A call from the Montreal Revolutionary & Proletarian Feminist Front

TO FIGHT, WE NEED PROLETARIAN FEMINISM !

On November 30 to December 1, Montreal will hold
the First Conference for a Proletarian Feminist
Movement.
We are calling for a dynamic movement that unites a
multitude of groups and collectives according to
common principles and objectives of struggle.
For this inaugural conference, we invite working
women of all ages and of diverse origins, indigenous
women, women who are unemployed as well as poor
students, queer and trans proletarians, to discuss and
vote on a draft manifesto. This manifesto will serve as
the basis of unity for the establishment of proletarian
feminist groups across Canada, whether they are
organized on a neighbourhood, city or regional basis.
We believe that there is an urgent need to
consolidate and unite the women of the proletariat and
their allies in recognizing the material reality of the
class struggle, and thus the need to link the struggle for
women's liberation with the struggle against capitalist
and imperialist exploitation.

This is what we mean by proletarian feminism.
Whether or not we engage with the current debate
among feminists on the "secularism" of the Quebec
Charter of Values, the question of sexual exploitation
and prostitution, the recent elections in Canada, where
women now lead the 5 richest provinces in this
country while more and more women are falling into
poverty at the same time, these facts are catching up
with us. Profound differences in the material realities of
women exist, and these determine the degree to which
women are willing to fight, in one way or another, for a
fundamental change in the existing order.

It is primarily this will to change the existing order
that must unite us in fighting to the bitter end for the
emancipation of all women, particularly the most
exploited and oppressed among us. Currently, no real
feminist movement exists in the political arena. For the
past 20 years, feminism mainly existed in forms of
services or lobbying groups, in official institutions, in
academia and among petty bourgeois currents, but
seldom did feminism exist in actual struggle. To quote
the American sociologist, Barbara Epstein: "Feminism
today has become more of an idea than a movement,
and one that lacks the visionary quality it once had."
And it is precisely because this "historical" feminism,
which sought to unify all women on the sole basis of
gender without regard for any other condition, has
reached the limits of what it can offer that we are

calling for the creation of a new movement. This

movement would apply to the multiple realities of
women in the imperialist world today, to the capitalist
reality in a rich country like Canada.

We are reminded of the imperialist nature of Canada:
where indigenous women more than anyone else ,
continue to live in unspeakably poor conditions and are
being killed every day while nobody cares about it;
where Canada supports and participates in unjust
wars of domination;
where companies flourish by exploiting women here
and elsewhere, destroying and killing them every day,
forcing hundreds of millions of women to migrate, and
thus profoundly transforming their lives and those of
their families;
where the global economic crisis exacerbates the
vulnerability of the poor, where women are in the vast
majority: they form the majority among those earning
minimum wage, the majority of those working part-
time jobs, the majority as single parents;
where the meagre gains in social housing , education
and health are constantly under attack , where living
conditions are further deteriorating, particularly among
women with disabilities, elderly women or single
parents;
where prostitution, sexual exploitation and sex
trafficking are being trivialized;
where violence against women (whether verbal,
physical, psychological) is part of our daily lives;
where sexism is displayed full-page in advertising,
media and TV shows;
where, in social reality, even if it becomes more
complex, the class that has everything continues to
oppose the class that has nothing;
where the class that exploits us also includes women,
women who are leading political parties, governments,
and financial empires such as Walmart , Laurentian
Bank, Sunlife Financial, Suncor Energy, the Federation
of Chambers of Commerce, the Desjardins Group;
Apparently nothing has changed for proletarian women,
even with the replacement of male exploiters by female
exploiters...
For those among us promoting proletarian feminism,
the struggle for women's liberation is inseparable from
the general political struggle against capitalism and for
peoples power, that is to say, for proletarian power!

These go hand in hand. One cannot exist without the

other.
Revolutionary or anti-capitalist organizations
require the participation of proletarian women in the
struggle to transform society. If we want to fight for a
socialist, egalitarian society that is free of exploitation,
then women are at the forefront!
Similarly, a feminist movement, even a proletarian
one, can't transform society without fully participating
in building a revolutionary movement to fight against
capitalism.

A place for education, organization and struggle
In order for these women to participate in a
revolutionary project, we need organizations made for
them, where they can not only transform themselves
through struggle, but also take effective measures to
stop oppressive and sexist behaviours around them.
We need places where women can freely express
themselves, speak about their oppression or the
violence they are subjected to, where women can learn
to be assertive, to discuss politics and to fight on equal
footing with men.
Women must defend their right to assert themselves,
to fight and to participate fully, to organize and develop
their leadership in the struggle. These are the goals for
the kind of proletarian feminist group we are calling for.

At this inaugural conference we call on

women to unite around A MANIFESTO FOR A
PROLETARIAN FEMINIST MOVEMENT.

We want to build new proletarian feminist fronts,

groups or collectives:

that will mobilize, in an openly anti-capitalist and
class-oriented perspective, women of all diverse origins,
employed or unemployed, queer and trans women, and
any women activists committed to fighting against all
the specific oppressions, including gender, sexuality,
and race;
that will develop through investigation and
discussion, demands that meet the specific needs of
women in their communities;
that will fight through political action (demos, calls,
rallies, actions of all kinds) against any attack on
women's rights from a class perspective;
that will educate themselves about the general
political struggle by actively supporting, by establishing
alliances, or by joining political organizations that
advocate proletarian feminism, by fighting against
capitalism and for a new society;
that will lead the struggle for proletarian feminism
and its program for women's liberation into becoming
an essential part of the general program of
revolutionary organizations fighting against capitalism
and imperialism;
that will initiate events and actions this coming March
8, International Women's Day, or to mobilize in great
numbers for planned activities in order to make
proletarian feminism in action as visible as possible! ! !

YOU ARE INVITED TO THE

FIRST CONFERENCE FOR A PROLETARIAN FEMINIST MOVEMENT
Saturday November 30 and Sunday, December 1st, 2013,
In Montreal

To confirm your participation or interest in participating, please contact ledrapeaurouge@yahoo.ca or leave a
message at the Maison Norman Bethune, 514-563-1487.
An invitation from the Proletarian & Revolutionary Feminist Front, Montreal
Along with activists of the Revolutionary Communist Party
November 2013