Leninism, Stalinism, and the Women's Movement in Britain, 1920-1939

Sue Bruley

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781136248528
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: History

This book offers a detailed examination of the interaction between socialism and feminism through the lens of one particular socialist organisation, the Communist Party of Great Britain, from its foundation in 1920 until the outbreak of the Second World War.

The study of socialism and feminism in the CPGB can be divided into four major areas – the party's concept of socialism and the role of women in a future society; the party's relationship to the feminist movement; the work of the party in relation to specific women's issues; and how the sexual division of labour operated within the party.

The author here defines and explains the socialist and feminist traditions in Britain and describes the ways in which they interacted, both at the level of theory and of practice. Sources from party press and reports to interviews with party members and non-party written and oral evidence and accounts feed into this thorough chronological treatment which outlays the changes within the CPGB during the 1920s and 30s in relation to feminism.

CHAPTER ONE.

THF INHERITANCE; A SURVEY OF SOCIALISM AND FEMINISM IN BRITAIN UNTIL 1920.

As a preliminary to examining the complex interaction between socialism and feminism, it is necessary to begin with some background information on the separate histories of these two movements. I shall deal first with the socialist tradition in Britain. Only a brief resume is provided as this subject is well documented.

The socialist movement arose in the early nineteenth century out of the earlier traditions of radicalism and utilitarianism. Socialist ideas first took root among skilled workers whose livelihoods were thrown into crisis by the proletarianisation of labour. The movement took two explicit forms; Owenism and Chartism. Robert Owen is chiefly remembered for his promotion of model communities in the 1820's and 30's. The failure of these ventures led later socialists to label Owenism “utopian socialism”. Certainly the Owenites had no clear strategy beyond change by example and education. Nevertheless their socialist vision was an inspiring force and involved a questioning of all forms of oppression, in personal, as well as public life.

Chartism, on the other hand, was a much more pragmatic and limited movement which focussed on the democratic control reform of Parliament. Figures such as William Lovett believed that working-class control of the government machine could eliminate the social evils caused by nineteenth century industrial society. With the collapse of Chartism in the late 1840's the movement was eclipsed and did not re-emerge with the same vigour until the 1880's.

Marx and Engels were both exiled in England after the failure of the 1848 revolution on the continent, but it was over a generation later that Marxist ideas began to find their expression in the British movement. The Democratic Federation was formed in 1881, in 1883 it became more explicitly socialist and changed its name to the Social Democratic Federation. The group was handicapped by its leader H.M. Hyndman, who failed to grasp Marx's economic ideas and whose autocratic manner led to many internal tensions and disputes. In 1884 many of its most well known figures, including William Morris and Eleanor Marx, split off and formed the Socialist League. Within five years the League fell into insignificance after being taken over by anarchists, leaving the S.D.F. to resume its position as the only British group basing itself on the ideas of class struggle and socialist revolution, as the inevitable outcome of capitalist development.

Scientific socialism, as Marxism was called, was but one strand in the flowering of the socialism in the last decade of the nineteenth century. The Independent Labour Party was founded in 1893 and it rapidly became the most important socialist organisation in Britain. I.L.P. socialists probably owed more to the ideas of Ruskin and Caryle than they did to those of Marx. They promoted an ethical, quasi-religious form of socialism which drew inspiration from an idealised vision of pre-capitalist society, based on craft virtues and co-operative effort. The division between ethical and scientific socialism was never rigid, however, and individuals such as William Morris drew freely from both. In any case, the growth of socialism did not just concern the level of ideas, but also influenced the way people lived their lives. Clarion, edited by Robert Blatchford, was the centre of a large network of cycling clubs, socialist Sunday schools and fellowships of different kinds.

Another important strand in the movement came from the Fabians who argued for a state socialism pursued by permeation and characterised by technical efficiency. They were an intellectual group and figures such as Sydney and Beatrice Webb placed strong emphasis on the application of scientific methods of research to social problems. They preferred to work through existing channels rather than promote an independent working class political party.

The election of working men such as John Burns and Keir Hardie to Parliament in the early 1890's increased hopes of socialism through Parliamentary measures and pressure for working class representation gradually became the overriding issue of the movement. Whilst this tended to narrow the all-embracing socialist vision of “Clarion Socialism”, it did provide the basis for the modern Labour Party as a mass party and a party of government. The Labour Representation Committee was formed in 1900 and with financial backing from the trade unions it was able to launch a powerful slate of candidates. By 1910 the Labour Party had forty M.P.'s and in 1918 it rose to fifty-seven. Many of their electoral victories were, however, only effected through an alliance with the Liberals. This, and other factors, considerably blunted Labour's radical edge. It did not adopt an explicitly socialist programme until 1918.

The Marxist wing of the movement continued in much the same vein as before, with the S.D.F. becoming the Social Democratic Party in 1907 and then the British Socialist Party in 1911. Marxists had always been divided about the value of Parliamentary action and the rise of the shop stewards movement during the First World War gave considerable momentum to the growth of syndicalism. The value of “direct action”, as promoted by Tom Mann and others gave primacy to the industrial struggle. The Russian revolution of 1917 gave fresh impetus to Marxism in Britain. The promotion of workers and soldiers councils along the soviet model provided a means of drawing industrial militants into the adoption of a more explicitly Marxist, as opposed to Syndicalist, programme. The B.S.P. and other Marxist sects gained considerably in size and influence in the 1917–1919 period and looked increasingly to Moscow for guidance.

