When the CP, IMG, SWP, & Sheila Rowbotham debated Women's Liberation & Revolutionary Parties

Marxist Symposium Discussed the Women's Movement and the Party

Transcripts from the 1978 Marxist Symposium, published in International in 1979 show complex and sometimes fraught relationship between the women's liberation movement and the revolutionary party. Featuring contributions from Communist party leader Beatrix Campbell, Fourth Internationalist Celia Pugh, socialist feminist Sheila Rowbotham, and the SWP’s Joan Smith, the debate explored how the struggle for women's liberation could and should connect with the broader socialist goal of overthrowing capitalism. The core tension lay in differing views on the necessity and role of a revolutionary party in achieving women's emancipation, and the autonomy of the women's movement itself.

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Key Perspectives from the Debate

Celia Pugh (International Marxist Group - IMG) opened the discussion by stating that the relationship between the women's movement and the party must stem from their "strategic conception of how to achieve the emancipation of women." From the IMG's perspective, she argued that women's oppression is rooted in class society and capitalism, making the struggle against it inseparable from the struggle against capitalism. Pugh asserted that the revolutionary party is the only way to achieve state power and control, which she saw as essential for women's liberation. She stressed that socialists must integrate the fight against oppression into all political action, including personal relationships, and noted that socialists sometimes overlooked aspects like race and sex.

Beatrix Campbell (Communist Party - CP) discussed the "dialectical interaction between social formation, consciousness, revolutionary practice, and revolutionary theory" in relation to women's liberation and the political movement. She highlighted the "historical contribution of women to self-organisation and independent political action." Campbell questioned how those outside formal party structures perceived ideas about oppression and the party's role. Referencing an article by the SWP on women's liberation, she noted that some viewed it as "condescending," reflecting her point about the limitations of traditional parties like the CP and Labour Party in fully addressing women's issues.

Sheila Rowbotham offered reflections based on her "fifteen years of experience within both socialist organisations and the independent women's movement." She observed that some individuals worked primarily within socialist organisations while others were more involved in the women's movement. Rowbotham spoke of her experience working with Women's Voice, which she described as an organisation developed "to look at issues from women's perspective." She specifically "questioned the organisational link between Women's Voice and the SWP." Rowbotham maintained that the oppression of women and the exploitation under capitalism are fundamentally linked and "cannot be separated." She acknowledged the "historical backwardness" of the revolutionary party in fully understanding these issues and the challenge of working within parties that might not prioritise them.

Joan Smith (SWP/Women's Voice) firmly stated the necessity of the revolutionary party for achieving women's liberation. She argued that the "oppression of women is inextricably linked with capitalism" and that the "overthrow of capitalism through the revolutionary party" is the necessary path to women's liberation. Smith spoke about her experiences within the SWP and its developing understanding of "the specific problems faced by women." Addressing Rowbotham's point, Smith clarified the relationship between the SWP and Women's Voice, asserting that Women's Voice is "organisationally independent" but shares the political perspective that links the fight against oppression with the revolutionary struggle. She contended that a genuinely socialist organisation "cannot separate these struggles." Smith responded to criticisms, including the SWP article Campbell mentioned, suggesting the key issue is not the party's past backwardness, but whether current struggles allow for overcoming it. She saw Women's Voice as a way for revolutionary feminists to influence the broader Labour movement.

The debate highlighted a fundamental disagreement about the strategic path forward. While Rowbotham and Campbell seemed to emphasise the importance and relative autonomy of independent women's organisations, Pugh and Smith firmly anchored women's liberation within the necessity of the revolutionary party for systemic change.

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In Hindsight

The IMG-published series of International provide some context for the debate's themes and offer insights into the trajectory of the organisations and ideas discussed.

Joan Smith's assertion in 1979 that Women's Voice was "organisationally independent" from the SWP, while politically aligned, appears to be directly contradicted by a later article in the November 1981 issue of International. In "Tony Cliff's Nightmare - Feminism," Valerie Coulas states that Tony Cliff's Socialist Workers Party "dissolved Women's Voice as a separate organisation," viewing feminism as fundamentally linked to bourgeois ideology. This suggests that the relationship between the SWP and Women's Voice was not one of lasting organisational independence, at least from the perspective presented by Coulas two years later. This later account might imply that Joan Smith's position in 1979 regarding Women's Voice's independence, while perhaps reflecting its structure at that moment, did not foresee the future actions of the SWP leadership.

The broader discussions in later issues on women's liberation and feminism indicate that debates about the connection between class struggle and oppression continued within the pages of the final series of International, between 1985 and 1987. Articles like "Women hold up half the sky" in 1986 and the supplement on "WOMEN'S LIBERATION 1987" highlight the ongoing challenges faced by women, including low pay and the burden of domestic labour, and the continued efforts within the Labour movement to address them. These pieces, and others such as the debate on "The Problem of Men," reflect the evolving understanding of women's oppression, incorporating factors like race and sexuality alongside class. While not directly commenting on the 1979 debate, the continued exploration of these themes across different perspectives, including articles that highlight independent women's organising like that seen during the miners' strike, suggests that the tensions articulated by Campbell, Pugh, Rowbotham, and Smith remained relevant points of discussion in the years that followed.

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Further Reading in International

For readers interested in exploring these themes further, the following articles from other issues of International touch upon related subjects:

• "Women hold up half the sky" by Valerie Coulas in International, No. 4, May/June 1986. This article discusses the economic position of women in Britain and efforts within the Labour movement.

• "WOMEN'S LIBERATION 1987" (Supplement) in International, No. 9, March/April 1987. This supplement reviews the state of the women's liberation movement and the debates confronting it in 1987.

• "Tony Cliff's Nightmare - Feminism" by Valerie Coulas in International, v6, no4 November 1981. This polemic critiques the SWP's position on feminism and mentions the dissolution of Women's Voice.

• "The Problem of Men" (Review of the book) by Judy Watson in International, v7 no6, November/December 1982, and the subsequent debate articles "Men, Women and Oppression" in Vol 8, No 1/2, January-April 1983 and "Men and Women's Oppression" in Vol 7, No 2, March 1982. These pieces delve into the nature of oppression and the roles of men and women in the struggle.

• "Women's committees and democracy" by Sarah Roelofs in International, v7 no6, November/December 1982. This article examines the experiences of women's committees within local council structures.

These articles, alongside the 1979 debate, demonstrate the ongoing and multifaceted discussion within International regarding women's liberation, its relationship with political parties, and the challenges of achieving emancipation within capitalist society.