View source for Clara Zetkin

{{short description|German politician (1857–1933)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Clara Zetkin
| birth_name = Clara Josephine Eißner
| image = C Zetkin 1.jpg
| caption = Zetkin {{circa}} 1920
| office1 = 
| term_start1 = 
| term_end1 = 
| predecessor1 = 
| successor1 = 
| office2 = Chairwoman of the<br />''[[Rote Hilfe|Rote Hilfe Deutschlands]]''
| term_start2 = 1925
| term_end2 = 1933
| predecessor2 = [[Wilhelm Pieck]]
| successor2 = ''Position abolished''
| office3 = Member of the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]]<br />for [[Chemnitz–Zwickau]]
| term_start3 = [[1920 German federal election|24 June 1920]]
| term_end3 = [[Reichstag Fire Decree|28 February 1933]]
| predecessor3 = ''Office established''
| successor3 = ''Office abolished''
| birth_date = 5 July 1857
| birth_place = [[Königshain-Wiederau|Wiederau]], [[Kingdom of Saxony]], [[German Confederation]]
| death_date = 20 June 1933 (aged 75)
| death_place = Arkhangelskoye, near [[Moscow]], [[Russian SFSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
| resting_place = [[Kremlin Wall Necropolis]], Moscow
| occupation = Politician, peace activist and women's rights activist
| party = [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|SPD]] (1875–1917)<br>[[Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany|USPD]] (1917–1918)<br>[[Communist Party of Germany|KPD]] (1918–1933)
| otherparty = [[Spartacus League]] (1914–1918)
| partner = {{ill|Ossip Zetkin|de}} (1850–1889)<br>[[Georg Friedrich Zundel]] {{nowrap|(1899–1928)}}
| children = [[Maxim Zetkin]] (1883–1965)<br>[[Kostja Zetkin|Konstantin "Kostja" Zetkin]] (1885–1980)
| alma_mater = 
| signature = Clara Zetkin Signature.svg
}}
'''Clara Zetkin''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|z|ɛ|t|k|ɪ|n}}; {{IPA|de|ˈtsɛtkiːn|lang}}; ''née'' '''Eißner''' {{IPA|de|ˈaɪsnɐ|}}; 5 July 1857 – 20 June 1933) was a German [[Marxism|Marxist]] theorist, [[Communism|communist]] activist, and advocate for [[women's rights]].<ref name=BiographischeDatenbankenCZ>{{cite web |url=http://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/wer-war-wer-in-der-ddr-%2363%3B-1424.html?ID=5462|title=Zetkin, Clara * 5.7.1857, † 20.6.1933: Biographische Angaben aus dem Handbuch der Deutschen Kommunisten |publisher= Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur: Biographische Datenbanken|access-date= 15 November 2014}}</ref>

Until 1917, she was active in the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]].<ref>[http://www.bpb.de/gesellschaft/gender/frauenbewegung/35316/clara-zetkin Clara Zetkin | bpb<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> She then joined the [[Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany]] (USPD) and its far-left wing, the [[Spartacist League]], which later became the [[Communist Party of Germany]] (KPD). She represented that party in the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]] during the [[Weimar Republic]] from 1920 to 1933.<ref>Gilbert Badia, ''Clara Zetkin: Féministe Sans Frontières'' (Paris: Les Éditions Ouvrières 1993).</ref>

== Biography ==
=== Background and education ===
In July 1857,<ref>"Clara Zetkin (1857-1933) | Towards Emancipation?". ''hist259.web.unc.edu''. Retrieved 2024-10-22.</ref> Clara Josephine Eißner (Eissner) was born the eldest of three children in {{Ill|Wiederau (Saxony)|de|Wiederau (Königshain-Wiederau)|lt=Wiederau}}, a peasant village in [[Saxony]] that is now part of the municipality of [[Königshain-Wiederau]].<ref name="refbook1">{{cite book|last=Young|first=James D.|title= Socialism since 1889: a biographical history|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=1988|pages=169|isbn=978-0-389-20813-6}}</ref> Her father, Gottfried Eissner, was a schoolmaster, church organist and a devout [[Protestant]]. Her mother, Josephine Vitale, who had [[France|French]] roots, came from a [[middle-class]] family from [[Leipzig]] and was highly educated.<ref name="refbook1" /><ref name="book2">{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of World Biography: Vitoria-Zworykin|publisher=Gale Research|year=1998|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwo16gale/page/504 504]|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwo16gale|isbn=978-0-7876-2556-6|url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="bookref3">{{cite book|last=Zetkin|first=Klara|author2=Philip Sheldon Foner|title=Clara Zetkin, selected writings|publisher=International Publishers|year=1984|pages=[https://archive.org/details/clarazetkinselec0000zetk/page/17 17]|url=https://archive.org/details/clarazetkinselec0000zetk/page/17|isbn=978-0-7178-0620-1}}</ref> In 1872, her family moved to Leipzig, where she was educated at the Leipzig Teachers' College for Women. There, she established contacts with the infant [[Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands]] (SPD; Social Democratic Party).{{cn|date=March 2024}}

