Austrian Journal of Historical Studies

Will it explode at some point? Resources for Reflecting on Radicality in Women’s and Gender History

Hanna Hacker — 2024-05-05

A certain distance to affirming and welcoming radical political action is to be recommended in academia, otherwise it might not be possible to explore it at all. But still: what does radical authorship mean in a feminist perspective and in a historical context? What constitutes rebellious forms and content? What about them is capable of touching, captivating, seducing – and advancing critical analysis? This essay presents for discussion a number of works that engage explicitly or implicitly with political radicality, among them a hit list of radical history, an explosive language experiment from 1970s lesbian feminism, a meandering search for the archives of radicality, and powerful images of gender and anti/racism in Third Cinema. Will it all explode? Let’s try.

Frontmatter

OeZG — 2024-05-05

Radicality of Utopia. Female Friendship and Alternative Relationship Concepts in the Argentinian Anarchist Women’s Movement

Christina Wieder — 2024-05-05

This article deals with alternative relationship models developed by the anarchist women’s movement in Argentina. It focuses in particular on the newspaper "La Voz de la Mujer", which appeared in nine issues from 1896 to 1897. The paper provided a platform for anarchist women writers and activists to present alternatives to marriage and to take a stand on the ideas of free love, sisterhood and female friendship. Within a broader analysis of journalistic, academic and fictional texts, the article examines the newspaper’s contributions for their utopian, creative and speculative character. It explores their radical conceptualisations of political, social and familial relationships and the extent to which these differ from conventional models designed by state structures.

„Lead, follow, or get out of the way!“ Militant Women and their Radical Traditions of Thought in the Red Power Movement, USA 1960–1980

Rachel Huber — 2024-05-05

Female participation in the Red Power movement, the Indigenous resistance in the USA, has long been ignored in research. At best, the women of Red Power emerged on the non-violent periphery of the militant movement of the 1960s and 1970s. This paper sheds light on the hitherto suppressed radical and militant activities of female Red Power activists by analysing analogue and borndigital sources using the analytical categories of race, gender and class. This shows that the activists explicitly included women’s concerns in the Red Power discourse, such as the fight against sterilisation forced by the US government, which particularly affected them as members of the poorest minority in the country and as Women of Colour. Furthermore, this essay, which contributes to the history of resistance movements, relates their political struggle in the Indigenous collective to their individual engagement with Western US feminist movements in the period.

Radical Press and Radical Pressure. Printed Matter, Pamphlets and Radicalities in US Second Wave Feminism

David Bebnowski — 2024-05-05

The second wave of feminism, starting in the 1960s and continuing through the 1970s, was a period of feminist resurgence. Contemporaries witnessed an emerging network of radical feminists who fiercely attacked male-centred society and intensely questioned the roles women had traditionally played in the United States. Many radical feminists published their positions in pamphlets, a literary form historically associated with protest and upheaval. The semantic identity of pressure and the press in German (Druck) allows for the application of the term “Druckerzeugnisse” in order to analyse these functions of pamphlets across a range of radical feminist activism. This essay draws on influential pamphlets by groups such as the Redstockings, Cell 16, The Feminists or individual authors such as Valerie Solanas or “Joreen”. The aim is threefold: firstly, to portray the second wave of feminism as a densification of radical feminist discourse; secondly, to trace the similarities between a variety of feminist
self-understandings; and thirdly, to outline the different, often opposing, political standpoints in order to map the networks of radical feminism.

Radical and Utopian or Partnership between Men and Women?

Veronika Helfert — 2024-05-05

This contribution explores the interplay between labour and feminist activism in Austria during the 1970s and 1980s. Focusing on the often overlooked nexus of the women’s liberation movement and the trade union movement, the analysis looks into the forms of organisation and protest used by women activists from various political affiliations on the left, including social democrats, communists and emerging alternative and green groups. These protests included the struggle for reproductive rights, conflicting ideas on the inclusion of domestic labour into labour activism, the significance of partnership as an activist concept, and the challenges of joint actions. The material is analysed using a combined source-critical and theory-driven approach, employing hermeneutic methods to reveal specific debates and the complex dynamics of cooperation and distinction in both labour and feminist activism. The study thus shows that the activism of women organised in communist, alternative (radical) left and socialist trade union contexts was part of the activist cycle of feminist movements in the 1970s and 1980s.

“Women strike – the world stands still?” Feminist Theories of Radical Social Change between Utopian Anticipations and Real Interventions

Constanze Stutz — 2024-05-05

This article provides an overview of specific reformations of feminist protest in the present. As an analytical approach, feminist theories of radical social change between utopian anticipations and real interventions are introduced. In addition to utopian anticipations, real interventions can currently be observed in feminist strikes and uprisings worldwide. In order to make them useful for an analysis of feminist blueprints for radical social change, the contribution discusses the following questions: what is the relationship between strategies, means and forms of feminist protest? How are the dynamics of structural social crisis linked to conceptions of radical social change? What shifts in feminist understandings of violence and radicalism are evident in the theoretical frameworks and forms of protest? What utopias and feminist perspectives on the good life and on emancipation are expressed and articulated by the participants?

What is radical? Revolutionary concepts and militant strategies in the context of feminism and the labor movement

Theresa Adamski — 2024-05-05

“Being radical” was and is a self-definition and expression of a political stance. At the same time, the concept of radicalism serves as a projection surface for standardization processes and exclusion mechanisms as well as political, social and religious struggles.

Von pluralistischen Visionen und radikalen Demokratien

Theresa Adamski — 2024-05-05

Katharina Rogenhofer and Lena Schilling are activists in a global climate movement that combines ecological and socio-political demands. Fridays for Future and School Strike for Climate played a central role for both of them in their activist careers. Topics in the interview included how they deal with concepts of radicalism, the spaces and forms of action of their movements and the relevance of the temporal.