Radical feminism can be traced back directly to Marxism-Leninism. The
feminist ideology, framework, and utopian aspirations all
have their
origin in the writings of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels.
Sometime visit the Women
and Marxism website. There you can read exactly what V.I.
Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung had to say about women's
liberation.
Vladimir Lenin was the mastermind behind the early Soviet propaganda
campaign. In his book The Birth of the Propaganda State, Peter Kenez
concludes the Soviet state achieved its early successes because of the
"ability of the political system to isolate the Russian people from
information and ideas that would have undermined the message."
And that message was the gospel of class consciousness. The Marxist
mantra was repeated endlessly: the worker was exploited by the evil
capitalist, and the peasant was oppressed by the greedy landowner.
This indoctrination strategy worked for several reasons. It motivated
the workers and peasants. It channeled their anger towards the
capitalists. And it vilified and demoralized the opponents of Communism.
Lenin also pushed the class consciousness theme in his speeches to
women, but with a new twist. On the occasion of the 1921 International
Working Women's Day,
Lenin
proclaimed that women were doubly oppressed
-- both because they were victims of capitalism, and because they were
slaves "overburdened with the drudgery of the most squalid, backbreaking
and stultifying toil in the kitchen and the family household."
"Drudgery of the most squalid, backbreaking, and stultifying toil"? An
apt description of life in the Gulag, perhaps, but not of housework in
the relative comfort of the home.
But lack of historical accuracy did not deter the early feminists. Pick
up a copy of Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex or Kate Millett's
Sexual Politics. You will read exactly the same arguments: Men are the
unending oppressors of women and marriage is a legalized form of
slavery.
To achieve their vision of women's liberation, the Matrons of Mischief
pursued the age-old strategy of divide and conquer.
First, the Sisterhood canonized the strong, self-assured, independent
woman. This ideal became government policy when the Clinton
administration launched its "Girl Power" program and UNICEF later
started its "Go Girl!" initiative. To this day, programs to prevent
osteoporosis carry the slogan, "Strong Women, Strong Bones."
But these campaigns carry an underlying message: "If you're a strong
woman, why would you ever need or want a man?"
And when the Marlboro Woman message didn't completely sink in, feminists
went to Plan B: male-bashing. Male chauvinist pig. Misogynist.
Insensitive. Over-bearing. Abusive. Batterer. And many others.
At first, men thought the caricatures were funny. Then they tried to
ignore them. But the end result has been to make men feel guilty and
shameful.
The steady drum-beat of those inflammatory messages served to turn the
battle of the sexes into a gender war.
The next step would be to conquer. And what was the target? Nothing less
than the institution of marriage.
Robin Morgan, who would later become the editor of Ms. Magazine,
referred to marriage as "A slavery-like practice." Germaine Greer
argued, "If women are to effect a significant amelioration in their
condition, it seems obvious that they must refuse to marry." Kate
Millett extolled the destruction of the traditional family as
"revolutionary or utopian."
Persons who are interested in comprehending the scope of this relentless
assault should peruse the
Heritage
Foundation report, "Why Congress
Should Ignore Radical Feminist Opposition to Marriage."
So what is the ultimate objective of this campaign of feminist class
consciousness? Surprisingly, feminists have made little effort to
disguise their goal. In her book Red Feminism, Kate Weigand makes this
stunning admission: "this book provides evidence to support the belief
that at least some Communists regarded the subversion of the gender
system as an integral part of the larger fight to overturn capitalism."
Subvert the gender system to overturn capitalism. Karl Marx would be
pleased.
