressions and exp loitation and the d ynam ics
o f d ifferent stru ggles fu n ction con cretely, on e can see how a
binary op p osition betw een red istribu tion and recogn ition d oes
n ot fully exp ress th e com p lexity o f th e p rocesses o f d evelop ing
su bjectivities th at sp u r on th e com m u n ity or grou p s to stru ggle.
Th e logic o f d em and s for recogn ition d oes n ot necessarily
con trad ict the logic o f d em and s for red istribu tion , to th e exten t
that they both con tribu te to bu ild ing id entities able to stru ggle
for econ om ic ju stice and social equ ality: th is is th e case w ith
Zapatism and Black Pow er. As long as th e cu ltu ral op p ression
of specific grou ps plays a p art in th eir econ om ic op p ression ,
the tw o struggles are n ot in con flict, bu t rath er con tigu ou s.
Accord ing to You n g, the p olitics o f affirm in g id en tity (o f race,
gend er, ethnic grou p or religion ), com es in to con trad iction w ith
the struggle for social ju stice on ly w here in stead o f con tr ibu tin g
to the p rocess o f su bjectivization , it p u ts th e cu ltu ral exp ression
to the fore as an end in itself, so as to overshad ow th e role o f
cu ltu re in the p rod u ction o f stru ctu ral econ om ic op p ression s.
Th e d iscu ssion on th e d ual system s' cred ibility or lack th er eof
is also p resent to som e exten t, em bed d ed in an oth er d ebate th at
took place in the 1980s am on g Marxist an d socialist fem in ists
in the pages o f tw o jou rn als, N ew Left Review an d Studies in
Political Economy. Central to th e d ebate in w h ich au th ors su ch
as Johanna Bren n er, Maria Ram as, Mich ele Barrett, an d Patricia
Connelly p articip ated , was w h eth er or n ot it is p ossible to
com bin e Marxism and fem in ism , to d evelop a Marxist fem in ist
theory, con fron tin g the variou s p roblem s raised by su ch an
attem p t. Althou gh all the p articip an ts in th is d ebate ten d ed to
negate the valid ity o f a d u al system s th eory, w hile recogn izin g
that w om en's op p ression p reced es cap italism , th ey h ad d ifferen t
ways of seeking to show how an d in w hat sense th is op p ression
links up w ith cap italism . Man y qu estion s w ere raised : are th ere
p atriarchal stru ctu res in d ep en d en t o f cap italism 's ow n? W h a t
role does id eology play in gend er op p ression? W h a t relation is
there betw een gend er id eology and th e m aterial bases o f w om en 's
oppression? Does the m aterial an d econ om ic op p ression o f
w om en also p rod u ce p atriarchal id eology or on th e con trary,
does the latter also exert an in flu en ce on th e econ om ic level, for
exam ple on the sexu al d ivision o f labou r?
In W omen' s Oppression Today, Mich ele Barrett sou gh t to
show the role played by id eology in con stru ctin g th e econ om y ,
em phasizing how m any o f th e categories w e refer to as econ om ic
have been constru cted historically in id eological ter m s. In th e
A QUEER UN I ON 123
sam e way, the reasons for w hich th e id eology of the typ ically
bou rgeois fam ily has been and con tin u es to be shared , even
by the w orking class, w arrant investigation. Barrett's attem p t
p roceed s from the con sid eration that it is n ot p ossible to
op p ose w om en 's econ om ic situ ation and id eology, since su ch a
d istinction d oes n ot m ake it p ossible to grasp how these facets
are intertw ined . On the con trary, it is necessary to exp lore the
com p lex d ynam ics o f how gend er and class id eology relate to
one an oth er. Bren n er and Ram as criticized Mich ele Barrett's
essay in an article p u blished in N ew Left Review, as d id Pat and
H u gh Arm stron g in th e pages o f Studies in Political Economy.
Accord ing to her critics, Mich ele Barrett had fallen back
into the d ual system s th eory trap , w hile on th e con trary it is
necessary to recognize th at, d esp ite th e fact th at the p atriarchy
d id n ot originate w ith cap italism , bu t p reced ed it, it has becom e
com p letely integrated by cap italism to th e exten t th at by now
they act togeth er, n ot con stitu tin g tw o system s, bu t a sam e and
single system . In su p p ort o f this p osition , Bren n er and Ram as
insisted on the role biology plays in th e sexu al d ivision o f labou r
that took p lace in th e cou rse o f n in eteen th -cen tu ry cap italist
d evelop m ent. W om en 's rep rod u ctive role, th e lack o f effective
con tracep tion , and lack o f alternatives to breastfeed in g cam e
into con trad iction w ith fu ll p articip ation in p rod u ctive factory
w ork. As breastfeed ing and child rearing w ere in com p atible w ith
factory w ork, this com bin ation o f a biological factor and a sp ecific
type o f econ om ic d evelop m en t p rod u ced the sp ecific op p ression
o f w om en u n d er cap italism , based on th e fam ily h om e system .
Th e cru x o f th e m atter con sisted in h ow the cap italist class
p rod u ctive system in corp orated biological rep rod u ctive facts
and how biological d ifferences in this sp ecific situ ation becam e
an obstacle to w om en 's p articip ation in p rod u ction . Insisting
on the w eight o f th e biological factor view ed in relation to the
social factor and the h istorical m od ification s o f this relation is
tan tam ou n t to d ow np laying th e role o f p atriarch al id eology in
the d eterm in ation o f th e sexu al d ivision o f labou r.
In her resp onse to this criticism (Rethinking W omen' s
Oppression: A Reply to Brenner and Ratnas), Mich ele Barrett

noted that the resp onses given to biological lim its are always
social Wom en o f the aristocracy an d th e grand bou rgeoisie
were qu ick to resolve the need to feed n ew born s th rou gh th e
use of w et-nu rses. Moreover, in som e societies, th e p r oblem o f
breastfeed ing is p artially socialized so as to relieve th e bu rd en
falling u p on the m oth er alon e. For w orkin g-class w om en in
cou ntries u nd ergoing cap italist d evelop m en t, th e resp on se has
been to m arginalize w om en fr om p rod u ctive w ork. In oth er
term s, the type of resp onse given to a biological lim itation (for
exam ple the need to breastfeed babies) is a qu estion o f social
choices and p rocesses. Bu t these ch oices an d p rocesses can on ly
be u nd erstood by taking in to accou n t gend er id eology an d h ow
it influ ences and has influ enced th e d ivision o f labou r.
4.3. From unhappy marriage to queer union

The variou s versions o f fem inist th eory have often , if n ot alw ays,
been attem p ts to p rovid e answ ers to th e m a jor p roblem s, facin g
w om en on the p olitical level, and in p articu lar th ose p ertain in g
to constru cting a fem ale an d /or fem in ist su bjectivity able to
struggle for w om en 's ow n liberation . Qu estion s su ch as valu ing
or d econstru cting gend er d ifferen ce, th e social or biological
origin of the op p ression o f w om en , to w hat exten t th ere is a
cu rrent p atriarchal system au ton om ou s fr om cap italism , th e
role o f gend er id eology w ith resp ect to th e sexu al d ivision o f
labou r, or w hether or n ot sexu al classes exist, are th e reflection
of concrete p olitical challenges to w h ich th e fem in ist m ov em en t
has had to attem p t to p rovid e answ ers. Th ese resp on ses, in tu r n ,
have had a d ecisive influ ence on th e m ov em en t's d evelop m en t,
its fragm entation and its articu lation .
Th e brief recon stru ction o f som e o f these d ebates p rovid ed
in these pages has attem p ted to follow a logic an d classification s
not generally u sed in the fem in ist d ebate, seeking in stead to
attem p t to circle rou n d an u nresolved p olitical p r oblem th at is
nevertheless all the m ore u rgent; n am ely, th e h istorical, p olitical
and theoretical relationship betw een gend er an d class an d th e
possibility of d eveloping a th eory th at recon ciles Mar xism an d
A QUEER UN I ON 125
fem inism w ithou t forcin g th em in to a m arriage o f con ven ien ce.

