Women's Liberation

We raise our voice for the women's liberation as part of the struggle for social change, to protest the double exploitation of women and discrimination against women in society. Despite the enormous advances in science and labor productivity, social inequality continues to grow under capitalism.

Feminism is a political, social and philosophical movement that recognizes women as persons with rights. This movement has its origins in revolutionary and liberation struggles, especially with the emancipatory ideals of the French Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. Women began the struggle for recognition of their suffrage and labor rights.

Feminism does not exclude men, but includes them and challenges them to change the relations of equality, proposing a new social, political, economic and belief order that benefits men and women equally, based on harmony and never on domination or violent imposition.

The realities from which Latin American women urgently need to liberate themselves are many, however it is necessary to mention some of them: Poverty, which is the result of injustice as an oppressive element; physical and sexual violence; exclusion based on race, sex, gender and class; the double daily exploitation (at home and in the workplace); illiteracy; the usage of women's body as a commodity in the market; the exclusion of women from political and religious leadership positions, to name a few.

There are different feminist currents, as this depends on the social, historical, cultural and religious context of women's daily lives, and this is how feminism is structured. There is the feminism of the North (Europe and North America, USA), the feminism of the South or Third World, Asian feminism and African feminism. But there are also two historical feminist currents: feminism of equality and feminism of difference.

In our case, Peru belongs to Third World feminism, where we women are the most affected. The salary of workers are not enough and even worse if they work in the so-called informal sector. Women, forced by the necessity or by the vital impulse to create their own destiny, are thrown into the labor market as second-rate commodities. And despite everything, the needs of domestic life are not becoming less, but more, demanding even more from women. Doubly exploited at work and condemned to a stultifying domestic life, as women, we long for our liberation.

Meanwhile, the development of capitalism continues to advance and penetrate the family economy. It commodifies each and every one of our needs. Upbringing, education, health, recreation, etc. It becomes even worse under neoliberalism. Neoliberalism displaces the state's work by privatizing public education, health care, water supply, electricity, transportation and communication services. It makes housing into a source of business and speculation. The crisis in the workplace due to few and poorly paid jobs and crisis in the budget due to overwhelming expenses are such that the situation makes people sick or forces them to fight for everyday life.

In the face of this, liberal feminism is in crisis. From the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, which adopted the gender mainstreaming, to the inclusion of Item 5 to the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development in 2015, liberal feminism has become the guiding principle of imperialism. Its goal is to channel women's growing discontent and struggle into the realms of bourgeois democracy. Supposedly, it would be enough to achieve legal equality between men and women. But according to the logic of capitalism, the double exploitation of us women and our particular oppression and social discrimination have continued to intensify all over the world. In our country, too, the gender mainstreaming has become the women's policy of all neoliberal governments, from Fujimori to Sagasti. Even the Pedro Castillo government, despite its anti-neoliberal origins, has adopted the gender mainstreaming as official policy. There is no doubt that liberal feminism has entered almost without resistance into the spheres of petty-bourgeois feminism, NGOs - such as Flora Tristan - but also in the trade union movement. In 2012, the leadership of the Workers' General Confederation of Peru (CGTP) prepared a reform of its statutes to implement gender mainstreaming and to introduce a quota for women in leadership positions.

Nevertheless, the harsh reality demonstrates the failure and crisis of liberal feminism. And the fact is that between the laws in favor of women and the harsh reality, worlds collide. The facts show that it is not as the gender mainstreaming claims, that social inequality between men and women arises only from culture and ideas based on the biological differences between men and women. For liberal feminism, the double exploitation and social discrimination of women does not have its basis in the capitalist mode of production; therefore, liberal feminism opposes that women's liberation must be intrinsically linked to the working class struggle for socialism.

Petty-bourgeois feminism has had no trouble to subordinate or adapt itself to the anti-communist orientation of liberal feminism. Rather it is concerned as a sign of our "empowerment" to gain access to positions of command in government, parliament or other state institutions. Or to carry out all kinds of seminars and trainings on "entrepreneurship" among women, spreading the illusion of a popular capitalism and thus overcoming "informality". All this, of course, with the financial "support" of the agencies of imperialism.

