Page:Meta Stern Lilienthal - Women of the Future - 1916.pdf/5



"Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains; you have a world to gain."

These words, written by Karl Marx, the founder of scientific Socialism, have since become the slogan of Sociatists the world over. When this slogan was first uttered, few of those who voiced it included women in their appeal. Women had only just begun to exchange their age-long domestic work for wage work, and were, therefore, still regarded as a negligible factor in public life. But since the rapid development of industry has brought millions of women out of the home into the world, women have become a factor of increasing importance in the public life of all nations, and the question of their social, civic and political rights has become one of the most important of the present time. With the sweeping change in the position of women, Socialists have given more and more attention to the woman question, and have found that "Workers of the world, unite" means women as well as men. They have found that the glowing appeal, "You have nothing to lose but your chains; you have a world to gain," applies to the toiling women of the world even more than to the men, because they have been even more oppressed and their oppression has been of longer duration. Therefore, it has become a matter of interest to both Socialists and non-Socialists what the probable position of woman under Socialism will be. But, before we can consider Socialism in its relation to women we must briefly examine the nature of Socialism itself.