A Critical Approach to Marx and Feminism
Part III: We cannot abstract labour from its social context ‘value converts every product into a social hieroglyphic.’Marx, Capital Vol I In light of the enormous sex disparity between producers and consumers within the sex industry(majority female sellers; majority male buyers), prostitution and other 'sex work' cannot be considered outside of its historical, material, social... Continue Reading →
Women’s economic dependence on men historically ensured that women married. Marriage was, and is still today, seen as aspiration for women and a way to access material wealth and secure basic sustenance. Though in the last half century due to the women’s movements of the 1960s and 1970s, women’s ability to sustain themselves economically has... Continue Reading →
Part II: Can ‘sex work’ be considered ‘labour’? ‘all [commodities] are reduced to one and the same sort of labour, human labour in the abstract.’Marx, Capital Vol I Marx tells us that ‘human labour power’ is expended in the production of commodities — that ‘human labour is embodied in them’ — and that it is... Continue Reading →
Part I: Can sex be considered a commodity? ‘A commodity appears, at first sight, a very trivial thing, and easily understood. Its analysis shows that it is, in reality, a very queer thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties.’Marx, Capital Vol I In an attempt to move beyond the moralism that frequently surrounds the... Continue Reading →
Though the coronavirus pandemic continues to dominate public attention, rising rates of domestic abuse, rape and femicide suggests that women are experiencing a dangerous and deadly pandemic of our own: misogyny. However, data from the Office for National Statistics shows that while the rate of male homicide victims is on the decline, the number of... Continue Reading →
The left is plagued by a paternalism which treats feminist issues and organising with condescension at best; at worst, with contempt. This attitude demonstrates not only the prevalence of individual prejudices towards women but, more importantly, a significant theoretical misunderstanding which fails to adequately consider the totality of the capitalist mode of production. Due to... Continue Reading →
Women and Class frames women's oppression as central to the struggle against capitalism and oppression. It is essential reading for all communists and feminists alike. In this article, Professor Mary Davis introduces the latest edition of her book, Women and Class. Buy your copy here. The aim of this book is to assert and consolidate... Continue Reading →
Street Fights of Tumblr Liberals & the Alt-Right Angela Nagle's Kill All Normies represents a break with the usual unwillingness to subject the amorphous left’s internet cultures and identity politics to the same degree of scrutiny as the right’s. Published by Zero Books, Kill All Normies uses as its title a slogan promoted on 4Chan’s... Continue Reading →
This single volume new edition of Yvonne Kapp’s biography of Eleanor Marx, first published over 40 years ago, was deservedly highly acclaimed at the time. EJ Hobsbawm praised it as “one of the few unquestionable masterpieces of 20th century biography” and Michael Foot described it as “a work of scholarship but also a work of... Continue Reading →
