Abstract
This is the cover of a book by Clara Zetkin (1857–1933), one of the
leading women in the movement for Social Democracy. Zetkin has been
labeled a “reluctant feminist,” because fighting for economic rights and
political emancipation for both men and women was more important to her
than the “women’s question” alone. Like Hedwig Dohm, Zetkin was an
experienced teacher. Although her greatest political impact—both within
and beyond the Social Democratic Party—came after Bismarck’s fall from
power in 1890, it is worth noting that she had served on the editorial
board of Der Sozialdemocrat and had
participated in the founding congress of the Second International in
1889—the year in which the book pictured here was published. Having
married the Russian émigré Ossip Zetkin in 1882, she followed him to
Switzerland and Paris. By 1891, she was widowed and had returned to
Germany, where she served (until 1917) as chief editor of the SPD’s
leading newspaper for women, Die
Gleichheit [Equality].