Cobbling together a linking up of Anarcho-syndicalism and Trans-Feminism.
Anarcho-syndicalism is a movement which seeks the liberation of all people oppressed by capitalism through the struggle of those people to abolish capitalism and create a libertarian socialist, or Anarchist society. One of the groups of people oppressed by capitalism are transgender people, something I know well as a trans-women myself. Trans people are people who do not identify with the gender classification they were given at birth. Our society determines what gender identity people can have when they are born based on what reproductive organs they posses, accordingly people are assigned as either “male”, or “female”. Trans people are people who reject the gender identities assigned to them and attain/create new gender identities for themselves. These people may identify as men, or women, both, or neither.
PATRIARCHY AND CAPITALISM
Our capitalist society is a patriarchal one, meaning that those who identify as men have power over those who identify as women. Men make up the majority of the ruling class and their bureaucratic flunkies such as politicians, or CEOs, and women make up the majority of the working class. As such men generally hold the lion’s share of wealth and power in society and gender roles which privilege the power of men predominate. Men are seen as being inherently masculine and powerful while women are seen as being inherently nurturing and week willed. As such society is constructed around masculine power. Institutions such as the state are based on masculine ideas of competition, warfare, and control. This patriarchal system is based on reproduction.
Women are predominantly saddled with the house-work since they are (supposedly) nurturing and weak and men are predominantly charged with being the head of the household going out to make a living by selling their labor power on the market since they are (supposedly) strong and conditioned as such to labor. In such a set up the women performs a large amount of unpaid labor for the capitalist that employs her husband and the capitalist class generally because she carries out the labor needed to keep the worker’s life going and raise the next generation of exploitable workers. Effectively the women becomes a member of the working class through this unpaid labor as she is performing labor for the capitalist class’s profits.
Even after women have gained access to the workforce and been given the ability as such to directly sell their labor power to the capitalist class on the market they have been saddled with what is called the “second shift”. They still take care of the majority of the house work, but also go out to work themselves and based on the norms of gender have to juggle their work life and their lives as nurturing mothers. As such capitalism holds women down and gives men advantages of wealth and social power/status in order to extort women’s unpaid labor for the capitalist class.
TRANS OPPRESSION AND CAPITALISM
Trans people fit into this with the fact that they reject patriarchy’s classifications of gender assigned to them at birth. Gender is a matter of personal identification rather than reproductive organs, but patriarchy tells all of us that our gender identities are strictly based on our body parts despite many people being born without traditional sexual organs, or the traditional amalgamation of chromosomes. As such trans people are chronically underemployed and thus chronically impoverished and are disproportionately victims of violence. Racist, queerphobic, misogynist attacks on trans women of color are a regular occurrence with many of them being killed as a result. Trans people are socially barred from going into the bathrooms they want because they are viewed as the opposite gender they identify as. Trans people are legally classified by the state as a their assigned gender at birth often with a corresponding name attached to that gender. We are viewed as unnatural, mentally ill, or trendy attention seekers despite many indigenous and eastern societies having a wide range of gender expressions historically that don’t fit the male/female binary based on reproductive organs.
As such patriarchy in capitalism also forms the oppression of trans people with social norms and institutions being much more attentive to the interests of cis (non-trans) people than those of trans people. As such trans people are made into a surplus population superfluous to capitalism, marginalized, repressed, killed, beaten, and injured.
TRANS-FEMINISM
In the 80s predominantly trans women of color involved in the feminist movement organized a movement within it based on a critique of the mainstream of the Feminist movement. The critique was that the mainstream Feminist movement represented the interests of white middle class cis women over those of poorer women, women of color, and trans-women. This was no doubt the case in a Feminist movement post the civil rights era of the 60s and 70s where struggles by different kinds of marginalized groups had been reigned in by politicians and capitalists for their own interests. In the women’s movement the radical rank and file action of women had petered out and organizations such as HRC had become part of the state bureaucracy in the US under the guise of fighting for women’s interests with the real intent of fighting for their own careers.
This sub-movement within Feminism was called “trans-feminism” and put an emphasis on the oppression of trans women and women of color specifically. It developed a Feminist narrative that rebelled against typical what is called “white Feminism”, or Feminism based on the interests of white, cis, middle class women.
ANARCHO-SYNDICALISM
The history of Anarcho-syndicalism is a long one with large volumes of writing dedicated to it so I will only go over some basic history and the fundamental ideas of Anarcho-syndicalist theory and practice. Anarcho-syndicalism is a strategy which Anarchists adapted by combining “revolutionary syndicalism” (organizing militant workers’ unions to secure workers’ interests and overthrow capitalism to create socialism) and their political philosophy of Anarchism (a tenancy of the socialist movement which holds that socialism can only be established through the self-organized struggle of the oppressed against all top down systems of domination such as capitalism and the state). As such Anarcho-syndicalism became the theory and practice of the Anarchist labor movement at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th. Anarcho-syndicalism remains alive and well to this day with Anarcho-syndicalist propaganda groups and revolutionary unions around the world.
FOR ANARCHO-SYNDICALIST TRANS-FEMINISM
Trans-feminism seeks to abolish patriarchy and trans-oppression along with it. As explained above, trans oppression and patriarchy are reproduced and formed by capitalism. There can be no trans liberation, or women’s liberation in general without the destruction of capitalism and the liberation of the working class. Nobody can be free when a society built on the exploitation of one class by another exists. Capitalism can only exist when the majority of people don’t own the tools they use to produce the things they need to consume to survive. This is the class dimension of capitalism where a small minority of people (capitalists) control production and the production process. Because production is the property of the capitalist class under capitalism the majority of people have to sell their ability to work (labor power) to the capitalist class on the market by agreeing to work for capitalist firms. In exchange they receive a wage which Peter Kropotkin and Karl Marx estimated is only about a third of what workers produce while working for these firms. The rest is pocketed by the capitalist owner of the firm and put up for sale on the market to generate profits where workers buy said product with their wages in order to survive.
So how can we as trans-feminists get rid of capitalism for a better a society? Anarchism as a political philosophy seeks to abolish capitalism in favor of a society without class distinctions, where production is collectively owned, and as such all coercive institutions such as the state disappear and are replaced by the free cooperation of working people to meet their needs. This kind of society would be “socialism”, or “communism”. Since only those oppressed by capitalism have the power and the knowledge to dismantle it Anarchism holds that workers and people oppressed by capitalism through mechanisms such as patriarchy and transphobia need to organize themselves directly without supervision from any outside party against capitalism and for socialism.
How can we create this self-organized struggle? Anarchists have adapted Anarcho-syndicalism because the strategy of Anarcho-syndicalism is creating a self-organized mass Anarchist movement through workers organizing into militant associations which they themselves control (unions) and through these associations fighting for their interests against those of the capitalist class as well as against capitalism as a whole and thus for it’s overthrow and replacement with socialism.
Since trans people and women are also oppressed by capitalism the Anarcho-syndicalist movement needs to support the fight of trans people and women against their oppression. This involves supporting trans-people and women in whatever ways possible in developing their specific self-organized struggle against transphobia and patriarchy. For it’s part the Anarcho-syndicalist international organization IWA has emphasized women’s liberation as a key aspect of working class self-emancipation, not only paying lip service to it’s importance, but aiming to give men and women workers equal say within the organization and carve out specific spaces for women to pursue their specific interests as gender oppressed people. When it was founded in the 20th century the IWA was named after the “International Workingmen’s Association” founded in the 19th century. For the specific reason of gender equality it took out “workingmen’s” and replaced it with “workers” becoming the “International Workers’ Association”.
In the 19th century the Anarcho-syndicalist union in Germany, the FAUD, created specific spaces for women to discus their oppression among themselves. This was because the FAUD recognized how women’s relegation to domestic labor lead them to be exploited by the capitalist class. This project was limited in the sense that it never really questioned the assumption that women should be home-makers and thus failed to give them a broader place in the movement. That said, the project is still notable in terms of the experience of Anarcho-syndicalism being mixed with gender liberation. The mother of Anarcha-Feminism (Anarchism which adapts a specific Anarchist version of Feminism) Emma Goldman was an Anarcho-syndicalist and argued for syndicalism as the strategy of the labor movement.
In the Anarcho-syndicalist social revolution in Spain 1936-7 when workers took control of production and the management of society patriarchy lived on in the worker controlled society. Women were still relegated to house work and were not treated as equals to men in the revolutionary struggle for a new society. As such an Anarcho-syndicalist group with the name “Free Women” emerged to address this problem. They fought so that women were included as revolutionaries equal to men organizing women and challenging the patriarchal narratives of the Anarchist movement dominated by men.
The liberation of trans people, women, and the working class from capitalist society and the construction of a free society requires a marriage of revolutionary Anarcho-syndicalist politics and a trans-inclusive Feminism. I would call this “Anarcho-syndicalist Trans-Feminism”.
Bibliography:
Gender, Power, and Struggle, Polite Ire
Wage Labor and Capital, Karl Marx
Conquest of Bread, Peter Kropotkin
Lexicon: Gender, Institute For Anarchist Studies.
