Socialist Party join International Women’s Day protests in London

  • Organisers divide and weaken fightback
Women's strike London March 2020

Women’s strike London March 2020   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Isai Priya, London Socialist Party

The Socialist Party joined protests organised for International Women’s Day in London. We took part in Million Women Rise and the London Women’s Strike.

We gave out leaflets opposing cuts to services, proposing a socialist programme to fight women’s oppression, and a statement from the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) – the socialist international organisation the Socialist Party is part of.

We also advertised our protest for Tory budget day. Our materials were well received but the organisers weren’t too pleased with us being there.

Million Women Rise was advertised as a young girls and women-only march. We don’t agree with this approach.

We met one teenage man who was unsure if he could join the protest. He wanted to march in solidarity with his sister, who was killed by domestic violence.

The approach by the protest organisers not only divides and weakens the march, but fundamentally doesn’t understand why women are oppressed and how to fight it.

At the protests, we sold the Socialist newspaper which carried articles explaining this. We also had articles in the Socialist on sexual harassment, abortion rights, refuge cuts, the role of the unions and the need for socialism.