Document 21: Clara Zetkin, Kathe Duncker and Comrades, Copenhagen, 27 August 1910, "International Women's Day," Die Gleichheit, Stuttgart, 29 August 1910, reprinted in Philip S. Foner, ed., Clara Zetkin: Selected Writings (New York: International Publishers, 1984), p. 108.Introduction
This proposal for an International Women's Day, made at the Second International Women's Conference at Copenhagen, appeared in the women's magazine of the German Social Democratic Party, Die Gleichheit. Authored by Clara Zetkin and others, it emphasized the need for attention to "Socialist precepts."
Die Gleichheit - German Women's newspaper edited by Clara Zetkin
Ingeborg Drewitz, ed., The German Women's Movement: The Social Role of Women in the 19th Century
and the Emancipation Movement in Germany
(Bonn: Hohwacht, 1983), p. 36.
International Women's Day In agreement with the class-conscious, political and trade union organizations of the proletariat of their respective countries, the Socialist women of all countries will hold each year a Women's Day, whose foremost purpose it must be to aid the attainment of women's suffrage. This demand must be handled in conjunction with the entire women's question according to Socialist precepts. The Women's Day must have an international character and is to be prepared carefully.