[[File:Clara Zetkin.jpg|thumb|left|Zetkin during a congress in Zürich in 1897]]

Because of the ban placed on socialist activity in Germany by [[Otto von Bismarck]] in 1878, Zetkin left for [[Zürich]] in 1882 and then went into exile in [[Paris]], where she studied to be a journalist and a translator. During her time in Paris, she played an important role in the foundation of the Socialist International group.<ref name=BiographischeDatenbankenCZ/> She also adopted the name of her lover, the Russian-Jewish {{ill|Ossip Zetkin|de}}, a devoted Marxist, with whom she had two sons, [[Maxim Zetkin|Maxim]] and [[Kostja Zetkin|Konstantin]] (known as Kostja). Ossip Zetkin became severely ill in early 1889 and died in June of that year. After the loss of her lover, Zetkin moved to Stuttgart with her children. She married artist [[Georg Friedrich Zundel]], who was eighteen years her junior, from 1899 to 1928.<ref name="research.uni-leipzig.de">[http://research.uni-leipzig.de/agintern/frauen/zetkin.htm Clara Zetkin biography from the University of Leipzig (in German)]</ref>

=== Early engagement in Social Democratic Party ===
{{Marxism}}
Her political career began after being introduced to Zetkin. Within a few months of attending and taking part in socialist meetings, Zetkin became entirely committed to the party, which offered a Marxist approach to the demand for women's liberation. Around the time of 1880, due to the political climate in Germany, Zetkin went into exile in Switzerland and later in France. Upon her return to Germany, nearly a decade later, she became the editor of the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]]'s newspaper for women, ''[[Die Gleichheit]]'' (Equality), a post that she occupied for 25 years.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://socialistworker.org/2014/03/07/clara-zetkin-and-socialism|title=Clara Zetkin, Socialism and Women's Liberation |last=Schulte|first=Elisabeth|date=7 November 2014}}</ref>

Having studied to become a teacher, Zetkin developed connections with the [[women's movement]] and the [[labour movement]] in Germany from 1874. In 1878 she joined the [[Socialist Workers' Party of Germany|Socialist Workers' Party]] (''Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei'', SAP). This party had been founded in 1875 by merging two previous parties: the [[General German Workers' Association|ADAV]] formed by [[Ferdinand Lassalle]] and the [[Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany|SDAP]] of [[August Bebel]] and [[Wilhelm Liebknecht]]. In 1890, its name was changed to its modern version [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]] (SPD).{{cn|date=October 2022}}

[[File:Zetkin luxemburg1910.jpg|thumb|left|Zetkin and [[Rosa Luxemburg]] on their way to the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|SPD]] Congress in 1910]]

Around 1898, Zetkin formed a friendship with the younger [[Rosa Luxemburg]] that lasted 20 years. Despite Luxemburg's indifference to the women's movement, which absorbed so much of Zetkin's energies, they became firm political allies on the far left of the SDP. Luxemburg once suggested that their joint epitaph would be "Here lie the last two men of German Social Democracy".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nettl |first1=J.P. |title=Rosa Luxemburg |date=1966 |publisher=Oxford U.P |location=London |page=371}}</ref> In the debate on [[Marxist revisionism|Revisionism]] at the turn of the 20th century, they jointly attacked the [[reformism|reformist]] theses of [[Eduard Bernstein]], who had rejected the ideology of a revolutionary change in favour of "evolutionary socialism".<ref>[http://www.fembio.org/biographie.php/frau/biographie/clara-zetkin/ Clara Zetkin biography], Fembio.org. Accessed 14 October 2022. (in German)]</ref>

