hings were heading. p> Just as the radicalism of the early movement had been related to the rising tide of radicalism and industrial action, so the increasing dominance of the more right wing ideas of feminism accompanied the retreats of the working class and other movements. These questions matter, not because of some abstract shibboleth devised by socialists. When activists embark on a program of struggle based on unachievable goals - in this case, the hope that all women could unite - the ultimate, predictable failure, leads many activists to demoralisation. The disillusionment of many women committed to women's rights is palpable in student publications. In the Melbourne University women's student magazine, Judy's Punch in 1995, one woman wrote that a march against fees, organised from NOWSA (the national conference of women students) was great until the cops attacked it. Then solidarity collapsed. She expressed her disillusionment thus:
Yet we are expected to take the ideas of feminism seriously! Another woman wrote that she had hoped that NOWSA would В«pull feminism apartВ», analysing why the movement was in disarray. But she was disappointed that it didn't. It is important we learn the lessons from the last Women's Liberation Movement and the developments over the last decade and a half, so that if the possibility of mass struggles for women's rights accompany the new anti-capitalist movement we may avoid some of the pitfalls.
Out of the turmoil of debates in the last decade there are those who agree that all women (Ruling class and working class) cannot unite. However, they argue that all left wing women should organise В«autonomouslyВ». However women with fundamental political differences will come up against the same differences of principle that keep them in different organisations. And they will find more in common on these matters of principle with men with whom they agree. This argument, while acknowledging class differences is still a concession to the idea that our identity forms our politics, rather than experience and theory. If any group of women has fundamental political agreement, they will be most effective if they are organised together with men with the same politics. The idea that women need a separate organisation is a concession to the idea that men n a tur a lly and always will dominate, and that women are incapable of playing a leading role in their own right in organisations. Take for example the disagreements that have come up over whether to oppose Right to Life Clubs on campus. Not all left wing women agree on the tactics of demonstrating at their stalls and meetings. So those who do, have a much stronger presence and ability to defeat the pro-life clubs if they entail the solidarity of men who agree.
The socialist answer to the question В«How can we win women's liberation В»is to look to the traditions of collective struggle of the working class. Not that other groups in society do not take up their own demands and lead campaigns. The point is to see that linking these to those of the working class is the way to build a movement capable of uniting millions, and of forcing change. Marxists do not put this emphasis on the working class because we think workers are somehow more virtuous, good, or more deserving than others. It is because as a class united in struggle, they have the power to defeat those in power, and ultimately, to bring capitalism crashing down and to build a new society based on collectivity out of the ruins. The dynamic in the workers 'movement is in the opposite direction to what we have seen in the women's movement. At first, the old divisions can seem insuperable at times. But if workers ' confidence continues and they continue to want to fight their rulers, they have to begin to overcome ideas such as sexism, bringing the oppressed into the struggle by raising their demands. In any case, women are half the working class, whether they're in paid work or not. It is necessary to remind us of that because there is, even after the unprecedented entry of women into the paid workforce, a stereotype of the В«workerВ» as male and blue collar. This caricature of the working class lies behind the fear that the В«working classВ» won't fight for В«women's issues В». The working class today includes increasing numbers of white collar workers, often university educated, who might think of themselves as middle class, but nevertheless find themselves organising unions like any other workers. Bank and finance workers are a good example, leading militant struggles in countries such as South Korea in the last decade.
There is nothing inevitable about the specific demands of women being part of working class struggle, especially if it involves at first mostly male workers. However...
