Every year on March 8th, people across the world commemorate International Working Women’s Day (IWWD), often celebrated as a general day of appreciation for women’s achievements. In many places, it has been stripped of its radical and working-class origins, reduced to corporate slogans and social media posts. But the truth is that IWWD is deeply rooted in the communist and socialist movements, born from the struggles of working women fighting against exploitation, patriarchy, and capitalism.
For an anarcho-communist perspective in Aotearoa, recognising the history of IWWD is not just an academic exercise—it is an urgent call to reclaim its revolutionary legacy. The working-class women who built this movement were fighting for something beyond representation within capitalist structures; they sought the destruction of those structures entirely. This article explores the communist roots of IWWD, its relationship to working-class struggle, and its continued relevance today in the fight against capitalism, colonialism, and patriarchy.
The Origins: Women Workers and the Socialist Struggle
The roots of IWWD lie in the industrial struggles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when working women in textile factories, garment industries, and other highly exploitative jobs fought for better wages, shorter working hours, and the right to organise. The rapid expansion of capitalism had brought new forms of exploitation, with women and children often working in conditions even worse than their male counterparts.
It was in this context that socialist and communist women began organising to demand change. One of the earliest sparks came from the struggles of female garment workers in the United States. In 1908, around 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay, and voting rights. This protest was one of many, reflecting the growing militancy of working-class women across the world.
The Role of Socialist Women in Establishing IWWD
The formalisation of International Working Women’s Day can be credited to socialist women within the Second International, particularly the German Marxist Clara Zetkin. Zetkin, a leading figure in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and later the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), was a staunch advocate for working-class women’s liberation. She rejected liberal feminism’s focus on bourgeois women’s rights and instead pushed for the integration of women’s struggles within the broader revolutionary movement.
At the 1910 International Socialist Women’s Conference in Copenhagen, Zetkin proposed an annual international day of action for working women. Her motion was supported unanimously by delegates from 17 countries, laying the foundation for what would become IWWD. The following year, on March 19th, the first International Working Women’s Day was celebrated in several European countries, with over a million people taking to the streets.
The Russian Revolution and the Institutionalisation of March 8th
While early celebrations of IWWD were significant, it was the 1917 Russian Revolution that cemented March 8th as the recognised date. On this day, women textile workers in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) launched a mass strike, protesting food shortages, war, and the brutal conditions of working-class life under Tsarism. These protests escalated rapidly, triggering a broader revolutionary wave that led to the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the establishment of a provisional government.
The Bolsheviks, who would later take power in the October Revolution, recognised the pivotal role of women workers in these events. After the revolution, the Soviet Union institutionalised March 8th as an official day of working-class women’s struggle, tying it directly to the broader communist project of overthrowing capitalism and building a socialist society.
The Bourgeois Co-Optation of International Women’s Day
Despite its radical origins, International Women’s Day has been systematically stripped of its revolutionary content. The Cold War era saw Western capitalist states either ignore or actively depoliticise IWWD, reframing it as a generic celebration of women’s contributions rather than a day of class struggle. By the late 20th and early 21st centuries, multinational corporations and liberal feminists had fully co-opted the day, using it as an opportunity to market consumer goods and promote individualistic notions of “female empowerment” divorced from any systemic critique.
The transformation of IWWD from a communist-led day of rebellion into a feel-good holiday of corporate branding is no accident. Capitalism thrives on absorbing and neutralising radical movements. Just as May Day (International Workers’ Day) has been suppressed or rebranded in many Western countries, IWWD has been depoliticised to prevent its revolutionary potential from resurfacing.
Reclaiming the Revolutionary Spirit of IWWD in Aotearoa
In Aotearoa, where capitalism and colonialism have always been intertwined, the fight for women’s liberation cannot be separated from the fight for tino rangatiratanga and working-class emancipation. Māori women, in particular, have long been at the forefront of resistance against both patriarchal oppression and the dispossession caused by colonisation. The radical roots of IWWD align with the struggles of wāhine Māori, working-class women, and gender-diverse people who continue to resist economic exploitation and systemic violence.
For anarcho-communists and all anti-capitalist organisers in Aotearoa, reclaiming IWWD means rejecting the liberal feminist narratives that centre individual success within capitalism. Instead, it requires a return to the core principles that Zetkin and the early socialist women fought for—class struggle, anti-imperialism, and revolutionary solidarity.
What Does a Revolutionary IWWD Look Like?
To truly honour the history of IWWD, we should shift away from corporate-sponsored events and instead build actions that confront the capitalist and colonial state. This could take many forms, including:
- Mass Strikes and Workplace Organising: Following the example of the Petrograd women in 1917, workers in Aotearoa can use IWWD as a day of industrial action, particularly in feminised sectors such as hospitality, healthcare, and education.
- Direct Action Against Capitalist Institutions: Protests targeting the corporations and government agencies that exploit and oppress working-class women, from fast fashion brands to social welfare offices.
- Solidarity with Indigenous and Migrant Women’s Struggles: Recognising that capitalism and colonialism disproportionately harm wāhine Māori, Pasifika women, and migrant workers, and ensuring that their voices are at the centre of IWWD organising.
- Rejecting Bourgeois Feminism: Challenging the narratives that promote women’s inclusion in oppressive structures, such as celebrating female CEOs or politicians, rather than dismantling those structures entirely.
Conclusion
International Working Women’s Day was never meant to be a celebration of women’s achievements within capitalism—it was a call to revolution. Its origins lie in the struggles of communist and socialist women who fought against both gendered and class-based oppression.
For anarcho-communists in Aotearoa, reclaiming IWWD is about more than just acknowledging history. It is about continuing the unfinished struggle for liberation, recognising that the fight against patriarchy is inseparable from the fight against capitalism, colonialism, and all systems of domination.
March 8th is not a day for flowers and corporate slogans—it is a day for rebellion.