At a time of a historic militarist shifts by imperialist powers, we propose in this article to re-appropriate some of the debates between Marxism and revolutionary feminism before the First World War. Although the situation is not the same, these theoretical and political struggles offer a valuable lesson for articulating a class-independent and revolutionary position today.
In August 1910, the International Conference of Socialist Women, organized by Clara Zetkin, met in Copenhagen. During this conference, more than 100 delegates from 17 countries voted in favor of establishing an international day to celebrate women’s struggles. The congress debated various issues related to women workers’ rights, women’s education, and the fight against the impending war. On March 19, 1911, a demonstration for International Women’s Day was held for the first time in Berlin, with more than 30,000 demonstrators. A few years later, it was moved to March 8, a date we still commemorate today.
The next International Women’s Conference was scheduled for 1914, but it could not take place due to the war that shattered Europe. Clara Zetkin was at the forefront alongside Rosa Luxemburg in the fight against imperialist war. Both belonged to the left wing of German Social Democracy and rejected the SPD’s (Social Democratic Party of Germany) support for the war. When the SPD parliamentary bloc approved war credits on August 4, 1914, they formed the “Spartacus League” with others and published the magazine ” Die Internationale.” In the second vote in the German parliament in December of that year, Karl Liebknecht was the only Social Democratic MP to refuse to support the war machine with his vote.
In March 1915, despite enormous difficulties, Clara Zetkin and the Russian revolutionaries organized the first International Women’s Anti-War Conference, attended by 29 delegates from the belligerent countries. This meeting was of particular historical importance because it was the first international gathering where socialist women activists were able to come together against the world war. The Berne Conference adopted a manifesto, printed by the thousands for clandestine distribution in several countries. Upon her return to Germany, Clara Zetkin was accused of treason and imprisoned.