Women’s Suffrage! (March 2, 1913)

Clara Zetkin (1857-1933) was a leading representative of Social Democracy and one of the most famous women’s rights activists in the German Reich. She was the founding editor of the Social Democratic women's magazine Die Gleichheit [Equality], which first appeared in 1892. In 1910, she proposed the institution of a special international holiday for women – her idea took hold and the first International Women's Day was celebrated the following year. In 1916, together with Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, she founded the Spartacus League [Spartakusbund].

Zetkin published "Frauenwahlrecht!" [“Women’s Suffrage!”], the first page of which is reproduced here, on the occasion of the Third Social Democratic Women’s Day on March 2, 1913. It was Zektin's firm belief that the “women’s question” could only be resolved in conjunction with the “workers’ question.” In her mind, capitalism was the common enemy of both men and women. Zetkin appealed to the ideals of the French Revolution and fought for a time when gender would no longer function as a barrier to liberty, equality and fraternity.

Click on print version (below) for an English translation of Ada Neart's poem "That Day" ["Jener Tag"], which appears above the article "Im Zeichen des Sozialismus," "Under the Sign of Socialism."

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