GHDI logo

The Struggle for Equal Rights (October 7, 1968)

page 2 of 3    print version    return to list previous document      next document


These women notice, at the latest when they have children, that all of their privileges are of no help. They are most likely to shed light on the rubbish pile that is social life, which is the same thing as bringing the class struggle into marriage and relationships. The man assumes the objective role of the exploiter or the enemy of the working class, which, subjectively, he does not want, of course, since it was forced upon him, in turn, by a performance society that imposes a certain type of role behavior.

We cannot resolve the social oppression of women in an individual way. We cannot wait for some time after the revolution, since a strictly political, economic revolution does not eliminate repression in the private sphere, as has been proven in all socialist countries.

We are striving for living conditions that eliminate the competitive relationship between man and woman. This is only possible by changing production relationships and thus power relations, in order to create a democratic society.

Since the willingness to show solidarity and become politicized is greatest among women with children, since they feel the most pressure, up to now we have concentrated on their conflicts in our practical work. This does not mean that we think the conflicts faced by students without children are unimportant, and it does not mean that we are overlooking the class-specific mechanisms of oppression despite the common characteristics of the oppression of all women; it just means that we want our work to be as effective as possible and we have to create a point of departure that allows us to approach the problem systematically and rationally.

Since our initial efforts to tackle these conflicts with the SDS and within the SDS failed, we withdrew and worked on our own.

first page < previous   |   next > last page