Zetkin's Background and Early Life

Clara Zetkin (1857-1933) is widely celebrated as the founder of International Women's Day, yet she saw herself first and foremost as a socialist revolutionary. Far from embracing the mainstream women's movement of her day, she had limited sympathy for what she viewed as its bourgeois priorities. This week we explore the tensions between class and gender politics in her work, and what her legacy means for how we understand International Women's Day today.