Thus, after several decades of experience, the women's movement finds itself at a crossroads. We have reached a point where the debate against liberal feminism has become decisive for the strategy of the women's movement. Without clarity on goals and direction, little real progress can be made. The great #NiUnaMenos march in 2016 was certainly very important to raise public awareness and to encourage us women to move forward. But reality shows us that this is not enough. To go further, the movement must also take on the character of transforming society.

It is also necessary to organize the forces, to unite the struggles into a fist. Women's grassroots initiatives and organizations to blossom all over the country, as social kitchens, committees for milk distribution, women's associations; women as trade unionists, especially in the textile and agro-industry, as wives of miners and in strike committees or as ronderas [Peruvian freedom fighters] and in peasant or ethnic communities. Also intellectuals or small businesswomen who are working in their own way for a different future for women. All these scattered initiatives are like drops in water. United, they must become a transforming stream.

We, the BDP Women, are promoting the Coordination of Grassroots Women's Organizations, that are united by nothing other than a Common Platform of Struggle, Days of Action and Annual Meetings to renew commitment and agenda for social change. Each association or group can retain its particularity and ideology but we should know how we can agree on the most urgent issues. Let us learn to march and fight together while discussing with others in an atmosphere of solidarity.

Revolutionary and organized women have the responsibility to leave a legacy for future generations to change the mode of thinking, to eliminate patriarchy as the main cause of gender inequality, through which the system has oppressed us, made us sexual objects and degraded us that much. In Peru the gender system is a big problem for women workers, in many cases their right to motherhood is not respected, with wages below the minimum wage, with working hours of 10 hours, without a dignified pension. It is time for us women to go out together with our revolutionary comrades to conquer our rights. The struggle is not a gender struggle, but a class struggle of an oppressed class and the struggle of us women as part of the struggle for the transformation of society. It does not concern only us women; in the struggle for bread and roses both women and men have a place of honor and carry the flag of women's liberation with the perspective of socialism.

Lima-Peru, July 12, 2022

Katıa Fernandez Anyaipoma - BDP Women's Commission

Cristhy Martel Ruiz – Secretary of BDP-Women

General Features of Women's Oppression Relations in Morocco

Despite the central position of women in the process of production and reproduction of life directly, the relations of oppression of women have historically been dependent on class and religious considerations, thus perpetuating patriarchal domination that intensifies with the thirst of successive modes of production, slavery, feudalism, capitalism, and imperialism for more economic exploitation and political control. It seems today that uprooting the relations of oppression against women constitutes the most important goal of the class struggle against capitalism and imperialism. Moroccan women suffer from chronic oppressive relationships. The following are the most important characteristics of which are criticized:

1 - The origins of women's oppression in Morocco

The origins of women’s oppression in Morocco go back to the process of the Arab-Islamic invasion of North Africa and the imposition of a cultural pattern imported from the Middle East known for its oppression of women as a result of the dominance of patriarchal relations and the religious sanctification of those relations. In view of the economic nature of the relations of oppression of women, they remained well established despite the succession of slave, feudal and capitalist modes of production, and because they allow men to monopolize wealth and power and pass them on to subsequent generations of men. Especially the global imperialist system has become today dependent on the survival and continuity of this system because it guarantees the continuity and stability of capitalist exploitation relations.

2 - Relations of women's oppression cut across all classes

Relations of women's oppression are not confined to class relations of exploitation, but we find these relations penetrate into different classes. The oppression of women exists among the bourgeois class, where men exploit the system of patriarchal relations and religious alienation enshrined in the prevailing laws, in order to oppress the bourgeois women and narrow the limits of her political, economic and social behavior so that she remains under the absolute control of men. The petty-bourgeois circles also suffer from the oppression of women, as men resort to perpetuating their oppression of petty-bourgeois women through laws that allow and protect this oppression. The alienation generated by the religious and patriarchal system and the prevailing laws exacerbate the oppression of women among the working class and the poor peasants. Anthropological studies find that the workers and poor peasants find in the system of women’s oppression a means of relieving the severity of the class exploitation that they are exposed to by the dominant classes. In view of these complex relations of women’s oppression and their intertwining with the relations of class exploitation and the dominance of patriarchal relations, the struggle of women against the patriarchal, capitalist and imperialist system is no longer an issue of a particular women’s class, but rather requires a massive women’s uprising that penetrates all classes.

