Arts of the possible by Adrienne Rich

Off Our Backs, Jan/Feb 2002 by Douglas, Carol Anne

Rich urges a return to asking socialist questions. "How can we move from a production system in which labor is merely a dispensable means to a process that depends on and expands connective relations, mutual respect, the dignity of work, the fullest possible development of the human subject?"

Rich sees writing, especially poetry, as one of the ways to learn and express what we need to be fully human. She believes that everyone should have access to the arts, and praises efforts to teach poetry in communities and prisons. Many of the essays in this book focus on the writing of poetry. The book also includes her classic essays "When We Dead Awaken" (from the early days of the women's movement), "Lies, Secrets, and Silence," (on how destructive deception is to personal and public relationships), and "Notes Toward a Politics of Location" (on how women's experiences are rooted in their race and class positions).

I, too, have found inspiration in Marx's perception that work over which we have no control is deadening and prevents people from developing their own abilities, and that a society in which money rules alienates us from each other. I discovered Marx's early work on alienation at about the same time that I discovered radical feminism, and it seemed to he a related perception rather than a competing ideology. I can be a radical feminist and appreciate Marx in the same way that I can be a radical feminist and still enjoy Shakespeare and learn from his works. I think they have important perceptions, but I wouldn't call those perceptions larger than feminism. I do see, however, that men may need some philosophy other than feminism to envision a more progressive society.

I used to be very enthused about the aspects of anarchism and Marx's work that looked forward to a society in which everyone participated in both work and the process of government. Now it appears to me that most people don't want to take part in the work of government and politics, or they become so focused on their private lives that they don't feel they can. I am more dubious about whether that will change, though I think it should change if we are to build a just society. And many people who do choose to take an active part in political work do so from a right-wing perspective rather than a left-wing one.

Although I also admired Marx's philosophy, it bothers me when anyone-particularly women who have been identified with the women's movement-suggests that the movement is in the past. Rich writes the women's movement's most important "legacy" is the life-saving grassroots organizations it ignited. I agree, if you leave out the word "legacy," which suggests that the movement has died. Many young women are still getting the spark of feminism through women's studies programs. I do wish that women's studies programs provided more information on socialism, because too many women now believe that feminism can be achieved under capitalism.

Perhaps this book may be one way to help feminists think of how to develop a just society. Only voices crying in the wilderness now call for the U.S. to rethink its devotion to capitalism; such voices are badly needed before the corporations control even more than they do now.