Crystal Eastman's Communism: A True Feminist Movement

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A true feminist, no matter how far to the left she may be in the revolutionary movement, sees the woman's battle as individual in its objectives and different in its methods from the workers' battle for industrial freedom. Crystal Eastman was a social feminist, who wrote an essay after the approval of the Nineteenth Amendment where the legislators passed Federal Suffrage for women. Her argument was for the persistence of the feminist movement along with all the work left to be done in the political and economic levels to achieve equality. The idea was for women to be free and have the ability to attain emotional freedom from making choices to have a sense of self-worth in that women did not just have to be wives/mothers. (Eastman 1920)…show more content…
(Eastman 1920) She wanted women to feel that they had choice in which allowed them to grow. Eastman had the inkling that women could have the freedom to make self-governing choices of what occupation they wanted and then obtain it. Eastman clarifies all issues in making her position that women will need to continue this forward thinking to tear down obstacles in order to succeed in school, jobs, or professions. Eastman sensed that if women did not step up and fight for equality, they would be unable to find everything they were struggling for. Eastman’s point is the foundation of the movement and women will need to continue moving forward. While Eastman made an attempt at communicating the overall impact and how women would need to move forward, this weakened her stance in that all women did not understand her forward thinking at that time. Eastman states “Men will not give up their position of helplessness without a struggle” (Eastman 1920) basically men need women to care for them just like they care for the children. This emphasizes the struggle of women to receive equal treatment in comparison to the men. This is where Eastman goes into detail about “What, then, is ‘the matter with women’? What is the problem of women’s freedom?” (Eastman 1920) The statement made here seems to come to the conclusion that women should fight for their freedom and asks the question, why should women be viewed differently from

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