Research project
Of Comradeship and Sisterhood: A Political History of 'Die Gleichheit', 1891-1917
- Start date: 1 April 2022
- End date: 31 March 2025
- Funder: Leverhulme Foundation
- Primary investigator: Dr Ben Lewis
- Co-investigators: Professor Ingrid Sharp
Description
Die Gleichheit was the publication of the highly influential women’s movement of German Social Democracy (SPD), the largest political party in the Kaiserreich (1871–1918).
Over 175,000 women participated in this movement, which was central to the establishment of International Women’s Day.
Despite its significance and rich content, Die Gleichheit has been almost entirely overlooked in scholarship, meaning that this powerful voice of women activists has been lost.
Through a detailed analysis of the journal in its party-political and transnational contexts, Dr Lewis’s project will capture and foreground this voice, and thereby transform our understanding of female political agency in this period.
Videos and podcasts
Impact
- Follow me on Twitter for updates on my research, new translation material and podcasts/videos: @bibliotaff; @marxtranslated.
- My podcast on the history of European Social Democracy can be accessed on the Marxism Translated website.
Publications and outputs
- Ben Lewis and Mike Jones (eds.), Clara Zetkin. Letters and Writings (Pontypool: Merlin, 2013)
- Ben Lewis, 'The Congress that Established International Working Women's Day'
- Special Marxism Translated Series: Clara Zetkin, Islam and the Hijab (1924)
- Clara Zetkin Today