Details

Abstract / Summary

This report appeared in the Socialist women’s newspaper Die Gleichheit (Equality) edited by Clara Zetkin. Almost 900 representatives of proletarian organizations from around the world attended the International Socialist Congress in Stuttgart. The Congress discussed five main topics: colonial politics, militarism, the relationship between Socialist parties and labor unions, immigration and emigration of workers, and women’s suffrage. Congress participants declared that colonial politics could only be capitalist and vowed to fight against these efforts with all available means. Immigration/emigration discussions centered around the issue of non-unionized laborers from China and Japan. “The First International Conference of Socialist Women” hailed the meeting as a success. It was the first attempt to gather Socialist women from around the world. The author notes the paradox of the meeting: the Socialist women’s movement was both a part of the larger labor movement and deserved a special organization within that group. Fifty-nine delegates comprising fifteen different nationalities took part in the conference, hailing from England, Germany, Austria, Hungary, France, Bohemia, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia. Delegates also represented groups like the Jewish Women’s League, St. Petersburg Social Democrats, English Women’s Labour League and organized women weavers from Lodz. In addition to the European delegates, Mrs. Cama from Bombay, India notably participated in conference. Agenda items included reports on the Socialist women’s movement from national representatives and the creation of regular cooperation between organized women workers in all countries. Clara Zetkin proposed an international Secretariat that would help oversee these efforts. The representatives also discussed Die Gleichheit as a publication for the international Socialist women’s movement and concerns about the language barrier. The women reaffirmed their separation from the bourgeois women’s movements during the discussion of women’s suffrage and hoped that the conference would lead to a successful international Socialist women’s movement. Representatives mentioned in “The First International Conference of Socialist Women:” Cama (India), Boschef (Vienna), Faas (Bern), Emma Ihrer (Labor Unions), Paula Thiede (Labor Unions), Parssinnen (Wiborg-Finland), Luise Zietz (Germany), Clara Zetkin (Germany), Helene Gruenberg (Germany), Alexandra Kollontai –spelled here as Kollantay- (Russia), Szest, Montefiore (England), Pelletier, Shaw, Angelica Balabanoff (Italy)

Field of Interest

Women and Social Movements

Publisher

Die Gleichheit

Collection

Women and Social Movements, International

Content Type

Periodical article

Duration

0 sec

Format

Text

Page Count

3

Publication Year

1907

Publisher

Die Gleichheit

Source Title

Die Gleichheit, Vol. 17 no. 18, September 1907, pp. 150-151

Subject

Women and Social Movements, History, Transnational Women’s Movement, Socialist International Women