"Two recently published books discuss important questions about the historical relationship between anarchism and feminism. Martha Ackelsberg's Free Women of Spain examines the difficult development of an anarchist- feminist current within and alongside established anarchist and anarcho- syndicalist institutions. Following protracted debates, an independent strand of anarcho-feminism emerged in 1936 in the form of the Mujeres libres.[1] Emma Goldman, by Bonnie Haaland, discusses the political implications of Goldman's feminist interpretation of anarchist thought.[2] Her research identifies the unusual nature of Goldman's feminism: sharply critical of suffrage-orientated feminism, curiously and explicitly heterosexual in her sexual politics, but also forthright and eloquent in her assertion of women's rights and her critique of patriarchal oppression. Both these works significantly develop our knowledge of the anarchists' sexual politics, and help correct some of the flaws which have marked previous works.[3]
In this paper, I will develop ideas and debates initiated by these works,and so present a more wide-ranging survey of the relationship between the two traditions. It must be stressed that my aim is not to present an apology for, or denial of the confused and often disappointing response by anarchists to the development of feminism. `Anarcho-sexism' was a real and powerful force; it was a strong influence on many anarchist theorists and organizations, and it stunted much anarchist thought. However, it is too easy merely to register its existence: in this article I will examine in detail the structures and concepts within anarchist political culture which permitted and even encouraged the development of such attitudes. Having noted these limitations within anarchist thinking, it is then essential to qualify the perception of anarchism as inherently patriarchal by noting the existence of rival currents. Surprisingly, there is evidence to suggest the growth of some lively proto-feminist, even fully feminist, currents within anarchism. Thus, the subject of this article can be seen as a double paradox: firstly the paradox that the anarchists, so proud of their anti-authoritarianism, of their sceptical analysis of power structures, of their real ability to challenge the dominant political cultures of the nineteenth century, were yet so blind to the existence of gender-based tyrannies. Our second paradox is that within this tough, masculine culture, there nonetheless developed a proto-feminist strand.A secondary objective is to move towards a redefinition of the anarchist political culture. To do this, we will examine a wide range of sources, taking note of the `classical' anarchist tradition represented by Godwin, Proudhon, Bakunin and Kropotkin, but also investigating lesser-known writers and thinkers.[4] While this article is too short to permit a full comparison with the sexual politics of the socialist tradition, some suggestions will be made to sketch out the differences between the two movements. The article will conclude by making some proposals for further research. Material for discussion will be drawn from across the traditions of European anarchism, with some centrality being given to the two peaks of anarchist political culture: the radical debates of the French political avant-garde during the fin-de-siècle, and the mass political movement created by anarcho-syndicalists in twentieth-century Spain. Most of the primary material cited will be drawn from `the anarchist century' the hundred years between the publication of Proudhon's What is Property? in 1840, and the defeat of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) in Spain in 1939. To present a full discussion of these issues one would wish to examine them in the context of a grass-roots style social history of anarchist movements and of the milieus in which they flourished.[5] The focus presented here is somewhat narrower: a `textual' analysis, based on nothing more than a close reading of a wide range of anarchist and semi-anarchist works, and a survey of the critical literature on anarchism. The question of the relation of these texts to the lived experience of the anarchist milieu has not been addressed: I have worked on the assumption that these texts do have some meaningful and central relation to the anarchist movement, even if they do not reflect all its nuances.[6]...." http://www.triangle.co.uk/whr/pdf%5C5-3-sg.p _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx
