Re: Marx & Engels on Prostitution (was Re: Women & Industrialization)

[L.WILLMS@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Luko Willms)]

      Am  17.09.00
 schrieb  xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx (Xxxx Xxxxx Xxxxxx)
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   ueber  Re: Marx & Engels on Prostitution (was Re: Women & Industrialization)

MAD> Luko Willms wrote:
MAD>
LW>> I want to mention the letter to August Bebel written by
LW>> Friedrich
LW>> Engels on December 22, 1892. August Bebel had made an
LW>> intervention in the "Reichstag" (the German parliament of that
LW>> time) on a law project against prostitution, and Engels gives his
LW>> comments. "As long as it is impossible to abolish prostitution
LW>> altogether, the liberation of the women from all exceptional
LW>> legislation is our prime demand", is the first sentence (my
LW>> translation from German).
MAD> >
MAD>
MAD> As you know, comrade, August Bebel was a *social democrat*.

  Lenin, too, called himself, as his party "Social democrat". That
name was changed only in 1917.

MAD> Obviously, he had a limited understanding of the woman question in
MAD> Germany of his time.

   August Bebel is the author of the most famous book "Women and
socialism". It should be available in English, at least second hand or
in libraries. The US "Library of Contgress" lists a publication by AMS
Press, New York, 1976 (LC number 72009616) with the titel "Women in
the past, present, and future". Schocken published in 1971 De Leon's
translation from the 33rd German edition (LC number 72162286) under
the title "Women under Socialism".
    There are -- or were --, also translations to Turkish available
(Kadin ve sosyalizm), one at Inter Yayinlari (translated by Saliha
Nazli Kaya), the other one at a publishing house which I can't
identify at the moment (excuse me for the orthographic errors, but
there is no dotless i on my keyboard). The book has first been
published in 1871 and is still available today; its German edition
must have had 100 or more printings. The German text of the 62th
edition is available on my website (http://www.mlwerke.de).


MAD>                That Engels criticized Bebel was *not* because
MAD> Engels was endorsing prostitution. Engels knew that the social
MAD> democratic program of outlawing prostitution under capitalism
MAD> without changing the material circumstances of women would not help,

   Actually Engels was _applauding_ August Bebel for his speech in the
parliament _against_ that law.

   Engels did not endorse prostitution, he held that prostitution is
unavoidable in capitalist society.

Yours,
Lueko Willms
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