Propagandism and the Fight for Women's Rights

PROPAGANDISM

AND THE

FIGHT FOR

WOMEN'S RIGHTS

Grou their fo Marxist level o left. To public they be for one tevolutio Commi nist set themselves the task on rmation of re establishing a tradition and of raising the F ideological debate on the this end they created as their face not a newspaper, since lieve that the theoretical basis did not exist, but a quarterly theoretical journal. The HCG laments that the left groups have shown a contempt for theory in not replying to the positions they have developed.

This article is devoted to critique of the main article in Revol- utionary Communist 5, "Women's Oppression Under Capitalism. It is in this article more than any other published by the RCG that they have the opportunity of putting forward a concrete analysis.

The purpose of our reply is not simply to show how the RCG go wrong on the question of women but why they necessarily go wrong on all issues, since their whole conception of how theory is developed and the nature of its relat on to the practice of the working class is radically wrong. For this reason we begir with the RCG's general methodo By Julia Kellett and Steve Piercey logical a illustrate approact ummen oach and te conseq in their ppression en ge nces analy of

METHO

The RCG believe that re- condition for the development of revolutionary theory is an under- standing of the social relations of production as analysed by Marx in Capital. This is true in so far as a revolutionary programme which does not base itself on an understanding of the social relations of production and the forms under which they appear under capitalism will inevit- ably be superficial and inadequate. It will not be able to penetrate beyond the appearances of capitalist produc- tion to the content of the social relations which lie behind them. An analysis at the level of appearances remains trapped within bourgeois ideology and leads to a reformist political practice. It does not follow, however, he programme of the revolutio party is no more than a lo deduction from the categories contained Capital. It not simply mat that the ger production a concrete situ ter o leral re tak ation nowing lef ws of capit ing in a partic and drawina alist ular

OUT

the political concisions.

method of the RCG. politics as a bare reflect movement of capital in of accumulation. They a the correct politics for tl class movemer follow material basis o particu is known This is the They see ion of the its process ssume that le working once the r problem This is a complete and undialectical view between economics which does not see interaction hetween mechanical the relation id politics re essential the two. Although events at the production precipitate the crisis and determine the terrain under which the clas is fought out, the form w class struggle takes and come depend on many poli even cultural factors. level of capitalist general i struggle hich the its out- tical and in capitar marx sai theoretical foundation utionary movement by the possibility of socia d down of the r showing lism is the evol- that born

TROTSK YISM

out o the womb of capitalism which prepares the material foun dation for a higher form of society.

He shows the necessity for revolution by the fact that the limited social basis of capitalism (the irreconcilable interests of Capital and Labour) means that the forces of production are developed unevenly, anarchically and through a process of periodic crisis. The barrier to the further development of the productive forces is capital itself. Only the revolution- ary overthrow of the capitalist social relations of proc ction can resolve the crisis in th nterests of the working class. lu In Capital cerned to prese alism at analysis o tage of its pment. although a historical general analysis of the 1 bourgeois society. The ysis employed by Marx s not adequate for article. It necessarilv Mai it a was story: f capit cavala IOt COI I canita ism nor an particular s Capital. analysis, is foundation form of ar in Capital Derspective leaves out of the clas fought ot vs -s = = out. cultural factors of a active ruggle In • CO as i The Rans nscious side t is actually Eighteenth sonoMary Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Marx gives analysis laws of and mom rathe cult ent 1ar in! in of a 1 how t teract wi injunctural he general th political ctors as dialecti ictions ( cal if th arts whol

MOVE

ment or omics a element deduced to task in ment of capital. For the RCG, econ recti ch 1 ook capita re thi from w . Engels 1890: 10 H y dete solitics such p 3, econ rmining can be ositions *According t0 tion of history, the alament in history the matorialist ultimately det is the produc concep• armining tion and reproduction of real life. Moro than this Marx and I have naver asserted. Honce if somobody twists this into saying that the economic olomont is the only determining one, he transforms that proposition into a meaningless, abstract phrase. The econ amic situation is the basis, but the various alaments of tha superstructure.. also exercise thoir influonce upon the course of avants and in many cases preponderate in determining their form. Thera is an inter- action of those elements... the economic movement finally asserts itself as nocossary d Marx and I are oursolves partly to blame for the fact that the youngar people sametimos lay more stross on the economic side than is dua to it. We had to omphasiso the main principle vis-a-vis our adversaries, who danied it, and we had not always the time, the place or opportunity to givo their due to the other elements involved in the intoraction. But when it came to presenting a section of history.

that is, to making a practical appitcation.

it was a different matter and there no error was permissable." (1) Only through such a dialectical approach can consciousness be seen as the result of social being. The fact that the RCG deny this and see consciousness as the bare reflection of the material appearances of capitalism means at they cannot understand ow theory and practice are united n the aci vity of the working class through tie medium of the programme of the evolutionary party. This theoretical weakness is not limited to the RCG-it is rampant on the left in Britain. But the RCG show it in its purest form.

This can best be illustrated by con- sidering the RCG's conception of ti problem of reformism.

E FORMI

he hat hip he RCG working the wor share gecisie ( le crisis. lem. the OUr see the main pr class as being king class and i the views the cause and he way to an ICG argues, is em in e fact eader- the Marxist understandi g women's oppression ar into the labour movem working class can answer ical offensive of the bour id the sther so tl the ic aeoisie crisis, ssues t the olog its own independer t class ew.