=== Fight for women's rights ===
{{Communism sidebar}}
Zetkin was very interested in [[women's politics]], including the fight for [[equal opportunities]] and [[women's suffrage]], through socialism. She helped to develop the [[social-democratic]] [[women's movement]] in Germany. From 1891 to 1917, she edited the SPD women's newspaper ''Die Gleichheit''{{efn|''Die Gleichheit'' had appeared in early 1890 as ''Die Arbeiterin'' (The Worker), a successor to the short-lived ''[[Die Staatsbürgerin]]'' (The Citizenestatic.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/7/31/1343750637045/Zetkin-profile-001.jpgss) founded by [[Gertrud Guillaume-Schack]] and banned in June 1886. Zetkin renamed the paper ''Die Gleichheit'' when she took over.{{sfn|Mutert|1996|p=84}} }} (Equality). In 1907 she became the leader of the newly founded "Women's Office" at the SPD. She also contributed to [[International Women's Day]] (IWD).<ref name="kaplan">{{Cite journal |jstor = 3180144|title = On the Socialist Origins of International Women's Day|last1 = Kaplan|first1 = Temma|journal = Feminist Studies|year = 1985|volume = 11|issue = 1|pages = 163–171|doi = 10.2307/3180144}}</ref><ref name="Women">{{cite web |title= History of International Women's Day |url= https://www.un.org/womenwatch/feature/iwd/history.html |publisher= United Nations |access-date= 26 May 2012}}</ref> In August 1910, an [[International Socialist Women's Conferences#Copenhagen 1910|International Women's Conference]] was organized to precede the general meeting of the Socialist [[Second International]] in [[Copenhagen]], [[Denmark]].<ref name="ruthchild 2012">{{Cite journal |doi = 10.3167/asp.2012.060102|title = From West to East: International Women's Day, the First Decade|year = 2012|last1 = Ruthchild|first1 = Rochelle Goldberg|journal = Aspasia|volume = 6|pages = 1–24}}</ref> Inspired in part by American socialists' actions, Zetkin, [[Käte Duncker]] and others proposed that "a special Women's Day" be organized annually, but no date was specified at that conference.<ref name="ICSW">{{Cite web|title="International Socialist Congress, 1910; Second International Conference of Socialist Women|url=https://archive.org/details/InternationalSocialistCongress1910SecondInternationalConferenceOf/page/n21/mode/2up|page=21|access-date=7 March 2020}}</ref><ref name="kaplan"/><ref name="Women"/> Delegates (100 women from 17 countries) agreed with the idea as a strategy to promote [[suffrage]] for women.<ref name="iwd">{{cite web|url=http://www.internationalwomensday.com/About|title=About International Women's Day |publisher=Internationalwomensday.com |date=8 March 1917 |access-date=26 February 2016}}</ref> The following year on 19 March 1911, IWD was marked for the first time, by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland.<ref name="unevents">{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/events/women/iwd/2008/history.shtml |title=United Nations page on the background of the IWD |publisher=Un.org |access-date=8 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311010847/http://www.un.org/events/women/iwd/2008/history.shtml |archive-date=11 March 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>

However, Zetkin was deeply opposed to the concept of "[[bourgeois]] [[feminism]]," which she claimed was a tool to divide the unity of the [[working classes]].<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1086/ahr.112.1.131|title = Rethinking the Socialist Construction and International Career of the Concept "Bourgeois Feminism"|year = 2007|last1 = Boxer|first1 = M. J.|journal = The American Historical Review|volume = 112|pages = 131–158|doi-access = free}}</ref> In a speech that she delivered to the Second International in 1889, she stated:
:The working women, who aspire to social equality, expect nothing for their emancipation from the bourgeois women's movement, which allegedly fights for the rights of women. That edifice is built on sand and has no real basis. Working women are absolutely convinced that the question of the [[emancipation of women]] is not an isolated question which exists in itself, but part of the great social question. They realize perfectly clear that this question can never be solved in contemporary society, but only after a complete social transformation.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Gaido|first1=Daniel|last2=Frencia|first2=Cintia|date=2018|title="A Clean Break": Clara Zetkin, the Socialist Women's Movement, and Feminism|journal=International Critical Thought|volume=8|issue=2|pages=277–303|doi=10.1080/21598282.2017.1357486|s2cid=158348988}}</ref>

She viewed the feminist movement as being primarily composed of upper-class and middle-class women who had their own class interests in mind, which were incompatible with the interests of working-class women. Thus, feminism and the socialist fight for women's rights were incompatible. In her mind, socialism was the only way to truly end the oppression of women. One of her primary goals was to get women out of the house and into work so that they could participate in trade unions and other workers rights organizations to improve conditions for themselves. While she argued that the socialist movement should fight to achieve reforms that would lessen female oppression, she was convinced that such reforms could only prevail if they were embedded into a general move towards socialism; otherwise, they could easily be eradicated by future legislation.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/7/31/1343750637045/Zetkin-profile-001.jpg|title=The IWD Story|last=Holland|first=Shelly|work=The Guardian|access-date=30 November 2018}}</ref>

She interviewed [[Vladimir Lenin]] on "The Women's Question" in 1920.<ref>The interview transcript (in English) is available at [http://www.marxists.org/archive/zetkin/1920/lenin/zetkin1.htm ''The Emancipation of Women: From the Writings of V.I. Lenin''], interview with Clara Zetkin, International Publishers, on the [[Marxist Archives]]</ref>

