Pseudo-Feminism not a threat to u.$. Government 

FBI surveillance and infiltration of 1960s national liberation 
movements  resulted in the murder and imprisonment of activists, 
and contributed to the  destruction of revolutionary movements 
like the Black Panther Party. As part  of COINTELPRO, FBI 
informants also infiltrated the mostly white pseudo-feminist 
movement. While activities in this movement were recorded, they 
were allowed, for the most part, to continue unfettered. This is 
because the pseudo-feminists posed no real threat to the Amerikan 
government. FBI informants repeatedly noted this fact.

One FBI report stated, "women at the meeting state they are not 
revolutionaries and would not help anyone in a revolution until 
the oppression of women was solved first and completely." Another 
informant stated "This movement has no leaders, dues or 
organizations."(1)

Not aiding revolution "until the oppression of women was solved 
first and completely" succinctly sums up the idealism and 
chauvinism in First World pseudo-feminism. The vast majority of 
the world's wimmin also suffer from class and national oppression 
due to imperialism. Starvation and imperialist military aggression 
are life-and-death issues for them. Furthermore, imperialism 
interacts with gender oppression, as in the case of rape and 
prostitution surrounding Amerikan military bases abroad. 

These wimmin -- and their supporters -- have a real interest in 
anti-imperialist and socialist revolution. Their liberation from 
gender oppression is contingent on the overthrow of imperialism, 
so they ally with men who are also oppressed by imperialism.

This is why MIM says that gender is not the principal 
contradiction in the world today. Those who make it principal 
support imperialism and the oppression of wimmin and men all over 
the globe. While MIM is fighting for an end to gender oppression, 
we have analyzed the world situation and can see that national 
oppression is the principal contradiction. Fighting on this front 
at this time will make the greatest advances against all 
oppression.(2)

MIM has also criticized the kind of anarchist feminism which 
rejects organization.(3) The reactionaries wield the state -- a 
form of organized violence -- in order to preserve imperialism and 
patriarchy. It is a fact of life that we cannot counter this 
reactionary organization without our own revolutionary 
organization. This involves hierarchy, dues, discipline, and other 
elements distasteful to the individualist petty-bourgeoisie. 

Furthermore, overthrowing the current state does not prevent the 
imperialists from re-capturing power, nor does it imply an 
automatic victory over patriarchy. We will need to use state power 
to prevent capitalist counter-revolution, to eradicate the most 
egregious supporters of patriarchy (e.g. the pornography 
industry), and promote the struggle to end gender oppression.



Note:

1. Ruth Rosen, "When Women Spied on Women," The Nation, 4 Sep 
2000.

2. See e.g. MIM Theory 2/3.

3. See e.g. "The tyranny of anarchist feminism," What is MIM? 1st 
edition.