First in series of Marxist lectures held yesterday

Contradiction between Feminism and Marxism discussed

Students filled King 106 on Thursday night, lining the walls and sitting on the floor to hear the first in a series of talks on Marxism and the way it informs various disciplines. Sponsored by the Oberlin Socialist Student Union and a Marxist faculty group, the series began with Thursday's talk on Marxism and Feminism.

Sonia Kruks, professor of Politics, and Anna Agathangelou, visiting instructor of Women's Studies, shared the stage to discuss the connections and contradictions between Marxism and feminism.

Kruks spoke first, giving a brief overview of Marxist history in connection with feminism. She emphasized that socialism has always challenged the division between the public and the private sphere in the same way that feminists question the distinction between the personal and the political.

Bringing the historical perspective into the present, she criticized welfare reform, calling it "welfare deform."

"Welfare destruction … is a threefold problem of Marxism: it exploits women, it uses them as a force to keep wages down, and finally, the inadequate daycare they are provided continues to require invisible labor of women," she said.

Agathangelou took a more personal approach to Marxism and feminism, explaining how she came to see Marxism as a way of explaining ethnic violence. Marxism, she said, provided the theoretical framework for and inquiry into gender and race as social relations.

She called on the students in the audience to continue the inquiry, citing the connection between capitalism and patriarchy as a question that has yet to be answered by contemporary theorists in either Marxism or feminism.

"[We have to ask] how feminism lets us think about social change, using localities as an entry point to see how people use social relations to resist capitalism. It is more than just workers who are agents for change," Agathangelou said.

The discussion was then opened up to questions from the audience. Students posed questions about the history of Marxism, the contradictions of patriarchy and capitalism and some of the sexism that has been read into Marxism by contemporary theorists.

Students were enthusiastic about the subject. First-year Philip Locker, who was distributing socialist literature outside the door, said, "We believe that the fight for women's liberation is in every way wound up with the fight against big business."

The series' purpose is to "show what it is like to live Marxism," Professor Harlan Wilson, Chair of the politics department, said as he introduced the speakers. The next talk will be Tuesday, March 25, when Profs. Francesco Melfi and James Millette will discuss "Marxism, Race, and Nation."