Let’s celebrate and pay tribute to International Women’s Day — a day of resistance, formed by the militant struggles of working-class women. From the 1909 garment workers’ strike in New York to the Petrograd protests that ignited the Russian Revolution, International Women’s Day has always been a call to action against exploitation and oppression. Now, as reactionary forces try to erase the successes of this radical history by dismantling our hard-won rights, we must reclaim its true spirit in the ongoing fight for socialism.

The revolutionary origins of International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day (IWD) has its roots in the struggle of working-class women. In 1909, 20,000 female garment workers, the majority young immigrants, staged a mass strike in New York City, demanding better wages and safer working conditions. This collective action inspired the Socialist Party of America to declare February 28, 1909, as the first “National Women’s Day,” and committed the Party to the demand for women’s suffrage.

A year later, at the 1910 International Socialist Women’s Conference, German socialist Clara Zetkin proposed an annual, global day of action, an “International Working Women’s Day”. This was first observed March 19, 1911, with mass demonstrations across Europe, where women demanded the right to vote and for social security for mother and child, including maternity leave and health insurance.

The significance of March 8 was cemented in 1917, when Russian women textile workers in Petrograd took to the streets demanding “bread and peace.” This became the catalyst for the movement leading to the October Revolution, and in 1921, the Second International Conference of Communist Women officially declared March 8 as International Women’s Day; a date finally adopted by the United States in 1994 thanks to a bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles).

International Women’s Day is now celebrated worldwide, a testament to the revolutionary potential of working women and their fight for liberation. Unlike bourgeois feminists that seek reforms within capitalism, as socialists we view International Women’s Day as part of the broader struggle to overthrow capitalism itself, and the abolition of both wage slavery and domestic oppression through the socialization of education and care work.

The struggle continues

Women remain at the forefront of the anti-capitalist struggle, resisting the ruling class’s attempts to maintain power through culture wars and the marginalization of vulnerable communities. 

It’s clear that neither the Democratic nor Republican Party are in the struggle for women’s liberation. Since 2020, both Democratic and Republican administrations have seen over 1,500 anti-trans bills introduced nationwide. Trans women face ongoing attacks on their health, safety, and well-being, including restrictions on sports participation, travel, and access to gender-affirming care. The Supreme Court’s striking down of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, during the Biden administration, came after a deliberate multi-decade campaign of negligence by the Democratic Party. We can see what the Republicans accomplish when they hold 50 senate seats, but when the Democrats under Barack Obama held 59? Nothing. When you strip away all their cynical rhetoric, we see the predictable result of Obama’s choice was a severe blow to reproductive justice and bodily autonomy. In so doing, Democrats collaborated in removing federal abortion protections and in leaving marginalized communities even more vulnerable. And once again, Trump’s current cruel and harsh immigration policies disproportionately harm women and children.

Though these attacks often claim to protect “women’s rights,” the same forces restrict bodily autonomy, deny abortion access, and deny the rights of trans people to exist, all while ignoring domestic abuse and sexual violence in a capitalist system in crisis.

As socialists, we know this struggle is part of a larger fight — not just for women’s rights, but for the liberation of all people from the chains of capitalism. Winning women’s liberation requires unity among people of all genders, and the fight for gender equality is not solely women’s responsibility; it serves the interests of the entire working class. Everyone, regardless of gender, must actively participate by keeping these issues central in our organizing, discussions, and education. And we must resist the ruling class’s divisive tactics, meant to pit men against women, in our fight for collective freedom.

Further Reading

As the far-right seeks to erase history and liberals water down the legacy of progressive and socialist movements in the U.S., it is crucial we honor and elevate the contributions of women in the fight for justice. In the face of efforts to dismantle hard-won rights for women and gender-diverse people, restrict bodily autonomy, and erase the contributions of Black women and other women of color, we wanted to share this reading list curated by Lux Magazine and the DSA AfroSocialist and Socialists of Color Caucus for their Socialist Legacy of Black Feminism course.

WEEK 1 

  1. Introduction to How We Get Free Black Feminism and The Combahee River Collective (2012) edited and Introduced by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
  2. “Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s Ideas, Unifying Socialist and Identity Politics, Are Suddenly in the Spotlight” (2021) by E. Tammy Kim in Lux Magazine
  3. “Mapping Gender in African American Political Strategies” by Leith Mullings in The Socialist Feminist Project: A Contemporary Reader in Theory and Politics

WEEK 2

  1. “Identity Politics and Class Struggle” (Abridged) (1997) by Robin D. G. Kelley in New Politics
  2. The Master‘s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master‘s House (1979) by Audre Lorde
  3. “Nothing Short of Liberation” (2015) by Khury Petersen-Smith and Brian Bean in Jacobin
  4. “Looting for Our Lives” (2021) by Marian Jones in Lux Magazine 

SUGGESTED READINGS