Although it is true that the task of the revolutionary party transform the spontaneously re ist consciousness of the workint into a revolutionary consciou the party does this by developir activity of the working class, n simply equipping the working ch is 99595 ilet propaganda. forming the class, he consc sness o locat reformism as ideas" and to *taking a Marx the nature of th oppression into both abstract demolished this iou asoddo o Marxist stand it the y process is one which be continual interaction social activity and the ousness of the working class struggle. By trans- activity of the working party transforms its in the proi see st u the and « concep problem slem of "wro the solution nderstanding" isis and wome working class lealist. Ma tion o rat

PAGE 17

forming consciousne development when t Young Hegelians: "This demand to chan amounts to a damand to in another way. i.e. 10 anothar interpretation . way combatting the rea when they phrasas of this world". This resort to idea ism is the means y which the 1CG vainly attemy ransform themselves from lative materialists to revolt Given their starting point isciousness is simply the the material earl lam bas n it ted go consciausness interpret reality recognise it by . they are in no I existing world combattin the it to l contemp tionaries. that cor reflection appearances faced with of capital the proble sm, hey a how. line with Marxist hacomes ort force. Th

RCG, I

alists su far The problem is "solved" an idealist leap by ma hai the teria sing probler by earli as Rot Idea is "solved" mechanica tOwen, by I lead in olutio conscio consciousness when the working class intr working class with correct Ideas. wIt the crisis oppressior fully dise in! lew atior wor its and ng cl women's iss hope 00 LiTT siety- Nowi evolutir urg led 01 magy the ta

DUP

sk changir •or 12 5 so the RCI : in this co ry process i believe nception does the of the evol mmi their ssion onary party and ppear. I 1 the final si ong analysıs of wom • Raunhitinnaru Ca Hs progi itence o en's opp: nmunict are revol Id that tonary overt pure gen In 1 ow cop ormalist action ti precandi ufl par ital ty enil nn thai bu is ilding essen mi list Isan But ortht ds of this han dox' wort of analysis the strated in any programme are RCG have way why a programme are necessary. For them not demoi party and . For thei there is simply a need for a dedicated Ariu band of who deval professional e themselves scoreticians elucidating teory in a torm su lasses in their daily ourgeois ideology For the RCG theor deve outside the practice the struggle. This is a truly elitist point. As Marx said of these s self-proclaimed "theorists" stand above the class struggle: it is essential to educate the educator himself. This doctrine must, therefore divide society into two halves.

one of which is superior to society". (4) When Lenin said that theory has to come to the working class from without he mean hat revolution- ary theory does n arise from the spontaneously class struggle as develops. Although Marx ry grips the 1 aterial force, the masses in TaDIe battl

TOT

against loped clace stand ort of who Although Marx said that when rip lat when becomes does not m. There fo

PAGE 18

has to be a form 01 mediation between theory and practice. The form of mediation is the programme.

The programme gives theory a concrete form in a system of demands which advance a course of action through which workers an come to an understanding of he necessity of revolution as a resul of their own activity and experience.

The essential method of Trotsky's Transitional Programme is the channina of consciousness throuch active struggle why the dema ary character. defence of interests of th therefore able consciousness demands are and experience. This is nds have an expansion- They begin with the the basic material e working class and are to relate to the present of workers. Once the taken up they reveal neir orren workers in production state power. the struggle it he develo

SIVE

str an coment by invoiving iggle for control over I fina a struggle for each velopment o arks step forward nent consciousness lly de Marx The fact that the RCG consciousness in relation leads them to make no between the reformism do not to acti distinct of ion the sent bureaucratic working class ar the mass of th The reason why distinguish between working class and leadership is that they the same position capitalisi structure same rol the cla leadership of the reformism working class. is essential to le mass of the s bureaucratic do not occupy in the social nor play the struggle. " The reason why it is essential to of in may be True inat Dou the mass or workers and their leaders share similar reformist illusions but this is not the main point, if consciousness is looked at dialectically.

As Marx points out: "The question is not what goal is enviseaged for the time being by this or that member of the prolatariat, or oven by the proletariat as a whole. The question is what is the proletariat and what course of action will it be forced historically to take in conformity with its own nature." (5) This passage could be repeated h regard to the present bureau cratic leadership of the working class; for the essential difference between the working class cracy is not on consciousness but which each "will to take with its own nature." 1 in king dis cha th the working class and the nature of present bureaucratic the same. then wh the w Tieroi and of one rking class; se between he bureau- immediate of action be forced conformity the the are e nature of • nature of leadership should the form of a leadership assume bureaucracy? The fact that the RCG make a political distinction the two means that they ar to see that bureaucracy is inevitable, inherent part working ass movement, formation, an excresence as called it, which arises unde historical political condition a definite role in the class

TLI

the do not between e unable not an of the but a Trotsky certain s to play struggle. ship histo impe profi The bureaucratic form of leader- he working class originated ally with the advent of lism whose high monopoly "makes economicallv 252E2 possible to bribe the upper s the proletariat, and thereby gives shape and opportunism." (6) The bureaucracy seeks as its basis of support lavars of the workina class trata of fosters. ngthens aucracy the top HAve seen detached from the if the proletariat. "Opportunist organisat very nature concentrate the bre ho Im asses attentian on the top layers of tao w class and therefore ignores both the and woman worker." (7) The fact that in a social basis of t Is to be eroded he end thait chief arking youth period of he bureau only inter crisis cracy isifies sectio mass when cracy definite a defini workers mediate interests the working class the working clas Eve e social basis of the bureat disappearing, it still has a social position to defend and te role to perform in the movement. This role to between the opposed lass of the proletariat an he

HENCED

and the

YISM

leadershi central. The WSL does not argue working class already has utionary consciousness and only thing necessary is to away the existing leadership.