Ad d ressing this p roblem has becom e all the m ore u rgent if we
consid er the d evelop m ents in the fem in ist m ovem en t in recent
d ecad es and the im p act o f cap italist globalization on w om en 's
lives.
Faced w ith the m on u m en tal p rocess o f fem in ization o f
labou r u nd erw ay, p rod u ced by cap italist globalization , the
su bstantial d ivorce betw een Marxism and fem in ism has given
rise to still m ore m ajor p roblem s. On th e on e h an d , analysis
of the sexu al d ivision o f labou r, o f the role o f rep rod u ction
for cap italism , and th e w ay p atriarchal id eology is interw oven
w ith the d ynam ics o f cap italist accu m u lation , con tin u es to n ot
be fully integrated eith er in Marxist th eory or in the actions o f
organizations o f the p olitical left and social m ovem en ts. Th is
greatly lim its both u nd erstand ing an d th e cap acity to intervene
in reality. On the oth er, the fact th at a con sisten t p art o f fem inist
m ovem en ts and th eory d isregard s class d eterm in ation s in the
n am e o f a u niversal sisterh ood or qu alities th at are essential
fem ale ch aracteristics m akes it m or e d ifficu lt to bu ild p olitical
and social alliances betw een th e fem in ist m ovem en t and the
w orkers' m ovem en t and d oes n ot even rend er a good service
to the fem in ist m ovem en t itself and its cap acity to tran sform
reality.
As early as the en d o f th e 1980s, th e th eory o f in tersection ality
(a term coin ed in 1989 by Kim berle Crenshaw ) has attem p ted
to p u t the em p hasis on th e in teraction betw een gend er, class
and race and on how this com p lex in teraction acted in tu rn on
su bjects. Th is in teraction m u st n ot be u n d erstood as a sim p le
ad d ition or su m m in g u p o f op p ression s.
Du e to this very in tersection , w om en can n ot be view ed as
a h om ogen ou s su bject exp erien cin g gend er op p ression as
p rim ary and sexism as th eir m ain relation to p ow er, given
their d iversity in racial, class, eth n ic and statu s term s and how
this d iversification and in teraction o f elem en ts p lay a p art in
form in g th eir su bjectivity.
Th e qu estion o f the relation sh ip betw een cap italism and
DANGEROUS LIAISONS
126
p atriarchy m u st be exam in ed ju st as th orou gh ly. Con trary

to theories that attem p t to con ceive o f th e relation sh ip
betw een m en and w om en in term s o f exp loitation ; as a for m
of organization o f a sector o f p rod u ction p atriarch y has lon g
ceased its fu n ction : w hat rem ain ed o f it has been overtaken by
cap italism . Th e p rocess has been anything bu t lin ear. O n th e
one hand , cap italism has broken th e econ om ic ties based on
p atriarchy, on the oth er, how ever, it has con served an d u sed
p atriarchal pow er relations and id eology in m an y w ays. It has
broken up the fam ily as a p rod u ctive u n it, bu t it has u sed th e
latter and tran sform ed it p rofou n d ly to en su re th at th e task o f
rep rod u cing the labou r force for it gets d on e. H ere p atriarch al
pow er relations have played th eir p art: cap italism n eed ed to
offload rep rod u ctive tasks on to th e fam ily - an d su bord in ation
of w om en gu aranteed the ou tcom e - aggravating th e bu rd en on
w om en and the op p ressive relations betw een m en an d w om en .
Recognizing that in this con text m en , in clu d in g w orkin g-
class m en , enjoyed and con tin u e to en joy a relative ben efit fr om
gend er op p ression d oes n ot m ean view ing m en as an exp loiter
class, bu t u nd erstand ing th e com p lexity w ith w h ich cap italism
integrates and em p loys p re-cap italist p ow er relation s to create
hierarchies o f exp loited and op p ressed , d igging tren ch es an d
raising barriers. Th e sam e ap p lies to th e relation sh ip betw een
w om en and w ork, a qu estion th at has becom e cen tral w ith th e
continu al grow th in fem ale em p loym en t an d w h ich also raises
the need for d eep ening the th eory o f th e sexu al d ivision o f labou r
that does n ot con cen trate on ly or above all on rep rod u ctive
labou r. Race and gend er have been and con tin u e to be p ow erfu l
instru m ents in the d ivision o f labou r. "Fem in ization o f la b ou r "
has a dual m eaning at th e very least. Th at w om en take an ever-
greater p art in p rod u ctive labou r, is a fact th at can n ot help bu t
m od ify their con d ition and th e form s th at op p ression takes.
Bu t also the use o f a fem ale labou r force plays an essential role
from cap ital's stand p oint as it has d on e in th e p ast: it is u sed
to deskill p rod u ctive sectors and low er labou r costs, to w orsen
w orking cond itions and im p lem en t casu alization o f w ork.
A QUEER UN I ON 127
On ce again, u nd erstand ing this d ynam ic is im p ossible w ithou t

reference to the fu n d am en tal role o f p atriarchal id eology and
p atriarchal p ow er relations. Th is is a role th at n ot only m oves
tow ard s an im p licit or exp licit d evalu ation o f fem ale labou r,
invariably view ed as second ary, as an ad ju n ct to m ale labou r,
bu t w hich has effects and creates p roblem s also in term s o f
class su bjectivity, often m akin g it m ore d ifficu lt for w om en to
m obilize and sp eak ou t. Und erevalu atin g or n ot d ealing w ith the
interw eave o f econ om ic con d ition s and cu ltu ral and id eological
op p ressions entails the risk o f losing sight o f the com p lexity the
task of bu ild ing a new w orkers' m ovem en t o f m en and w om en
alike w ill increasingly con fron t, faced w ith an ever m ore fem ale
w orking class.
Fem in ism has d evelop ed tools essential to th e u nd erstand ing
o f gend er reality, how it fu n ction s and its m ech an ism s. In
its con trad ictory relation sh ip w ith p sychoanalysis, it has
nevertheless shed light on the p sychological com p on en t o f
w om en 's op p ression and on th e role o f th e fam ily and fam ily
relations as an essential locu s for rep rod u cin g the sexu al d ivision
o f roles, o f th e con stru ction o f gend er and the con solid ation
and p erp etu ation o f n orm ative h eterosexu ality. Fu lly assu m ing
these asp ects d oes n ot necessarily m ean aban d on in g a m aterialist
ap p roach to go back to th e "clou d s o f id ealism ". Rath er, it
m eans grasp ing the way p atriarch al p ow er is internalized , even
by w om en them selves, acting on a level th at is n ot econ om ic,
and as su ch this in tern alization also has d ecisive effects from a
p olitical stan d p oin t. An yon e w ho has an exp erien ce o f p olitical
activism has seen u p close th e p roblem s w om en have sp eaking
ou t, voicing th eir in itiative, becom in g p oliticized , as they are
cru shed betw een in teriorized gend er op p ression and th e d ou bt
in on e's abilities this entails and how op p ression m ech an ism s
com e in to p lay in p ow er relations w ith m ale m em bers o f their
organizations. Disregard ing these elem en ts n ot only d oes a
d isservice to w om en , it also d oes a d isservice to Marxism and
to a p olitical p roject aim ed at rad ical tran sform ation o f society.
Develop ing an ou tlook th at can m ake sense o f in tersection s
and d ecip her the com p lex relationship betw een p atriarch al
hold overs that d rift like h om eless ghosts in th e globalized
capitalist w orld and p atriarchal stru ctu res th at, on th e con trary,
have been integrated , used and tran sform ed by cap italism calls
for a renewal o f Marxism . Th is renew al is necessary in ord er
to go beyond cou n terp osing cu ltu ral and econ om ic, m aterial
and id eological categories. A p olitical p roject aim in g to rebu ild
a new w orkers' m ovem en t requ ires seriou s reflection on h ow
gend er and race influ ence both th e com p osition o f th e labou r
force and the p rocesses o f d evelop ing su bjectivity. Mor eov er ,
it also m eans an end to th e con test over p rim ary op p ression .
The p oint is n ot w hether class com es before gen d er or gen d er
before class, the p oin t is rather h ow gend er an d class in tertw in e
in capitalist p rod u ction and p ow er relation s to give rise to a
com p lex reality, and it m akes little sense an d is n ot very u sefu l
to attem p t to red u ce these to a sim p le form u la. Th e p oin t is,
therefore how class and gend er can be com bin ed togeth er in
a p olitical p roject able to take action avoid ing tw o sp ecu lar
d angers: the tem p tation o f m ashing th e tw o realities togeth er,
m aking gend er a class or class a gen d er, an d th e tem p tation
to pulverize p ow er relations and exp loitative relation s to see
nothing bu t a series o f single op p ressions lin ed u p besid e each
other and relu ctant to be in clu d ed w ith in a com p reh en sive
liberation p roject.
People mentioned in the text
Inessa Armand (1874-1920) was a Fren ch revolu tionary and

fem inist w ho m oved to Moscow at the age o f five and was
p olitically active there in th e Social Dem ocratic Labou r Party.
She was involved in organizing w om en inclu d ing by organizing
the anti-w ar In tern ation al Con feren ce o f Socialist W om en in
Sw itzerland in 1915, chairing the first In tern ation al Con feren ce
o f Com m u n ist W om en in 1920 and bein g the d irector o f
Zh en otd el, th e Com m u n ist w om en 's organization in the Soviet
Un ion after the Ru ssian Revolu tion .
Pat and Hugh Armstrong are resp ectively Director o f the
Sch ool o f Canad ian Stu d ies, and a teach er in th e Sch ool o f
Social W or k , at Carleton University in Ottaw a. Th ey have
w ritten extensively togeth er on qu estions o f health care and on
w om en 's segregation in th e w orkforce.
Johann Jakob Bachofen (1815-1887) was a Swiss an th rop ologist

w hose sem inal 1861 book M other Rite in flu en ced m an y others
inclu d ing Engels.
Mich&e Barrett is Professor o f Mod ern Literary and Cu ltu ral