From Zetkin's perspective, the women's movement was a key component to the whole of women's rights.<ref name=":03">{{Cite web |last=Kelly |first=Marie |date=2023-12-15 |title=V.I. Lenin and Clara ZetkinRevolutionary fighters aimed to abolish capitalism and win gender liberation |url=https://www.workers.org/2023/12/75669/ |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=Workers World |language=en-US}}</ref> Not only was the movement essential to the women's rights movement, but it was also essential to building the Communist state.<ref name=":22">{{Cite web |title=Clara Zetkin: Lenin on the Women's Question - 1 |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/zetkin/1920/lenin/zetkin1.htm |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=www.marxists.org}}</ref> Lenin made it a point to mention that everyone who has been exploited or oppressed under the capitalist system should be included in the women's rights movement, further pushing the movement in Communist ideals.<ref name=":03" /><ref name=":22" />

Lenin and Zetkin's work as colleagues in the work of pushing the Communist and women's rights agendas progressed the liberation of women in the Soviet Union.<ref name=":03" /> By associating the movement with the larger proletarian revolution, they advanced the cause of women's liberation.<ref name=":22" /> Their combined efforts pushed for systematic changes such as labor protections, childcare facilities, women's suffrage, and dismantling the bourgeois societal norms.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Clara Zetkin, socialism and women’s liberation |url=https://socialistworker.org/2014/03/07/clara-zetkin-and-socialism |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=SocialistWorker.org |language=en}}</ref> All of this would eventually become for naught as Stalin assumed political power in the Soviet Union, as women's reproductive health and personal liberties began to be stripped away.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Randall |first=Amy E. |date=2011 |title="Abortion Will Deprive You of Happiness!": Soviet Reproductive Politics in the Post-Stalin Era |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/449286 |journal=Journal of Women's History |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=13–38 |doi=10.1353/jowh.2011.0027 |issn=1527-2036|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Talaver |first=Sasha |title=When Soviet Women Won the Right to Abortion (For the Second Time) |url=https://jacobin.com/2020/03/soviet-women-abortion-ussr-history-health-care |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=jacobin.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Opposition to First World War ===
During the period of the [[First World War]], at the international women's peace conference in Switzerland, activists, revolutionaries, and supporters gathered to confront the concern for unity among workers across the battle lines.<ref name=":0" /> There, Zetkin spoke:
: Who profits from this war? Only a tiny minority in each nation: The manufacturers of rifles and cannons, of armor-plate and torpedo boats, the shipyard owners and the suppliers of the armed forces' needs. In the interests of their profits, they have fanned the hatred among the people, thus contributing to the outbreak of the war. The workers have nothing to gain from this war, but they stand to lose everything that is dear to them.<ref name=":0" />

Zetkin, along with [[Karl Liebknecht]], [[Rosa Luxemburg]], [[Luise Kähler]] and other influential SPD politicians, rejected the party's policy of ''[[Burgfriedenspolitik|Burgfrieden]]'' (a truce between political parties the government and a promise to refrain from strikes during the war).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heynen |first=Robert |title=Degeneration and Revolution. Radical Cultural Politics and the Body in Weimar Germany |publisher=Brill |year=2015 |isbn=978-90-04-27626-0 |location=Leiden, Netherlands |pages=80}}</ref> Among other [[anti-militarism|anti-war]] activities, Zetkin organized an international socialist women's anti-war conference in [[Berlin]] in 1915.<ref>[https://www.dhm.de/lemo/biografie/clara-zetkin Timeline of Clara Zetkin's life, at the Lebendiges Museum Online (LEMO)]</ref> Because of her anti-war opinions, she was arrested several times during the war and was in 1916 taken into "protective custody" from which she was later released on account of illness.<ref name="BiographischeDatenbankenCZ"/>

=== Joining Communist Party ===
[[File:Clara Zetkin 1930.jpg|thumb|right|Zetkin's official [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]] portrait, 1930]]
In 1916 Zetkin was one of the co-founders of the [[Spartacist League]] and the [[Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany]] (USPD) which had split off in 1917 from its mother party, the SPD, in protest at its pro-war stance.<ref name="BiographischeDatenbankenCZ" />

In January 1919, after the [[German Revolution]] in November of the previous year, the KPD ([[Communist Party of Germany]]) was founded. Zetkin also joined it and represented the party from 1920 to 1933 in the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]].<ref>[https://www.marxists.org/glossary/people/z/e.htm#zetkin-clara Marxist Internet Archive Biography]</ref>