We agree that consciousness has to change, but it will only change through the independent mobilis- ation o the working class on the basis of an independent programme.

The bureaucracy is the fundamental barrier to this process even beginning. It s for this reason that the struggle for he independent mobilisation f the working class is necessarily si ultaneously a struggle against the present bureaucratic leadership. T problem of reform- ism, then, only a problem ol wrong ideas a ve abstract level.

In concrete polit I terms the a problem problern of reformi e working of the leadership class at the revol- at the sweed TH e RCG's mechan threads through it en's oppression a clearly in their familv. They

FAMI

isn WOl very the material. alysis on is shown led view of with some women's in the o the The cates a labour labour, amily, e social which ised is itself. of the free hat ily, seir soints: that is nu rooted se but i the forn nder capitalism. it of apitalism ci betw n domestic labour. Domestic by women in the ivatised and outsid The extent to correct oppressi family i famil develop separati and sor perform become production. uo Jer one beci :11 ic labour can be social absolutely by capital economic function as a producer of It i tam

SET VIC

enslaves women and materially rale of domestic

IS TOM

within the fam ties them to t workers. towen 1u% n achiova uality "the the individual abolished, "nit economic revolutionar relation to uality possessed family of being of society must The demand wi should raise family for SOcIalISaTIOn 01 the abolition domestic ol. the la mily as anu an economic unit. ine demand abolisti the familv" and theories which de ine Tamiy di InCORIES WHICH AU not distinguish between the family as an economic unit and "family life" "obscure the revolutionary significance of women's oppression".

(10) In any case the family cannot be abolished; it has to be replaced.

Thus Revolutionary Communist concludes: "Undar capitalism farr destroyed, while at the sar family as an ecoromic unit it Under socialism the revarse sily life is ne time tho i maintained. wIl be the bourgeoisie. The leadershi class becomes b itself as much control below anc of democracy essential if it historical role working class. In the active process of the class struggle, the nature of the working class forces it to reach beyond its own immediate consciousness. But the nature of the bureaucracy forces it to stamp on every independent movement and to become "masters of the mass movement in order to render it harmless" (8) Precisely question of this t because of the rk reaucratic, ee as possible fr attacking all for because that is to achieve f demobilising WO fr

BE E

YISM TODA

PAGE

case. Family life will take on a n as the family as an economic destroved." (1 Although theories which focus entirely on the position of women in family life do lead to reactionary conclusions, the RCG go to the other extreme and confine their analysis to the family as an economic unit.

While the starting point of an all- round analysis of the family must be its economic role under capitalism, an analysis that ends with this dis.

covery has hardly begun. The RCG can dismiss the social and cultural aspects of the family because for them "under capitalism family life is destroyed." This is nonsense. It is only possible to say that capitalism "destroys the family" if one has an ideal, a-historical conception of the family. If the RCG's "materialism" allowed them to see anything more than mechan- ical forces they would realise that the social and cultural aspects of the family assume a definite form of --in-l maudanad .. form nit is ravolutionaries. The aspects of the family ary in political terms. he general social f women in relatior ot derive from lega iscrimination. but political importance non-economic are not secon- subordination to men does and political from their position family. of domestic As Engels worker in the describes the relation "The law, whi of the o (12) The society "in the tha init Detween men and women: inequality of the two bafore the ch is a legacy of pravious social is is not the cuase but the effect conomic oppression of women".

dominant position of men in means that, as Engels puts it, family he is the bourgeois, a ranraconte the amlatariat" (13). This is a consequence of her role as domestic worker which gives her a socially subordinate position in both family life and public life. But as Engels points out, the form in which women's oppression appears is male domination. This appearance is not just an illusion. It is no accident, therefore, that feminists.

unable to penetrate beneath the appearances of women's oppression to the real content which explains those appearances, see men as the cause of their oppression.

The task of revolutionaries is not to ignore the reality of the male dominated form of family life under capitalism, but to develop the consciousness of both working class men and women in a struggle against the form of family life under capital- ism. This is done practically, by demonstrating to both male and female workers the political import- ance of involving women in the class struggle. Only in this way can sexual chauvinism be fought in practice. It is the role of the family as a social barrier to the in political lil ment within domestic toil that of involvement of wom :, their stifling confir the narrow sphere and personal relatio immediate practi revolutionaries. concern to Trotsky noted "As long as a woman is chained to housework, the care of the family.

cooking, the sowing, all her chances participation in social and political are cut down in the extrame". (14).

