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Clara Zetkin: Selected Writings
Essays and speeches from 1889-1933, long unavailable in the U.S., on women's equality, labor, peace, socialism. Ed. by Philip S. Foner; Foreword by Angela Y. Davis. Index. Notes. Illustrations.
200 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
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964 people want to read
About the author
Clara Zetkin
85 books65 followersClara Josephine Zetkin née Eißner (5 July 1857 – 20 June 1933) was a German Marxist theorist, activist, politician and advocate for women's rights.
Until 1917, she was active in the Social Democratic Party of Germany, then she joined the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) and its far-left wing, the Spartacist League; this later became the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), which she represented in the Reichstag during the Weimar Republic from 1920 to 1933.
Until 1917, she was active in the Social Democratic Party of Germany, then she joined the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) and its far-left wing, the Spartacist League; this later became the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), which she represented in the Reichstag during the Weimar Republic from 1920 to 1933.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 25, 2008
You can never have too much of Clara Zetkin. Learn why women supported communism and what they hoped to achieve from it. See how a great female figure gave her all to fight the injustices of early twentieth-century society.
December 19, 2023
This is a small selection but excellent, really captures her spirit and evolution as both a writer and a communist. A woman and comrade who devoted her life to the good fight, a contemporary of Engels, Luxemburg, Liebknecht, Lenin, and so many others.
The account of her visit to the Muslim women’s club in Soviet Georgia is my favourite in the collection. The hope shown by the women liberated from their bondage by the revolution brings me such joy.
The eulogies of Rosa and Karl are heartbreaking but they also demonstrate her drive to never stop fighting.
Warra woman
The account of her visit to the Muslim women’s club in Soviet Georgia is my favourite in the collection. The hope shown by the women liberated from their bondage by the revolution brings me such joy.
The eulogies of Rosa and Karl are heartbreaking but they also demonstrate her drive to never stop fighting.
Warra woman
January 21, 2024
I bought this book a few years ago & my only regret is I couldn’t get to it sooner because of life circumstances. It’s a collection of writings & speeches & they pack a powerful punch. Some of her writings are well over 120 years old & they are still relevant. Her writings & speeches demonstrate that without question that any material analysis that focuses solely on men is incomplete but also any feminism devoid of class analysis has the same shortcomings. All forms of oppression stem from our relations to power & the means of production which make that power possible & necessary for the capitalists.
There are some writings on the history of Marxist thought in regards to women, letters in regards to the failure of the German Revolution which also included the deaths of two important figures for the German working class, Rosa Luxemburg & Karl Liebknecht, writings about Muslim women in the country of Georgia & what their inclusion meant for them as well as their attitude toward working class movements, a letter about the Scotsboro boys in Alabama & the necessity to work towards saving them as well as a speech that I believe was one of her last, addressing the Reichstag in the midst of Hitlers rise to power & fascism in Germany.
There’s only one or two speeches in the middle of the book which I’m not sure were necessary to include but overall the majority of what’s included is unfortunately still relevant today. A very important read that will only makes ones thought & understanding more nuanced & this help you get a better grip on recognizing class issues for what they are, seeing how all of our issues, regardless of identity are ultimately class issues because of how they relate to the capitalist power structure & working towards changing them.
There are some writings on the history of Marxist thought in regards to women, letters in regards to the failure of the German Revolution which also included the deaths of two important figures for the German working class, Rosa Luxemburg & Karl Liebknecht, writings about Muslim women in the country of Georgia & what their inclusion meant for them as well as their attitude toward working class movements, a letter about the Scotsboro boys in Alabama & the necessity to work towards saving them as well as a speech that I believe was one of her last, addressing the Reichstag in the midst of Hitlers rise to power & fascism in Germany.
There’s only one or two speeches in the middle of the book which I’m not sure were necessary to include but overall the majority of what’s included is unfortunately still relevant today. A very important read that will only makes ones thought & understanding more nuanced & this help you get a better grip on recognizing class issues for what they are, seeing how all of our issues, regardless of identity are ultimately class issues because of how they relate to the capitalist power structure & working towards changing them.
July 31, 2025
'The policy of the "lesser evil" strengthens the feeling of power of the reactionary forces and is intended to passivity among the masses.'
Clara Zetkin was a leader of the German Social-Democratic Party and international Marxist movement in the first part of the 20thC. She focussed particularly on women of the working class, as workers in their own right as well as in their roles as wives and mothers.
