Greetings on International Women’s Day!

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Greetings on International Women’s Day!

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, March 8, 2008, RCPB(ML) sends its warmest greetings to the women of England, Scotland and Wales, and to women around the world. At this time, women in Britain as around the world affirm themselves as having a leading role in the struggle for a new society.

      In this defining moment what actually is the situation for women? Where do women stand in the struggle for another world?

      As in all countries under the sway of neo-liberalism, women in Britain are facing the brunt of the anti-social offensive. The objective reality for women means that as a collective they are facing oppression, and a society that does not recognise their rights as human beings or as women, particularly as regards their being workers or mothers. As the reproducers of life, women are faced with bringing up children as their responsibility and not the responsibility of society. Women are marginalised as workers, and are expected to fend for themselves and are further oppressed as unemployed or single parents. The ruling class through its mediums such as the press, television and through various cultural forms aims to divide women on grounds of nationality, culture, belief, etc., pressing for the imposition of “British values” on women’s consciousness. The prevailing culture promotes that women can “have it all”, that now women can fight for these “British values”, supporting interference and occupation, and seeing their children go to war to become cannon fodder for the “democratic imperative” of colonialist ambitions, as the monopoly capitalist class aims through its executive, currently Brown’s New Labour government and the loyal Conservative opposition, to impose its system on the world’s people.

      This is the current objective situation for women, but it is a far cry from the way the ruling class, as it aims to distort the reality, presents the situation for women. The ruling elite presents that women in the so-called “west” have been granted “freedom” and live in a “liberal” society. At the same time, it uses the comparison of women’s situation in other parts of the world, particularly in the Middle East, as being close to medieval conditions. This serves a certain purpose. The British government and monopoly media use this comparison in order to aid them in the promotion of “universal values” and the imperialist and neo-liberal agenda of making the rich richer while the poor get poorer, facing economic crisis, war, disaster and chaos.

      It is in this comparison which is presented between the “advanced civilised west” and the “uncivilised” Middle East and beyond that Muslim women are being used in a battle of ideology that seeks to justify imperialist war and interference. The ruling elite seeks to attack Muslim women for not subscribing to the “values of the west”, which are presented as “universal”. In particular, women in Britain are being contrasted with Iranian women to promote that women in the “west” are better off and have no reason to wage further political struggle, while women in Iran need to be “liberated” by foreign interference and occupation of their sovereign soil. This completely denies that the rights of all women by virtue of their being human and being women should be guaranteed and that women are fighting across the world in defence of their rights and the rights of all.

      Objectively, women in their various roles are marginalised, and must take and are taking stands on all issues facing them and their society. Women are fighting at the forefront in the struggles for the right to healthcare and education and to increase investments in social programmes. Women have taken up with full vigour and militancy the struggle against war, organising resistance and being firmly at the helm of putting forward the alternative of an anti-war government. Women have been in the forefront in raising their concerns on the environment and waging struggle against the giant monopolies which seek to destroy it.

      The ruling class through its various cultural forms is exerting pressure on women to become apolitical and to negate their rights. This has not been and is not an option for women. Women increasingly understand, in the face of the devastation of monopoly capitalism, that another world is possible. Women across the world are engaged in various struggles and striving to make a change, defending their interests as women, workers, mothers. So the issue presents itself that what is needed is a unity and organisation that gives these courageous efforts coherence. Women are activating the human factor/social consciousness in the course of uniting and discussing with all those who are striving to build an advanced movement for change, striving for unity in action and recognising common aims. It is in this vein that women are also uniting under the banner of modern communism and within a mass communist party that bases itself on modern definitions, as one of the highest expressions of this coherence which is the order of the day. Women who are organised proclaim that there are solutions and that there is a way out of the crisis.

      Woman today are coming forward to take the lead in affirming themselves as a collective and in building the alternative. A new-found coherence is leading women to the conclusion that another world can be built in which they, as workers and women, can be the decision-makers. In this way, they can forge a path of renewing the democratic process. They can lead the way to activating the human being who bases themselves on advanced human principles and values, through conscious participation in the affairs of the polity.

      Women throughout history have been revolutionary. There is now once more a defining moment in which women can take the path of social revolution, and with the youth, workers, national minorities, fight the same struggle, seeing the necessity for change and being at the forefront of creating this change.

One Humanity, One Struggle!

Another World Is Possible!

Hail International Women’s Day!