Zetkin became further enveloped in the Communist movement through her interactions and fellowship with [[Vladimir Lenin]].<ref name=":13">{{Cite web |title=Clara Zetkin: Reminiscences of Lenin |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/zetkin/1924/reminiscences-of-lenin.htm |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=www.marxists.org}}</ref> The relationship between Zetkin and Lenin first began in 1920 when she conducted and recorded interviews with him.<ref name=":04">{{Cite web |last=Kelly |first=Marie |date=2023-12-15 |title=V.I. Lenin and Clara ZetkinRevolutionary fighters aimed to abolish capitalism and win gender liberation |url=https://www.workers.org/2023/12/75669/ |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=Workers World |language=en-US}}</ref> In her journal entries outlining their conversations, she discussed her admiration for his leadership as he used his position of power to give a voice to the oppressed people.<ref name=":13" /> Three separate lifetime editions of Zetkin's memoirs about Lenin (Clara Zetkin. Memories of Lenin; Clara Zetkin. From a Notebook; Clara Zetkin. Lenin and the Masses) were included in the 5th volume of “Memories of Lenin,” published by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee, and became canonical for citation in the USSR.<ref>“Воспоминания о Ленине», Институт марксизма-ленинизма при ЦК КПСС, Москва, издательство «Политической литературы», 1979 (“Memories of Lenin”, Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU, Moscow, Political Literature Publishing House, 1979).</ref> Included in speaking for the voices of the oppressed, Lenin discussed with Zetkin the need to establish an international women's movement.<ref name=":23">{{Cite web |title=Clara Zetkin: Lenin on the Women's Question - 1 |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/zetkin/1920/lenin/zetkin1.htm |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=www.marxists.org}}</ref> 

From the outline of the conversations, it is apparent that Lenin respected Zetkin as a colleague who could help him implement his political strategy, not as an inferior.<ref name=":04" /> In addition to the conversation's rhetoric, Lenin's respect for Zetkin is evident as he employed her to establish the women's movement based on the principles of Marxist theory.<ref name=":04" /> Zetkin was allocated a position to provide support to the women's rights committee drafting a resolution, theses, and directives to move along the progression of the movement.<ref name=":04" /> Because of its previous success in bringing women's emancipation in both theory and practice, Zetkin subscribed to the socialist movement in the early 1920s.<ref name=":13" /> 

Until 1924, Zetkin was a member of the KPD's central office. From 1927 to 1929, she was a member of the party's central committee. She was also a member of the [[Executive Committee of the Communist International|executive committee]] of the Communist International ([[Comintern]]) from 1921 to 1933. She also presided over an international secretariat for women, which was created by the Communist International in October 1920. In June 1921, the Second International Conference of Communist Women, which was held in Moscow and was chaired by her, changed the date of the International Women's Day to 8 March. That has remained the date of the IWD.<ref name=":1" />

In summer 1922, Zetkin was part of the prosecution team during the [[Trial of the Socialist Revolutionaries]] in Moscow, but at other times, she was critical of Moscow's influence over the German Communist Party within which she was part of the right wing. She was removed from the Central Committee of the KPD when the left, led by [[Ruth Fischer]], took control. She opposed a policy decision made in Moscow in 1928 to get communist trade unions in Germany to split from the main socialist-dominated federation and form the rival ''Rote Gewerkschaftsbund''. When [[Joseph Stalin]] put this to the executive of Comintern, in December 1928, Zetkin was one of only three members of the executive to vote against.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Milorad M. |last1=Drachkovitch |first2=Branko |last2=Lazitch <!-- (editors) --> |title=The Comintern - Historical Highlights |date=1966 |publisher=Frederick A, Praeger |location=New York |page=227}}</ref>

In August 1932, despite having recently fallen gravely ill in Moscow, she returned to Berlin to preside over the opening of the newly elected Reichstag, as its oldest deputy. She used her opening address<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://socialistworker.org/2014/01/10/fascism-must-be-defeated|title=Fascism Must Be Defeated|last=Zetkin|first=Clara|website=The Socialist Worker}}</ref> to call for workers to unite in the struggle against fascism:
<blockquote>The most important immediate task is the formation of a United Front of all workers in order to turn back fascism [..] in order to preserve for the enslaved and exploited, the force and power of their organization as well as to maintain their own physical existence. Before this compelling historical necessity, all inhibiting and dividing political, trade union, religious and ideological opinions must take a back seat. All those who feel themselves threatened, all those who suffer and all those who long for liberation must belong to the United Front against fascism and its representatives in government.</blockquote> 

She was a recipient of the [[Order of Lenin]] (1932) and the [[Order of the Red Banner]] (1927).<ref name="research.uni-leipzig.de"/>