The importance of this joint women’s struggle appears from the challenges that are increasing with the intensification of the crisis of capitalist imperialism and the shifting of the costs of the crisis to the shoulders of male and female workers everywhere, and as a result, unemployment and poverty are rising, and where we find that women are the first to suffer from wage cuts and dismissal from work, and where Women are still paid significantly less than men for the same jobs.

3- Forms of the continuation of relations of oppression of Moroccan women

On the legal and human rights level, Morocco is still far from achieving equality between women and men in all fields, including civil and political rights. Despite Morocco’s signing of the CEDAW Convention, it has maintained statements that affect the essence of the Convention, and it still does not fulfill its international obligations to abolish discriminatory laws against women in legislation, in complete contradiction to its official declared statements regarding its involvement in the universal system of human rights.

Women are still subjected to economic violence in labor institutions in the industrial and agricultural sectors, which has increased in particular during the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, in light of the lack of equality in work and respect for the right to motherhood, and exposing women to violence and fragility, such as single mothers, immigrants, women with disabilities, rape victims, prisoners and those who suffer from mental and psychological diseases, women victims of human trafficking.

4 - Women's struggles against oppression

The forms of women's struggle in Morocco differ according to their class affiliation, as the various struggles still did not know any kind of integration, although the relations of oppression remain in the end of a common nature. All women in Morocco suffer from the medieval polygamy law and from the preference of males over females in inheritance cases, where the widowed woman is not legally and religiously entitled to the price of the inheritance of her deceased husband, as she is directly impoverished after death, the same for the daughter who deserves only half of what the son inherits After the father's death.

The struggles of women in Morocco have many fronts, especially the struggle against violence in all its physical, psychological, economic and social forms. Moroccan women are also at the forefront of the struggle against high prices, for the right to water, for equality in inheritance, and against the usurpation of dynastic lands, where men are compensated without women.

5 - Urgent demands of Moroccan women

The most important urgent demands of the Moroccan women's movement, according to their priority, are summarized as follows:

- Comprehensive review of the family code, in a way that guarantees complete equality between the two sexes in the family, including equality in legal representation over children, inheritance and the right to marry a non-Muslim, as well as the complete abolition of polygamy, and the abolition of underage marriages...;

- Radical reform of the criminal law and criminal procedure in order to ensure criminal justice for women;

- Amending the law establishing the Commission for Parity and Combating All Forms of Discrimination, because it marginalized the universal reference for human rights and limited its role to expressing an advisory opinion;

- Amending Law 13-103 because it is not compatible with international standards of laws protecting women from violence, and given the high rate of violence against women, which requires putting an end to impunity; Respecting the woman’s right to voluntarily terminate pregnancy under medical care, to own her own body and to desire and prepare for pregnancy and childbirth;

- Rejection of the requirements of the law on the protection of domestic workers (age - wages - working hours - social protection – supervision…)

Women are Strong Together!

We are going through a period in which the effects of the economic crisis of the imperialist-capitalist system and the contradiction between the oppressor-oppressed becomes more evident with the pandemic. While the system is trying to take quick measures against the possible great uprisings of the oppressed peoples, on the other hand, it strives to make the people pay the costs of the crisis.

It is a reality that the women are standing in the darkest corner of this image. On the other hand, severe violence and poverty conditions caused an accumulation of the anger that ignited the fire of struggle. It is certain that the resistance of women has an important place in the extent of this anger overflowing into the streets.

Because the fact that women become the first target of the increasing poverty with the pandemic, the insecurity that deepens with the working conditions that are tried to be changed according to the interests of the rulers in the new period, and leaving the burden of care for the elderly-children-disabled households on the shoulders of women in the face of the pandemic and the escalating male-state violence etc., also caused a women's revolt that spread from country to country and across the borders.

Although the form this uprising takes differs in each country, its general quality, namely its demands, the methods used, the form of actions, etc. should also be evaluated as a whole.

One of the most fundamental features of the worldwide women's uprising is that women who take to the streets in different countries with different demands and in different ways are getting closer to each other, learning from each other, and building mutual support and solidarity. In other words, the women's struggle becomes "global" and paves the way for women to get power and example from each other. This is the strongest aspect of the movement.

