Pink Collar Workers: Clara Zetkin

Clara Zetkin (1857-1933) was a prominent German Marxist theorist, activist, and advocate for women's rights. She played a pivotal role in the early socialist and communist movements, particularly in championing women's suffrage and equality. Zetkin also initiated International Women's Day, which is still celebrated globally today as a day of advocacy and solidarity for women's rights.

For Further Reading:

• Clara Zetkin: The Crossroad of Socialism and Feminism
• International Women’s Day: feminist philosophy with Clara Zetkin
• Clara Zetkin (1857-1933)
• Speech at the 1889 International Worker’s Congress - For the Liberation of Women

This month, we’re bringing back some of our favorite Womanica episodes you might have missed! We’ll be talking about Pink Collar Workers: women who revolutionized jobs that have traditionally been called "women's work." Through their lives, they created a more just and humane world for us today.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
is Womanica. This August, we're bringing back some of our
favorite Womanica episodes you might have missed. All month, we'll
be talking about pink collar workers. These women revolutionized jobs
that have traditionally been called women's work. Through their lives,
they created a more just and humane world for us today.

(00:21):
With that, here's one of our favorite episodes. Hello from
Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this is Womanica.
This month, we're talking about workers, women who fought for
labor rights and shaped the way we do business today.
They advocated and innovated to make the office wherever it is,

(00:44):
a more equitable place. Today's Womanquin reminds us that March eighth,
International Women's Day is about much more than a hashtag
on Instagram or a Google doodle. It's about continuing to
fight for equality until every woman is guaranteed safety, health,
and equal work opportunities. Let's talk about Clara Zetkin. Clara

(01:11):
was born on July fifth, eighteen fifty seven, in Saxony, Germany.
She grew up in a lower middle class family, but
her parents ensured she got a good education. When Clara
was fifteen years old, her family moved to Leipzig, Germany.
There she enrolled at Leipzig Teachers College for Women. At
the time, Germany was in the midst of two cultural movements,

(01:34):
socialism and feminism. Clara's school was at the center of
both of these movements, so naturally Clara got involved. In
eighteen seventy eight, she joined the Socialist Workers Party. It
was around this time that she met her long term partner,
Osip Zetkin. He was in Leipzig after being exiled from
Russia for his socialist beliefs. Clara took Osip's last name,

(01:58):
but they never married. She didn't want to lose her
German citizenship. They had two sons together. By the late
eighteen seventies, the Socialist Workers Party had gained some traction
in government. The German Chancellor attempted to put an end
to this by banning all of the party's activity under
the anti Socialist law. Clara and Osip fled Germany to

(02:19):
avoid persecution. They eventually landed in Paris, but in France,
the young family struggled to get by the stress of
their conditions took a toll on Osip's health and he
passed away in January of eighteen eighty nine. Suddenly Clara
was both the breadwinner and caretaker for her two sons.
Life wasn't easy, and Clara began to see the true

(02:42):
intersection between socialism and women's rights. She believed that the
emancipation of women could only be achieved through the emancipation
of labor from capital. Six months after her husband's death,
Clara gave a rousing speech at the International Workers Congress
in Paris. In it, she spoke on behalf of working women.

(03:03):
We women protest most emphatically against the limitation of women's
work because we do not want to separate our cause
from that of the working class in general. Clara believed
that for women to be free, they had to be
able to work. Without financial independence, women would continue to
be viewed as dependent on men. Without their own income,

(03:26):
they'd never be thought of as individuals worthy of having
their own place in society and politics. She called for
equal pay and working conditions because this inequality hurt everyone.
Without fair pay, working class men were competing against the cheap,
exploited labor of women. In eighteen ninety, Germany lifted the
anti socialist law and Clara and her sons soon returned there,

(03:51):
Clara rejoined the Socialist Party now known as the Social
Democratic Party of Germany or the SPD. To Clara, class
was the greatest social injustice. She fought for women's rights,
but only when those issues were legitimized by socialism. In
eighteen ninety one, the SPD appointed Clara the chief editor

(04:11):
of the social Democratic women's magazine d Glyheit or Equality.
The magazine's primary goal was to share socialist ideas with
the working class. During her twenty six year tenure, Clara
used the magazine to inform women workers on many issues
such as factory conditions, trade unions, and labor activity. Clara

(04:32):
also traveled through Germany as a union organizer. She saw
that the working class's power came from strength in numbers.
She was part of the Bookbinders' Union, the Tailor's Union,
and the Seamstress Union. Her work led to her appointment
as the chairwoman of the International Women's Secretariat at the
first International Conference of Socialist Women in nineteen oh seven.

(04:53):
Three years later, at the same conference, Clara proposed the
idea of International Women's Day. She saw it as a
way to honour the fight for working women in the
face of illness, epidemics, death, poverty, violence, and imperialistic wars.
She was adamant that it had to be international because
the oppression of women existed beyond the bounds of national borders.

(05:16):
The next year, on March eighth, nineteen eleven, International Women's
Day was celebrated for the first time. When World War
One broke out, Clara found herself at odds with her
own party. The SPD had agreed not to conduct any
strikes during the war, but Clara was firmly against the
war and rejected this truce. Her stance caused her to

(05:38):
be arrested multiple times in nineteen sixteen, she was put
under protective custody. When she was released, Clara co founded
the Spartacus League and published anti war pamphlets. In nineteen seventeen,
she joined the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany or
the USPD, a left wing subsection of the SAPD that

(06:00):
didn't support the party's pro war stance. Not long after,
the Spartacus League joined the USPD, in November nineteen eighteen,
it became the Communist Party of Germany or KPD. Clara
represented the party in the lower House of Germany's Parliament
from nineteen twenty to nineteen thirty three. When Hitler and

(06:22):
the Nazi Party assumed power, they banned the KPD. Clara
fled to what was then the Soviet Union. She died
on June twentieth, nineteen thirty three. She was seventy five
years old. Thanks for listening to this best of episode
of Womanica. For more information, find us on Facebook and

(06:44):
Instagram at Wamanica Podcast Special Thanks to Liz Kaplan, my
favorite sister and co creator. As always, will be taking
a break for the weekend. Join us on Monday for
another one of our favorite episodes honoring pink collar workers.
Talk to you then,