A day for international women everywhere

My plight finally acknowledged!

They’re saying it’s International Women’s Day and when I was informed this year, my first thought was ‘‘oh, we’re still doing that?’’

Because I love feminist lore, and because the name drives me insane—is it a day for the international woman???—I just had to look it up again. The story goes back to the history of the labor movements in the early 20th century. We love that over here.

In 1908, around 15,000 women marched in New York City, demanding better working conditions, fair wages, and voting rights. We love that too over here. Then the Socialist Party of America declared the first "National Woman’s Day" on February 28, 1909. A time when American socialists did things that mattered. We really love to see it.

On the other side of the Atlantic, they’re paying attention to all of this because over there, every day is International Men’s Day and well, the ladies need a day too.

In 1910, German activist Clara Zetkin proposed an annual International Women’s Day at the International Socialist Women’s Conference in Copenhagen. The Copenhagen conference is funny because they acknowledge in their invitation the US “Women’s Day” as “an event, that has awakened the attention of our enemies.” Women’s progress has enemies. We know this and we love to know this. Clara Zetkin she really knows this.

She’s a very interesting character that Clara Zetkin. In 1894, she had written in the Social Democratic women’s magazine she founded, Die Gleichheit (Equality) that “Bourgeois feminism and the movement of proletarian women, are two fundamentally different social movements.” This is a polemic against the mainstream of German feminism but how fascinating. In 1894 nonetheless! At that Copenhagen conference she has taken great pain to explain that what she was calling for was a Working Women’s Day. In fact the resolution reads

In agreement with the class-conscious political and trade union organizations of the proletariat of their respective countries, socialist women of all nationalities have to organize a special Women’s Day (Frauentag), which must, above all, promote the propaganda of female suffrage. This demand must be discussed in connection with the whole woman’s question, according to the socialist conception.

According to socialist conception! They all agree it’s fab but nobody picks a specific day to recognize Working Women’s Day as Clara wants it to be called. But it doesn’t matter. It’s a good idea that takes off. But the problem with good ideas that take off is that they can become incredibly toothless in the end.

The first of what ends up being called International Women’s Day was celebrated on March 19, 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland.

Vladimir Lenin he’s also paying attention to all of this because well, it’s International Men’s Day every day in Tsarist Russia and he’s a very international man who can’t let western socialists or Trotsky one up him on the eve of the Russian Revolution. This is a gross oversimplification of what was happening in Russia and around the world but you should know that ultimately that sneaky Lenin declared March 8 as International Women's Day in 1922 to specifically honor women's role in the 1917 Russian Revolution. Is this what Clara Zetkin had in mind? It’s a very sneaky thing what he did but the women of the Russian Revolution they certainly do deserve to be recognized.

By 1975, the United Nations officially recognized March 8 as International Women’s Day and well, now you know the whole story. It is a PR-friendly spectacle where corporate sponsors preach empowerment while the women most in need of solidarity are left to fend for themselves and nobody recognizes the socialist origins of the day at all.

Clara Zetkin she warned us against all of this, way back when in 1894 she went after those bourgeois feminists who pressed reforms, through a struggle between the sexes and against the men of their own class, without questioning the very existence of capitalism. Clara Zetkin told us that working women, through a struggle of class against class and in a joint fight with the men of their class, sought to transcend capitalism.

She was talking about 1894 Germany but it was the same everywhere and absolutely nothing has changed.

And then in the middle of writing this newsletter —which I should have diligently done Thursday or Friday as I usually do but instead partied until 3AM as all international women do—my sweet sister FaceTimed from Conakry, Guinea, where our family is from. She was driving and wanted me to take in the sights of Conakry, a place I have not visited in almost 20 years. So much had changed—the roads are paved! Barely but asphalt is a miracle where we come from—but Guinea is still ranked 182nd out of 191 countries on the UNDP's Human Development Index. We come from an incredibly poor country.

My sister showed me places I am aching to know better and pointed out women running small businesses on the side of the road. She greeted them because she has relationships with these women and because that’s just who she is my sister. Having her as a sibling means that I am constantly confronted with my inner cynic. It’s a very good thing. When I jokingly wished her a happy International Women’s Day and she lit up with a smile: “They love this day here in Africa!”

She is right.

The women on the side of the road in Conakry, they don’t know about Clara Zetkin and the socialists labor dramas of the early 20th century and they don’t care that I think it’s a hollow spectacle of international solidarity. That’s fine because today is about them too and they deserve to be thought of and recognized. And it’s also about my sister who works very hard and that’s enough for me not to be cynical.

Happy International Women’s Day to all the women who like to be recognized on this day. And to all International Women everywhere.

What I’m paying attention to

• The Christian mullahs are up to very sinister shit: ‘‘how men run their homes within Christian patriarchy “is how they want to run the country.”

• A triangle shirtwaist factory joke is never wasted on me

• Something I’ve always been curious about: how do prescription drugs get their names.

• Is anyone else listening to The Curious History of Your Home podcast? It’s fascinating!

• Found myself myself equally moved and shaken out of complacency by this conversation between László Krasznahorkai and Hari Kunzru: ‘‘The apocalypse is a process that has been going on for a very long time and will continue for a very long time. The apocalypse is now. The apocalypse is an ongoing judgment.’’

• I don’t know if you can tell but I am really wrestling with my role as an artist and specifically as a writer these days so here’s another conversation with Jessica Nordell and Elif Batuman that left me reinvigorated: ‘‘Sometimes I wonder, if I had known about meditation earlier, would I have gone into a different line of work?’’

• How a first play by Toni Morrison fell apart during a regional theater production in Albany, NY. Fascinating theatrical history that’s entirely new to me.

Capitalism

After I just told you about Clara Zetkin? Have some respect. Give your money to ensure that nobody goes blind from avoidable causes in Guinea or so children in the region do not go hungry or to an org that that builds health systems through solidarity, not charity.

Hang in there

You do not need to speak French to take in this 48 minute documentary on Miriam Makeba’s life in Guinea because she sings in so much of it.

Some good news! The daylight is finally adding up and tomorrow is Daylight Savings. The days are brighter and lighter. We can be too. See you next week.