The RCG show their inabilit assess the family as a social un their discussion of stains resurrec tion of the bourgeois family in Russia. Stalin's reversals of the early measures taken by the Bolsheviks to provide social equality for women through the socialisation of domestic labour were the consequence, they argue, of the economic difficulties inherent in the policy of 'socialism in one country. (15) At no point do they assess Stalin's deification of the family as part of a process of political counter-revolu- tion by the usurping bureaucracy.

The link between the cult of the family (in all its aspects) and political reaction is vital. The Stalinist bureau cracy bolstered the family not simply to "provide an economic basis for its survival" (16) but also to provide the political basis for its survival.

As Trotsky said: "The mast compelling motive for the present cult of the family is undoubtedly the naed of the burosucracy for a stable hierarchy of ralations and for the disciplin- ing of youth by means of 40 million points of support for the bureaucracy."

(17). An essential part of Stalin's political counter-revolution was the destruction of the seeds of workers' democracy. There was an intimate connection between the destruction of workers democracy and the resurrection of the bourgeois family.

The bureaucracy required the demobilisation of the masses and their exclusion from public life. For this the bureaucracy turned to the social role of the family. its abilit to enforce discipline and to isolate Stalin masses individ The emerge terms of in the narrow sal family cells. RCG's accou nce of the fam of economic RCG's account of the re- 823 of there- in Russia in nsiderations hardly even what was backwardne exhaustion decimation liquidation these were factors in family- gives invol of in a partial picture of ved. The cultural the masses, their he civil war, the the working class, the the Left Opposition- ultimately the decisive the Thermidor of the I nere relation ularly its and the production. Trotsky points establishment of a no means guarantees the family will auto in line with gener economic changes. transform the family struggle for culture: "The change in political regime, tha change aven of the economic ordar of the stato-the passing of the factories and tha mills into the hands of the workers-all this has certainly had some influence on family life, but only indirectly and exter- nally... A radical reform of the family and, mare generally. of the whole order of domestic life requires a great conscious affort on the part of the whole mass of the working class, and presumes the existenca in the class itsolf of a powarful molacular force of inner desire for culture and progress." (18) The relation between political reaction and the family can be seen very clearly today in the ideological camnaion bv the bouraeoisie to s no one to one mechanica etween the family. partic social and cultural aspect? y social relations out that the vorkers state by that the form of matically change al political and The struggle to is part of the drive women back into the i The attempt to increase the do burden on each individual with calls to 'shop around' and do recognises the importar capitalism of the family economic unit-its ability to d and lessen the effects of the living standards of workers amily. mestic family 'make ce to as an isguise fall in connected ologi ta paideal and social importance of the family to canitalism: its reactionar function working class, workers by spl individual family called upon to solution within problem which fragmenting a omisino the of itting cells. seek the are nd demobilising them into Workers are n individual family to socia and demand The class solution burgeoisie is aided in its attempt present the wort cracy hi ilise the to boister ine bureaucratic sing class. The I ips the bourg working class ....:LI. ---.- ramuy Dy ine leadership of abour bureau- zoisie demob- by preventing as rar as solved by the possible crass proprems peing n a collective class way- independent mobilisation of ki ng cl bureaucracy

"AG hate mass and of the the movemen class which levelop beyond jeopardise their tion within the threaten to control and privileged po movement. The extent emerge from pate in poli revolutionary of the would their own bour to which women can the family to partici- ical life depends on adership-the sensi- 10 A1A1 aul the specific and the way tivity of the revolutionary party to oppression this is refl ry party tu of women ected in its programme and a consciousness of a whole.

CEV

the Ity in work raising 1 ing class au as

DEMOCRATIC DEMANDS

DEM

In their discussion of abortion they conclude: "While we support the free abortion, this will not from domestic toil, nor ov unequal position at work.

on the question has to go question of this legal right working class as a whole the to social equality." (21) Just how this should be cone is left to the reader's imagination. The RCG consistently pose problems and then refuse to answer them.

demand for free women ercoma thair . A compaign beyond the to show the real obstacle

OTSKY WSI.

here, as the RCG does, lets off the hook those in the unions who are responsible for the political orien- tation. While criticising those who adapt to feminism the RCG them- selves adapt to the bureaucracy.

The same lack of an alternative is shown when they take up the CP's perspective of achieving equal rights by involving women in the trade unions and relying on the spontan- eous union struggles. The RCG argue that while it is necessary to draw women into the unions, the CP's standpoint ignores the specific oppression of women because it ignores women outside social produc tion domestic workers and unem- ployed women. Nowhere do the RCG argue why they believe? t is essential to draw women into the trac unions" (23) 70 all this illustrates is that the R not even have a conception of a programme, let alone a programme itself. When Lenin said that democratic demands have to be fought for from a revolutionary standpoint he meant that they have to be fought for not in relation to an abstract Marxis analysis, but in relation to a programme which represents the interests of the working class as a whole on all issues.