For example, the women's strike demanding "equal pay for equal work" in Switzerland or in Iceland could find support and solidarity all over the world and organize strikes in many countries; The women's dance of Las Tesis in Chile could become the common melody of women all over the world; the Women's being at the forefront of the war against ISIS gangs in Rojava could lead to the establishment of committees and platforms for the defense of Rojava in dozens of countries, and on the day of liberation of Kobanê tens of thousands of women in dozens of countries around the world took to the streets with the pictures of Arîn Mîrkan etc. The solidarity of women beyond these borders feeds each other and creates a stronger line of joint struggle.

Another common aspect of women's uprisings in each country is that they currently focus on the most urgent and vital problems of women, touching almost all women in that country. For example, the "bread uprising" of women in Egypt included all, directly touching their lives, except a privileged part of Egyptian women.

On the other hand, one of the most important features of this uprising is that it was organized in such a way that all women could be a part of the issue on the agenda. The most concrete example of this, specific to our country, was experienced in the long-term struggle against the withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention. It made a significant part of women a part of this process, from the social media posts at home to the street.

We have to say that another feature of this movement is that the united struggle of women was successful with the emphasis on the cooperation, not the differences, of all the parties involved. In this women's uprising, the reality of women's being strong together against the women and LGBTI+ hostile, tyrannical patriarchal system has become concrete.

The weakest aspect of the movement, of course, is that revolutionary and communist women are limited both qualitatively and quantitatively in these movements. This has a direct impact on the quality of the movement. Although it is very important to be able to unite millions of women around common problems despite all differences, the fact that it does not aim for the ultimate liberation of women and that there is no common understanding on this issue may be the reason why the acceleration of the movement has decreased in different processes and even split apart.

This women's uprising should be handled by revolutionary and communist women in terms of its prevalence and concrete gains, both by taking part in it and by practically winning the claim to lead it. Not only revolutionary and communist women, but also all organizations engaged in class struggle should observe this movement of women, critically evaluate it and focus on the points to be learned from this movement.

The revolutionary and communist women's movement should not underestimate this uprising, which took place largely outside of itself, just because there are feminist movements under their leadership. It is incompatible with the struggle for communism to ignore a movement that has legitimate democratic demands and mobilizes millions of oppressed women. On the other hand, the leadership of this movement cannot be won by interventions from outside. With the quantitative and qualitative participation in the practical process itself, the way of the movement's final liberation of the oppressed can be shown. It can direct the current women's movement from radicalism to militancy.

To do this and more, the communist women's movement must first find a way to unite the forces in all countries. From Chile to Argentina, from Egypt to Sri Lanka, from Kurdistan to Turkey... the creation of a communist and militant women's movement will be one of the most important pillars of the revolutionary struggle. A communist women's movement that cannot unite itself cannot be strongly connect with the movement outside it and cannot give confidence to the women's masses. In order to achieve this, we have to put forward the common struggle of communist and revolutionary women, based on the liberation of oppressed working women, not our narrow group interests. The unity that we will create by discussing our differences but through our common points will be built on solid foundations.

It is essential that revolutionary and communist women work together and take a common stance in order to make the women's freedom struggle an integral part of the liberation struggle of the working class and oppressed peoples against the imperialist-capitalist system, exploitation, fascism and unjust wars, and to create a militant women's movement.

Apart from the main agendas of the World Women's Conference to be held in Tunisia, it will be a valuable gain to get involved with women's organizations claiming communism and to form a common network with these movements as the first step. Even taking the steps of such a union should be considered a success in itself.

Of course, acting with the basic criterion of freedom of agitation and propaganda, the joint action of ICOR member women's organizations will have an impact on other women's organizations and women. Therefore, exchanging views before big organizations such as the World Women's Conference will qualitatively improve our participation in such conferences.

The most important lacks of large events, such as international conference, forum etc. are the difficulties in taking a step forward with concrete decisions. For this reason, as ICOR member women's organizations, we should go with concrete proposals in line with the aim of creating a practical, militant women's movement in order to take a common stance at the World Women's Conference and afterwards. This should be one of the most important agendas at the ICOR Women's Conference that we will hold.

Our liberation is in communism!

No revolution without women, no liberation of women without revolution!

July 2022

TKP-ML

Our Positions on the Women’s Question and the Women's Movement

Foreword: It is a very good method for cooperation and unification within the ICOR to organize a conference for women of the ICOR organizations before the 3rd World Women's Conference and to ask for the positions and views of the organizations on this issue.

