On March 8, 2021, International Working Women’s Day (IWWD) was celebrated in the United States and around the world with marches, rallies, cultural performances, and more. The red proletarian holiday, celebrated annually by revolutionaries across the world for well over a century, is an important occasion to raise up the call to mobilize women as a force for proletarian revolution.
United States
Port Hueneme
Carrying portraits of Rosa Luxemburg, Clara Zetkin, Jiang Qing, and Comrade Norah, an IWWD march went through the city of Port Hueneme, California, a small beach town neighboring the city of Oxnard. The march arrived at the gates of Port Hueneme Naval Base, with speakers condemning the reactionary violence inflicted on women around the world at the hands of US Imperialism. The base is a major factor in the high prevalence of prostitution and sex trafficking in the area.
Marchers chanted, “Working women around the world, join the fight with flags unfurled!” The crowd sang “The Internationale,” and “Luchadoras de la Revolución,” a song by the Movimiento Femenino Popular in Peru. Towards the end of the action, marchers confronted police officers who were hovering around the protest.
San Fernando Valley
People’s Struggle San Fernando Valley led an IWWD march in the city of Pacoima, California. Also in attendance were the LA chapter of United Neighborhood Defense Movement (UNDM) and a troupe of danzantes (Aztec dancers). The danzantes conducted cultural performances, and UNDM spoke about the large number of women who are facing eviction during the pandemic, and how they have been at the forefront of the housing struggle. The march moved to a wall where a large painting of Comrade Norah of the Communist Party of Peru was mounted.
Austin
On March 6, Popular Women’s Movement (PWM-MFP), held a cultural event which included music, militant performances, and speeches to honor revolutionary women. One musician performed a song about the recent capitalist crisis following the extreme winter storm.
On March 8, PWM-MFP gathered in downtown Austin and marched to a park, carrying red flags and portraits of great Communist women leaders, as well as banners reading, “Make the Ruling Class Pay for Their Own Crisis!” and “Unleash the Fury of Women as a Mighty Force for Proletarian Revolution.”
One speaker read a statement written by Whitney, the wife of Garrett Foster who was killed by the reactionary Daniel Perry during a march for Black lives in August 2020. Whitney expressed her continued readiness to fight for a new society and her solidarity with those at the march, stating:
“I am still going to be out there fighting, it was what Garrett would have wanted and it was I want to be doing. I have had a lot of obstacles as a black disabled women and I hope that people see through my struggles how they can also take up this fight against capitalism […] I want to reiterate how thankful I am for all the support. Also for reading my words at this celebration of International Working Women’s Day.”
New England
Tribune of the People Support Committee members celebrated IWWD and hung a banner reading, “Long Live International Working Women’s Day,” at a park.
Kansas City
Tribune of the People Support Committee in Kansas City hosted an IWWD event at a local park. Portraits of women Communist leaders, Clara Zetkin, Rosa Luxemburg, Jiang Qing, Comrade Norah, and Sandra Lima were hung around the pavilion and their contributions were discussed. A banner with the slogan, “Unleash the Fury of Women as a Mighty Force for Proletarian Revolution! March 8 International Working Women’s Day!” was hung from a parking structure.
Orlando
The Orlando Tribune Support Committee held a presentation on IWWD and served food to attendees in a local park. A banner reading “Long Live International Working Women’s Day” was also documented on a highway overpass.
Wheeling
A banner was documented in Wheeling, West Virginia reading, “Long Live International Working Women’s Day! March 8th, The Success of Revolution Depends on the Degree in which Women Participate!”
Pittsburgh
Seven banners in honor of IWWD were hung from a highway overpass. Three of the banners depicted Comrade Norah, Rosa Luxemburg, and Jiang Qing while four red banners read, “International Working Women’s Day 2021” with a hammer and sickle.
Turkey
In Istanbul, thousands of women took part in an IWWD march on March 8. State repression targeted the march, resulting in 12 women arrested and two tortured while naked. The homes of other women who participated in the march were raided.
At the IWWD march in Antakya, a member of the revolutionary Turkish organization Partizan addressed the crowd and emphasized the relationship of women’s emancipation to the liberation of the working class. Demonstrators chanted, “March 8 Will Be Red,” among other chants.
Brazil
The Sanitary Committee for Popular Defense in Pinhais, in the state of Paraná, held an event to celebrate the participation of women in the class struggle in Brazil and the world, along with a film screening of the Brazilian documentary, “Women in the Front.”
A wall painting was also documented in the city of Campinas in the state of São Paulo reading, “Long live the International Day of Proletarian Women” signed by Movimiento Feminino Popular (Popular Women’s Movement).
France
In Caen and Grenoble, Jeunes Révolutionnaires participated in IWWD demonstrations, carrying their flag and banners bearing the slogan, “Only Proletarian Revolution will Emancipate Women!” The slogan was documented in a wall painting as well.
In Toulouse, an IWWD march held on March 5 was heavily repressed by police forces. Tear gas was used against protesters and 43 were arrested.
Australia
In Melbourne, a banner was hung celebrating International Working Women’s Day at a working class housing complex. The banner read, “Celebrate 8 march, International Working Women’s Day, Women Hold Up Half of the Sky.” Activists passed out information on the holiday as well.
Ecuador
The Defense Front of the People’s Struggles (FDLP-EC) released a statement in honor of the holiday and denouncing the current electoral farce:
“Our course has already been mapped out, that of the class struggle and the struggle for Power; the footprints are still fresh: Rosita Paredes, Comrades Cecilia and Camila; Norah, Edith Lagos, Sandra Lima. Let us not allow this path to be hindered by postmodernist demands and calls – of opportunism or revisionism; that the road and the struggle will be firm and implacable until the conquest of Power.”
Movimiento Femenino Popular burned bourgeois election propaganda as part of their activities.
Norway
Despite strict restrictions, IWWD was celebrated across the country. In Oslo, the IWWD march was confronted by reactionaries from SIAN (Stop Islamisation of Norway), who tried to conduct racist street theater. The reactionaries were chased off by members of the Struggle Committee.
In Bergen, marchers rallied under the slogans “Combat and Resist!” and “Fight Violence Against Women!”
One speaker said: “This year we mark March 8 in the midst of a global crisis. Those in power call it a health crisis, but in reality it is a systemic crisis. It is a crisis in the whole imperialist system. The crisis leads to heavier and more dangerous work in hospitals, nursing homes, schools and shops. People are losing their jobs and being laid off, and the burden on poor and working women is heavier.”
Finland
In Turku, a banner in commemoration of March 8, International Working Women’s Day was documented, reading, “Down with the Anti-Women Corona Restrictions!”
Germany
This year marked the first IWWD march organized and led by the Red Women’s Committee in Bremerhaven. The banner at the head of the march read, “Women Join the Fight Against Exceptional Circumstances and Crisis For a Revolutionary Women’s Movement.” Red flags with hammers and sickles were also unfurled.
Thousands of people in Freigburg marched from Stühlinger Kirchplatz to Old Synagogu in celebration of IWWD. A red banner with a hammer and sickle leading the march read, “Women Join the Fight Against Exceptional Circumstances and Crisis For a Revolutionary Women’s Movement.” One arrest was reported by revolutionary news outlet Dem Volke Dienen.
In Essen, red flags with hammer and sickles were brandished at a busy shopping center and a banner with a portrait of Rosa Luxemburg was tied to a fence. The banner called on women to join March 8, IWWD.
Austria
A march with hundreds of people in attendance took the streets in honor of International Working Women’s Day in Vienna.
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