the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Sep 29, 2025
The following is an excerpt from a presentation given in Chicago.
As capitalist society decays, we see things moving backwards. Any rights that women have today have been won through fights. But as the fights have receded, gains that were previously won are being taken away. Nothing won is guaranteed within this capitalist society which relies on exploitation, and takes advantage of every vulnerability.
We see this with the attacks on abortion rights. Roe v. Wade, the ruling that made abortion a constitutional right, was decided in 1973 as a response to fights made by the population. But as quickly as it was won, the Hyde Amendment added in 1976 didn’t allow Medicaid to pay for abortions. This means that poor women lost their access to abortion only within a few years of the original decision.
It’s also worth pointing out that this amendment has to be renewed with each budget vote, meaning that both parties have continued to pass it. Now with the recent Dobbs decision in 2022 repealing Roe v. Wade, some states are banning abortion altogether.
The Right has also grown as workers’ situation has degraded. There are few jobs available for working class men that could allow them to provide for a family. Social services and schools have been cut again and again, forcing women to pick up the slack, imposing more child and elder care on us. Men and women workers have to take on more hours of work to make ends meet.
We’re all under a lot of stress just to survive—which can set people against each other, even within families. And without anyone offering a working class perspective in a big enough way, right-wing forces have been able to take advantage.
Misogynistic ideas have gained more popularity as our current economic crisis deepens. In addition to their racism and nationalism, right-wing groups tap into the real frustration that many men feel today of not being able to play the role of the provider, which is still promoted as what men need to do. The internet certainly reflects that, where the “incel” movement took shape. Short for “involuntary celibacy,” men within this movement blame women for not wanting to sleep with them and justify rape as a legitimate reaction.
The “incels” may be some of the most extreme, but many right-wing “influencers” blame women for the problems facing men, and right-wing capitalists finance a lot of media put in front of people offering them sexist, reactionary “solutions.” Self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate, who himself was charged with rape and human trafficking, has said that women should “bear responsibility” for being sexually assaulted. This got him banned from Twitter. But he was soon reinstated after Elon Musk bought the platform, now called X, where Tate has over 10 million followers. And he’s certainly not the only such figure.
The Right’s attacks on feminists also serve to defend the capitalist order as it is. They defend the interests of capitalism by reinforcing gender roles and keeping women down. These divisions help the bosses because they can take advantage of the subordinate role of women in the workplace and in the home. And all this right-wing crap encourages men and women workers to blame each other even more, fight each other, and ignore the capitalist class which is really causing our problems.