Th eory at Qu een Mary Un iversity Lon d on . H er best-kn ow n
con tribu tion to fem in ist th in kin g is W omen s Oppression Today:
Problems in M arxist-Feminist A nalysis (1980, revised ed ition
1988).
Frances Beal is a black fem in ist and a p eace and ju stice activist. In
1968, she co-fou n d ed the Black W o m en 's Liberation Com m ittee
o f the Stu d ent N on violen t Coord in atin g Com m ittee (SN CC).
In 1969 she w rote Double Jeopardy: To Be Black & Female.
Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) was a Fren ch w riter,

p h ilosop h er, fem inist and social th eorist. H er book The Second
Sex, p u blished in 1949, was grou n d breaking bu t she is also w ell
know n for her novels, esp ecially She Came to Stay (1943, English
1949) and The M andarins (1954, English 1956).
D aniel Bensaid (1946-2010) was on e o f Fran ce's m ost p r om in -

ent Marxist p hilosop hers and w rote extensively on th at an d oth er
su bjects. Only one m ajor w ork has been p u blish ed in En glish ,
M arx for Our Times: A dventures and M isadventures of a Critique
(2002). H e was for m an y years a lead ing m em ber o f th e Ligu e
Com m u niste Revolu tionaire (LCR, Revolu tion ary Com m u n ist
League) the French section o f th e Fou rth In tern ation al an d
su bsequ end y o f the N oveau Parti An ticap italiste (N PA, N ew
Anticap italist Party).
August Bebel (1840-1913) was a Germ an Marxist, or ator an d

w riter and one of the fou nd ers o f th e Soziald em okratisch e Partei
Deu tschland s (SPD) the Germ an Social Dem ocr atic Party. H is
book W omen under Socialism (1879, English 1910) w as both
influ ential and controversial.
Enrico Berlinger (1922-1984) was N ation al Secretary o f th e

Partito Com u n ista Italian o (PCI, Italian Com m u n ist Party)
from 1972 u ntil his d eath. H e was a p r om in en t lead er o f th e
Eu rocom m u n ist cu rren t.
Johanna Brenner is an Am erican socialist fem in ist an d

sociologist. She is Em eritu s Professor o f W o m en 's Stu d ies at
Portland State University. She is a m em ber o f th e Ad visory
Board of the US socialist m agazine A gainst the Current H er
book W omen and the Politics of Class was p u blish ed in 2000.
Judith Butler is an Am erican p ost-stru ctu ralist p h ilosop h er

who has w ritten extensively in th e field s o f fem in ist an d qu eer
theory, p olitical p hilosop hy and eth ics. She is a p rofessor in
the Rhetoric and Com p arative Literatu re d ep artm en ts at th e
University o f Californ ia, Berkeley. Tw o o f h er m ost im p or tan t
works are Gender Trouble (1990) and Bodies that M atter (1993).
Stokely Carmichael (1941-1998) was a black Am erican activist;

a leader of the Stu d ent N on violen t Coord in atin g Com m ittee
(SN CC) who w ent on to lead th e Black Pan th ers. H e p op u larized
the term Black Pow er and is (in )fam ou s for th e, p ossibly ir on ic,
statem ent that "th e p osition o f w om en in th e m ov em en t is
p ron e".
PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THE TEXT 131
Adriana Caverero is an Italian fem inist and p h ilosop h er. She

is Professor o f Political Philosop h y at th e University o f Veron a.
H er w ork Per una teoria della differenza sessuale (1987) [For a
theory o f sexu al d ifference] has been p articu larly influ ential in
term s o f fem inist th in kin g.
Lidia Cirillo is a fem in ist activist and a p rom in en t figu re in the
World March o f W om en in Italy. She has also been a lead ing
m em ber o f th e Fou rth In tern ation alist cu rren t in Italy since
the 1960s. She is the fou n d er o f th e Quaderni Viola (Pu rp le
n otebooks, a fem inist review ) and au th or o f several fem inist
w orks: M eglio Orfane (1992) (Better to be O r p h an s), Lettera alle
Romane (Letter to Rom an W o m en ) (2001), and m ost recently
La Luna Severa M aestra (Th e M o o n , a Strict Mistress) (2003) on
the relationship betw een fem in ism and social m ovem en ts.
Helene Cixous is a Fren ch fem in ist w riter, p oet, p layw right,

p hilosop her and literary critic. She is p rofessor at Corn ell
University. Togeth er w ith Lu ce Irigaray and Ju lia Kristeva she
is one o f th e m ost p rom in en t rep resentatives o f d ifferentialist
fem inist th eory. She has also w ritten w id ely on Jam es Joyce and
on Jacqu es Derrid a.
Stephanie Coontz is a fem in ist w riter and h istorian . She teaches

history and fam ily stu d ies at Th e Evergreen State College,
Olym p ia Wash in gton . She has w ritten extensively on th e history
of the fam ily. H er m ost recen t books are "A Strange Stirring' :
The Feminine M ystique and A merican W omen at the Dawn of
the 1960s (2011) and M arriage, A History: How Love Conquered
M arriage (2005).
Kimberle Crenshaw is a p rofessor at th e UCLA Sch ool o f Law

and Colu m bia Law Sch ool sp ecializing in race and gend er issu es.
She is a lead ing p rop on en t o f Critical Race Th eory (C RT).
She was also the first p erson to use th e term in tersection ality
w hich has becom e has becom e a key tool in u nd erstand in g the
interp lay and in teraction betw een class, race and gend er (an d
oth er op p ressions beyon d th ese).
Mariarosa D alla Costa is an Italian fem in ist an d p rofessor o f

p olitical science at the University o f Pad u a. She w rote a p am p h let
The Power of W omen and the Subversion of the Community w ith
Selm a Jam es in 1972. Th is becam e th e fou n d in g text o f th e
"wages for h ou sew ork" cu rren t.
Heather D ashner is a longstand ing fem in ist an d p olitical
activist in Mexico. She is the au th or o f "Fem in ism to th e tu n e o f
the cu m b ia ..." p u blished in Sp anish as a p am p h let by th e P RT
Mexico (1987) and co-ed itor w ith Pen elop e Du ggan o f th e IIRE
N otebook W omen s Lives in the N ew Global Economy (1992).
Angela D avis is an Am erican th in ker, sch olar an d activist

w orking on fem in ism , African Am erican stu d ies an d op p osition
to the US p rison system am on g oth er top ics. She w as a m em b er
of the Com m u n ist Party USA, a lead er o f th e Civil Righ ts
Movem ent, and a sym p athizer o f th e Black Pan th er Party.
Am ong her books is W omen, Race, & Class (1983). Togeth er
with Kim berle Crenshaw and oth ers, she form ed th e African
Am erican Agend a 2000, an alliance o f Black fem in ists.
Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793) d rew u p th e m ost

com p rehensive m an ifesto o f bou rgeois fem in ism d u rin g th e
French revolu tion: The Declaration of the Rights of W omen and
Female Citizens (1791).
Christine D elphy is a Fren ch fem in ist w riter an d th eorist. Sh e

was a fou nd er w ith Sim on e de Beau voir o f N ouvelles questions
feministes [New fem inist qu estion s] in 1977. Sh e is on e o f th e
m ost p rom in en t thinkers o f m aterialist fem in ism . H er essay
"L'en n em i p rin cip al" [Th e Main En em y] (1970) h ad a p ow erfu l
im p act.
Jeanne D eroin (1805-1894) was an ed itorial board m em b er

of Voix des Femmes (Wom en 's Voice), a fou n d er o f an oth er
new spaper, VOpinion des femmes (W om en 's O p in io n ), she
was heavily involved in the fem in ist m ov em en t an d actively
supported w orkers in the 1848 Fren ch Revolu tion . She d ed icated
herself to bu ild ing an association o f w orkers' organ ization s
based on p arity o f rights for w om en and m en and w rote the

p rogram m atic d ocu m en ts for this association . She was arrested
on 29 May 1850 and accu sed o f consp iracy, bu t she was p ressu red
by her com rad es n ot to reveal her role in the association for fear
that it w ou ld be generally d iscred ited if it becam e kn ow n . In the
end she caved in.
Elizabeth D mitrieff (1851-1910 or 1918) was a Ru ssian -born
fem inist and active p articip an t th e 1871 Paris Com m u n e,
notably as a co-fou n d er o f the "W om en 's Un ion for the Defen ce
of Paris and Aid to the W ou n d ed " (Un ion des Fem m es p ou r
la d efense de Paris et les soins au x blesses), created on 11 Ap ril
1871. She was active in h er you th in the socialist circles o f
Saint Petersbu rg. In 1868, she travelled to Sw itzerland , and co-
fou nd ed the Ru ssian section o f th e First In tern ation al. She m et
Marx in Lon d on , w ho sent her in March 1871, to cover the events
of the Com m u n e. She con tribu ted to th e socialist new sp ap er La
Cause du peuple. After having fou ght on the barricad es d u ring
the Blood y Week, she fled to Ru ssia, w here she d ied in Siberia
accom p anying her h u sban d in d ep ortation .
Andrea D w orkin (1946-2005) was an Am erican rad ical fem inist

and w riter best kn ow n for h er criticism o f p orn ograp h y, w hich
she argu ed was lin ked to rap e and violen ce against w om en
m ore generally. An an ti-w ar activist and an arch ist in the late
1960s, Dw orkin w rote 10 books on rad ical fem in ist th eory and
p ractice. H er tw o best-kn ow n books are p robably Pornography:
M en Possessing W omen (1979) and Intercourse (1987).
Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) was a p h ilosop h er and econ om ist.

