Clara Zetkin was sent by Rosa Luxemburg to set Lenin straight over issues of the rights of women – and the direction and tone of the Revolution in general! Rosa Luxemburg – like many adherents of the failed Second International – disagreed with Lenin and his ‘Third International and suggested the Revolutionary Movement should cooperate with the existing Bourgeois status quo to a greater extent, and back away from the idea of ‘overthrowing’ the capitalist system! In this regard, and when taking these attitudes into account, Rosa Luxemburg sailed very close to the Trotskyite position of collaboration with reaction. Indeed, she would eventually be murdered by one of her former students – a tragic end that reveals the limitations of her attitudes. Below is an English translation of a text originally written in the German language by Clara Zetkin recalling her memories of a number of discussions, she had with Lenin during late 1920 in Moscow as the Russian Civil War was still raging and Lenin (and the Communist Party) were planning the forming of large federal Socialist State as a means to generating the conditions for a better form of military self-defence from attack by the capitalist world. During early 1918, Revolutionary Russia had been invaded by Imperial Germany and six of her Allies, and by the UK, US and twelve of their Allies! This war would last from 1918-1921 and cost the Russian people 10.5 million casualties! Imperial Japan would only abandon Vladivostok during October 1922 – just before the forming of the ‘Union of Soviet Socialist Republics’ (USSR) on December 30th, 1922! Meanwhile, far from telling Lenin what to do or think, Clara Zetkin found herself converted by his intelligence and insight and returned to Germany informing all and sundry that Lenin was right, and that Rosa Luxemburg should listen and learn from Lenin! Marxist-Leninist ‘Feminism’ is the only truly ‘Revolutionary’ path for women and is very different to the ‘Bourgeois’ mock-feminism that abounds today! For women to be truly ‘free’ – predatory capitalism must be overthrown completely and there can be no compromise whatsoever on this point! Anyone woman that compromises with capitalism is a traitor to the Revolutionary cause!
