FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM!
International Communist Workers Party
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FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM! |
International Communist Workers Party | |
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If there were a hell, it would have a special place for former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright. Not because she and Gloria Steinem insulted young women who support Bernie Sanders. Because she implemented sanctions on Iraq during the Clinton presidency that killed 500,000 Iraqi children. And because she told CBS reporter Leslie Stahl in 1996 that “we think the price is worth it.”
We don’t mention this to debate who is or isn’t a “real feminist.” Our point is that the masses of women around the world need communism, not feminism. Sexism – the special exploitation and oppression of women – is rooted in class society. Only the abolition of private property can create the material basis for ending it.
Cleopatra and her slave attendants. Marie Antoinette and her seamstress. Shahzadi Gulbadan Begum (a Perso-Turkic Princess, emperor’s daughter), and a poor peasant woman. Madame Chiang Kai-shek and a landless widow. Margaret Thatcher and the wife of a laid-off coalminer. Madeline Albright and a grieving Iraqi mother…How can class enemies be “sisters”? Women of the ruling class participate in exploiting the masses of women and men, even when they are disrespected and subordinated by their own fathers and husbands.
Sexism is a class issue and a feature of all class societies in history.
Capitalist imperialism today must squeeze out maximum profits by super-exploiting women workers. That exerts downward pressure on men’s wages too. Capitalism depends on women wage-workers coming home to a “second shift” of unpaid housework to nurture the next day’s labor power and the next generation of wage-slaves and soldiers.
Communism will end private property. Then we can end the divisive and abusive culture that leads to the mistreatment of women as property. Production for need will replace the wage and profit system. This will make it possible to end the gender division of labor and the devaluation of “women’s work.” We will organize collective labor in all spheres, including responsibility for children. This will end the isolated drudgery of housework.
When we mobilize for communism today we reveal the common class interest of the masses of women and men. We create the opportunity to wage a sharp political struggle against every aspect of sexist thought and practice that capitalist society has instilled in us.
Mass mobilization for communism fosters the development of hundreds, thousands, millions of new leaders – many of them women. Communist leaders are not those who (like capitalist politicians and corporate executives) lie convincingly, promote themselves shamelessly and treat others ruthlessly.
Communist leaders are not even those who have read the most or are surest of themselves or more comfortable speaking in public. Instead, communist leaders fight hard and in a principled way to advance the communist political line. They build comradely relationships and strong collectives. They do whatever tasks, small or large, are most necessary to advance the work.
Working-class women are often the best-prepared to become such leaders. We must make and carry out plans with them to develop their confidence, skills and understanding. We must struggle for all comrades and our friends to recognize and respect the leadership of women workers.
Together we will win!