Radical feminism: Encyclopedia II - Radical feminism - Radical feminism and Marxism

Radical feminism - Radical feminism and Marxism

Some strains of radical feminism have been compared to Marxism in that they describe a "great struggle of history" between two opposed forces. Much like the Marxist struggle between classes (typically the proletariat and bourgeoisie), radical feminism describes a historical struggle between "women" and "men". Radical feminism has had a close, if hostile, relationship with Marxism since the 1970s. Both Marxists and radical feminists seek a total and radical change in social relations; believe themselves to be on the political left; and, are primarily active amongst Western university students. Despite this commonality, as ideologies Marxism and radical feminism have generally opposed one another. In practice, however, activist alliances generally form around shared immediate goals.

Some radical feminists are explicitly avowed Marxists, and attempt to explore relationships between patriarchal and class analysis. This strain of radical feminism can trace its roots to the Second International (in particular the Marxists Rosa Luxembourg and Alexandra Kollontai). These strains of radical feminism are often referred to as "Marxist feminism".

On the other hand, a lot of feminists will point to the hypocrisy of many supposed Marxists. During the 1960s in the USA it was precisely the exclusion and discrimination against women in leftist political groups that caused many women to become feminists in the first place. Some people also point out the awful treatment of women by certain communist countries. The bumper sticker version of this view is the following quote:

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Radical feminism and Marxism", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki