The relationship between feminism and socialism in England 1883-1914

Abstract

This thesis seeks to explore the relationship between feminism and socialism in England during the period 1883 to 1914. Through an examination of the ideological inheritance of feminism and socialism from the end of the eighteenth century, the socialist revival in the 1880s, the development of the Independent Labour Party and the formation of women's trade union, suffrage and political groups, two related problematics have been identified as having a significant impact upon that relationship. These problematics are, for feminism, difference and equality, and for socialism, independence and alliance. Three related themes - consciousness, subjectivity and common sense - have been further identified as instrumental in the process by which the feminist and socialist problematics led to the development of a number of different feminisms and socialisms evident in England at this time. It is argued that gendered ideology - the allocation of separate spheres to women and men, and an intrinsic notion of difference based upon that separation - entered and divided feminism and socialism at the moment of their formation. It also framed part of the common sense of both women and men. As such, therefore, the struggle for a feminist and socialist future needed to be waged at this level of common sense. The majority of feminists and socialists were, however, unable to conduct their struggles at this level. Instead, what emerged as dominant was a version of socialism which was morally conservative on issues to do with women and the family. Gendered ideology thus was not transcended. What emerged as the dominant strand within feminism was an ideology of motherhood, which pressed women's claims on the basis of their difference from men. There was nothing guaranteed about either of these developments; rather, they were both the result of a complex process of negotiation against the background of a society in a state of change. Show more