Therefore, by 1920 the British socialist movement still possessed a rich pattern of great diversity and overlapping strategies, but the two distinct traditions of Leninism and social-democracy were clearly emerging.

Turning now to the feminist tradition in Britain, Mary Wollstonecraft is commonly acknowledged to be the founder of British feminism. Her A vindication of the rights of woman, published in 1792, was a passionate exposition on the oppressed and restricted lives of women. In 1825 William Thompson made a more direct case for women's suffrage in his Appeal of one half the human race. Despite the hopes of radicals, the 1832 Reform Act specifically excluded women from the franchise.

From the turn of the century the feminist movement gathered momentum. It was heavily middle class and promoted women's franchise on the same terms as men's, that is, with a property qualification. Women were also active in advocating changes in the laws concerning divorce, custody of children and the right of married women to hold their own property and some important legal reforms were made in these areas. Avenues of employment open to unmarried “gentlewomen” were severely restricted and this became another area of activity. Feminists realised that education and training opportunities were the key to expanded horizons in employment and pressure was exerted for entry to the universities and for medical training.

The movement took a leap forward when the political theorist John Stuart Mill took up the cause of women's suffrage. His The Subjection of Women (1869) is the classic text of English feminism. He cogently argued, not just for women's political rights, but for full equality between the sexes; Jegally, socially and economically. In 1865 Mill was elected as M.P. for Westminster, with the full knowledge of the electorate of his pro-suffrage views. He proposed an amendment to the 1867 Reform Bill on this issue but was defeated. In 1868 Mill lost his seat, but the suffrage movement found other friends in Parliament and agitation continued, mainly in the form of Private Member's Bills and national petitions. Suffrage societies sprang up all over the country. Lydia Becker of Manchester was the outstanding activist at this time.

Feminists were also interested in wider social reforms, for example, the first School Board elections in 1870 resulted in the election of Elizabeth Garrett and Emily Davies. Josephine Butler took issue against the prevailing double standard of sexual morality. She led a campaign against the Contagious Diseases Acts which instituted state regulation of prostitution in certain British sea-ports. The acts were suspended in 1883 and repealed altogether three years later.

In 1897 the suffrage movement took on more national direction with the formation of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, with Millicent Fawcett as its first President. Fawcett, and the other leaders of the constitutional movement, were cast in the mould of middle-class, laissez-faire 1 iberals, but by this time the movement at grass roots level was taking on a different character. The upturn in the labour and socialist movements in the 1880's gave another dimension to feminism, and working class women, especially in the textile areas of the north, were drawn into agitation for the vote. In 1903 they formed their own organisation, The Lancashire and Cheshire Women's Textile and other Workers Representation Committee. In the same year Emmeline Pankhurst, a prominent Manchester I.L.P. activist, formed the Women's Social and Political Union. Further details of the connections between these two organisations and the labour and socialist movement is given in later sections.

The W.S.P.U., whose members became known as suffragettes, rapidly acquired a reputation for militant and agressive tactics. They were a strong contrast with the liberal and moderate suffragists of the N.U.W.S.S. The undemocratic methods of Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter Christabel became the object of increasing concern and in 1907 Charlotte Despard and Teresa Billington Grieg led a split from the W.S.P.U. and formed the Women's Freedom League.

The years 1908–1913 were the peak of suffrage agitation and of the feminist movement generally, but the movement dissipated after the outbreak of the war without having achieved its primary objective. The W.S.P.U. and most other suffrage societies suspended all activities in order to support the war effort. By 1918, when the franchise was reformed to give women over thirty the vote, the militant wing of the movement was dead. The N.U.W.S.S., on the other hand, was still in business and in 1919 it changed its name to the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship. Mrs. Fawcett bowed out after over fifty years of service to the movement. Eleanor Rathbone, the new President, turned the movement into the direction of social rather than legal and constitutional reforms. Equal pay was among the issues raised at this time, but it was family endowment that became Rathbone’s overwhelming concern.

These two brief accounts have used the conventional approach of regarding the histories of socialism and feminism as almost distinct entities. Recent re...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Leninismstalinism
• Table of Contents
• List of abbreviations used
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Chapter One The Inheritance: a survey of socialism and feminism in Britain until 1920
• Chapter Two Early Promises, August, 1920 – October, 1922
• Chapter Three Women's Sections:progress or defeat? November, 1922 – December, 1925
• Chapter Four “Women are our best men”, January, 1926 – July, 1928
• Chapter Five “No class can free you but your own” August, 1928 – December, 1932
• Chapter Six Feminist cadres make an entrance, January, 1933 – December, 1935
• Chapter Seven Women against war and fascism, January, 1936 – September, 1939
• Chapter Eight Conclusion
• Appendix
• Bibliography