Trans FAQ, GLAAD
Anarcho-Syndicalism, film by Thomas Beckmann, Barbara Uebel, and Markus Hoffmann
Fighting For Ourselves, Solidarity Federation
Work, Anarchist Federation
De-essentializing Anarchist Feminism: Lessons From The Trans-Feminist Movement, J Rouge
2009 Dublin Anarchist Book Fair Talk, Martha Ackelsberg
Comments
I have a few issues with
I have a few issues with this. Firstly, you contradict yourself
In the second quote, you've described men being working class, in the first you've said women are the majority of the working class. This makes no sense. I am sure you agree with what I am about to say, but you've failed to communicate that...
yes, the majority of the working class are men but the working class are about 50/50 men women, just as the worlds population is.
I am not being pedantic here, this is really important and I frankly don't know how you could make this unclear.
Secondly, you talk about the IWA not just paying lip service but then your example of this is a name change, which is the definition of a tokenistic alteration that has zero practical impact and is certainly not evidence in any sense that the IWA are genuinely committed to trans feminism etc. It's not that I don't think they are, but giving a name change as an example of some one not paying lip service means you must literally not know what lip service means. Here's the definition I found at the top of my search engine
Thirdly, you talk about anarcho syndicalism being alive and well, but the most recent example of an anarcho syndicalist organisation actually doing stuff is spain 1936. It is currently 2018, which makes it 82 years out of date. I could go on about the sorry sorry state of anarchism at the moment, class consciousness being at all time low etc etc but even ignoring of this, could you not have referenced currently existing anarcho syndicalist organisations. Sea sol, solidarity federation? I am sure your familiar with these or others.
the croydonian anarchist
the croydonian anarchist
Should this say "yes, the majority of the ruling class are men.."? I'd agree if so, and if that's the case then women will have a slight majority in the working class, though not by that much I guess because the ruling class is a lot smaller than the working class.
With not much time to get
With not much time to get into the debate, just a few words. I don't think changing the name of the international federation was so tokenistic given the times and also the role of women in Spain is worth mentioning as something revolutionary. However, I would think that is we want to discuss trans syndicalism, I think it's worth bringing the issue into the here and now and seeing how this can become a relevant issue. For what it's worth, we have women and trans people in the IWA Secretariat and there are trans people throughout the organizations. Still, we should be primarily an organization of class resistance, so my main concern,for example in my organization, is about raising the profile of labour problems and resistance and if there are some special problems trans people face, to address them. There clearly are, as we've already seen, very clear issues of discrimination and some reluctance to come forward openly as a trans person discriminated against, especially in this country. I do look forward to seeing people organize themselves as workers and address any special issues they may have and I am sure we'll be seeing such initiatives more often.
With not much time to get
With not much time to get into the debate, just a few words. I don't think changing the name of the international federation was so tokenistic given the times and also the role of women in Spain is worth mentioning as something revolutionary. However, I would think that is we want to discuss trans syndicalism, I think it's worth bringing the issue into the here and now and seeing how this can become a relevant issue. For what it's worth, we have women and trans people in the IWA Secretariat and there are trans people throughout the organizations. Still, we should be primarily an organization of class resistance, so my main concern,for example in my organization, is about raising the profile of labour problems and resistance and if there are some special problems trans people face, to address them. There clearly are, as we've already seen, very clear issues of discrimination and some reluctance to come forward openly as a trans person discriminated against, especially in this country. I do look forward to seeing people organize themselves as workers and address any special issues they may have and I am sure we'll be seeing such initiatives more often.
the croydonian anarchist
the croydonian anarchist
When we talk about class composition we can look at the middle class and/or stratifications in the working class. In many sectors high paid technical roles, middle to senior management are mostly occupied by men. Similarly very low paid jobs like cleaning, textile factory work, care work, are mostly occupied by women. There are lots of exceptions and regional variations etc., but this is the general trend.
So the wording is a bit confusing, but there are real issues behind it.
the croydonian anarchist
So I used to be quite dismissive of name changes etc., until I saw a couple of cases of people trying to change some gendered language somewhere, really, really innocuous stuff, and a tonne of liberals and conservatives spent weeks acting like people were banning Christmas or something.
So a name change might not be the best example of taking things seriously, but not changing the name can be very firm confirmation that nothing will be taken seriously.
the croydonian anarchist
the croydonian anarchist
It isn't explained immediately but it is there. I don't think it is necessary to say over 50% and it isn't particularly helpful, but there is an explanation.
