In 1889, the communist politician Clara Zetkin began her meteoric rise to prominence within the international workers’ movement and published her first pamphlet, which is translated into English here for the first time. It outlines one of her most significant contributions to Marxist theory: a historical materialist understanding of the oppression of women and the theoretical justification for a ‘clean break’ between the bourgeois feminist movement of the ‘women’s rightists’ [Frauenrechtlerinnen] and the International Socialist Women’s Movement.
In his introduction, translator Ben Lewis calls for a critical Marxist (re)discovery of Zetkin’s rich life and work, the reception of which has been distorted almost beyond recognition by feminist, social-democratic and Stalinist historiography.
Available here.
Three articles introducing the publication:
‘Clara Zetkin was a Marxist Champion of the Struggle against Women’s Oppression’ (Jacobin)
‘Clear Breaks and Clear Principles’ (Weekly Worker)
‘Clara Zetkin: rupturas limpias y principios claros’ (Sinpermismo)
A talk introducing the publication can be viewed here.