Is Marxist-Feminism an Oxymoron?

Before defining the theory of Marxism-Feminism, let us understand the meaning of an "oxymoron." An oxymoron is a literary device used in literature or poems to depict an inherent contradiction of words or phrases. For example, the cold fire. We all know that fire is hot, but a cold fire may be used to describe powerful emotions of suffering, the conflicting feelings of love and pain. Déjà vu? Yes! Shakespeare used this phrase in his famous drama, "Romeo and Juliet"!

Anyway, back to the main topic. What is Marxism-Feminism? It is a philosophy linking women's oppression to capitalism and class struggle. It argues that sexism stems from economically unequal capitalist structures based on private property and labor exploitation. At this point, Marxist feminism seems like a legitimate and interesting school of thought. Why would it be self contradictory then? Let us explore some historical accounts and theory.

Karl Marx

Karl Marx was born on May 5, 1818, in Trier, Prussia (Germany). He was an influential figure in European history, a philosopher and a revolutionary socialist whose ideas inspired the Russian Revolution led by Lenin and the Bolsheviks in 1917. He is known for his works like "The Communist Manifesto" and the three volume "Das Kapital", which developed the theory of historical materialism while critiquing classical political economy.

The Slightly Controversial Personal Life of Marx

Marx was married to Jenny von Westphalen and had seven children with her, though only three survived till adulthood. He lived in significant poverty and relied on his friend Friedrich Engels for financial aid while living in exile in cities like Brussels and London.

Even though Marx is often characterized as an affectionate father, some records claim that he was willing to sacrifice his family's well being for his communist principles.

His longtime housekeeper, Helene Demuth, known as Lenchen, is widely reported to have had a boy with him, Frederick Lewis Demuth, though, this cannot be confirmed with certainty. Moreover, in his personal family setup, his wife bore the domestic work and burden of childbearing alone, while Marx focused on all the intellectual work. Women in his and Engels' household were seen as "mere auxiliaries to the Movement" rather than full partners in class struggle. Demuth was unpaid or underpaid for decades, illustrating the complex intersection between class, gender, and Marx's power in his private life.

Marxist (and Engels') Literature

Some key insights from their writings:

1. The transition to the monogamous, patriarchal family

From Engels' The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State:

"The monogamous family… was founded on the supremacy of the man, the express purpose being to produce children of undisputed paternity …"

Interpretation: They argue that once private property and inheritance emerged, the family changed into a site of men's power over women to ensure that male children inherited property. Patriarchy thus becomes structural, tied to property and class.

2. Household labor and the "private" family as an economic unit

Engels writes:

"With the patriarchal family … the wife became the head servant, excluded from all participation in social production. … The modern individual family is founded on the open or concealed domestic slavery of the wife, and modern society is a mass composed of these individual families as its molecules."

Interpretation: The family is not just an emotional or social unit but an economic one, where women's labor, including care, housework, and reproduction, is unpaid and exploited. This logic shows how patriarchy and capitalism intersect.

3. Primitive communal societies versus class society families

Engels:

"The familial head invested under Roman paternal power with rights of life and death over wife and children …"

Interpretation: The idea that the "father" had legal and economic dominance is linked to the rise of class society and private property. The family is inflected by those larger systems. Engels described the emergence of the patriarchal family as humanity's first counter revolution. The burgeoning ruling class needed a way to pass their accumulated wealth to their offspring down the male line, which in turn necessitated a way of determining paternity and controlling reproduction.

4. Paternal power and the family as a property-relationship
Engels again:

"The familial head invested under Roman paternal power with rights of life and death over wife and children …"

Interpretation: The idea that the “father” had legal and economic dominance is linked to the rise of class society and private property; the family is inflected by those larger systems..

Reworking of Marx's Works

Silvia Federici, a well known Marxist feminist, has been critical of traditional Marxism's focus on only seizing the means of production. She laid emphasis on seizing the reproductive capacities of women and the commons. According to her, social reproduction, including domestic and care work, constituted unpaid labor; with the rise of capitalism came the oppression of women's bodies, the criminalization of knowledge, and the persecution of healers and midwives, hinting towards witch-hunts in medieval Europe.

Alexandra Kollontai, another Marxist feminist, transformed Marxism with her radical ideas. She believed that women's liberation, both social and sexual, was an inseparable part of class liberation. She supported love and relationships without the traditional institution of marriage. Her controversial "glass of water theory" suggested that sexual relations in Communist society should be as casual as drinking a glass of water.

Even the idea of "private family as a microcosm of capitalism", which inspires feminists like Mariarosa Dalla Costa, states that family structures mirror and support the broader capitalist values. Mariarosa Dalla Costa believes the primary site for the essential, but unwaged, work of social reproduction. This analysis was central to the "Wages for Housework" movement.

Final Thoughts

So what is the answer to our title question? Is Marxist feminism an oxymoron? No, it is not. Marx had controversial aspects of his personal life, but he was born at a time when patriarchy was deeply entangled in society, and he was flawed as a result. Also, Marxism is not about idolizing Marx but rather embracing a set of ideas. Even critics of Marx, like Federici and Kollontai, are best described as Marxist feminists. Like any theory, it evolves with changing times. The strength of Marxist feminism lies in its recognition that women's oppression and class oppression are intertwined, and that true liberation requires dismantling both capitalist and patriarchal structures. Marx's personal contradictions do not invalidate the framework; they remind us that even revolutionary thinkers can reproduce the very systems they critique.