I agree with Mike, changing names seems meaningless, except that the resistance to it shows that it is important.
If folk want more trans folk
If folk want more trans folk to be out and engage in workplace struggles how about not leaving it to trans folk to have to push for workplace policies that don't descriminate against trans people.
Also Action for trans health are generally good at organising trans communities around health issues. An extension of this sort of model to workplace struggles would be interesting though obv community syndicalism is important in its own right.
Why are folk bothered by more working class people being women than men? Also hey can folk be non binary inclusive too?
Mike Harman wrote: the
Mike Harman
This seems to summarise what everyone has replied to my post with so I'll use this one.
The examples you gave of low paid jobs being mostly occupied by women is fair enough I guess, but I think it's worth being specific in the way that you were. I still think though that when speaking generally the working class needs to be said to be de facto 50/50, as the fact here is that the ruling class are the minority. Otherwise I worry that the surge in liberal feminism that is increasingly being used to define women's life goals would be being concealed. Women aspiring to become CEO's or filthy rich entrepreneurs is not something anarchists should even slightly imply.
The bit about lip service I absolutely stand by. The OP totally fails at using this word accurately. I feel most cases of people getting really un neccessarily defensive clearly indicate these people are not our allies or comrades anyway. I also said in my post I don't doubt the IWA's commitment in practice at all, which I apparently need to re emphasise.
Thanks for writing/sharing
Thanks for writing/sharing this. I found it to generally be an educational, concise introduction to these issues.
Class struggle, if it's gonna be successful, has to be intersectional -- which means being trans-inclusive, anti-sexist, anti-racist, etc. All forms bigotry keep us divided, and as you point out in your article, they're entwined with capitalism.
I hope we can get to a point where terms like anarcha-feminism, or anarcho-syndicalist trans-feminism, become redundant and unnecessary because we understand that anarchism inherently includes these things!
the croydonian anarchist
the croydonian anarchist
Been thinking about this one, and I agree.
But then there's this...
Yeah, I hate this shit, too. But we can't take an outcome we dislike, and then argue backwards based on that. Either the facts support something or they don't.
I think in this case the facts do support that the working class is roughly 50/50 gender split (with an unknown percent of non-binary people in the mix). But even if it wasn't the case, this liberal feminist "We need more women CEOs" crap is still just as crappy.
There's no denying that, in Europe and in countries that were colonized by European settlers, class is very skewed racially. Capitalists are very much disproportionately white, even tho most whites are working class. And the working class is disproportionately black and brown. But a liberal anti-racist line of "We need more black and brown CEOs" is still be bullshit.
I hope I'm not coming across as harsh. I agree with your critique that it's inaccurate to say that the working class is mostly women (even if there's a slight skew in that direction, it's, well, slight). I just think that, when we're debating against "More women CEOs" type arguments, we should base it on explaining why that's a shitty goal and non-solution to patriarchy, rather than focusing on the gender composition of class.
I agree with the above
I agree with the above
I did think that the majority
I did think that the majority of the world population was female (so on that basis I have previously said the majority of the working class was female), but doublechecking I can see that that is actually incorrect, a slim majority of the world population is male
Lucky Black Cat
Lucky Black Cat wrote
Made me smile! Thinking of some of the regretful conversations I’ve had on Libcom, you definitely don’t need to worry about being harsh!
Welcome to Libcom by the way, nice to have you here.
Thanks for the welcome! I
Thanks for the welcome! :D
I didn't think my comment seemed harsh in itself, but it came right after a few other people being critical of something The Croydonian Anarchist had said. Of course comradely criticism is fine and good, but to get yet another person doing it in a row can feel like dogpiling, so I wanted to make sure I didn't come across that way.
Didn't come across that way,
Didn't come across that way, it's all good.
Glad to hear it! I tend to
Glad to hear it! I tend to imagine that people are more sensitive than they probably are, and then worry about upsetting them. Like just before seeing your post, I was reflecting on the post I'd made and worrying that by admitting to being worried about making you feel "dogpiled", I'd now maybe upset the people who were criticizing your earlier posts because it maybe seemed like I was saying that *they'd* been too harsh (I wasn't trying to say that). I was also worrying that maybe I'd seemed patronizing. LMAO! :D
I know this is irrational and paranoid and I'm just a crazy person. Really my mind is a big mess of anxiety and second-guessing (third/fourth/fifth/nth-guessing) everything that comes out of my mouth/keyboard. It's a wonder I ever manage to talk to anyone!
Ok, I've just reread this comment 9 times, I think I can post now!
I am very often the same, I
I am very often the same, I can relate to that