‘The Socialist Women’s Movement of Germany’ by Clara Zetkin from The Chicago Socialist. Vol. 4 No. 216. July 7, 1910.

The Socialist organizations in Germany have in general been at all times ready to grant all that was necessary to carry on the work of propaganda among the women workers. Naturally from time to time there was a certain friction in one place or another between the organized women comrades and the men.

The cause was sometimes on the one side, sometimes on the other. The men comrades were at first not always sufficiently trained to recognize the historical importance and justification of the working women’s movement.

They feared in part that the women’s righters were at the back of the movement, because at the beginning a certain number of women comrades had come to the front who had not been sufficiently trained in the theory and whose thinking was strongly influenced by the ideas of the women’s righters.

On the side of the women comrades also, there were mistakes made, partly out of lack of theoretic clearness, partly from lack of training in political practice. The friction between men and women comrades has for the most part disappeared as both organizations grow stronger, and the co-operation has grown closer, so that an agreement was always possible before any action was taken.

Besides a loose political organization of the women comrades there existed in any localities non-political women’s educational association. These were obliged to avoid all public connection with the party, though they belonged in reality to it. In the latter period before the abolition of the old, absurd legal restrictions our working women’s movement had grown so strong that they were able to pass over a state where the women could join the Social-Democratic party as individual members with free contributions.

The carrying out of this measure required, however, no little ingenuity on account of the attitude of the authorities. In all sates where women were allowed to be politically organized the women comrades naturally made a point that they should join the general organization of the party. It was a question of equal rights of both sexes.

All in all the loose organization was only a way out of a difficulty, when it was not possible for the women to become full members in the organizations. Since the new law of associations the women have joined the organizations everywhere no matter how they were organized before.

They are received as fully qualified members of the party. The most of the party organizations demand a smaller contribution from the women than from the men -many give their women members the Gleichhelt gratis (the German Socialist women’s paper), others have special meetings for the women to help in their Socialist education.

The work of the central agency for women in Berlin had increased to such an extent that an office had to be set up, where two or three assistants helped the agent. It is a department intrusted with all the matters which are of special interest for the women. Since the conference of Mainz, women’s conferences take place every two years.

The male comrades at first regarded the conferences with some suspicion as if they were to divide the movement. But soon their utility not only for the women’s movement but for the general Socialist movement grew evident.

They have consequently won more and more sympathy and importance and are to take place in future as need is felt for them. Within the Social Democratic party the women had just as much as any other comrades the right to be elected as a delegate to party congresses and to posts of trust. Besides that, they had the right to elect delegates in special public women’s meetings.

While formerly most women delegates were elected to the general congresses in such open women’s meetings, which sent women delegates in addition to the male delegates to the congress.

The new party statutes make it necessary to arrange the question of the delegation at a common meeting of men and women. This question has been dealt with by the women’s conference as well as the general party congress at Nuremberg.

The congress at Leipzig settled the question definitely. The new statutes of the organization which were decided on there define very precisely the position of the women inside the movement. I give her the paragraphs of the statutes which deal of the position of the woman comrades:

“4. Organizations to which women members belong must elect one of these to the executive. The women members have to carry on the propaganda among the women in harmony with the executive.

“5. The amount of subscription to be paid is to be decided by the members of the district and state organizations. The monthly minimum for male members is, however, fixed at 30 pfennig and for women at 15 pfennig.

“7. The congress is the highest court of appeal and those qualified to take part are:

“(1) The delegates of the party from the individual Reichstag constituencies. The number of the delegates follows in proportion to the number of members.

“Where several delegates are to be elected there must, if it is possible, be one woman comrade among them.

“14. The number of the members of the party executive is to be determined by the congress. The party executive consists of two chairmen, a treasurer, the secretaries and three assistant members of whom one must be a representative of the women.”

The woman’s conference at Nuremberg passed the following resolution in the question of the non-political women’s study clubs: “The woman conference at Nuremberg declares that women’s educational societies, can, despite the new organizations, still continue to be valuable means to the intellectual education of the women. It is consequently to be recommended that women’s study clubs remain in existence where they are and that they should be supported where they were to give the women information which even if it does not directly serve the class struggle, certainly helps on the intellectual development of the proletariat women, that is, provided the leadership is in the proper hands so that no harm arises to the general labor movement through this participation.” This resolution is still in force.

The best sources for information on the organization of women Socialists are:

1. The report of the congress at Halle. There Comrade Jhrer stated the question of the organization of the women.

2. The report of the congress at Gotha at which the women’s question was dealt with.

2. The report of the congress and the women’s conference at Mainz, 1900,

4. The report of the congress and the women’s conference at Munich in 1902.

5. Report of the congress and women’s conference at Bremen, 1904.

6. Report of the congress at Jena, 1905, which dealt with the general party organization.

7. The report of the congress and women’s conference at Mannheim, 1906.

8. The report of the congress and women’s conference at Nuremburg, 1908.

3. The report of the congress at Leipzig.

Also in the Gleichheit there have appeared many articles on the questions.

From the beginning women have been admitted to all party posts, according to the Socialist-Democratic principle of equality. This principle was put into practice for the first time when Clara Zetkin was elected in 1895 as one of the controllers. Since then every congress has renewed this election. In 1908 Comrade Zietz was elected as assistant to the executive and in 1909 she was re- elected.

The party statutes lay down as you have been that a representative of the women must be elected to the executive. In many localities women comrades belong to the executive or fill other posts.

The Chicago Socialist, sometimes daily sometimes weekly, was published from 1902 until 1912 as the paper of the Chicago Socialist Party. The roots of the paper lie with Workers Call, published from 1899 as a Socialist Labor Party publication, becoming a voice of the Springfield Social Democratic Party after splitting with De Leon in July, 1901. It became the Chicago Socialist Party paper with the SDP’s adherence and changed its name to the Chicago Socialist in March, 1902. In 1906 it became a daily and published until 1912 by Local Cook County of the Socialist Party and was edited by A.M. Simons if the International Socialist Review. A cornucopia of historical information on the Chicago workers movements lies within its pages.

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