The UPML writes in its draft programme in 2018: “In the struggle for socialism, a particular struggle for women's liberation is needed, which takes into account the particular system of exploitation and oppression of the women masses - for their real emancipation and against their discrimination. Proletarian women must strive to have the leading role of all women in the struggle for socialism. For their liberation, the militant women's movement has an interest in linking up with the workers’ movement and vice versa.” (p.27) and we developed a series of demands for equality between men and women.

Since the draft programme was written, we have not gone into this issue in any depth and it is noticeable that the paragraph remains quite general about the “particular system of exploitation and oppression of women masses.”

Responses to your questions:

1. What is the situation of the women's movement in the world?

We do not pretend to have a global analysis of the women's movement, but we see the following elements: Various major women's struggles on all continents showing an evolving awareness of the particular system of oppression and exploitation of women; struggles against harassment, rape, feminicide and the complicity of state apparatuses; the “Me Too” movement; struggles for the right to abortion and contraception; struggles for women's rights in countries with particular repression (Afghanistan, etc.). International solidarity and internationalism developed and so did the pride in the women's movement. The “women's strikes” in more and more countries on 8 March denounced the particular exploitation. Anti-capitalism is developing (slogan “against capitalism and patriarchy") and women participate in all social, ecological, peace struggles, etc.

The current militant women's movement has these political limits because social projects are hardly discussed, and socialism hardly ever goes beyond the revolutionary organizations that remain weak in the movement. This is not the consequence of the strength of reformism, but due to anti-communism and the dominance of neo-liberalism, even if they are in crisis! The struggle against capitalism is seen by some as a condition for equality between men and women. But the link between capitalism and the particular oppression and exploitation of women as a structural problem is not clear. This would be a very interesting point for the conference to discuss - if possible?

As a form of reformism/opportunism there is also petty-bourgeois feminism which denounces patriarchy and men in general as the enemy.

Struggles against the various forms of violence against women mobilize many especially young girls - this is new! However, the struggles against the different forms are isolated and not very organized. They are spontaneous and scatter after a victory or a failure.

The lack of organization of the women's movement is due to a form of anti-authoritarianism and due to the influence of autonomous currents. Commitment remains limited and long-term practical or theoretical work is difficult or even absent.

If women are organized, they are often activists close to various organizations (NPA - Bread and Roses, PCOF - Egalité, SKB – aveg kon, Femmes solidaires - PCF). The activists are very committed and active, but this scatters the movement and sets the bar very high, too high to join, for example to expect the support for socialism. Work among women masses is sometimes developed but very little in general. It is sometimes done at the local level under the aegis of the local governments with a sometimes very limited social content.

2. What are the tasks of revolutionary women in this context?

The consequences of the described situation for our tasks are:

- the message “organise yourself” at a higher level, given the attacks by the right-wing and fascization of politics and the crisis of the system;

- to fight for the opening of the militant women's movement to the participation of revolutionary women in it and to develop the revolutionary critique of capitalism for women's liberation against the positions of petty-bourgeois opportunist feminism and against all other forms of idealism;

- to propagate socialism and its contribution to women's liberation, both positive and negative experiences, against various petty-bourgeois anti-communist tendencies;

- The key is to strengthen and unify the revolutionary organizations for which women must be won. Also in the ICOR we do not all have the same positions. When some comrades talk about a women's revolution at the national conference in Paris to prepare the conference in Tunis, we can't agree. This contradicts the basic position of the ICOR which fights for the socialist revolution whose main force is the international industrial proletariat, women and men.

3. What are the tasks of revolutionaries in the World Women's Conference?

It was said at the European World Women's Conference that the conference in Tunis must become a manifesto against the imperialist war. For revolutionary women it is necessary to oppose the imperialist system in its multiple crises with socialism as a social alternative and with the necessity to organize in the ICOR and the Friends of the ICOR. In this sense work before, during and after the conference is needed.

The ICOR and its organizations should be present with a propaganda stand and writings on the women's question (intervention at the seminar on the October revolution, Clara Zetkin...). A workshop “revolutionary women” has not been announced so far.

Maybe there are still other ideas.

Information for the comrades at the website: worldwomensconference.org and a beautiful video about the conference in Katmandu.

July 15, 2022

The roots of women’s oppression and the need for a double revolution

Thousands of women on the streets of Argentina fighting for the right to decide about their own bodies. The militant resistance of Mexican women against the brutal daily routine of femicide. The courageous and determined stance of women at the forefront of social struggles in Sudan and Iran against dictatorships and the oppression of women. The brave women’s resistance against Taliban barbarism in Afghanistan. Women in Turkey overcoming police barricades to reclaim Taksim Square, which is being banned for years. The YPJ, one of the most advanced achievements of women in the world, defending the revolution in Rojava at the cost of their lives against the invasion attacks of Turkish fascism. The women's strike movement that has been spreading for years from Latin America, Poland and the USA to Spain and other countries...

Much more can be said here, because this picture shows that the international women's movement is in the midst of a new upswing with great revolutionary potential. Although the corona pandemic has temporarily stalled the rise of the movement, in recent years we have witnessed many massive women's actions spreading in waves, triggering and reinforcing each other, not only across the borders of the same country and language, but also across oceanic borders.

The agendas of today's women's movements include equal pay for equal work, the fight against patriarchal violence and the struggle for women's right to make decisions about their own bodies, including the right to free, safe and legal abortion. But the movements are not limited to this, and their class character is becoming increasingly evident. Especially in countries in economic crisis, in addition to sexual demands, women's raise their voice against impoverishment, for the improvement of living conditions and the protection of social rights. In order to draw constructive conclusions from this process, which holds enormous chances for revolutionary forces and challenges the situation, we must ask certain questions.

What program do the women need for their own liberation?

The class exploitation and sexual exploitation that affect women in today's patriarchal capitalist world exist on the same material basis, on the ground of private property, and they share the same fate in the face of the existence of private property. Patriarchy, which emerged as the first class domination, continued its existence in various forms with the sexual division of labour, monogamy, the male right of inheritance, etc., and finally intertwined and fused with the entire economic, political and social institutional structure of capitalism. The economic, political and military institutions of capitalism, from the family to the army, from the school to the factory, are at the same time the institutions of patriarchy, the main pillars of its survival. But this unity between capitalism and patriarchy is a contradictory unity, these two forms of exploitation do not harmonize with each other infinitely. At the root of the contradiction lies the fundamental contradiction of capitalism, the contradiction between the social character of production and the private character of property. While the socialisation of production inevitably pushes women's participation in social life (as producers, consumers and commodities), the private character of property inevitably pulls them out of social life and into the confines of the home. This increasing contradiction shapes the reflections of patriarchy in social life, while giving impetus to the women's liberation struggle.

The contradiction is not limited only to the relation of forms of exploitation, but also finds its counterpart in the subjects that will abolish exploitation. With the development of capitalism, the era of women’s liberation struggle, who gained a collective identity, began and women from different classes achieved important gains from basic civil rights to sexual rights through their pioneering struggles. However, these reform struggles remained within limits. Women, as a sex, are not the gravedigger of either private property or patriarchy, because women outside the proletariat are alienated from the fundamental interests of their own sex by being tied to private property in various ways. On the other hand, male proletarians also have an interest in the perpetuation of sexist exploitation and may tend towards the maintenance of the existent order. This contradictory situation requires specific ways and means of struggle for women's liberation within our class.

But the internal division in the ranks of the proletariat in terms of sex does not divide and weaken its class position. On the contrary, the conflict between the male and female proletariat strengthens the proletariat's ability to play its revolutionary role, and the more the female proletariat acquires collective gender consciousness, the more it becomes a destructive social force against private property. Class differentiation within the same sex and the specific form of sex differentiation within the class leads to the proletarian woman taking part in the social revolution both as part of the proletariat, in the struggle for her own class emancipation and as its representative, but in the women’s revolution also as a sex, in alliance with the proletarian man.

In summary, the main destructive force, the main constituent subject that will abolish sexual and class exploitation and oppression based on private property is the proletariat, and women, who are part of the proletariat, have now become a main force rather than a reserve force as a sex and class. Since the women's liberation struggle against patriarchy and the proletarian liberation struggle against capitalist domination are intertwined the communists' programme for the women's revolution, the women's liberation programme, shows the only path to the liberation of women. We must develop the appropriate organization and course of action for the women's revolution^*, which is intertwined with every social revolution as the assurance of its success.

