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oppressed BOTH by capital and by een. Sites such a*
tha household in ehieh tM elfe's unpaid labour
benefits BOTH capital and mm. Looking at altaa of
oppression such as th« household and tha health car*
system hes tha potential far mobilising women because
it involves raising questions about 'the private
domain', about our most dooply intieete and paraonal
affairs. These question* en* not noneelly tha subject
of political struggle. ^ Making these laauaa part
of politics, feminism he* bagun to break doan tha
barriara ahlch hava kept 00 aany paopla - especially
eoeen - out of political struggle. It haa thla
potantUl bacauaa it la calling for a 'total
politics*, a polltlca atilch flghta oppression on
all fronta- Tha notion of tha totality of oppression
la cantrml to tha amdit theoretical tradition, but
haa baan lost In racialist politics - In methods of
organising. It la a tradition on ehicn feminism can
build.
To raturn to HartsaVt'e alalia, a divorce la
needed - not fro* marxism, but froa bourgaola and
radical faainlsai and tha divlaiva and dlatractlng
atrataglaa they* hava generated. A 'healthier
aerrlage* bataaan amrxle* and feminism lnvolvaa
prioritising foadnist polltlca in a aora craatlva eey.
•Organising eYjaen* leave* "any Important quaaUona
unaneeereds
1. *hat la tha rola of tha ahita middle claaa
faminiat In our atruggla; a struggle In ahlch aa
ara both tha oppraaaad and tha oppressors? Joaaph
haa arguad that it la necaasary for ahita feminists to
(l) racognlaa thair implication In tha
partnership (of capital and patriarchy) aa
banafactors and tools;
(ii) address tha unique problaaa of black eoeen
In tha labour force*; and
(ill) distinguish bataaan tha rola of ahita een
and black nan in tha partnership of capital
and patriarchy (Joaaph, 1901:102).
2. Ihat Is tha rale of tha progressiva een In
relation to feeinlee? The currant 'politic** of
adoption' 4 la hardly a strong platform froa ahlch
alliances could be forge*. One version of this hea
boen articulated aa follows:
To tha eittent that feminist daaanda flow froa
m^ experience of oppression ahlch is specific
to eoasn, which een can never themselves
emparlance and to ahich they actively contribute,
all they can do *e listen, agree and support*
Thus male socialists can support women's
struggles for tM see* raaaon that they support
the struggles of ell oppressed people, and
faalnlaa is linked to socialise, through the
general cetegory of oppression. This kind of
aele solidarity elth faalnlaa aeeas to offer e
nee version of an old problem facing ahita
middle dees aala lntellactuela: the fact that
tha objects of tnelr polltlcel concern have
alaays been external and other - the poor, the
black, the colonieed, exploited and physically or
spiritually crushed in soae Inaccessible
combination (Politics and Poeer: 1991:3).
3. la there a case U> be aada for a speclficolly
black faainlat politics? Soma time ago, Kollontai
posed the question of ehether a united eoeen's
aovaaent aas possible in a aoclety based on class
contradict lone* ee harve to take thle further and
aak ehat are the possibilities for faalnlaa in a
v
society shot through elth racial Inequality and
antagonises? The eexual inequality beteeen black
een and somen haa very different historical and
cultural beginnings tP those beteeen ehltes, and
clearly calls for dlffsrent atrategiee for change.
Angela Oavls has ergued that tha inetltutlon of
elavery pleyed a curloua role in bringing about
equality aaong black een end eoeen. In South
Africa, the structure* of apartheid hava created a
shared senae of oppression aaong blacks, and generated
ymrf particular foree of sexual inequality. Thla
eould auggest that tha peculiar dynamics of racial
oppression have to be confronted and not subsuaad in
claas anelyele.
4. Hoe much dialogue 1* there beteeen ahita and
black soman in South Africa at preeent? joaaph
seea a prooase of mutual •creation aa the key to
political action:
Aa black and shite feminists combine forcts In
the atruggla against eele aupraascy and ahita
supremacy, they rust be willing to communicate
and follow a ror-et consisting of dialogue,
practise, more dialogue, and acre practise -
moving slowly and Inexorably toaerds advanced
levela of underetandlng and reepect for one
another's dlfferencee. The similarities among
eoeen era aaalar to understand and ahould be
used es building blocks toearde understanding
and respect for racial and claaa dlfferencee.
The possibility of an alliance beteeen black and
ahita women c*n only bs realised If enite eoeen
understend the nature of their oppression
eithin the context of the oppression of blacks
[Joaaph, 1961:106).
Only at that point "ill »• be able to unite in a Lueauii
struggle agelnet reclel, saxuel end claas inequality.
But tha different forme and structures demanded in
thla struggle have to be specified very clearly.
Tha authors of 'Organising Women* begin their
article by quoting froa the Women's Charter of the
Federation of South African Women, l9S4t ahlch etatee,
'we eoeen have stood and will stand shoulder to
shoulder (ay aaphesl*) *ith our menfolk In e coaaon
struggle egalnst poverty, race and claaa
dlscrtadnatiom,*.*. 'finouloer to shoulder' mas
a rallying cry among the militant auffragettae of
the •o-en's Social and Political Union (ISPU) In
Britain early In this century, thla powerful leaps
of alliance raise* difficult questions ln the South
African context. Thla ooaaent hee simply triad to
focus on aoae of thee.
Jacklyn Cock (February 196?)
•sas
'1. Hertaan, H - 'The unhappy aarrlaga of marxism
1979 and feeinlam*, ln Capital and Class.
Number 6, ttuaeor 1999.
2. da Chungare, 0 - Let mm Speak. Testimony of
1976 ' DreiitlaTT^oaan of t*e Bolivian elnos,
(Qtage 1, London).
3. Joaaph, 0 - 'The incompatible eenege a trois:
1961 aanciaSJ, faalnlaa and reciea 1 In
L Sargent (ed) WOaen and Revolution
[Pluto Prase, London J.
4. Politics and Pcmrny 111. (Routladge and Kegan Paul,
5. Kollontai, A - Selected Tritings. Allison and
1977 Bueoyt LondonJ.
6. Oevie, A * •Refleetiona on the black eoeen *s role
1971 in Che coeemjnlty of sieves 4 , ln The t
Blacx Scholar, vol 3 no 4, December 1971.