Democratic demands, fought for alone, separated from such a programme, mean confining the struggle to the framework of bour- geois democracy. The working class must always fight from its own inde pendent class position. Unlike bourgeois democracy.

ich rests on the exclusion of the sses from active political life, rkers democracy rests on the ive involvement of the whole of working class and the oppressed.

particular, organisations of kers democracy have the ability mobilise and represent those ions of the working class- nen, the une ployed blacks, th c. who e. not irmally ese - the ass org sations hat do et nt are not normally They criticism Abortion Right to basis that level of implies put forward a of the slogan, on Demand: A Wom Choose" on the cor it raises the issue at a m individual conscience that women have lengthy 52832 freedom position. We 1 choose len find their social that the only way the from the demands issue of c the dema ception. RCG distingu feminists in they raise is ontraception nd • "Free an and free inni ish themselves terms of the by linking the to abortion in d safe contra- abortion on cemand*" (22). Far from going beyond the question of abortion, the RCG fail even to door of scale of by inder and the drug sur The RCI the NH: of wom contrace go on to workina take one step forward to the the NHS to fight for a sliding state expenditure drawn up sendent workers' committess opening of the books of the plier industries to the NHS.

G ignore the fact that cuts in i affect not only the ability en to obtain free and safe ption and abortion, but reverse the gains won by the class for adecuate health treat с тог all workers. no accident tha the RCG se to develop concretely ocratic demands have to be from a consistently revol standpoint. In seeing the of reformism abstractly as 'wrong ideas" they reduce i to an academic fight for Is. Juestior ixist an alys The RCG's failure to make a distinction between the reformism of the mass of the working class and the reformism of its bureaucratic leadership means that they are unable to understand the active role played by the bureaucracy in block- ing the avenue to women's active involvement in political life.

For this reason they are unable to reply adequately to the advocates, such as the CP and the ICL, of "positive discrimination" in favour of women in the unions. The RCG correctly argue that this is an adap tation to feminism in implying that the problem of the unions is one of male domination rather than political orientation. But to leave the issue 2 me revolutionary leadership Central to nsciousness this task of raising the of the working class as a whole on oppression revolutiona e question of women's the way in which the leadershio fiahts for sion

RCG

critic democratic on ual right instrate ane suni de mand i. In their discus- eme all for their to women the ability to not havina a Marxi to adva: the worl nalysis a pract I class. th all 15 at to advance a practical alternative for abil ive for Kine The equalit tee for subord attainme for wome sal equality lation attainment of political their social po v au itical conunues. A reg a social freedom continues. A legal right can never be a social freadom in bourgeois society.

Marx succinctly makes the connec- ight bour lakes can 1 geois the ver be ciety snnec dom w society: than the cultural thereby' bourgeois reality th reflection Iviarx

SUCCI

Icuy the ght hts and so economic an never 1 I free sis fo higher nic structur (19) A le ht ir socIety can De an a right to i of the unequal abou I ou nbai sod ality tion of capitar Des rights, cannot l utionary Lenin's capital and labour. pite t for se h part rgun s, ine strugg democratic y-passed by y. The RCG lent on e Tor equal demands, the revol paraphrase "We show that damands for legal reforms under capitalism can only be in the interasts of the working class insofar as they are takan up from consistently rovolutionary standpoint. Ravolutionaries take up the struggle for damocratic rights not as ands in themsalvos. but in arder to train the working class in the spirit for democracy and to lay bare that it is the capitalist system, not lack of rights, which porpotuates oppression." (20) Having adhered doxy. the RCG abs developing conclusions Lenin outli the history movement. struggle for standpoint interests of bourgeoisie to Leninist ortho Dive themselves of any programmatic from the principles ned. Instead they chart of the British suffragette ind demonstrate how the equality from a feminist inevitably ties the women to ose the

TROTSK 'SIA TODA

of the working class. Although an essential task for revolutionaries is to recruit these sections into the trade unions, both to involve them in struggle now and to force the bureau- cracy to take up their interests, they will onl be mobilised in mass numbers the struggle for control.

It is these reasons that the fight fo women's emancipation, from an independent working class standpoint, must centre not on exclusively women's demands as the RCG implies, but on relating the special needs and oblems of women to the Transitional Programme and the fight for workers control. Only by linking the struggle against women's oppression to the fight for workers' control, for forms of workers democracy, is it possible to raise in a practical manner the question of what form of democracy and as part of what type of state can create the social conditions for the emancipation of women. This does not mean, of course, that we have to await the emergence of organs of workers control before taking up a fight against women's oppression. We fight for women to be involved in political life now both so that their interests can be more adequately represented in the organisations of the working class, and because this progess can begin to undermine their position of social subordination in the family. Obvious- ly it is essential to fight for those demands which relate specifically to women-adequate maternity leave on full pay, free nurseries, trade union branch meetings to take place at times accessible to women with creche facilities, etc. - 58 The general prir the independent working class. Th issues which re democracy apolv ciples involved interests of s mcans that ate to wor at all times. the the democracy apply at all times, not simply whei committees a

WOT

control are illustrated attitude of Tribunals set equal pay a Acts. The RCG tha Trihunale emerging. Thi by consider revolutionarie up to imple nd sex diser can 1g to lent omens oppression, do not insanit even ann ment stinlo ion altho ugh cutoral 11 ist congratulates the Trico women for not relying on them! The main point about the Tribunals for Marxists is not that they overwhelmingly rule in favour of the employers, but that they are organs of the bourgeois state. Even if they were far less blatantly biased, the Marxist position would remain one of complete opposition to them.