In this sense, the rising women's movements constitute the material force of women's liberation. While class demands increase within the movements and capitalism is targeted in the discourse, the influence of revolutionary women's organizations remains relatively weak. This reinforces a situation where women's movements remain spontaneous and politically oppositional. There are various historical and contemporary reasons for this. For example, the weakening of the communist movement and the rising influence of feminism(s) (evolutionary women's liberation programmes) which is dominant within the women's movements. Of course feminist forces^** are our allies on different levels and as revolutionaries we must play a unifying role in the political struggle. But it is clear that horizons that do not get to the real root of the problem, understandings that abstract sexual exploitation, cannot bring unlimited freedom for women. Therefore, we must proceed on the path of winning women over to their revolutionary program.

What tasks should we set before us?

In order to realize the revolutionary program that will liberate women from sexual and class oppression, we must speak words that are more advanced and stronger than the current discourse of the women's movements, we must develop a practice in accordance with our words and set political goals. Only on this ground revolutionary women's organizations can accumulate strength with a course of action that will not be satisfied with the old by clinging to strong claims. There is an objective ground for our voluntary interventions in the women's movement. As revolutionaries, we must pave the way for women's movements to overcome our own limits and become a focus, and organize their self-defense in case of patriarchal counter-attacks. In this way, we must ensure the unity of the revolutionary women in action and not allow ideological and theoretical divisions to cause their movement to stall.

Our first goal must be to ensure continuity within a concrete plan of action. To date, the problems of the women's movement have appeared on ICOR's agenda rather sporadically. ICOR needs an organizational mechanism to ensure that the problems of the women's movement are discussed on an ongoing basis, that resolutions on the women's liberation struggle are issued, and that common practices are developed. An international women's bureau capable of regularly assessing women's political agendas, representing ICOR on international women's platforms and building a women's network among organizations could organize the current political intervention of ICOR member parties and organizations in the women's liberation struggle. In addition, the formulation of the principles that ICOR member organizations agree on the women's liberation struggle will also be an achievement of the ICOR 1st Women's Conference.

During the World Women's Conference, we must mobilize forces to develop practical cooperation both among ICOR organizations and with different women's organizations outside ICOR. The World Women's Conference should not end with its last day. An international women's stand against war and imperialism would be an important step towards a coordinated women's movement worldwide. On March 8 and November 25, in addition to the historical days of women's struggle, we should exchange information on various issues of concern to women on days of action, and quickly increase our possibilities for organizing international solidarity practices. Theoretical exchange is also needed to sustain and deepen international cooperation in the long term. There are questions facing the international women's movement and us revolutionaries that urgently need to be answered. Therefore, we should aim to provide spaces similar to this publication where theoretical and political issues can be discussed in depth.

We have a long way to go, but we know it will be worth it. We wish us all success.

Position of the MLPD for the Online Journal on the 1st ICOR Women's Conference

*An example for a women’s revolution programme, Programme of the MLKP, www.mlkp-info.org

**The struggle for women's liberation also paved the way for the general struggle for sexual liberation, and queer feminism, which occupies an important place in the current feminist movement, developed along this path. The lgbti+ movement, which is an important ally of women, has mainly become the dynamic political force of queer feminism, significantly challenging patriarchal notions of sex and opening new horizons for the question of gender. But as a postmodern feminist current, queer feminism does not follow the idea of material revolution anyway, nor does it have a program for social transformation. While we want to win the movement for socialism, we do not see the lgbti+ struggle as a subfield of the women's liberation struggle. In their common struggle against the sexist society, we strive for the women's liberation struggle and the lgbti+ struggle to advance each other and develop as political allies in two particular paths.

1RW 34, german edition, p. 506

2"New Perspectives for the Liberation of Women”, german edition, p. 15, MEW, volume 21, p. 27-28

3RW 37, p. 161

4"New Perspectives for the Liberation of Women”, german edition, p. 58

5Party program of MLPD, p. 64-65

Bolshevik Parti Northern Kurdistan-Turkey

Our task is to build the communist women's movement in our countries and in the world!