=== Publications ===
[[File:Die Gleichheit 8 June 1917.jpg|thumb|An example of a cover page of ''Die Gleichheit'' edited by Clara Zetkin from 1892 to 1917.]]
Zetkin's literary involvement began in 1892 when she started editing and writing for the SDP women's newspaper, ''[[Die Gleichheit]],'' which translates to ''Equality''.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Die Gleichheit (Equality) (1892-1923) {{!}} Towards Emancipation? |url=https://hist259.web.unc.edu/die-gleichheit-equality-stuttgart-1892-1923/ |access-date=2024-12-03 |website=hist259.web.unc.edu}}</ref> Originally, the newspaper was titled ''Die Arbeiterin'' (The Woman Worker), however, its publications received little success.<ref name=":4" /> She edited this newspaper until 1917. Her publications aimed at mobilizing the female working class, which included workers and mothers, to adopt socialism and feminism.<ref name=":4" /> Which might seem contrary to Zetkin's adamant protest of being called a feminist. The topics covered ranged from female worker strikes in Germany, women's suffrage, and child labor.<ref name=":4" /> Under Zetkin's leadership, the newspaper grew forty-fold by 1910.<ref name=":4" />  

In 1921, Clara Zetkin began to write for the communist periodical, ''[[Die Kommunistische Fraueninternationale]]''. Her purpose in writing for the periodical was to convince women of the effectiveness of socialist reform thinking over capitalist thought.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Sproat |first=Liberty P. |date=2012-01-01 |title=The Soviet Solution for Women in Clara Zetkin's Journal Die Kommunistische Fraueninternationale, 1921-1925 |url=http://berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/aspasia/6/1/asp060105.xml |journal=Aspasia |volume=6 |issue=1 |doi=10.3167/asp.2012.060105 |issn=1933-2882|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The published periodicals expanded globally and became a forum for communist women to hear about the lives of other communists.<ref name=":4" /> The periodical focused on the lives of women in Russia, which had experienced a successful communist revolution. As Zetkin subscribed to the communist model of reform, her writings continued to outline and advocate for women to join her in her adherence.<ref name=":5" /> Of the periodicals Zetkin produced and edited for, ''Die Kommunistische Fraueninternationale'' portrayed the most accuracy in her actual worldviews.<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last=Sproat |first=Liberty |date=2008-04-15 |title=How Soviet Russia Liberated Women: The Soviet Model in Clara Zetkin's Periodical 'Die Kommunistische Fraueninternationale' |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/1450/ |journal=Theses and Dissertations}}</ref> The periodical rejected “[[bourgeois feminism]],” which was not an outrageous claim for Zetkin and advocated for women to become workers in the proletarian state.<ref name=":9" />  

Zetkin's published works began to be stalled during the rise of the Stalinist government in the early 1920s.<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |last=Best |first=Mark |date=2024-03-13 |title=The Communist women's movement: Women and the revolution |url=https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/122240/13-03-2024/the-communist-womens-movement-women-and-the-revolution/ |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=Socialist Party |language=en-GB}}</ref> Stalin's politics stunted and regressed much of the progress of the women's movement in the Soviet Union, returning the country to be based in conservative ideals.<ref name=":10" /> The May-June 1925 issue of ''Die Kommunistische Fraueninternationale'' was the last issue to ever be published.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web |last=Paul |first=Hampton |date=November 7, 2023 |title=The Communist Women’s Movement: A High Point of First Wave Feminism |url=https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2023-11-07/communist-womens-movement-high-point-first-wave-feminism |website=Workers' Liberty}}</ref> This was an appendage to the decision to move the International Women's Secretariat from Berlin back to Moscow.<ref name=":11" /> By April 1926, the International Women's Secretariat lost its independence and became absorbed into the Women's Section of the Comintern Executive.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Hampton |first=Paul |date=November 7, 2023 |title=The Communist Women's Movement: A High Point of First Wave Feminism |url=https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2023-11-07/communist-womens-movement-high-point-first-wave-feminism |website=Workers' Liberty}}</ref> The rise of Stalin's [[bureaucracy in the Soviet Union]] dissolved the relationship the women's movement established with the government under the leadership of Lenin.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Best |first=Mark |date=2024-03-13 |title=The Communist women's movement: Women and the revolution |url=https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/122240/13-03-2024/the-communist-womens-movement-women-and-the-revolution/ |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=Socialist Party |language=en-GB}}</ref>  

