Chinese Women, Labor, and Socialist Politics in October League and International Socialists Pamphlets, 1970s

Women's Liberation In China

Pamphlets

Two American Marxist pamphlets on women in post-revolutionary China, published during the 1970s by the International Socialists and the October League (Marxist-Leninist), document competing interpretations of women’s emancipation under Chinese Communism. The Liberation of Women in China argues that women’s participation in employment and public life remained subordinate to state priorities of industrialization and production, while the October League publication presents women’s liberation through a Marxist-Leninist framework and illustrates women participating in labor and Women’s Day demonstrations. Issued by organizations occupying different positions within the American revolutionary left, the pamphlets record contemporary debates over Chinese socialism, women’s labor, revolutionary politics, and the extent to which political revolution had altered women’s social and economic position.

Two pamphlets published in Highland Park and Chicago during the 1970s, totaling 65 pages. The International Socialists publication comprises 49 pages in original printed wrappers, with tables and footnotes supporting its critique of Chinese Communist policies toward women. The October League pamphlet comprises 16 pages and is illustrated with black-and-white photographs showing Women’s Day marches and women performing workplace tasks. Both measure 5.5 × 8.5 inches.

[1] International Socialists. The Liberation of Women in China. Highland Park: International Socialists, n.d. [circa 1970s]. 49 pages. Original printed wrappers, 5.5 × 8.5 inches; tables and footnotes. The pamphlet argues that women’s liberation in China had become subordinate to the requirements of the state and industrialization, challenging claims that socialist revolution had produced full equality. Its discussion places women’s employment, domestic responsibilities, and political status within a critique of the economic priorities of the Chinese Communist state.

[2] October League (Marxist-Leninist). [Pamphlet on women’s liberation in China]. Chicago: October League, [1976]. 16 pages. 5.5 × 8.5 inches; illustrated with black-and-white photographs. Images show Women’s Day marches and women engaged in workplace tasks, pairing the organization’s discussion of women’s liberation with visual evidence of women’s participation in labor and revolutionary public culture. Published in 1976, the pamphlet records the October League’s engagement with China during the final year of Mao Zedong’s life and a period of intense debate within the American left over Chinese Communism and revolutionary strategy.

Mild wear to wrappers; overall Very Good Condition. The two pamphlets preserve contrasting American Marxist arguments about women’s status in revolutionary China, with one emphasizing the limitations of state-directed emancipation and the other presenting women’s labor and political participation within a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary framework.

Item #15383

Price: $125.00