What I found most interesting in this collection was the insights it gave into the general political situation and socialist organising in the lead up to, during, and after WWI (and into WW2).
The collection is made up of articles, speeches and documents that are calls to action - it's not written as history, but as urgent insights intended to deal with an actually existing, often fast-changing situation where millions of lives where being lost and destroyed. To us though, it does provide fascinating and sometimes emotional history, and lessons to be learnt.
Read this together with Trotsky's & Gramsci's writings on fascism to get an understanding of what it means to see the emergence and growth of fascism, and how it might be combated.
Clara Zetkin was a leader of the German Social-Democratic Party and international Marxist movement in the first part of the 20thC. She focussed particularly on women of the working class, as workers in their own right as well as in their roles as wives and mothers.
What I found most interesting in this collection was the insights it gave into the general political situation and socialist organising in the lead up to, during, and after WWI (and into WW2).
The collection is made up of articles, speeches and documents that are calls to action - it's not written as history, but as urgent insights intended to deal with an actually existing, often fast-changing situation where millions of lives where being lost and destroyed. To us though, it does provide fascinating and sometimes emotional history, and lessons to be learnt.
Read this together with Trotsky's & Gramsci's writings on fascism to get an understanding of what it means to see the emergence and growth of fascism, and how it might be combated.
February 9, 2023
Learning more about Zetkin was more valuable than the actual theoretical content. Nothing here is all that original and it’s mostly just her agitprop rather than more thorough theoretical analysis, however that gives insight into how to approach problems we encounter today (since much of what she discusses has changed very little in essence).
December 10, 2024
Rating this as 5 because Clara Zetkin is an early communist feminist tour de force but personally I’m realizing I don’t like compositions of letters/statement/speeches/essays. They’re usually too topical, short, and often repetitive for me to get much out of it.
September 18, 2023
Perfect takedown of predatory hegemonic bourgeois feminism and neo-Buddhist ideology of western aristocrats.
March 6, 2025
Only read reminiscens of Lenin*
February 18, 2023
inspiring and how grateful, ominous, demoralizing it is to have texts written over a century ago sharing the very same strife and grief experienced today by the working class and by minorities.
I have recently been thinking about how its interesting to observe or be alive during the inception of a long-traumatic event that permeates all class, race, and boarders and compare it to a phenomenon still persistent but not as omnipresent. For example, I have been thinking about how observing the trajectory and response of COVID has made me rethink the annual normalcy reaction to the flu.
In terms of this book, it really makes me reconsider all social progress that has ever been made since the 1900s.
More thoughts on these two things connect later...
I have recently been thinking about how its interesting to observe or be alive during the inception of a long-traumatic event that permeates all class, race, and boarders and compare it to a phenomenon still persistent but not as omnipresent. For example, I have been thinking about how observing the trajectory and response of COVID has made me rethink the annual normalcy reaction to the flu.
In terms of this book, it really makes me reconsider all social progress that has ever been made since the 1900s.
More thoughts on these two things connect later...
September 11, 2019
https://www.neapoulain.com/2019/06/pe...
Este es otro libro que trae artículos y discursos de Clara Zetkin, que prologó Angela Davis (aunque mi versión viene sin prologar, lamentable). Algunos (al menos la mitad), se repiten. Los temas en general versan sobre la cuestión de la mujer, como arriba. Del mismo modo que el anterior, analiza perfectamente el trabajo femenino y las condiciones de la época y las expone. También trae un texto dedicado a las aportaciones de Marx al movimiento proletario femenino (básicamente las herramientas para analizar su situación, léase: el materialismo) que está interesante aunque la verdad es que no fue de mis favoritos.
Pero la razón por la que rescato este libro (aunque yo lo tenga incompleto, porque viene sin prólogo y sin dos artículos que de todos modos vienen en el anterior), es por dos artículos antibélicos en especial. Obviamente están escritos en el contexto de la primera guerra mundial, pero creo que los dos le pueden proporcionar a la gente herramientas para analizar los conflictos bélicos de hoy en día. En uno inclusive analiza quién se beneficia de las guerras (pista, no fueron los millones de soldados casi adolescentes que lucharon en las trincheras) y por qué a los estados capitalistas les gusta hacerlas a costa, por supuesto, de la clase trabajadora.
Son escritos bastante accesibles, la verdad, en mi opinión y bastante sencillos de entender, aunque sí hay que darles una buena repasada. Son textos que me parecen importantes para el contexto en el que vivimos hoy día y que además funcionan para recordar que Clara Zetkin no escribió únicamente de la cuestión de la mujer.