===Exile and death===
{{multiple image
| align         = right
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| image1        = Clara Zetkin Denkmal Dresden.jpg
| caption1      = Memorial bust of Clara Zetkin in [[Dresden]]
| image2        = Klara Zetkin's house in Jena.jpg
| caption2      = A plaque commemorating where Clara Zetkin once lived in [[Jena]]
}}
Soon after [[Adolf Hitler]] and his [[Nazi Party]] took power in 1933, the [[Reichstag fire]] gave the Nazi government opportunity to outright ban the KPD and other dissenting political parties. Zetkin went into exile for the last time, this time to the [[Soviet Union]]. She died there, at [[Arkhangelskoye Estate|Arkhangelskoye]], near [[Moscow]], in 1933, aged nearly 76.<ref name="BiographischeDatenbankenCZ"/> Her ashes were placed in the [[Kremlin Wall Necropolis]],<ref name="BiographischeDatenbankenCZ"/> by the [[Moscow Kremlin Wall]], near the [[Red Square]]. The funeral was attended by leading communists from all over Europe, including Joseph Stalin and [[Nadezhda Krupskaya]] (Lenin's widow).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://biography.yourdictionary.com/clara-zetkin|title=Clara Zetkin facts|website=Your Dictionary|access-date=23 February 2019|archive-date=2 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402192604/https://biography.yourdictionary.com/clara-zetkin|url-status=dead}}</ref>

After 1949, Zetkin became a much-celebrated heroine in the [[German Democratic Republic]] (East Germany), and every major city had a street named after her. Her name can still be found on the maps of the former [[States of Germany|lands]] of the GDR.<ref name="research.uni-leipzig.de"/> A street in [[Tula, Russia]], named for Zetkin (ул. Клары Цеткин) as well as a street in [[Belgrade]], [[Serbia]] (ul. Klare Cetkin).{{cn|date=March 2024}}

=== Legacy ===
{{Socialism in Germany|Intellectuals}}
In the decade preceding her exile and death, Zetkin's legacy has been largely forgotten.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Lewis |first=Ben |title=Clara Zetkin Was a Marxist Champion of the Struggle Against Women’s Oppression |url=https://jacobin.com/2023/09/clara-zetkin-marxism-women-germany-theory-international-womens-day |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=jacobin.com |language=en-US}}</ref> There appeared to be a negative connotation associated with her name as political figures, even the former Soviet Union Prime Minister [[Joseph Stalin]] labeled her as an ‘old witch.’<ref name=":6" /> Attempts have been made to renounce [[International Women's Day]] in Germany, one of the highlights of Zetkin's political career. Her demonstration on March 8th has been heralded as the ‘an event of the devil’ by some.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lewis |first=Ben |title=Clean breaks and clear principles |url=https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1454/clean-breaks-and-clear-principles/ |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=weeklyworker.co.uk}}</ref> In 1994, Christian Democrat Chancellor [[Helmut Kohl|Helmult Kohl]], put a stop to naming a street by the Reichstag in Berlin after Zetkin. His hard stop to acknowledging her legacy is because he believed her works played a part in destroying the first German democracy.<ref name=":6" />

Her legacy was further tarnished because her works were unpalatable to the feminist movements of the 60s and 70s.<ref name=":6" /> In 1960s and 70s Europe, Western Europe began its transition into [[Second-wave feminism|second-wave feminist]] ideologies.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=Briatte |first=Anne-Laure |title=Feminisms and Feminist Movements in Europe {{!}} EHNE |url=https://ehne.fr/en/encyclopedia/themes/gender-and-europe/feminisms-and-feminist-movements/feminisms-and-feminist-movements-in-europe#sommaire-the-movement-years-west-of-the-iron-curtain-1960s-to-1980s- |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=ehne.fr |language=en}}</ref> As second-wave feminist ideologies took hold, a direct consequence was the exclusion of men from participation in women's movements.<ref name=":7" /> This is contrary to Zetkin's philosophy of the need for men and women within the working class to work together to achieve women's liberation.<ref name=":6" />

Today, many authors attempt to attribute Zetkin's work under the categories of “[[socialist feminism]]” or “[[Marxist feminism]].” However, during her lifespan, the term “socialist feminism” did not exist.<ref name=":6" /> In analyzing her published works, the term “''Frauenrechtlerei”'' has been mistakenly translated as “feminist” or “feminism.” In its truest translations, however, the term was used in demeaning rhetoric to separate Zetkin's political efforts from the bourgeois feminists.<ref name=":6" />

Her son, [[Maxim Zetkin]], continued her legacy of Communist leadership through his medical practice in the Soviet healthcare system.<ref name=":8">{{Citation |last=Reinisch |first=Jessica |title=‘Can we distinguish the sheep from the wolves?’: Émigrés, Allies, and the Reconstruction of Germany |date=2013-06-06 |work=The Perils of Peace: The Public Health Crisis in Occupied Germany |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK293861/ |access-date=2024-12-10 |publisher=OUP Oxford |language=en}}</ref> In the 1920s, Maxim joined Clara in attending several Comintern congresses and worked for a number of Comintern missions.<ref name=":8" /> Maxim eventually joined the Soviet Communist Party after being commissioned to practice surgery in Moscow.<ref name=":8" />

== Works ==
{{main|Clara Zetkin bibliography}}

== Posthumous honors ==
* Zetkin was memorialized on the ten [[East German Mark|mark]] banknote and twenty mark coin of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) ([[East Germany]]).
* After 1949, every major city in the GDR had a street named after her.
* In 1954, the GDR established the ''[[Clara Zetkin Medal]]'' (Clara-Zetkin-Medaille).
* In 1955, the city council of Leipzig established a new recreation area [[Leipzig-Mitte|near the city center]] called "[[Clara-Zetkin-Park (Leipzig)|Clara-Zetkin-Park]]"<ref>[http://www.leipzig.de/freizeit-kultur-und-tourismus/parks-waelder-und-friedhoefe/parks-und-gruenanlagen/clara-zetkin-park/ Clara-Zetkin-Park - Stadt Leipzig<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
* In 1967, a statue of Clara Zetkin, sculpted by GDR artist [[Walter Arnold (German sculptor)|Walter Arnold]], was erected in [[Johannapark]], [[Leipzig]] in commemoration of her 110th birthday.
* In 1987, the GDR issued a stamp with her picture.
* {{anchor|Clara Zetkin Women's Award}}Since 2011, the German party [[The Left (Germany)|Die Linke]] issues an annual "{{ill|Clara Zetkin Women's Award{{!}}Clara-Zetkin-Frauenpreis|de|Clara-Zetkin-Frauenpreis}}".
* There is also a street named after Clara Zetkin in the city of Tula, Russia, which is located near the intersection of Leyteyzena Street and Red Army Prospect. (Red Army Prospect is a major thoroughfare In Tula which leads to the main train station.)

==See also==
{{Portal|Communism|Socialism|Organized Labour|Feminism|Germany|Soviet Union|Russia}}
* [[List of peace activists]]
* [[Alexandra Kollontai]]
* [[Nadezhda Krupskaya]]
* [[Rosa Luxemburg]]
* [[Alexander Deubner]]

== References ==
{{notes}}
{{reflist|30em}}

== Sources ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last=Mutert|first=Susanne|title=Métiers, corporations, syndicalismes|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ydRPFumM18C&pg=PA84|access-date=4 November 2014|year=1996|publisher=Presses Univ. du Mirail|language=fr|isbn=978-2-85816-289-5|chapter=Femmes et syndicats en Bavière}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
* [https://www.marxists.org/archive/zetkin/ Full works of Clara Zetkin available (in English) at the Marxist Internet archive]
* [https://www.marxists.org/deutsch/archiv/zetkin/ Full works of Clara Zetkin available (in German) at the Marxist Internet archive]
* [https://www.dhm.de/lemo/biografie/clara-zetkin Timeline of Clara Zetkin's life (in German), at the Lebendiges Museum Online (LEMO)]
* Clara Zetkin, ''Clara Zetkin: Selected Writing'', 1991, {{ISBN|0-7178-0611-1}}.
* Dorothea Reetz, ''Clara Zetkin as a Socialist Speaker'', Intl. Pub, 1987, {{ISBN|0-7178-0649-9}}.
* Gilbert Badia, ''Clara Zetkin: Féministe Sans Frontières'' (Paris: Les Éditions Ouvrières 1993).
* Florence Hervé. (2023). "Clara Zetkin (1857–1933): A Rebel Building the Socialist and Communist International Women's Movements." In: de Haan, F. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Communist Women Activists around the World. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13127-1_2
* [[Luise Dornemann]], ''Clara Zetkin: Leben und Wirken,'' Dietz; 9., überarbeit. Aufl edition (1989), {{ISBN|978-3320012281}}
* Karen Honeycutt, "Clara Zetkin: A left-wing socialist and feminist in Wilhelmian Germany," Ph.D. thesis, Columbia University, 1975
* [http://www.fembio.org/biographie.php/frau/biographie/clara-zetkin/ Clara Zetkin biography at FemBio.org (in German)]
* [http://research.uni-leipzig.de/agintern/frauen/zetkin.htm Clara Zetkin biography from the University of Leipzig (in German)]

== External links ==
* {{Commonscat-inline}}
* {{Wikiquote-inline}}
* {{Gutenberg author|id=49407}}
* [http://www.spartacus-educational.com/GERzetkin.htm Clara Zetkin at Spartacus Educational] (biography, extracts)
* [http://www.marxists.org/archive/zetkin/ Zetkin at marxists.org] (biography, some writings, links)
* {{PM20|FID=pe/042348}}
* ''[https://archive.org/details/zetkinrecollectionslenin My Recollections of Lenin]'' by Clara Zetkin

{{Authority control}}
{{Communism}}
{{Socialism}}
{{Feminism}}

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