MARCH 8 is International Women’s Day. Like May Day it is an anniversary that grew out of U.S. working-class experience. Initiated by socialist women to call attention to the specific problems of working women, it was first celebrated in 1909. It was especially important in mobilizing U.S. working women in the fight for suffrage.
During World War I, the women’s movement in Germany held the first antiwar demonstration with a march to prison, to express solidarity with Rosa Luxemburg, a leading socialist imprisoned for her antiwar views. And in 1917, a women textile workers’ demonstration for bread and peace unexpectedly triggered the Russian Revolution that overthrew the Tsar.
This anniversary will be an opportunity for women to reach out to newly radicalizing women, and we take note of the participation of women organized as women in today’s antiwar movement.
In this issue of ATC we feature an analysis of the politics of welfare—an important aspect of feminist analysis and class struggle today—as well as a feminist analysis of the media’s coverage of the Gulf war, a resolution from a recent Palestinian women’s conference, and two book reviews.
ATC welcomes a new columnist, Catherine Sameh, whose work has appeared in the Portland Alliance.
March-April 1991, ATC 31