Life-long collaborator o f Karl M a r x w ith w h om he p u blished
The Communist M anifesto in 1848. Am on g his m ost significant
w orks w ere Conditions of the W orking Class in England (1844)
and The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State
(1884).
Shulamith Firestone (1945-2012) was a Can ad ian -born

fem inist. She was a central figu re in th e early d evelop m ent o f
rad ical fem in ism , having been a fou n d in g m em ber o f the N ew
,34 DANGEROUS LIAISONS
York Rad ical W om en , Red stockings, and N ew Yor k Rad ical

Fem inists. In 1970, she au thored The Dialectic of Sex: The Case
for Feminist Revolution, an im p ortan t an d w id ely in flu en tial
fem inist w ork.
Michel Foucault (1926-1984) was a Fren ch p h ilosop h er, social
theorist, historian o f id eas, and literary critic w h o in itially
em braced and then d istanced h im self fr om stru ctu ralism . H is
w riting especially his th ree-volu m e History of Sexuality (1976-
1984, English 1977, 1985, 1986) h ad an im p ortan t im p act on a
nu m ber o f fem inist w riters.
Antoinette Fouque was the lead er o f th e Psychoanalysis an d

Politics (know n as Psych et Po) ten d en cy w ith in th e Fren ch
w om en's liberation m ovem en t (M LF). Th is cu rren t p rovoked
a sharp p olem ic w hen it tried to register th e M LF n am e as
its p rop erty, lead ing to a d efinitive sp lit w ith th e rest o f th e
m ovem ent. It has a p u blishing h ou se, "ed ition s d es fem m es".
Charles Fourier (1772-1837) was a Fren ch p h ilosop h er. H is

Theory of Four M ovements (1808, English 1996) in p articu lar
had an im p ortan t im p act on socialist fem in ist th in kin g o f th e
tim e. H e is cred ited w ith bein g th e first p erson to u se th e w ord
"fem in ism ".
N ancy Fraser is an Am erican critical th eorist, cu rren tly th e

H enry A. and Lou ise Loeb Professor o f Political an d Social
Science and p rofessor o f p h ilosop h y at Th e N ew Sch ool for
Social Research in N ew York. She has w ritten exten sively on
fem inism inclu d ing in Justice Interruptus: Critical Reflections on
the "Postsocialist" Condition (1997)
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was an Au strian n eu rologist

w ho becam e know n as the fou nd in g fath er o f p sych oan alysis.
There has been a great d eal o f d ebate abou t th e exten t to w h ich
som e of his theories w ere based on an d p erp etu ate p atriarch al
assu m p tions (see also Ju liet Mitch ell).
Betty Friedan (1921-2006) was an Am erican fem inist w riter and

activist. H er 1963 book The Feminine M ystique is often cred ited
w ith sp arking the "secon d w ave" of Am erican fem in ism . In
1966, Fried an fou nd ed and was elected the first p resid ent of the
N ational Organization for W om en .
Heidi Hartmann is a fem inist econ om ist and research p rofessor
and fou nd er o f the In stitu te for W om en 's Policy Research at the
George Wash in gton University. She is the au th or o f the essay
"Th e Un h ap p y Marriage o f Marxism and Fem in ism " (1979) in
Capital and Class.
Casey Hayden was a lead ing activist in th e Civil Rights m ovem en t

d u ring the 1960s. She was a fou n d in g m em ber o f Stu d ents for
a Dem ocratic Society (SDS) and w orked as a volu n teer for the
Stu d ent N on violen t Coord in atin g Com m ittee (SN CC). With
Mary King she w rote the "SN CC Position Pap er: W om en in the
Mov em en t" (1964) w hich criticized the gend ered d ivision o f
labou r w ithin th e m ovem en t.
Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) was a m ajor 19th -cen tu ry N orw egian

playw right, th eatre d irector, and p oet. H e is often referred to as
"th e father o f realism " and is on e o f th e fou nd ers o f Mod ern ism
in th e th eatre. Tw o o f his m ajor plays The DolVs House (1879)
and Hedda Gabbler (1890) have cen tral fem ale p rotagon ists.
Luce Irigaray is a Belgian fem in ist, p h ilosop h er, lingu ist,

p sychoanalyst, sociologist and cu ltu ral th eorist. She is best
know n for h er w orks Speculum of the Other W oman (1974) and
This Sex W hich Is N ot One (1977) and Temps de la Difference
[Tim e o f d ifference] (1989).
Selma James is an Am erican -born fem in ist based in Britain .

H er p am p hlet The Power of W omen and the Subversion of the
Community, w ritten w ith Mariarosa Dalla Costa in 1972, was
the fou nd ing text o f the "w ages for h ou sew ork" cu rren t. She
has a long h istory o f activism on qu estions o f an ti-racism , an ti-
colon ialism and fem in ism . Cu rren tly she is coord in ator o f the
Global W om en 's Strike.
Jane Kelly is a British socialist fem in ist an d a lead ing m em b er o f

Socialist Resistance. She tau ght w om en 's stu d ies an d art h istory
at Kingston University and has w ritten on m an y fem in ist
issues, inclu d ing "Postm od ern ism an d Fem in ism : Th e Road
to N ow h ere" in Dave H ill, Pete McLaren , Mike Cole an d Glen
Rikow ski (ed s) Postmodernism in Educational Theory: Education
and the Politics of Human Resistance, (1999) "Un fin ish ed
Bu siness: Wom en still u n equ al after 40 years" in Mike Cole (ed )
Education, Equality and Human Rights: Issues of gender, "race,
sexuality, disability and social class, (2012).
Mary King was an activist in th e Stu d en t N on v iolen t

Coord inating Com m ittee (SN CC) in th e Un ited States in th e
1960s. With Casey H ayd en she w rote th e "SN CC Position
Pap er: Wom en in the Mov em en t" (1964) w hich criticized th e
gend ered d ivision o f labou r w ithin th e m ov em en t.
Anne Koedt is a Un ited States rad ical fem in ist an d N Y based

au thor of The M yth of the Vaginal Orgasm, 1970, th e classic
fem inist w ork on w om en 's sexu ality. She w as con n ected to th e
grou p New York Rad ical W om en an d w as a fou n d in g m em b er
in 1969 of New York Rad ical Fem in ists in th e grou p 's first
consciou sness-raising and organizing grou p , Th e Stan ton -
Anthony Brigad e, w ith Sh u lam ith Fireston e an d oth ers.
Alexandra Kollontai (1872-1952) was a Ru ssian Bolsh evik w h o

w orked to organize w om en in su p p ort o f th e revolu tion ary
cau se. She was also a w riter both o f p olitical p rop agan d a
often aim ed at w om en and taking u p qu estion s o f sexu al an d
em otional relationship s am on gst oth er th in gs. She also w rote
novels inclu d ing The Love of W orker Bees (English 1978;. In
1919 she becam e one o f the first fem ale govern m en t m in isters
in Eu rop e. In 1923, she was ap p oin ted Soviet Am bassad or to
N orw ay, becom in g the w orld 's first fem ale am bassad or in
m od ern tim es.
Julia Kristeva is a p h ilosop h er, p sychoanalyst, fem in ist, an d

critical theorist. Born in Bu lgaria she has lived in Fran ce sin ce
the m id -1960s. She is now a Professor at th e Un iversity o f Paris
Did erot. H er first book Semeiotike, p u blished in 1969 was very

influ ential.
N adezhda Krupskaya (1869-1939) was a Ru ssian Bolshevik
revolu tionary and p olitician . She m arried the Ru ssian
revolu tionary lead er Vlad im ir Lenin in 1898. She was
d ep u ty m in ister (Com m issar) o f Ed u cation in 1929-1939.
She su p p orted bu t was n ot d irectly involved in the sp ecific
organization o f w om en .
Jacques Lacan (1901-1981) was a Fren ch p sychoanalyst

and p sychiatrist w ho m ad e p rom in en t con tribu tion s to
p sychoanalysis and p hilosop hy, and has been called "th e
m ost controversial p sychoanalyst since Freu d ". Lacan's p ost-
stru ctu ralist th eory rejected the belief th at reality can be
cap tu red in langu age. H is con cep t "th e m irror stage" (stade du
miroir) in p articu lar has been analysed by Lu ce Irigaray.
Ferdinand Lassalle (1825-1864) was a Germ an p h ilosop h er,

and socialist p olitical activist. Lassalle and his su p p orters
p rop osed to ban w om en w orking in ind u stry. In general he was
hostile to th e id eas o f Mar x and Engels and vice versa.
Eleanor Burke Leacock (1922-1987) was an Am erican th eorist

o f an th rop ology w orking from a Marxist p ersp ective w ho
focu sed p articu larly on th e qu estion o f gend er. On e o f h er m ost
im p ortan t con tribu tion s was h er essay "In terp retin g the Origins
o f Gend er Inequ ality: Con cep tu al and H istorical Pr oblem s"
(1983). She was also the ed itor o f versions o f H en ry Morgan 's
A ncient Society and Fried rich En gels' The Origin of the Family,
Private Property and the State.
Vladimir I^n i n (1870-1924) was a Ru ssian revolu tionary,

p olitician and p olitical th eorist and lead er o f the Ru ssian
revolu tion . Lenin was su p p ortive o f th e efforts to organize
w om en as a sp ecific p art o f th e m ovem en t.
Claude Levi-Strauss (1908-2009) was a highly influ ential

