Marxism Versus Feminism

I will use a quote {taken from an excellent writing by Trotsky and borrowed by two writers (and I fromthem) and not read with my debaters}:

"To alter the position of woman at the root is possible only if all the conditions of social, family, and domestic existence are altered." (Trotsky, Women and the Family, p. 45.)

Ok, I was out with a friend who is supposedly a leftist & a feminist... ends up as a feminist (ultra). Here is the case scenario, the glitch the feminists keep repeating within the marxist science is that marxism is reductionist only concerning the patriach system which enslaves women... their arguement is as follows: that is the only mistake Marx did because Patriarchy came before the Capitalist System. Sadly the debater I was debating with ended up accusing me as a classical marxist when I explained the process of evolution and her only reply was Secretary Rice is there with power. I wish she bothered to listen because I ended up as ignorant. To say I do not believe in soft marxist, classic, or whatever, I am simply a Communist (sometimes resolve into the label Trotskyste to avoid being mistaken for the LCP or DLM).

The irony of the debate was that she argued that she studied Marxism for 3 years and then switched. What intrigues me that Habermas and Linklater are not really Marxists. When I asked what about the pioneers, such as Clara Zatkin, Jenny Languet, Eleanor Marx, Laura Marx, Rosa Luxemburg, Vera, and plenty more, she never heard of them except Rosa. I go with plenty of patience and ask, what did you read about the core of the Communist School such as Karl Marx or Fredrieche Engels, and she replies the Communist Manifesto and stresses on the notion that Engels was the feminist of the two (with pride). Let me dwell a bit on that, 3 years of studying Marxism and only zilch read on Plekhanov, Kautsky, LaFarque, Lenin, Trotsky, Cliff, Higgins, and already condemned the whole thing? With more patience, I asked: "Have you read The German Ideology?" Guess what, she never heard of it... I will not enter the debate on Marxism versus Feminism, but I would like to understand how many people claim they understood marxism and then condemned it without understanding it. Let us be reasonable, there are Isaac Deutcher, Alan Woods, Raya, Zinoviev, Pendelis Pouliopolis, James Cannons, Krupskaya, Natalia Sedova, Alexandra Kollontai, Earnst Mandel and plenty plenty more... and then the feminists would choose people and insist they are Marxists, such as Habermas, I mean it is fascinating how people condemn our science without even bothering to know what the heck it is all about. I am more fascinated that a person spent three years studying Marxism and ended up denouncing it with the logic of Feminism, just on the basis that Patriarchy was Pre-Capitalism. Marxism deals with the evolution of the first society till current times, and even predicts to the future. It is in the German Ideology that Marx saw the entire world unified by a market where all its civilians are interacting. How can she prefer Feminism without really understanding us and worse of all, claims to understand us. Let us dwell on the issue just a little bit more, how can she fail to see that the values that generated then where values to sustain a certain mode of production and a mean of oppression? Remember it took one revolution to replace the other, and one incident to shift the society from era to another. After all, as Marx would stress, isn't the base of change taking place via Social Interaction? By the way, they never read Engel's masterpiece "The Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State" nor the masterpiece: "The Sacred Family." At The Sacred Family or German Ideology, rather argue: "We understand Marxism and we prefer Feminism".

Let us dwell one more step into the case scenario, the counter-argument was Freud, fine, we as Marxists never opposed the evolution of science, on the contrary science is the means to rid ourselves of certain value (TV) while we go by Trotsky's formula that the more an individual is enlightned, the less tendency to be superstitious. Freud would fit the perfectly in terms of sublimating the frustration of a class to their work (won't dwell on it yet... but worthwhile to check on it).

It is 4:15 in the morning, I need sleep, I will return to the topic again, with sites to check on. I just want to keep it as a reminder that that fanatic school of fanaticism should not accuse males as being biased in their perspective for not thinking in terms of Patriarchy and Gender. We do think of Patriarchy but as a means of oppression to prevent class awareness (something they do not believe in which class awareness was reduced to simple awareness of equality?). How can the Feminists forget that Patriarchy's mod of repression rose with the concept of private property (quoting Evelyn Reed). Patriarchy is a direct result of class struggle.

Let us look at history, who announced the birth of May Day three years after the Chicago Massacres in the 19th Century, Eleanor Marx (along with Avaling and Engels). Who Triggered the first act of demonstrations by female workers? Again it was the Second International. Who was the first to do surveys on Women as equal to men and asked what conditions they required? It was the Marx in the First International. Who initiated Working Women's Day? Guess? The Second International. Who celebrates Womans' Day (just as May day was dropped for Labour Day), the Feminists. The elimination from Patriarchy is through Class Struggle.

Sources:

International Working Women's Day - By V.I. Lenin :
http://www.marxist.com/lenin-working-womens-day080306.htm

From the rice fields to the modern day call centers - Marxism vs. Feminism. Part one - Sonia Priviato
http://www.marxist.com/marxism-feminism-womens-day101002-2.htm

The origins of women's oppression - Rob Sewell
http://www.marxist.com/origins-womens-oppression.htm

By Ana Mu and Alan Woods
http://www.marxist.com/marxism-feminism-emancipation-women080300-2.htm

The Family and Ceremony ~ Leon Trotsky
http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/women/23_07_14.htm

Revolution Betrayed (Ch. 7) ~ Leon Trotsky
http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1936-rev/ch07.htm

Only in Conjunction With the Proletarian Woman Will Socialism Be Victorious ~ Clara Zatkin
http://www.marxists.org/archive/zetkin/1896/10/women.htm

Lenin on the Women’s Question (Interview With Lenin) Clara Zatkin
http://www.marxists.org/archive/zetkin/1920/lenin/zetkin1.htm

The Woman Question - Edward Aveling and Eleanor Marx Aveling
http://www.marxists.org/archive/eleanor-marx/works/womanq.htm

Is Biology Woman’s Destiny? ~ Evelyn Reed
http://www.marxists.org/archive/reed-evelyn/1971/biology-destiny.htm

(Plenty plenty more available if anyone needs more, just leave a comment) My advice to the Feminists (to those who have reverse racism at least) to avoid the gap which Sexists perform. As a Marxist, I believe in equality despite Race, Religion, Gender, Color, and Class. And the latter has suffered differences from the four mentioned before it. I just hate how we are accused: "because you are men you fail to see such relations with Patriarchy...", I do believe fanaticism blinded that faction of feminists to dwell on the details. At least we got the Dialectical Materialism to allow us formulate critiques of each framework while Historical Materialism explains the present and assists us to expect the future.

Hasta La Victoria Siempre
Marxist From Lebanon