Launching the Revolution: the demonstration of women through Petregrad in March 1917: the banner calls for support from workers and soldiers The pamphlet International Women's Day was written in 1920 by Alexandra Kollontai as part of a campaign to teach women about the history of the working class movement and the struggle for women's equality, about the gains of 1917, how they must organise and fight to establish the new society which would guarantee their liberation.
Kollontai was the Minister of Social Welfare in the first Bolshevik government, and was the only woman to hold such a post. Born in 1872 into a wealthy family and brought up in comfort and seclusion, Kollontai nevertheless became involved in the political questions of the time.
Involved both in the international women's movement and in the organisation of working women in Russia, Kollontai had always been concerned with analysing the position of women under capitalism, their relationship to the revolutionary movement and the struggle for socialism. The oppression of is a complex and many sided oppression, and Kollontai was therefore involved in discussing the family, the education of children, maternity and personal relationships.
Kollontai, in 1920, would probably have thought that by now life would be organised in such a way that a "Working Women's Day" would have no point. But working women have yet to win this new life. They have yet to win a world where society relieves the working woman of material cares and leaves her time and strength to take part in the life of the community. increasingly frequent, flaring up at dillerent times in Austria, Enk land, France and Germany. The working women understood that it wasn't enough to break up the stalls at the market or threaten the odd merchant: they understood that such action doesn't bring down the You have to chungy the politics of the government. class has to see that the franchise is Women's Day in every country as a form of struggle in getting working women to vote The first International Day It was decided to hold the first International Women's Day on March 19 1911. Our German comrades picked this day because of its historic importance for the Gier man proletariat. On the March 19 in the year of the 1848 revolutiori, the Prussian king recognised for the first time the strength of the armed people, and gave way before Among the many promises he was the introduction of the vote for Efforts were made in Germany and Austria to prepare for Women's Day. During the week before it two journals appeared: The Vote for Women in Germany and Women's Day in Austria.
The first International Women's Day took place in 1911. Its success exceeded all expectation. Germany and Austria on Working Women's Day were one seething trembling sea of women. Meetines were organised every. where - in the small towns and even BACK in villages. Halls were packed so