French an th rop ologist and eth n ologist. H is w ork esp ecially
Structural A nthropology (1958, English 1963) and Elementary
,3 8 DANGEROUS LIAISONS
Kinship Structures (1949, English 1969) h ad an im p ortan t

influ ence on second wave fem in ism esp ecially on Sim on e de
Beau voir.
Carla Lonzi (1931-1982) was an Italian w riter an d art critic
and fem inist theoretician o f sexu al d ifferen ce, fou n d er o f th e
fem inist grou p Rivolta fem m in ile (Fem ale Revolt) in th e 1970s.
H er Sputiamo su Hegel (We Sp it on H egel) (1974) w as th e
fou nd ing text of this wave o f Italian fem in ism .
Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919) was a Marxist th eorist,

p hilosop her, econ om ist and revolu tion ary socialist o f Polish
d escent w ho becam e a natu ralized Germ an citizen an d p layed
a m ajor role in the left w ing o f th e socialist m ov em en t in
Germ any. She engaged in m ajor d ebates w ith Len in on th e
national qu estion. Althou gh she was n ot involved eith er in
her p ractice or her w riting in sp ecifically stu d ying w om en 's
oppression it was obviou sly insp iring to have su ch a stron g
w om an lead er, alongsid e her close frien d Clara Zetkin (see
below ). She op p osed any attem p t by social d em ocratic p arties
to aband on the d em and for w o m en s right to vote insisting th ey
m u st stand firm for tru e u niversal su ffrage. In 1919, after th e
cru shing o f the Sp artacu s Leagu e u p risin g, Lu xem bu rg an d
other lead ers w ere cap tu red and m u rd ered .
Mary Macarthur (1880-1921) was a trad e u n ion ist an d w om en 's

rights cam p aigner. She was th e Secretary o f th e W o m en 's Trad e
Union League. In 1906 she fou n d ed th e N ation al Fed eration o f
Wom en Workers, a general labou r u n ion , "op en to all w om en
in u norganized trad es or w ho w ere n ot ad m itted to th eir
ap p rop riate trad e u n ion ". In 1910 she led w om en ch ain m akers
in a successfu l 10-w eek strike for h igh er p ay in th e West
Mid land s.
Catharine MacKinnon is an Am erican fem in ist sch olar

and activist w ho has w ritten p articu larly on th e qu estion o f
p ornograp hy, for exam p le Pornography and Civil Rights: A N ew
Day for W omen' s Equality (1988). She is p rofessor o f law at th e
University o f Michigan Law Sch ool.
Eleanor Marx (1855-1898) was the you ngest d au ghter of Karl

Marx and h erself a p olitical activist. In 1884, she join ed the
Social Dem ocratic Fed eration (SDF) led by H en ry H ynd m an
and was elected to its execu tive bu t th en left and fou nd ed the
Socialist Leagu e, m ainly on accou n t o f H yn d m an 's n ation alism .
She becam e involved in th e W om en 's Trad e Un ion League and
w ent on to su p p ort n u m erou s strikes. She also help ed organize
the Gasw orkers' Un ion . She w rote m an y articles and p am p hlets
inclu d ing The W oman Question (1886).
Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a Germ an p h ilosop h er, econ om ist
and revolu tionary socialist. H is id eas played a significant role
in the d evelop m en t o f th e socialist m ovem en t. H e p u blished
variou s books d u ring his lifetim e, w ith th e m ost n otable being
The Communist M anifesto (1848) and Capital (1867-1894). H is
1844 Economic and Philosophical M anuscripts saw the p osition
o f w om en as a barom eter for th e level o f overall d evelop m ent
o f a society.
Louise Michel (1830-1905) was an anarchist and activist in the

Paris Com m u n e, p articip ating as an am bu lan ce w om an and
in the last stand in Blood y Week. She was im p rison ed for 20
m on th s and then d ep orted to N ew Caled onia for 7 years - only
being allow ed to retu rn to Fran ce w hen th e Com m u n ard s w ere
p ard oned in 1880. She p u blished h er Mem oirs in 1886.
Kate Millet is an Am erican fem in ist w riter and activist. She

is best know n for her 1970 book, Sexual Politics bu t has also
w ritten a n u m ber o f novels inclu d in g Flying (1974) and Sita
(1977).
Juliet Mitchell is a British p sychoanalyst and socialist fem in ist.

H er first book W oman s Estate (1971) based on her 1966
article for the influ ential British N ew Left Review w as relatively
significant at the tim e bu t it is for h er n ext Psychoanalysis and
Feminism (1974) for w hich she is best kn ow n . Wh ile m ou n tin g
a sharp critiqu e o f asp ects o f Freu d 's th eories she never th e less
d efend ed the p ractice o f p sychoanalysis.
Rita Montagnana (1895-1979) was a fou n d er o f th e Italian

Com m u nist Party and attend ed th e Th ir d Con gress o f th e
Com intern in 1921 on beh alf of th e PCI. She was a fou n d er o f
the Union of Italian W om en (U D I), a PCI fron t organ ization ,
and d irector of its new sp ap er N oi Donne (W e W o m e n ). H er
books inclu d e Lafamiglia, il divorzio, Vamove nel pensiero delle
donne comuniste (Th e fam ily, d ivorce, love th e th ou gh t o f
Com m u nist w om en ) (1945).
Henry Morgan (1818-1881) w as a p ion eerin g Am erican

anthrop ologist and social th eorist, a railroad law yer an d
cap italist. H is best-kn ow n book A ncient Society (1877), h ad a
m ajor im p act on his con tem p oraries M a r x an d Engels an d is
cited by Engels in Origin of the Family, Private Property and the
State.
Robin Morgan is an Am erican p oet, au th or, p olitical th eorist
and activist, jou rn alist, lectu rer, an d form er ch ild actor . Sin ce
the early 1960s she has been a key rad ical fem in ist. H er 1970
anthology Sisterhood Is Powerful is h er best-kn ow n w ork.
Luisa Muraro is an Italian p h ilosop h er an d w riter an d on e o f

the first Italian fem inists to take u p an d d evelop th e "d ifferen ce
th eory" originally p u t forw ard by Irigaray an d Kristeva. H er
books inclu d e Vordine simbolico della madre (Th e m oth er 's
sym bolic ord er), 2006.
Christabel Pankhurst (1880-1958) was a su ffragette b or n in

Manchester, England . Togeth er w ith h er m oth er Em m elin e, she
fou nd ed the Wom en 's Social and Political U n ion (W SP U ) an d
ran the organization d u ring h er m oth er's frequ en t p eriod s o f
im p risonm ent. She also d irected its m ilitan t action s fr om exile
in France from 1912 to 1913. She took th e sam e p osition as
her m oth er at the ou tbreak o f th e 1914 w ar. After th e w ar she
m oved to the Un ited States and becam e an evangelist.
Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928) was a British su ffragette.

She fou nd ed the Wom en 's Social an d Political Un ion (W SP U )
in 1898 an organization com m itted to m ilitan t tactics su ch
as the sm ashing of w ind ow s and later arson to w in w om en 's
su ffrage. She was sent to p rison on a n u m ber o f occasion s. After

the ou tbreak o f the First World W a r in 1914, Em m elin e together
w ith her eld est d au ghter Christabel su p p orted the governm ent
and called for halt to m ilitan t action . She op p osed the Ru ssian
Revolu tion and in later life join ed th e Conservative Party.
Sylvia Pankhurst (1882-1960) was involved along w ith
her m oth er Em m elin e and sister Christabel in the suffrage
m ovem en t and the W SPU in p articu lar. H ow ever she
con cen trated on bu ild ing the W P SU in the East En d o f Lon d on
am ongst w orking-class w om en . Political d isagreem ents w ith
her m oth er and sister cam e to a head w hen they su p p orted
the w ar in 1914. Sylvia broke w ith the W SP U at this p oin t and
fou nd ed the East Lon d on Fed eration o f Su ffragettes (ELFS),
w hich later evolved p olitically and changed its n am e, first
to W om en 's Su ffrage Fed eration and then to th e Wor ker s'
Socialist Fed eration . Th e W SF was involved in th e fou nd ing o f
the Com m u n ist Party in Britain th ou gh th e association d id n ot
last. Sylvia by this tim e d efined h erself as a left Com m u n ist and
had som e strong d isagreem ents w ith Len in . Later she d evoted
m ore o f her energy to an ti-fascism and an ti-colon ialism and
becam e a strong su p p orter o f Eth iop ia and H aile Selassie.
Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922- 975) was an Italian film d irector,

p oet, w riter and in tellectu al. H e was a fellow traveller o f the
Italian Com m u n ist Party for som e tim e and join ed in 1947.
H e was op enly gay from the begin n in g o f his career. In 1949 he
was charged w ith the corru p tion o f m in ors and obscen e acts in
p u blic p laces and exp elled from th e Com m u n ist Party. Later he
coop erated w ith Lotta Con tin u a.
Em m a Patterson (1848-1886) was an English fem in ist and

trad e u n ion ist. In 1875 Patterson fou n d ed the W om en 's
Protective and Provid ent Leagu e, w hich becam e the W om en 's
Trad e Un ion League in 1903. As w ell as su p p ortin g d em and s
com m on to all trad e u n ion s they also cam p aign ed for m atern ity
leave, co-op erative h om es for w orking w om en and votes for all
w om en - n ot ju st the p rop erty ow ners.
, 2
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865) was a Fren ch econ om ist

and p hilosop her. H e was the first p erson to call h im self an
anarchist and also coin ed the p hrase "p rop erty is th eft". As w ell
as his conservative ideas on the qu estion o f w om en 's role h e is
also alleged to have m ad e an ti-sem itic rem arks.
Alisa Del Re is associate p rofessor at th e Facu lty o f Political