In fact the "fairer" they appear the more dangerous they become in fostering illusions about the neutral- ity of the bourgeois state and what can be achieved through its democracy. The fact that Tribunals are organs of the bourgeois state means that the solutions they offer, even when they rule in favour of women, are necessarily of a form which can in no way develop the political consciousness of either women or the working class as a whole. They promote an individual rather than a collective class solution and one which does not involve the active participation of women in public life; they isolate women from men and the possibility of united struggle; they foster the illusion that social equality can be gained through a bourgeois institution and within the framework of bourgeois demo- cracy. An independent working class position is that equal pay and sexual discrimination should be fought for by class methods such as strikes and occupations. But it is necessary to go further than this and argue that the implementation of measures such as equal pay should be under the control of elected committees of workers of both sex. The RCG can paraph they cannot understand do not understand what practice to fight for demands fi om an working las: standpo the wor ng class in tasks. rase Lenin; him. They it means in democratic dependent or to train democratic int its This means that they are unable to show how ir practice the struggle for woren's e nancipation and the struggle of the working class against capitalism can be united. They are content merely to show the material basis of the unity between the two struggles by showing that women's oppression is rooted in the social relations of production of capitalism and that women, like the working class, will not achieve emancipation until capitalism has been over- thrown: "..there is no soparation betwoon the interests of women and the independent interests of the working class as a whole.

Both interosts can only be defended by overthrowing capitalism. This is the only standpoint from which a rovolutionary perspactive for the defence of women's interesis can be developed". (24) Perfectly true. The trouble is the RCG do not take a single step towards developing such a perspec tive programmatically As usual, having identified umber of problems, they give no dication of how they are to be ived, apart from the maximalist Il to over- throw capitalism. Apart fom th ca Apart from the obstacles to unity

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inherent in numbers o ere are se precion Women are brought into social production as wage labourers when capital requires them and returned to the home and domestic toil when no longer needed. he confinement of large I women to the home, rious obstacles ever when e brought into social One of the essential functions of this reserve army of labour is to depress the general level of wages. In a period of economic crisis the bour- geoisie attempts to strengthen itself in relation to the working class by increasing the reserve army of labour by creating unemployment. Besides being necessary to maintain profit- ability, this serves the political purpose of weakening the resistance of the working class to further attacks and opens the way for large scale wage cutting. In a period of boom, although wage levels tend to rise, the bourgeoisie can combat this tendency to some extent by bringing into production the reserve army of labour at lower than average wages In addition, the employment of women in industry on a large scale has been a result, historically, of the general tendency under capitalism to simplify the production process and to replace skilled labour with machinery. This process has resulted in the employment of women at lower rates than men and the fall in men's wages as skilled processes have been broken down. As a result of all this, when women have been brought into social production they have tended to be seen by male workers as a threat to their wage levels and as competitors for scarce jobs. The reformist perspective of the trade union leaders of accepting redundancies combined with the view that la woman's natural place is in the home has meant that women are usually the first to go when redundancies are declared. Revolutionary Communist gives historical examples particularly the experience of the two wars when women were drawn into indust on a massive calto show tha the response of the leadershio o the trade unions has at best make no serious attempt to women and to defend their and at worst to resist their ment altogether. The problem remains: these obstacles to unity to come? The RCG correctly been to organise interests employ- how are be over. reject an uacn to unity in of formal equali women. This a women demand other branch of lation to capital. rougn a concep ty between men pproach argues no more than abour demands This complete-

GE ly ignores the special position of women and leads to accepting that women should do night work, heavy work, etc. because men do it, and rejects all protective measures in relation to women. Such a position derives from a bourgeois conception of formal equality, and, as the RCG show, it has been the bourgeois feminists, historically, who have fought for such a position and the revolutionary Marxists who have fought against It by including demands in their programme for protective measures in relation to female employment which recognise the special needs of women. For example, the Bolshevik programme in 1917 called for the prohibition of night work for women and of all work injurious to women's health.

Although under socialism wom will occupy the same position men, Lenin pointed out: "Here wa are not, of course, speaking of making women the equal of men as far as productivity of labour, the quantity of labour, the length of the working day.

labour conditions, otc. are concerned; we mean that women should not, unlike tha man, be oppressed because of har econ- omic position." (25) The point that Lenin is making is that what revolutionaries fight for is the abolition of social inequality between women and men, which is the product of capitalism; they recognise that there remain special problems faced by women and make provision for this in their programme. In recognising the special needs of women, and in taking control of the implementation of protective measures for women, the working class is asserting its own conception of democracy against bourgeois democracy which is purely formal and without content. Workers demo- cracy recognises that social equality for women will be devoid of content if they are treated "the equal of men as far as productivity of labour, the length of the working day, labour conditions etc. en as The task for revolutionaries, then, is to put forward a programme which can unite men and women around their common interests while making provision for the special needs of women. The RCG do not define their tasks in this manner. For them, "the immediate practical task for revol- utionaries is to take a Marxist under- standing of women's oppression into the labour movement". (26) This is pure idealism. No mention of party or programme, not even a single demand in this "practical task" simply the need for a Marxist under- standing which, for the RCG, like Hegel's absolute idea solves all practica problem in i unfolding A genuinely practical point (which the RCG could not be expected to make, since it is genuine- ly practical is that working class men and working class women have more interests in common than they have interests which divide them. As Krupskaya said: "That which unites worki with working man is stronger which dion hey re common needs, thair common which is struggla and their goal..." (271 than that united by hts, HOUL condition, common Failure to make this distinction between women in general and work- ing class women leads to an adap- tation to feminism on the question of women's oppression. They see the forces which divide men and women on a sexual basis as more powerful than the forces which unite the working class men and women on a class basis. This leads them to put forward women's demands as a separate category from demands for the working class as a whole, in the belief that women can only struggle on the issue of their specific oppres sion. The RCG explicitly reject any truck with feminism. They argue that a movement led from a feminist standpoint remains trapped within the framework of bourgeois society: they attack the feminist views of the IMG and ICL that only women have an interest in their liberation; they point out the relationship between feminism and the economism of the Working Women's Charter. Despite this they show that they themselves have not broken from feminism.

