Women's Liberation: A CHINESE Communist View
- 1976
1976. [China][ WOMEN] October League (Marxist-Leninist). Chicago: October League, [1976]. 16 pages. 5.5" x 8.5", illustrated with black and white photos of Women's Day marches, the woman are all performing tasks at work on the image. The Liberation of Women in China. Printed by Highland Park: Internationals Socialists, n.d. 49 pages. 5.5" x 8.5" inches. Original wrappers, Pamphlet. Argues that the liberation of women in China had become subordinate to the needs of the state and industrialization. Highland Park: International Socialists, n.d. [circa 1970s]. Original printed wrappers, 49 pages. 5.5 × 8.5 inches. Tables, footnotes.
A scarce radical pamphlet issued by the International Socialists, examining the gender politics of post-revolutionary China. The work critiques the Chinese Communist Party's claims to women's emancipation, contending that the liberation of women had been made subordinate to the demands of state-building and industrial growth. In opposition to official party rhetoric, the pamphlet situates women's issues within the broader political economy, arguing that while the Communist revolution opened limited avenues for women's participation in the labor force and public life, genuine equality was sacrificed to the state's overriding needs of production, modernization, and social control. Tables and statistical data are included to support its argument, with footnotes directing readers to both Chinese sources and Western Marxist analysis. Pamphlets from the International Socialists are relatively uncommon, especially those with sustained attention to global feminist and socialist struggles. This text is significant in documenting how New Left and Trotskyist organizations in the United States attempted to reframe Chinese Communism through a feminist lens, situating women's emancipation not as a fulfilled revolutionary promise but as a deferred and compromised project. For institutional collections, it offers an important perspective on the intersections of gender, Marxism, and internationalism in the mid-20th century, while also reflecting the intellectual currents of American socialist critique. Mild wear to wrappers, otherwise well-preserved. Overall Very Good.
A scarce radical pamphlet issued by the International Socialists, examining the gender politics of post-revolutionary China. The work critiques the Chinese Communist Party's claims to women's emancipation, contending that the liberation of women had been made subordinate to the demands of state-building and industrial growth. In opposition to official party rhetoric, the pamphlet situates women's issues within the broader political economy, arguing that while the Communist revolution opened limited avenues for women's participation in the labor force and public life, genuine equality was sacrificed to the state's overriding needs of production, modernization, and social control. Tables and statistical data are included to support its argument, with footnotes directing readers to both Chinese sources and Western Marxist analysis. Pamphlets from the International Socialists are relatively uncommon, especially those with sustained attention to global feminist and socialist struggles. This text is significant in documenting how New Left and Trotskyist organizations in the United States attempted to reframe Chinese Communism through a feminist lens, situating women's emancipation not as a fulfilled revolutionary promise but as a deferred and compromised project. For institutional collections, it offers an important perspective on the intersections of gender, Marxism, and internationalism in the mid-20th century, while also reflecting the intellectual currents of American socialist critique. Mild wear to wrappers, otherwise well-preserved. Overall Very Good.
Details
Title
Women's Liberation: A CHINESE Communist View
Author
CHINESE Women
Condition
Unknown
Date
1976