Science at the University o f Pad u a. She is d irector o f th e
Interd ep artm ental Research Cen tre: Stu d ies on Gen d er Politics
and a m em ber o f the steering com m ittee o f th e in tern ation al
review Cahiers du Genre.
Ermanno Rea is an Italian jou rn alist an d w riter. H is d istu rbin g

au tobiograp hical novel Mistero n ap oletan o (N eap olitan
Mystery - 1986) was well acclaim ed an d w on a literary p rize as
did his two su bsequ ent novels.
Shelia Row botham is a British socialist fem in ist th eorist an d

w riter from a libertarian p ersp ective. H er books in clu d e W omen,
Resistance and Revolution (1972), Hidden from History (1974),
W omen s Consciousness, M ens W orld (1973) an d Beyond the
Fragments: Feminism and the M aking of Socialism (1980) (co -
au thored w ith Lynne Segal and H ilary Wain w r igh t).
Gayle S. Rubin is a cu ltu ral an th rop ologist, an activist an d

theorist of sex and gend er p olitics. She is an Associate Professor
of Anthrop ology and W om en 's Stu d ies at Un iversity o f
Michigan at Ann Arbor. She first cam e to p r om in en ce in 1975
w ith her essay "Th e Traffic in W o m en : N otes on th e 'Political
Econ om y' of Sex".
Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) was a Swiss lin gu ist w h o

is consid ered one o f the fou nd ers o f 20th cen tu ry lin gu istics
and o f sem iotics. H is m ost influ ential w ork, Course in General
Linguistics (Cou rs de lingu istiqu e gen erale), w as p u blish ed
p osthu m ou sly in 1916.
Henri Saint Simon (1760-1825) was a Fren ch Utopian socialist,

a su p p orter of the Am erican Revolu tion an d o f th e Fren ch
revolu tion o f 1789. H e was im p rison ed d u rin g th e Ter r or
for su sp ected cou n ter-revolu tion ary activities. H is key id eas

were abou t ad m inistrative efficiency and ind u strialism , and a
belief that science was the key to p rogress. Wh ile he had few
su p p orters in his lifetim e, after his d eath his id eas becam e m ore
p op u lar and the m ovem en t know n as Sain t-Sim on ian ism was
im p ortan t in the first h alf o f the 19th cen tu ry in Fran ce.
Lydia Sargent is an Am erican fem in ist. H er 1981 anthology,
W omen and Revolution: a Discussion of the Unhappy M arriage
of M arxism and Feminism rep rinted H eid i H artm an n 's "Th e
Unhap p y Marriage o f Marxism and Fem in ism ". Togeth er w ith
Michael Albert and a n u m ber o f others she fou nd ed Sou th En d
Press in 1977 as w ell as Z M agazine ("in d ep en d en t m agazine o f
critical th in kin g on p olitical, cu ltu ral, social, and econ om ic life
in the U S"), w hich she co-ed its and co-p rod u ces.
Lynne Segal is an Au stralian -born , British -based socialist

fem inist. She is Professor o f Psychology and Gend er Stu d ies
at Birkbeck, University o f Lon d on . H er early influ ential
w orks inclu d e Is the Future Female? Troubled Thoughts on
Contemporary Feminism (1987) and Beyond the Fragments (w ith
Sheila Row both am and H ilary Wain w righ t, 1980).
Yakov Sverdlov (1885-1919) was a lead er o f the Bolshevik

Party and Presid ent o f th e Ru ssian Soviet Rep u blic. H e was a
close ally o f Len in .
William Thompson (1775-1833) was an Irish p olitical w riter

and th in ker. H is id eas in flu en ced the Coop erative m ovem en t,
the Chartists and Karl Marx. H e d evelop ed a critiqu e o f the
con tem p orary statu s o f w om en , was h ostile to Malth u s and was
a su p p orter o f con tracep tion . H is w orks inclu d e A ppeal of One
Half the Human Race, W omen, A gainst the Pretensions of the
Other Half, M en, to Retain Them in Political, and thence in Civil
and Domestic Slavery (1825).
Flora Tristan (1803-1844) was a Fren ch socialist w riter and

activist and one o f the fou nd ers o f m od ern fem in ism . H er
best-know n w ritings are Peregrinations of a Pariah (1838),
Promenades in London (1840), and The W orkers' Union (1843).

She w rote this latter after an extensive stay in Peru an d a
short trip to Britain , w here she p rod u ced w orks on th e social
cond itions along the Ch an n el.
Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) was a revolu tion ary Marxist an d
lead er of the Ru ssian Revolu tion . H e was lead er o f th e Left
Op p osition in the 1920s after Stalin 's rise in th e Soviet U n ion .
Exiled from Russia he con tin u ed his p olitical w ork abroad u n til
he was assassinated in Mexico in 1940 by a Stalin ist agen t. H e
w rote a n u m ber o f articles on the situ ation o f w om en in th e
Soviet Un ion , and in his book The Revolution Betrayed argu ed
in the chap ter "Th er m id or in th e Fam ily" th at th e regressive
policies on w om en and the fam ily w ere a litm u s test o f th e
Stalinist d egeneration o f the Ru ssian Revolu tion .
Hilary Wainw right is a British socialist an d fem in ist. H er

books inclu d e The Lucas Plan: A N ew Trades Unionism in the
M aking? (1981) (co-au th ored w ith David Elliott) an d Beyond
the Fragments: Feminism and the M aking of Socialism (1980)
(co-au th ored w ith Sheila Row both am an d Lynne Segal). Sh e is
also the ed itor o f the m agazine Red Pepper.
Monique Wittig (1935-2003) was a Fren ch novelist an d fem in ist

theorist w ho w rote abou t overcom in g socially en forced gend er
roles and w ho coin ed the p hrase "h eterosexu al con tr a ct". Sh e
pu blished her first novel, VOpponaxm 1964. H er secon d n ovel,
Les Guerilleres (1969) is better-kn ow n . H er 1980 p ap er "O n e is
not Born a W o m a n " rejects the d efin ition o f lesbians as w om en
becau se the w ord w om an is con stru cted by sexist society.
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was a British w riter,

p hilosop her, and ad vocate o f w om en 's righ ts. H er p ion eerin g
book A Vindication of the Rights of W omen (1792) is on e o f th e
earliest fem inist w orks. She was a cen tral figu re in th e grou p
of English intellectu als influ enced by the id eas o f th e Fren ch
Revolu tion, such as Th om as Paine an d William God w in -
w hom she m arried .
Iris Young (1949-2006) was Professor o f Political Science at the

University o f Ch icago, and affiliated w ith the Cen ter for Gend er
Stu d ies and the H u m an Rights p rogram m e th ere. She w rote a
n u m ber o f books on fem in ism and p hilosop hy. She also engaged
in a d ebate w ith both N an cy Fraser and H eid i H artm an , in tw o
articles: "Beyon d the Un h ap p y Marriage: a Critiqu e o f the Du al
System s Th eor y" and "Un ru ly Categories: a Critiqu e o f N ancy
Fraser's Du al System Th eor y" in N ew Left Review. She w rote a
n u m ber o f books inclu d ing Justice and the Politics of Difference
(1990).
Mao Zedong (1893-1976) was a Chinese revolu tionary
com m u n ist w riter and th in ker. Th e Chinese revolu tion took
p lace u nd er his lead ership in 1948-9. H e p laced m ore em p hasis
on the role o f the p easantry th an m ost oth er lead ers.
Clara Zetkin (1857-1933) was a Germ an Marxist th eorist and

activist like h er close friend Rosa Lu xem bu rg, first in th e Social
Dem ocratic Party o f Germ an y, then the In d ep en d en t Social
Dem ocratic Party o f Germ an y (USPD) and its far-left w ing,
the Sp artacu s Leagu e. Th is later becam e the Com m u n ist Party
of Germ an y (KP D ), w hich she rep resented in th e Reichstag
d u ring th e Weim ar Rep u blic from 1920 to 1933. She was heavily
engaged in w ork for w om en 's rights, ed iting from 1891 to 1917
the new sp ap er Die A rbeiterin or Workin g W o m a n , w hich
changed its n am e in 1892 to Die Gleichheit or Equ ality. In 1910,
she called for th e establish m ent o f In tern ation al W om en 's Day,
first celebrated on March 8, 1911.
Suggestions for further reading
On the h istorical links betw een th e w om en 's m ov em en t an d

