Reading the suggested texts on Marx and Engels' critiques of utopian
socialism brings to mind my experiences when first reading them. In short,
I believed them, and never bothered to read any of the "utopian socialists."
Now, almost twenty years later, and searching for a feminist and anti-racist
view of socialism, I have learned that many of the "utopians" were feminists
and seriously took into account issues of family and housework; Marx's critique
of them, and his redefinition of socialism, narrowed the conceptual/political
arena to class and class only. So now feminist economists such as Nancy
Folbre are rediscovering the utopians, while others that are left are strugglingstill
to make gender and race central to Marxist theory. Now for figuring out
how to really incorporate feminist and anti-racist analysis into our models of
socialism -- ANY IDEAS?????
Julie Matthaei [EMAIL PROTECTED]
