The Struggle Inside the Socialist Workers Party Index | Main Document Index | ETOL Home Page
[Resolution of the Fourth Internationalist Caucus in the National Committee submitted to the December 4-8, 1982, plenum]
The defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment in the spring of 1982 was a serious setback for women’s rights in the United States. For the past several years, federal and state governments have succeeded in limiting, and in some cases reversing, women’s right to abortion. But despite these defeats there are a growing number of women and men who are looking for some way to fight effectively to advance the cause of women’s liberation. The political victories which have been achieved by the ruling class have not been accompanied by any reversal of the overwhelming sentiment in favor of women’s rights. And this is true despite a massive effort through the likes of Phyllis Schlafly and the “moral majority” to create the appearance of a popular groundswell of reactionary, antiwoman public opinion. Millions of dollars were spent in this effort.
The big contradiction facing the women’s movement today is that this overwhelming popular sentiment in support of women’s rights finds little or no effective organizational expression. Despite the not insignificant layer of activists who have shown their continued willingness to work for the cause of female equality, there is no organization within the feminist movement which has clearly drawn the lessons of the ERA defeat at the hands of the capitalist politicians, the attacks on abortion rights by both Democrats and Republicans, the cuts in social programs vital for women (especially poor and minority women), the attack on women in the workplace, etc. None of the main women’s groups has recognized the dead end which they have reached as a result of supporting capitalist politicians.
The main role of the Socialist Workers Party within the women’s movement today is to explain and fight for an alternative outlook, an effective course that can mobilize and rely on the strength of the women’s movement itself, and sees that movement as a component of a broader struggle of all working people and their allies against the bosses and against the government that represents the interests of the bosses. To be effective in presenting this alternative view we will have to play an active role in the day-to-day work of building the women’s movement, side by side with those we are trying to talk to and influence. In addition to educating in a broad way about basic strategy, we will have to be prepared to offer specific tactical suggestions and proposals at each step which can effectively advance toward that broader strategic goal. We also have an important role to play in educating about the origins of women’s oppression in order to combat the idealist notions which are widespread among both women and men.
Each party branch should assess the groups that exist on a local level, and determine which ones offer the best opportunity for us to get involved in. The two major national women’s organizations, NOW and CLUW, should get particular attention. Both of these groups have the potential for playing a major role in reorienting the women’s movement as a whole if they develop a left wing that can chart an effective course of struggle. Both are currently dominated by conservative leaderships, but they also have a layer of rank-and-file members whose perspectives are different from those of the leadership. This layer can be won to the program revolutionary socialists present.
In addition, there are a large number of other groups which are actively trying to organize women. Some of these are national, but others only exist on a local level, or on college campuses. In many areas these organizations will present openings for us to participate in a fruitful way. In general, it is the relatively small forces we have available, rather than any lack of objective possibilities, which will be the limiting factor in our actively pursuing this area of work.
One of the most important issues facing women today is the fight to defend and extend abortion rights. It is likely that there will be at least local initiatives for rallies, demonstrations, or educational events on January 22, which is the tenth anniversary of the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. We want to actively build and support any such actions. We should participate wherever possible in their initiation, and in the development of coalitions to build and organize them. The same approach should be taken toward local actions around International Women’s Day, March 8; and we should be involved in renewed struggles for the ERA.
One issue which is likely to become more and more important as the economic crisis deepens is the continued attacks on women in the workplace — particularly in the industrial jobs which were fought for and won by women within the last decade. Major problems include sexual harassment on the job and defense and extension of affirmative action gains. These are the kinds of questions which we want to bring to the fore and stimulate consciousness about in the women’s movement. They are particularly important because they draw together the fight for women’s rights with the general problem of the need to defend the interests of the working class against the employer-government assault.
There are many other problems which we believe the feminist movement in this country should address. Some are of particular urgency for working women, like childcare, equal pay for work of comparable value, and the organization of predominantly female office workers.
We encourage the participation of minority women, both in their own separate organizations to deal with their own special needs, and as part of multinational women’s groups. We urge the entire women’s movement to facilitate this process by reaching out to third world women, supporting their demands, and making it possible for them to play a leading role in the movement as a whole. This approach will strengthen all components of the movement. Lesbian rights is always an important question, and gay women have generally played a vanguard role in the fight for all of the demands of the women’s struggle.
It is these and other issues which are of special concern to women that are the necessary focus of feminist organizations. In addition, however, we think it is vital that these groups view other battles of workers and their allies as an inherent part of their own fight, even if they do not relate directly to “women’s issues” narrowly conceived. Every strike, every struggle against racist attacks, every defense of civil liberties, is of crucial importance to the women’s movement, and must be given unqualified and unconditional support. This, in turn, will facilitate the developing consciousness within broad sectors of the labor movement, and within organizations like NBIPP, of the need to actively support and involve themselves in the fight for women’s rights.
The industrial fractions of the SWP can play an important role in this overall process. By participating in the women’s movement as industrial workers, and. showing that support can be mobilized for this struggle directly from the most powerful institutions of the American working class, as well as by participating in our unions as active fighters for women’s rights, we can demonstrate the practicality and necessity of this basic strategic link.
One important vehicle in this work will be women’s committees in the unions. We should join these where they exist, and try to organize them where they don’t. Such committees can bring women’s issues into the unions, and also stimulate women to participate fully in all union activities. We should urge women’s committees to take the leadership in specific struggles, and participate in coalitions with other groups.
It must also be emphasized that the central problem which confronts the feminist movement — the problem of independent political action — is the same as that facing all other struggles for social change today; and this cannot be resolved outside of the framework of an alliance with the unions in this country. The women’s movement must come to see itself as part of the broad struggle for a labor party based on the unions, which can provide a real alternative to the Democrats and Republicans. Education around this basic necessity is one of our primary tasks.
Although no women’s organization as such can actually begin the process of constructing a working class political alternative, these groups can actively agitate for the unions to take such a course. This is particularly true of CLUW, and we should pay close attention to opportunities for advancing our views on the labor party in this organization. We must look for opportunities to work with other rank-and-file members, or secondary union officials, whom we can convince of our perspectives on the labor party, and find ways of involving them in the process of trying to win CLUW to a perspective of independent political action.
The Struggle Inside the Socialist Workers Party Index | Main Document Index | ETOL Home Page | Marxists’ Internet Archive