Table Of Content

Marxism and the Oppression of Women Historical Materialism Book Series Editorial Board Sébastien Budgen, Paris – Steve Edwards, London Marcel van der Linden, Amsterdam – Peter Thomas, London VOLUME 45 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/hm Marxism and the Oppression of Women Toward a Unitary Theory By Lise Vogel New Introduction by Susan Ferguson and David McNally LEiDEN • BOSTON 2013 First published in the USA in 1983 by Rutgers University Press under iSBN 0-86104-748-6, with the exception of the introduction by S. Ferguson and D. McNally and the Appendix. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Vogel, Lise. Marxism and the oppression of women : toward a unitary theory / by Lise Vogel ; new introduction by Susan Ferguson and David McNally. pages cm. — (Historical materialism book series ; 45) “First published in the USA in 1983 by Rutgers University Pres.” includes bibliographical references and index. iSBN 978-90-04-22826-9 (hardback : alk. paper) — iSBN 978-90-04-24895-3 (e-book) 1. Women and communism. 2. Marx, Karl, 1818–1883. i. Title. HX546.V63 2013 335.4082—dc23 2013001254 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, iPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. iSSN 1570-1522 iSBN 978-90-04-22826-9 (hardback) iSBN 978-90-04-24895-3 (e-book) Copyright 1983, 2013 by Lise Vogel Article by Susan Ferguson and David McNally. Copyright 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Published by Brill. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, iDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. In loving memory of my mother Ethel Morell Vogel, my aunt Anna Vogel Colloms, and my father Sidney Vogel M.D. Contents Preface ............................................................................................................................. ix Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... xiii Note on Previously Published Material ................................................................. xv Capital, Labour-Power, and Gender-Relations: introduction to the Historical Materialism Edition of Marxism and the Oppression of Women ................................................................................................................... xvii Susan Ferguson and David McNally 1. introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 Part One: Socialist Feminism 2. A Decade of Debate ............................................................................................... 13 3. Socialist Feminism and the Woman-Question ............................................. 31 Part Two: Marx and Engels 4. Early Views ............................................................................................................... 43 5. Marx: the Mature Years ........................................................................................ 59 6. Engels: a Defective Formulation ....................................................................... 77 Part Three: The Socialist Movement 7. The Second international .................................................................................... 99 8. Toward Revolution ................................................................................................ 111 viii • Contents Part Four: From the Woman-Question to Women’s Liberation 9. A Dual Legacy ........................................................................................................ 133 10. The Reproduction of Labour-Power ............................................................... 141 11. Beyond Domestic Labour ................................................................................... 157 Appendix: Domestic Labour Revisited .................................................................. 183 References ...................................................................................................................... 199 index ................................................................................................................................ 209 Preface This project began more than ten years ago. Like that of many other women in the late 1960s, my commitment to the emerging women’s liberation movement coincided with my discovery of Marxist theory. At first, it seemed to many of us that Marxist theory could simply be extended in order to address our con- cerns as women’s liberationists. Very soon, we recognised that this solution was far too mechanical, and left much to be explained. The Marxist theory we encountered, and the socialist legacy of work on women’s oppression, required thorough transformation. With this realisation, some turned away entirely from Marxism. Others persisted in the attempt to use Marxist theory, aiming now to develop a ‘socialist-feminist’ synthesis that would transcend the inadequacies of the socialist tradition. While sympathetic to this approach, i continued to pursue the original goal of extending Marxist theory, and quickly came up against the necessity of examining just what Marxist theory is. Additionally, a careful reading of the major nineteenth-century texts pertaining to the so-called woman- question made it clear that the theoretical tradition is highly contradictory. in the past several years, i have sought to confront these and related problems. This book is the result. Not surprisingly, its order of presentation parallels the development of my own thinking on these issues. That is, the text begins with an evaluation of socialist-feminist theory, moves on to a critical reading of the nineteenth-century writings, and closes with a theoretical treatment of women’s oppression that situates it in the context of the overall reproduction of society. in the course of working on the book, my respect for socialist-feminist efforts to address the question of women’s oppression has deepened. Nevertheless, i remain convinced that the revival of Marxist theory, not the construction of some socialist-feminist synthesis, offers the best chance to provide theoretical guidance in the coming battles for the liberation of women. When i first started work on the problem of women’s oppression, a text by Marx caught my attention. He is commenting on the relationship between reli- gious ideology and social reality, and uses the Christian holy family as his exam- ple: ‘Once the earthly family is discovered to be the secret of the holy family, the x • Preface former must then itself be criticised in theory and revolutionized in practice’.1 it seemed to me that with these words, Marx had also captured the essence of a historical-materialist understanding of family-experience. indeed, socialists have attempted to criticise as well as revolutionise ‘the earthly family’ for more than a century, although with limited effectiveness. The conditions that gave rise to today’s women’s liberation movement have at last, i think, produced the possibil- ity of a more adequate critique and a real revolution. But possibilities are never certainties. As early as 1971, Juliet Mitchell had analysed the state of the women’s liberation movement in terms of a potential battle between liberationists with a socialist analysis and feminists with a radical-feminist analysis. The suggestion of a way forward which she made then remains valid, i believe, today: We have to develop our feminist consciousness to the full, and at the same time transform it by beginning a scientific-socialist analysis of our oppression. The two processes must go on simultaneously – feminist consciousness will not ‘naturally’ develop into socialism, nor should it: the two are coextensive and must be worked on together. if we simply develop feminist consciousness . . . we will get, not political consciousness, but the equivalent of national- chauvinism among Third World nations or economism among working-class organisations; simply a self-directed gaze that sees only the internal work- ings of one segment; only this segment’s self-interest. Political consciousness responds to all forms of oppression.2 it is precisely the need to respond to all forms of oppression while simultaneously deciphering the specific character of women’s oppression that has motivated my efforts. To the so-called woman-question i make, therefore, a clear reply. in the words of Lillian Robinson’s poem: Women? Yes.3 Several articles came to my attention too late to be incorporated in the text. They are relevant to the arguments i make concerning the limited scope of the concept of patriarchy, and the problems inherent in paralleling sex, race, and class as comparable sources of oppression. Recent work in social history emphasises that the concept of patriarchy does not suffice to explain the complex linkages among women’s oppression, family-experience, and social reproduction. Two 1. Marx 1968, p. 29. Vogel 1979. This text was, in fact, an 1888 revision by Engels of Marx’s 1845 notes. For discussion, as well as a more accurate translation of the 1888 ver- sion, see note 5 of Chapter 4. 2. Mitchell 1971, pp. 93–4. 3. Robinson 1975.