We are experiencing a time when imperialism and world reaction are becoming more and more aggressive and attacking the achievements of the workers' movement and the women's movement. Racism, fascism and religious reactions of all stripes combined with sexism threaten women's lives. In the imperialist-capitalist world, conflicts over domination and division are intensifying. Millions of people are forced to migrate because of wars and environmental disasters. And those who suffer the most are women and their children. Against all this, the just resistance and struggle of women is stirring all over the world. The struggle against abortion bans, the #metoo movement, the struggle for equal pay, the struggle against femicide, the struggle against harassment and rape, etc. are concrete examples of this.

In our countries Northern Kurdistan and Turkey, compared to other opposition movements a relatively strong and militant women's movement is developing. In the face of sexist discourse against women or attempts by those in power to restrict women's rights, women's groups from very different backgrounds can mobilize very quickly by uniting around a common agenda. In addition to temporary action alliances on a current issue, permanent women's platforms have also been formed: "Women Are Strong Together", "We Will End Femicide" , "Istanbul Convention Women's Platform" and local women's solidarity platforms in many cities. Components of the platform include feminist women's groups, the Kurdish women's movement and leftist revolutionary democratic women's groups.

Campaigns of solidarity with patriotic-democratic-revolutionary women in prison and the struggle against sexual harassment and rape in prison have also gained weight in recent years.

With the workers' resistances that developed after the pandemic and the currency crisis, solidarity and support for the resistance of women workers who participated in and organized these resistances gained an important place. In 2022, women workers resisting in the textile and hosiery sector, where the majority of workers are women, have gained important rights.

Women are taking to the streets and continuing their militant struggle despite all the oppression and obstructions from the state.

The struggle of women in Northern Kurdistan-Turkey is not only against the oppression of women, but also against all forms of discrimination. In the struggle against attacks on LGBTI+, in the struggle against xenophobia and racism, especially against Syrian refugees, different women's platforms and groups are trying to ensure unity of action.

The biggest task is ahead of us!

The biggest shortcoming of the women's movement in Northern Kurdistan - Turkey is the lack of a strong revolutionary-communist alternative. Today's women's movement is mainly dominated by feminists and reformists. This manifests itself, for example, in attempts to prevent communist agitation propaganda at demonstrations. This must undoubtedly be countered. In this context, however, it is especially important not to fall into the error of placing short-term group interests above the general direction of action. We fight for the enforcement of the principle of unity in action and freedom in agitation and propaganda within the framework of a discussion based on solidarity. We consider the hostile attitude of some left organizations or left men (and sometimes women) towards petty-bourgeois feminist groups, which they display in practice, to be fundamentally wrong. It must not be forgotten that male-dominated attitudes, still strong in left revolutionary and even communist circles today, are the main obstacle to the recruitment of women cadres. The point of the arrow must be turned in this direction, and the gross and subtle male chauvinism within the revolutionary-communist movement must be combated.

Although the horizon of the petty-bourgeois feminist and reformist women's movement with its ideological position is limited to staying within the limits of capitalism, with its current position and militant struggle it represents the most effective component of the mass democratic struggle. In the struggle against them, methods and forms must be used that aim to convince and win over the mass of women.

In the struggle for women's liberation, it is our task to strengthen the communist women's movement in the face of conciliatory feminist politics in its final position. For this purpose, it is necessary to train and qualify communist women cadres who can be effective and influential among the mass of women. The ideological influence of bourgeois feminism will be overcome only when the ability to defend the just demands and struggle of the masses of women in the best practical way is demonstrated. Our task is to establish revolutionary-communist women's politics in all areas of the struggle of the oppressed.

Our task is to learn from the achievements and mistakes of the Communist International and the communist women's movement under the leadership of Clara Zetkin, Inessa Armand, Krupskaya, Alexandra Kollontai and other communist women.

Revolution and socialism will rise with the communist women's movement!

August 2022

From the part "Explanations of the Statutes of the Bolshevik Party KK-T":

"ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

Our Party Congress declares that violence against women and children is incompatible with membership in our Party and that those who commit violence against women and children will not be admitted to our Party and have no place in our Party.

At the 10th Party Congress, the following resolution was passed in relation to violence against women and children.

"The provision in our Party Constitution "The practice of violence against women and children is incompatible with our Party Constitution, those who practice violence against women and children will not be accepted into our Party and have no place in our Party" can only be interpreted in one sense in the context of the Central Committee and other leadership bodies and in the context of those who have been Party members for a very long time: Immediate expulsion."

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