They argue: *Woman will only be convinced of tha politicel unity between the struggle for thair liberation and the struggle against capitalism when the working class move.

ment begins to fight against the specific appressian fo wamen." (28) This view is a feminist one. It is a perspective for unity which is true in respect petty-bourgeois feminists, but not in respect of working class women. Petty-bour- geois feminists, it is true, will only be won in mass numbers to the side of the working class at a fairly late stage, after the working class move- ment has established a consistent record of fighting against women's oppression. For working class women the obstacles to unity are not nearly so great precisely because they are members of the working class.

It is no accident that feminist movements overwhelmingly attract petty-bourgeois women and fail to make much of an impression with working class women. Feminism reflects the position of petty- bourgeois women in capitalist society who see their main problems in life

VISM TODA

as lack of equal politit al and legal rights and sexual diser mination in job oportunities etc., na male.

dominated Although society. working class women face these problems as well they also face general class problems-wage-cutting, unemployment, cuts in social services etc.-in a way that petty-bourgeois women do not. It is for this reason that in many cases working class women will be mobilised, initially, not on the question of their specific oppression but on general class issues. It does not follow of course that the revol- utionary party should approach working class women simply as members of the working class, the same as men. Working class women face particular problems because of their sex, but in many cases they are most likely to confront the obstacles and problems they face as women through the experience of struggle; for example women in struggle inevitably confront the family as an obstacle to full involvement in political life. We do not deny the importance of involving working class women in struggle on the issue of their specific oppression, but to argue that this is the only basis for their mobilisation is to adapt to feminism. Whatever the issue on which working class women are mobilised, the revolutionary party must at all times be sensitive to the connection between the social position of working class women as members of the working class and the specific problems th face as working class women. The RCG's failure to feminism is shown most their assessment of the Liberation Movement. Of ment they say: "The bourgeois character of the Women's Liberation Movement is not meraly a result of its largely petit-bour- geois following but is expressed by its political stand which sees all men, not capitalism, as the perpetuators of female opprassion. There is no basis, therefore, in ideas feminism for a common struggle with the working class to over- throw the capitalist system." (29) Tha tort Dec understand clearly in Women's this move. The task which the RCG see as following from this, and which left has abandoned, "is to ensure a Marxist view of women's posi in capitalist society was brough this movement?, (30) and that "radical left has abandoned leadership of the movement to feminists". 13 1 Ine now see more than a set divorced from particular class in They comple connection cal stand" the pol its of the cap ely feminism as n "wrong ideas' activity of alist society. fail to realis retween th e WLM it

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class geois tion basis, "i following hut have ts largely petit-bour- ". They see a connec no idea of its sionif- icance. The reason has a feminist per primarily because it the appearances of because it expresses of petit-bourgeois capitalism. The political ch WLM-a movement why the WLM spective is not coincides with capitalism, but the aspirations women under aracter basit f the itself entirely on democratic uemanus which relate to women of all classes, leading inevitably to a cross-class alliance of all women who see the obstacle to liberation as men-is a spontaneous reflection of the position of petty-bourgeois women in capitalist society. This is not some- thing that can be brushed aside as sociological; it is fundamental to a Marxist political assessment. A Marxist approach a movement is neither simply: What is its programme? nor simply: What is its class basis? But rather, what is the relationof its programm to its class basis? The answer in WLM is clear: it is movement through and th Although individual members WLM may be won to the revo ary movement, he WLM like other bou eois dem movements, will never be formed politically. Under no circ the revolutionary with a bourgeois The answer in the case of the rg case ttv-bo of the unceois rough. of the lution- itself, ocratic trans- umstances movement democratic should merge move- ent. The position of ain the leadership of ment runs completely whole tradition of Lenin said: "Of course the marge with the movement; Marx merge with the movement in Ge Bolsheviks did not goois democratic (32) attempting to such a move. counter to the Marxism. As raletariat should not surgeois democratic and Engels did not bourgeois democratic rmany in 1848, wo merge with the bour. mavement in 1905." Although a bourgeois democratic movement does have a progressive side, the revolutionary party must maintain both an organisational and ideological separation from it. This does not rule out any intervention under the discipline of the party in such a movement, but the object is not to attempt to take over the leadership of the movement but to intervene on the basis of a program- matic alternative to separate any worthwhile forces from it.

cO

NCLUSI

What RCG's concret anybod say, as our critique shows is the Iter inability to develop a programmatic alternative to They, of course, would never stop telling every anybody. They, one, that they distinguish thems by their theory, their Marxist YSIS. Seldom in the revolutio movement can such tricks have played with the word 'theory' it is not simply a matter of RCG's analysis being cut short, failure to concretise theory in form nf nrarammatic demands of the RCG's theory itself falls far short of what is required for the working class. They go wrong from the begin.

ning because their whole conception of how theory is developed and how it relates to practice is wrong. Indeed the RCG have a wrong conception of Marxist revolutionary theory.