Este es otro libro que trae artículos y discursos de Clara Zetkin, que prologó Angela Davis (aunque mi versión viene sin prologar, lamentable). Algunos (al menos la mitad), se repiten. Los temas en general versan sobre la cuestión de la mujer, como arriba. Del mismo modo que el anterior, analiza perfectamente el trabajo femenino y las condiciones de la época y las expone. También trae un texto dedicado a las aportaciones de Marx al movimiento proletario femenino (básicamente las herramientas para analizar su situación, léase: el materialismo) que está interesante aunque la verdad es que no fue de mis favoritos.
Pero la razón por la que rescato este libro (aunque yo lo tenga incompleto, porque viene sin prólogo y sin dos artículos que de todos modos vienen en el anterior), es por dos artículos antibélicos en especial. Obviamente están escritos en el contexto de la primera guerra mundial, pero creo que los dos le pueden proporcionar a la gente herramientas para analizar los conflictos bélicos de hoy en día. En uno inclusive analiza quién se beneficia de las guerras (pista, no fueron los millones de soldados casi adolescentes que lucharon en las trincheras) y por qué a los estados capitalistas les gusta hacerlas a costa, por supuesto, de la clase trabajadora.
Son escritos bastante accesibles, la verdad, en mi opinión y bastante sencillos de entender, aunque sí hay que darles una buena repasada. Son textos que me parecen importantes para el contexto en el que vivimos hoy día y que además funcionan para recordar que Clara Zetkin no escribió únicamente de la cuestión de la mujer.
April 13, 2016
Clara Zetkin Savaş karşıtı, kadın hakları savunucusu,8 mart Dünya kadınlar günü ilan etmekte Öncü, a
Rosa Luxemburg ile beraber bir çok kadın emekçilerine sahip çıkmış çok önemli bir kadın... Zetkin'in söylediği Sözler biz kadınlar aslında tüm toplum için çok önemli şöyleki düşünceleri ileri görüşüldü ve Ayrımcılığın tamamiyle ortadan kalkmasına yardımcı olunmakla beraber bir feminist düşünür. İyi şeyler yapmaya çalışan bir kadından güzel notlar. Emek ve kadın işçiliği savunucusu ve hayatından kesitler. Biraz siyaset biraz hak.
"Dünyanın şimdiye kadar gördüğü, kadının eşitliği için yapılan en görkemli gösteri," diye haber verir.
ilham kaynağı olarak alınan bir yüzün sanatsal aktarımında neden burnun yerine üçgenler konulduğunu, devrimci eylem için çalışmanın nasıl olup da aslında organları birbiriyle bağlantılı ve birleşik bir bütün oluşturan insan vücudunu değiştirip, beş çatallı bahçıvan beli gibi iki sırığın üzerine asılmış şekilsiz, yumuşak bir çuval haline sokulduğunu anlamayacak kadar da duygusuzdum. "
"Kadını ev köleliğinden ve erkeğe her türlü bağımlılıktan kurtarmak"
Rosa Luxemburg ile beraber bir çok kadın emekçilerine sahip çıkmış çok önemli bir kadın... Zetkin'in söylediği Sözler biz kadınlar aslında tüm toplum için çok önemli şöyleki düşünceleri ileri görüşüldü ve Ayrımcılığın tamamiyle ortadan kalkmasına yardımcı olunmakla beraber bir feminist düşünür. İyi şeyler yapmaya çalışan bir kadından güzel notlar. Emek ve kadın işçiliği savunucusu ve hayatından kesitler. Biraz siyaset biraz hak.
"Dünyanın şimdiye kadar gördüğü, kadının eşitliği için yapılan en görkemli gösteri," diye haber verir.
ilham kaynağı olarak alınan bir yüzün sanatsal aktarımında neden burnun yerine üçgenler konulduğunu, devrimci eylem için çalışmanın nasıl olup da aslında organları birbiriyle bağlantılı ve birleşik bir bütün oluşturan insan vücudunu değiştirip, beş çatallı bahçıvan beli gibi iki sırığın üzerine asılmış şekilsiz, yumuşak bir çuval haline sokulduğunu anlamayacak kadar da duygusuzdum. "
"Kadını ev köleliğinden ve erkeğe her türlü bağımlılıktan kurtarmak"
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews