Mujer y socialismo (1848-1939)

Abstract

1848 saw the appearance of two texts which were destined to become the theoretical and practical programmes of two important social movements: the workers’ movement and feminism. Both were born with the common aim of constructing a more just and egalitarian society. Both assumed the task of liberating women from the state of absolute subservience to men in which the liberal society had placed them. Nonetheless, the standpoint from which this mission was approached made them differ substantially in the form of analysis and in the means of achieving the goals. This article examines the evolution of the technical discourse of socialism on the so-called «female question» from its birth until the first third of the twentieth century, and also considers the change of strategy implied by the creation of discussion forums such as the Women’s Socialist International (1907) or the Women’s Socialist Groups, constituted in Spain from 1904 onwards and whose activity was cut short by the outbreak of the Civil War.