labou r m ovem en t:
Ton y Cliff, Class Struggle and W omen s Liberation, Bookm ar ks
Lond on, 1984.
Barbara Drake, W omen and Trade Unions, Allen an d Un w in ,
Lond on, 1920.
Barbara Evans Clem en ts, Bolshevik W omen, Cam brid ge
University Press, Cam brid ge, 1997.
Elizabeth Gu rley Flynn, J Speak M y Own Piece: A utobiography of
the "Rebel Girl", Masses and Main stream , 1955.
Jill Lid d ington, Jill N orris, One Hand Tied Behind Us: the rise
of the women' s suffrage movement, Virago Press, Lon d on 1978.
Annik Mah aim , Alix H olt, Jacqu elin e H ein en , Femmes et
mouvement ouvrier, La Brech e, Paris 1979, (d eals w ith th ree
historical exp eriences: Germ an Social d em ocracy, th e Ru ssian
revolu tion and the Sp anish civil w ar ).
Sylvia Pankhu rst, The Suffragette M ovement, Lon gm an , Lon d on
1931, w ith forew ord by Rich ard Pan kh u rst Vir ago, Lon d on
1977.
Cathy Porter, Fathers and Daughters: Russian W omen in
Revolution, Virago, Lon d on , 1976.
Sheila Row both am , W omen, Resistance and Revolution, Allen
Lane, 1973.
Barbara Taylor, Eve and the N ew Jerusalem, Virago, Lon d on ,
1983.
Som e essential classics (oth er ed ition s w ill be av ailable):

Sim one de Beau voir, The Second Sex, Everym an 's Library, 1993.
Fried rich Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and
the State, Pengu in Classics, Lon d on 2010.
Betty Fried an, The Feminine M ystique, Pen gu in Classics,
Lond on 2010.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING 147
Alexand ra Kollon tai, Selected W ritings, W W N orton and

com p any, N ew York & Lon d on , 1980.
Flora Tristan , Peregrinations of a Pariah 1833-1834, Beacon ,
Boston , 1987.
Mary Wollston ecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of W oman
and A Vindication of the Rights of M en, Ed . Sylvana Tom aselli,
Cam brid ge University Press, Cam brid ge, 1995.
Clara Zetkin , Lenin on the W oman Question, Literary Licensing,
LLC (15 Oct 2011), Selected W ritings, In tern ation al Pu blishers
Co In c., US 1987 and articles available on lin e at http ://w w w .
m arxists.org/arch ive/zetkin /in d ex.h tm
Fr om th e secon d w ave o f th e w om en 's m ovem en t
On th e origin s o f w om en 's op p ression :
Evelyn Reed , W oman' s Evolution: From M atriarchal Clan to
Patriarchal Family, Pathfind er Press, N ew York, 1975.
Eleanor Bu rke Leacock, M yths of M ale Dominance, Mon th ly
Review Press, N ew York, 1981.
Step hanie Coon tz and Peta H en d erson (ed .), W omen' s W ork,
M en' s Property. The Origins of Gender and Class, Verso, Lon d on
& N ew York, 1986.
On Psych ology
Ju liet Mitch ell, Psychoanalysis and Feminism, Pan th eon , N ew
York, 1975.
Eli Zaretsky, Capitalism, the Family and Personal Life, H arp er
Pocketbooks, 1976.
Th e left and fem in ism

Artu ro Peregalli, "P CI 1946-1970. Don n a , fam iglia, m orale
sessu ale", Quaderni Pietro Tresso, n . 27, Jan u ary-Febru ary 2001.
Sheila Row both am , Lynne Segal, H ilary Wain w righ t, Beyond
the Fragments: Feminism and the M aking of Socialism, Th e
Merlin Press, Lon d on , 1979 (to be rep u blished by Merlin Press
in 2013).
Josette Trat, "L'h istoire d u cou ran t 'fem in iste lu tte d e classe'",
in Femmes, genre, feminisme, Syllep se, Paris 2007.
Lidia Cirillo, "Fem in ism o f th e An ti-Cap italist Left" in

International Viewpoint Online M agazine, Au gu st, 2007.
Penelop e Du ggan (ed ) W omen' s Liberation & Socialist
Revolution: Documents of the Fourth International, Resistan ce
Books & IIRE, Lon d on , 2011.
On the Am erican fem in ist m ovem en t an d black p ow er:
Bell H ooks, A in' t I a W oman: Black W omen and Feminism t
Sou th End Press, Boston , 1971.

Angela Davis, W omen, Race, and Class, N ew Yor k 1981.
Dayo Gore, Jeanne Th eoh aris, Kom ozi W ood a r d (ed s.), W ant
to Start a Revolution? Radical W omen in the Black Freedom
Struggle, New York University Press N ew Yor k - Lon d on 2009.
Reference w orks for rad ical fem in ism :

Shu lam ith Firestone, The Dialectic of Sex: the Case for Feminist
Revolution, Farrar Strau s Girou x, N ew Yor k , 2003 (first
pu blished 1970).
Kate Millet, Sexual Politics, Dou bled ay, N ew Yor k, 1970.
On fem inist w orkerism /w ages for h ou sew ork an d p ost-

w orkerist fem in ism :
Maria Dalla Costa, Selm a Jam es, The Power of W omen & the
Subversion of Community, Wages for H ou sew ork Pu blish er,
Lond on, 1975.
Alisa del Re, "Prod u zion e/rip rod u zion e", in Lessico marxiano,
Manifestolibri, Rom e 2008, p p . 137-153.
On m aterialist fem in ism :

Christine Delp hy, Close to Home: M aterialist A nalysis of W omen' s
Oppression, University o f Massachu setts Press, Boston 1984.
R. H ennessy and C. In grah am (ed s.), M aterialist Feminism. A
Reader in Class, Difference and W omen' s Lives, Rou tled ge, N ew
York and Lond on 1997.
On lesbian fem in ism in flu en ced by m aterialist fem in ism :

Moniqu e Wittig, The straight mind and other essays, Beacon
Press, Boston 1992.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING 149
On d ifferen ce th eory:
Luce Irigaray, Speculum of the Other W oman, Ith aca, 1985.
For a critiqu e o f this th eory see Lid ia Cirillo, Lettera alle romane
2001 and in English International Viewpoint Online M agazine
"For An oth er Differen ce".
On in tersection ality:
Patricia H ill Collins and Margaret And ersen (ed s.), Race, Class
and Gender: A n A nthology, Wad sw orth Pu blishing, Belm on t
1992.
E. Dorlin (ed .), Sexe, race et classe. Pour une epistemologie de la
domination, PU F, Paris, 2009.
On qu eer th eory:
Ju d ith Bu d er, Gender Trouble, Rou d ed ge, N ew York 1990 and
Bodies that M atter, Rou tled ge, N ew Yor k 1993.
Kevin Floyd , The Reification of Desire. Toward a Queer M arxism,
University o f Min n esota Press, Min n eap olis 2009.
Recen t d ebates:
Joh an n a Bren n er - Maria Ram as, "Reth in kin g W om en 's
Op p ression ", N ew Left Review, 1/144 (1984);
Mich ele Barret "Reth in kin g W om en 's Op p ression : A Rep ly to
Bren n er and Ram as", N ew Left Review, 1/146 (1984);
N an cy Fraser, Justice Interruptus, Rou tled ge, N ew Yor k-Lon d on
1997;
Iris You n g, "Un ru ly Categories: A critiqu e o f N an cy Fraser's
Du al System Th eor y", N ew Left Review, 1/227 (1997);
Ju d ith Bu d er, "Merely Cu ltu ral", N ew Left Review, 1/227 (1998)
N ancy Fraser, "H eterosexism , Misrecogn ition and Cap italism :
A Resp onse to Ju d ith Bu tler ", N ew Left Review, 1/228 (1998),
Ju d ith Bu tler in N an cy Fraser, A dding Insult to Injury: N ancy
Fraser Debates Her Critics Verso, N ew York and Lon d on 2008.
Oth er read ings on th e relation sh ip betw een class an d gen d er,

p atriarchy and cap italism , and sexu ality an d late cap italism :
Pat and H ugh Arm strong, "Beyon d Sexless Class an d Classless
Sex: Tow ard s Fem inist M ar xism ", Studies in Political Economy,
53 (1983).
Michele Barrett, W omen' s Oppression Today: Problems in
M arxist Feminist A nalysis, Verso, Lon d on 1980.
Zillah R. Eisenstein, Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for
Socialist Feminism, 1978.
Silvia Fed erici, Caliban and the W itch. W omen, the Body and
Primitive A ccumulation, Au ton om ed ia, Brooklyn , 2004.
Germ aine Greer, The Female Eunuch, H arp er Peren n ial M od er n
Classics, 2006 (first p u blished 1970).
Rosem ary H ennessy, Profit and Pleasure. Sexual Identities in
Late Capitalism, Rou d ed ge, N ew Yor k an d Lon d on , 2000.
Claude Meillassou x, M aidens, M eal and M oney: Capitalism
and the Domestic Community, Cam brid ge Un iversity Press,
Cam brid ge, 1981.
Lydia Sargent (ed .), W omen and Revolution: a Discussion of the
Unhappy M arriage of M arxism and Feminism, Sou th En d Press,
Boston, 1981.
Lise Vogel, M arxism and the Oppression of W omen. Towards a
Unitary Theory, Ru tgers University Press, 1987.
About Resistance Books and the I IRE
Resistan ce Books
Resistance Books is the p u blishing arm o f Socialist Resistance,