Their approach to theory is contemplative and divorced Dractical activitv: in short it is static, from undia- lectical. forms passive We hav They see social and political and consciousness as the reflection of material forms.

e shown several examples of this in oppress conside aspects see co activity tion of class an cratic le their analysis of on: their failure the social and of the family, their nsciousness in re as shown by their the reformism of th 1 the reformism of i adership women's even to political failure to ation to dentifica- ÷ working 's bureau Their idea conception of how consciousness changed is a direct their contemplative consequence materialism which separates consciousness from activity. It is the only means, given their restricted framework, by which they can make theory an active force. Their failure to understand how theory and practice are nited through the revolutionary programme and consciousness changed through the activity of th working class means that they are nable even to have a correct conce ien of a programme pt

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let alone a programme it our critique that the RCG do not issues programmatically. important to emphasise that no accidental oversight by the It is their method itself, rather failure to develoo the method.

is concerned to show f. Most of to show derstand It is this is

RCG.

than a which prevents thei programmatic To compo RCG in their the arrogance could reach s throw to the asset that is a "to retripua revolutionary theoretical gai Marxist move n understanding the significance of issues. und their errors, the blind arrogance (only of a petty-bourgeois uch crass proportions) wind the one enduring t hand in the attempt a whole tradition of politics" (33)the past ns of the revolutionary ment, particularly the transitional rrogramm Trotsky's Transitior Programme decades of was the culmination revolutionary... _je t expressed the continuity o Bolshevism in a wholly practical manner. True, the material basis of the Transitional Programme is an understanding of the social relations of production, but not simply an abstract under- standing. What lies behind the pro gramme an derstanding of what it mean vactice to struggle The 1905 Russtan Revolution against duction the social re under capitali lation The Transitional Prograr is still relevant today because programme adequate not simply to the crisis of the 1930s, (although it obviously bears the marks of that period), but to the general crisis of the transitional or imperialist epoch.

Its starting point is the material and political conditions of the imperialist epoch. The strategic orientation which flows rom this understanding is relevant tr today's crisis because it nm it

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is a particular form the imperialist epoch. This does not diminsh the imp tance of theory or absolve res utionaries from the essential task developing theory. If the Transitio Programme and its demands are live and to be wholly adequate today's conditions the program has to be developed in the light of an understanding of the present crisis as it has emerged from the long post- war boom. The RCG are correct to emphasise the importance of under- standing the present crisis in its relation to the reconstruction of capitalism after the Second World War and the ensuing post-war boom.

But theory as a material force can only be developed in relation to the practical activity of the working class. This requires both theory and practice to be the collective experience of a party The point at which theory and practice are unified, interacting and developing each other is the party's programme.

In this way the programme is not an ossified catalogue of dogmas but a living, developing entity.

The RCG do not see this way. For them, the Programme, as with theoretical works b Trotsky are in no wa r tasks in nsitional er basic nin and quate for today's conditions. With in the working class, and ever having one, the RC the theoretical gains all and appoint themselves developing theory and a from scratch. They write: practice hope of ist aside y made task of gramme

ISM

8. ibid. p. 11 Engels, p. 501. 10. Revolutionary 11. 12. 13. 14. 1Pa 15. p. 41. 16. ibid. p. 41. 17. Trotsky, Revolution Betrayed.

18. Trotsky, Problems of Everyday Life, 0, 37. 19. Programme, MESH. Programme", MESW, p. 324.

20. Revolutionary p. 34. 21. ibid. p. 43. 22. ibid. p. 43. 23. ibid. p. 44. 24. Revolutionary 47. 25. Lenin. Women, p. 69 'The Origin verty and the State' in

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Comm ibid. p. 16. Engels, op cit. ibid. p. 501. Trotsky, Problems thfinderl p. 38. Revolutionary Ci Revolutionary Communist No. 5.

trayed. Everyd ane p. 324. Communis Comm Emancip 26. p. 47. 28. P. 47. Revolutionary Krupskaya, Rabo Revolutionary Communist (nitsa No. 1. Communist No. 29. ibid. p. 42 30. ibid. p. 42. 31. ibid. p. 42. 32. Lenin, cited in Not by Politics Alone, 33. Revolutionary Communist No. 1. p. 2 34. Revolutionary Communist No. 1. p. 6.

Ed. T. Deutcher, p. 112 by "We must demonstrate anow that t prerequisites of socialism hava be establishad and that the problems faci the working class pose the necessity ravolution." (34) In other words for the RCG the task is to discover anew a very starting point. Rather than stand on the shoulders of Lenin and Trotsky and raise themselves above their own pygmy proportions, the RCG, in their vain search for the roots of Marxist theory, d themselves a hole in the ground ig 8880 Julia Steve Kellett Piercy Enge Marx. Revol Marx, Marx Lenin Capite Trots alrose

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Marx Engels ne. p. 692. Engels, German Ideo itionary Communist Theses on Feuerbach The Holy Famitho Imporialism, y. Too Transition Press Edn.) p. 41 ES Sel ogY. No. 5