Gathering Rage

by Margaret Randall

Combining anecdotes with analysis, Margaret Randall describes how, in 20th century revolutionary societies, women's issues were gradually pushed aside. Randall shows how distorted visions of liberation and shortcomings in practice left a legacy that not only shortchanged women but undermined the revolutionary project itself. Finally, she grapples with the ways in which women themselves often retreated into more traditional roles and the rage that this engenders.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, History

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Margaret Randall is a feminist poet, writer, photographer and social activist. She has lived for extended periods in Albuquerque, New York, Seville, Mexico City, Havana, and Managua. Shorter stays in Peru and North Vietnam were also formative. In the turbulent 1960s she co-founded and co-edited EL CORNO EMPLUMADO / THE PLUMED HORN, a bilingual literary journal which for eight years published some of the most dynamic and meaningful writing of an era. From 1984 through 1994 she taught at a number of U.S. universities.

Margaret was privileged to live among New York’s abstract expressionists in the 1950s and early ’60s, participate in the Mexican student movement of 1968, share important years of the Cuban revolution (1969-1980), the first four years of Nicaragua’s Sandinista project (1980-1984), and visit North Vietnam during the heroic last months of the U.S. American war in that country (1974). Her four children—Gregory, Sarah, Ximena and Ana—have given her ten grandchildren: Lia, Martin, Daniel, Richi, Sebastian, Juan, Luis Rodrigo, Mariana, Eli, and Tolo. She has lived with her life companion, the painter and teacher Barbara Byers, for almost a quarter century.

Reviews

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I might have rated this higher if I had read it closer to the time that it was written. Reading it while #MeToo is widely known in the United States makes this book feel dated. I do appreciate the descriptions and analysis of Nicaragua and Cuba.

[Kyle John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opened my eyes to revolutions across the globe and their failure to represent and fight for women’s rights.
Also started my own path as a feminist and is the first book of my journey to educating myself on the topic.

[Dan Sharber · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book was just ok. i think the topic is very important and something i am very interested in. and her arguments for why we need feminism in our revolutionary movements are pretty right on. she also provides useful examples of where things have gone wrong by viewing the women question as ancillary to the movement. my only real critique is based around the author's particular brand of feminism. over all randall has a pretty class based analysis of social and revolutionary movements but the sort of feminism she subscribes to is a variant of the cultural varieties which incorporated some psyho analytic concepts in talking about personal effects of patriarchy. i have never found freudian categories very useful and in fact they have generally been discredited within feminism itself. another aspect of 80's brand culture feminism also had to do with feminist therapy and recovered memories. i am in no way at all discounting randall's personal experience. i point this out only to mention that a lot of the work around feminist therapy and recovered memories was not as useful and subject to all sort of bias. i do not have space to go through those arguments here but i wanted to point out that, while not key to the book, are present in the authors way of thinking. so it might be that both randall and i fully agree that revolutionary movements must have a feminist agenda yet disagree on what that 'feminism' would look like.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Margaret Randall lived in Cuba for 10 years and Nicaragua for 4, raising children and building socialism in both countries. Through the lenses of history, Marxist and gender analysis, and her experiences she raises questions relating to the failure of revolutionary Marxist movements to develop a serious gender analysis or a rightful place for women within their states.

This book is somewhat light on analysis, or perhaps just a bit too short, but provides compelling accounts of life in socialist Cuba and Nicaragua that don't get play in the rabidly anti-socialist US. Randall wrote in the early 90's so it would be interesting to find her assessment of the new generation of Latin American Marxists and their agenda. A well-founded read with useful information.