Clara Zetkin Archives

March 30, 2024

The November Elections and a United Front for Revolution

This is Part Three in a series on anti-fascism and revolution. Part One focused on the failures of the Social Democratic Party of Germany’s (SPD) lesser-evilism against the Nazis and looked to one of its leading members, Franz Neumann. Part Two looked at what he ended up calling for, which was a “united front for revolution,” and considers this in terms of Lenin’s approach to revolution, the role of a revolutionary party, and “soviets.” Part Three looks more in depth at a united front for revolution through the writings of Clara Zetkin, one of the co-founders of the German Communist Party (KPD).
Typically, when someone uses the phrase “united front” today, like to “save multiracial democracy,” they’re talking about a coalition of progressive non-profit organizations engaged in what’s ultimately some sort of “get out the vote” effort. At their core, these approaches seek to reform the institutions of settler colonial and capitalist oppression, attempting to place a diverse, equitable

May 30, 2022

by Atlee McFellin

The Revolutionary Passion of Those Who Suffer Most

Most people know who Karl Marx was, at least to one extent or another. Remarkably and, yet also unsurprisingly, it’s Jenny Westphalen (aka Jenny Marx) whose understanding of the world we desperately need right now. The sensuous materialism she briefly expressed in her letters to husband Karl illuminates a path of hopeful imminent communal revolution.

Roughly a year after they married and less than a month after the birth of their first child, Karl unfortunately left Jenny for Paris to cosplay as revolutionary less than three years after completing his doctoral dissertation in philosophy. Awaiting him was a meagerly paying job as an agitational socialist journalist. In June of 1844, less than a month after he left, she wrote to him that her “heart is yearning” and for even just “a few words to tell me that you are well and are longing for me a little.”

January 27, 2022

by Atlee McFellin

The Solidarity Economy: anti-fascism at the intersection of Ella Baker and Clara Zetkin

This article is a continuation of a previous one titled “Rethinking Revolution for an Age of Resurgent Fascism.” Ella Baker’s work leading the Young Negroes’ Cooperative League (YNCL) from 1930-1933 is here used to further inform today’s anti-fascism. Overall, this article relates Baker’s work to the dissenting views of German Communist Party (KPD) co-founder Clara Zetkin, specifically her views on fascism and the systemic alternative she referred to as a “Soviet Congress for a Soviet Germany.” This was a federation of autonomous councils formed in neighborhoods and workplaces for mutual aid, self-defense, and as dual power to succeed in revolution through general strikes in the event of a Nazi coup.

May 20, 2020

by Héctor Rivera

La lucha contra el fascismo: lecciones del pasado

Las crisis sanitarias y económicas desatadas por el COVID-19 han movilizado las fuerzas de extrema derecha en todo el mundo. La izquierda socialista necesita aprender de las luchas del Siglo XX para confrontar estas fuerzas antes de que se transformen en movimientos de masas. Puntorojo ofrece esta reseña sobre el libro Fighting Fascism (2017), publicado por Haymarket Books en inglés, para presentar a nuestros lectores un resumen de las teorías y estrategias aplicadas por la Comunista Internacional para luchar contra este fenómeno reaccionario. Ante la crisis actual, organizarnos en amplias coaliciones contra la extrema derecha es una cuestión de vida o muerte para los socialistas, la lucha feminista, y los movimientos indígenas.