a revolu tionary Marxist organization w hich is the British
section of the Fou rth In tern ation al. Resistance Books p u blishes
books join tly w ith the In tern ation al Institu te for Research and
Ed u cation in Am sterd am and ind ep end ently.
Fu rther in form ation abou t Resistance Books, inclu d ing a fu ll
list o f titles cu rrently available and how to p u rchase th em , can
be obtain ed at http ://w w w .resistancebooks.org, or by w riting to
Resistance Books, PO Box 62732, Lon d on , SW2 9GQ .
Socialist Resistance is an organization active in the trad e
u n ion m ovem en t and in m an y cam p aigns against im p erialist
intervention in p laces like Afghanistan or Iraq, in solid arity w ith
Palestine and w ith an ti-cap italist m ovem en ts across th e globe.
We are eco-socialist - we argue th at m u ch o f w hat is p rod u ced
u nd er cap italism is socially useless and eith er red u nd an t
or d irectly h arm fu l. Cap italism 's d rive for p rofit is creating
en viron m en tal d isaster - and it is the p oor, th e w orking class
and p eop le in the global sou th w ho are p aying the highest p rice
for th is.
We have been lon g-stan d in g su p p orters o f w om en 's
liberation and th e struggles o f lesbians, gay p eop le, bisexu als
and transgend er p eop le. W e believe these stru ggles m u st be led
by those d irectly affected - n on e so fit to break th e chains as
those w ho w ear th em . W e w ork in an ti-racist and an ti-fascist
netw orks, inclu d ing cam p aigns for the rights o f im m igran ts and
asylu m seekers.
Socialist Resistance believes th at d em ocracy is an essential
com p on en t o f any su ccessfu l m ovem en t o f resistance and
stru ggle. With Britain and th e w estern im p erialist cou n tries
m oving in to a lon g p eriod o f cap italist au sterity and crisis,
d eep er than any since the Secon d Wor ld W a r , Socialist
Resistance stand s togeth er w ith all th ose w ho are organizing to
make another w orld p ossible.
Socialist Resistance is the bi-m on th ly m agazine o f th e
organization, w h ich can beread on lin eatw w w .socialistresistan ce.
org. Socialist Resistance can be con tacted by em ail at con ta ct©
socialistresistance.org or by p ost at PO Bo x 62732, Lon d on ,
SW2 9GQ.
International Viewpoint is th e English langu age on lin e
magazine of the Fou rth In tern ation al w hich can be read on lin e
at w w w .internationalview p oint.org.
Th e In tern ation al In stitu te for

Research and Ed u cation
The International In stitu te for Research an d Ed u cation (IIRE)

is an international fou n d ation , recogn ized in Belgiu m as an
international scientific association by a Royal d ecree o f 11th
Ju ne 1981. Th e IIRE p rovid es activists an d sch olars w orld w id e
w ith op p ortu nities for research an d ed u cation in th ree location s:
Am sterd am , Islam abad and Man ila.
Since 1982, w hen the In stitu te op en ed in Am sterd am , its
m ain activity has been the organ ization o f cou rses in th e service
of progressive forces arou n d th e w orld . Ou r sem in ars an d stu d y
groups deal w ith all su bjects related to th e em an cip ation o f th e
w orld 's oppressed and exp loited . It has w elcom ed h u n d red s o f
p articip ants from every in h abited con tin en t. Most p articip an ts
have com e from the Th ird Wor ld .
The IIRE has becom e a p rom in en t cen tre for th e d evelop m en t
of critical thou ght and in teraction , an d th e exch an ge o f
exp eriences, betw een p eop le w ho are engaged in d aily stru ggles
on the grou nd . Th e In stitu te's sessions give p articip an ts a
u niqu e op p ortu nity to step asid e from th e p ressu re o f d aily
activism . Th e IIRE gives th em tim e to stu d y, reflect u p on th eir
involvem ent in a changing w orld an d exch an ge id eas w ith
people from other cou n tries.
Ou r w ebsite is constantly being exp and ed an d u p d ated w ith
freely d ow nload able p u blication s, in several langu ages, and
au d io files. Record ings o f several recent lectu res given at the
institu te can be d ow nload ed from w w w .iire.org - as can talks
given by fou nd ing Fellow s su ch as Ernest Mand el and Livio
Maitan , d ating back to the early 1980s.
Th e IIRE p u blishes N otebooks for Study and Research to focu s
on them es o f con tem p orary d ebate or historical or th eoretical
im p ortan ce. Lectu res and stu d y m aterials given in sessions in
ou r In stitu te, located in Am sterd am , Man ila and Islam abad ,
are m ad e available to the p u blic in large p art th rou gh the
N otebooks.
Different issues o f the N otebooks have also ap p eared in
languages besid es English and Fren ch , inclu d ing Germ an ,
Du tch , Arabic, Sp anish, Jap anese, Korean , Portu gu ese, Tu rkish ,
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Cinzia Arruzza - Dangerous Liaisons - The Marriages and Divorces of Marxism and Feminism (2013, Merlin Press LTD) PDF

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D angerous

in association w ith Resistance Books and IIRE

Dangerous Liaisons is issue n u m ber 55

© Resistance Books and IIRE

Ed ited by Penelop e Du ggan and Terry Con w ay

Translated from the Italian by Marie Lagatta

Catalogu e in p u blication d ata is available

Printed in th e UK by Im p rin t Digital, Exeter

Con tribu tors 7

Chap ter 1 Marriages ...

1.1 Linking u p the struggles 23

Chap ter 2 ... and d ivorces

2.1 A p roblem from the start 57

3.1 On ce u p on a tim e ... 79

Chap ter 4 A qu eer u n ion betw een

4.1 One theory for d ual system s 115

Peop le m en tion ed in the text 129

Penelope Du ggan is a Fellow o f the In tern ation al Institu te for

fem inist theory, m en tion ed in the book has also been ad d ed .

at the initiative o f w om en activists w ho w ere also involved in

p rom in en t in m in ers' su p p ort grou p s up and d ow n the cou n try.

Lastly the 1980s w ere m arked by th e challenge o f black

their voice was at last heard . Black w om en w ere organized in

One exam p le o f how the w om en 's m ovem en t resp ond ed

w om en's op p ression - op ened the way to p ost-m od ern ism 's

Dem and s On e - Fou r

Five and Six

Th e goal o f this book is to look at new ways o f in tegratin g

the m ethod s o f Marxism allow for self-correction on this

Lid ia Cirillo's w ork started from the d ebate w ith the

fem inism is always born and reborn on the left, alongsid e

w orkers' m ovem en t, in the rad icalization o f th e 1960s and

In one d iscu ssion o f d ifference th eory p u blish ed as "Fo r

Th e Italian p hilosop hy o f gend er d ifference is very m u ch

Alongsid e this m ore abstract theoretical w ork, H eather

as w orkers in the in form al sector, as m oth ers) cou ld com bin e

fu sion o f general and sp ecific d em and s in ord er to p erm it th e

It is w ith alread y existing w ork su ch as this th at Arru zza can

In ord er to u nd erstand these com p lex p rocesses, it is

called the travelogu e she w rote "Th e w and erings o f a p ariah".

1844 Economic and Philosophical M anuscripts. In Fou rier's

1.2 Ladies and working women

allow her to be econ om ically in d ep en d en t from m en . W o m en ,

classes cou ld take action .

1.3 On both sides of the Channel

They played an im p ortan t role, even creating ind ep end ent

of the Paris Com m u n e before it was su bsequ ently d row ned in

In p re-1870 Paris there w ere close to 550,000 highly

challenged trad itional m orality. Rep ression sw iftly p u t an end

w itchhu nt in the press o f the Versailles regim e.. Th e legend o f

1.4 Social Democratic Parties

Lassallians' p rop osal to ban w om en from w orking in ind u stry

Alexand ra Kollontai's w ritings, the qu estion o f free love w as n ot

fem ale m em bersh ip , how ever, m u st be situ ated relative to the

1.5. Revolutionary women.

what m om en tou s events th eir action w ou ld trigger. H u n ger,

its progressive socialization, in oth er w ord s, throu gh collective

was transform ed in to Zhenotd el - th e W om en 's Section o f th e

- and a grow ing lack o f con fid en ce am on g w om en w orkers

1.6 W omen fighters

w om en had , in fact, always been exclu d ed from p olitics an d

Consequ ently it lau nched tw o literacy cam p aign s, organized

w om en in w hich m en w ere com p letely su bservient - a scenario