Share

Share

Share on Facebook Share on Facebook Tweet Share on Twitter Share on WhatsApp Share on WhatsApp

SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading and reflecting on this work by Mabel
Bellucci and Emmanuel Theumer about the Marxist-feminist thought
of Isabel Larguía and John Dumoulin, for many reasons.

vital and insightful
commitment theoretical contributions and feminist struggles of Latin America, a cause now
joined by Emmanuel. It offers us the return of Isabel
and John's thought as an act of intellectual justice to a pioneering work in
the early stages of Latin American feminist theory. Moreover, it has been
particularly moving because they approach it from a unique perspective, recovering the
various intricacies of the historical memory of a period of great significance for my generation and those to come: the Cuban Revolution

previously unknown
dimensions of Isabel's life A pioneer in highlighting the problems of domestic work, but also a pioneer and bold in other fields: filmmaker,
historian, Marxist-Leninist philosopher, guerrilla fighter of the revolution and
internationalist in her connections (Guinea-Bissau, Nicaragua).

From Revolutionary Cuba: Feminism and Marxism in the Work of
Isabel Larguía and John Dumoulin offers us a glimpse into the human qualities of
both figures: she, boisterous, brilliant, and audacious; he, sensible, austere,
and judicious, with a non-machista masculinity. A complementary pair. At the same time, this book demonstrates how some aspects
of Isabel's personal life also echo
many of the experiences that led women to develop their
feminist "instinct": the presence of other close, active, and emancipated women,
generally from the family circle, who had already gained a
degree of freedom. In Isabel's case, it was her aunt, Susana Larguía, founder in
1936 of the historic Union of Women of Argentina (UMA). In my
case, it was my mother's two sisters who came from another region
of the country to study in Lima.
also experienced discrimination and exclusion in France, when she almost
lost her admission to the film academy as a woman, and
other forms of discrimination she experienced in Cuba.

This book constructs a narrative that contains many stories,
not only of the Cuban process but also of diverse perspectives on that
period in Latin America. The interviews with so many figures who
were part of Isabel's life, including her
husband, John Dumoulin, bring to mind
the events, resources, and experiences of those same years. It explores the
ambivalent construction of a movement—feminism—and the key themes
we were just beginning to consider, imagine, and discover. Cuba
was also involved, through the Federation of Cuban Women
(FMC), initially in the preparatory work for the Regional Conferences
organized by ECLAC, and later in
some of the Latin American and Caribbean Feminist Encounters. Negotiations took place
with the Federation to include progressive proposals in the
official documents of the Conferences where it was the
official delegation. However, the final decision rested with its president, Vilma Espín.
It was at the Regional Conference in preparation for the Third
World Conference on Women (1985), held in Nairobi and organized
in Cuba, that I had the privilege of meeting Isabel Larguía,
as is well documented in this book. From her I learned that the
feminist revolution was the most important revolution of the 20th century. But, as
she emphasized, it is also the longest revolution.

Domestic work has been, and continues to be, a central issue in
feminist theory because it underpins the sexual division
of labor, and its unrecognized existence devalues ​​the status of
women workers. This premise, still in its early stages, took a qualitative leap forward
with Isabel Larguía and John Dumoulin's work, *For a Scientific Feminism*,
in the late 1960s. Their work was groundbreaking due to its geopolitical context:
a socialist country in Latin America. And as Mabel and
Emmanuel point out, from Cuba they sought to address the theoretical gap that
Marxism had regarding women. In short, it is a work that did not
originate in the Global North and was original, especially considering that the contributions of the Italian feminists Mariarosa Dalla Costa and Silvia Federici came
later.

From Revolutionary Cuba: Feminism and Marxism in the Work
of Isabel Larguía and John Dumoulin is a book written by Bellucci and
Theumer but narrated alongside many historical figures. It is
a pleasure to read, because it is also a journey back in time, a recollection
of our first discoveries, of all that, despite
the difficulties, we managed to achieve. This book also sheds
light on the nascent feminist environment that was forming
in Latin America. Isabel was connected to the most
thoughtful and theoretical feminists of that period: Teresita de Barbieri, the historic
Mexican journal Fem, and the equally historic figures Elena Urrutia, Tutuna
Mercado, and Alaide Foppa. Likewise, her membership in Women for
Alternative Development for a New Era (DAWN
) is dedicated to analyzing and denouncing the effects that neoliberal, colonial, and patriarchal capitalism
has on the lives of women.
I participated in the early days of DAWN, and it was invaluable to have Isabel, Gita
Sen from India, and Zita Montes de Oca, respected and beloved by many,
also from Argentina. In this way, Bellucci and Theumer recover the
memory of the beginnings of feminism in the region, having been pioneers in

Argentine and Mexican
feminisms

Both authors consider Larguía-Dumoulin's essay
to be the first attempt to de-patriarchalize Marxism, but also
to problematize feminism from an anti-capitalist perspective. From Cuba, they offered an impeccable analysis of the
economic and political significance of women's domestic labor, establishing,
for the first time, the theoretical term "invisible labor" to
refer to the reproduction of labor power that women embody in
the domestic sphere and which is considered non-work. Without departing from the
Marxist framework, they clearly affirmed that socialism—the
classless society that socialism foreshadows—would not be possible without resolving the
contradiction between domestic and paid labor. They understood that
this struggle to give it economic value and its contribution to surplus value
brought women's struggles closer to those of the working class (although
the working class was slow, and still is slow, to recognize the value of
women's reproductive labor). Cuba was their field of analysis and lived experience. They sought to unravel the contradictions and digressions surrounding working women and the revolution. A revolution they embraced, while simultaneously directing their analyses toward modifying what they perceived as the patriarchal aspects of the process: breaking with biologism and paternalism, and continuing to consider class as the primary driving force of history. From Revolutionary Cuba: Feminism and Marxism in the Work of Isabel Larguía and John Dumoulin elucidates how this essay opened the field of feminist battles with its insightful critique of sexist and subjugating stereotypes. Committed
to the revolution, they developed a critical perspective on
labor policies toward women, highlighting the patriarchal vestiges
in the transformative process it entailed. For Isabel
and John, the differences between building socialism and what
was happening under capitalism were clear: a system that upheld
the double burden of work and the invisibility of its
economic value could not also exist in socialist Cuba. And while they celebrated
its progress in granting civil, political, and even
sexual rights, they warned that these gains had not opened spaces
for questioning male and heteropatriarchal supremacy,
both in the public and private spheres. These tensions were not unique
to the island. They were clearly expressed within leftist movements and their
parties, and in the recognition of feminist agendas in
Latin America. And this has a long history in the region. The feminists
of my generation came, for the most part, from militant experience
within leftist political parties. Our early
struggles sought to maintain that connection; however, the mindsets
and structures of the Latin American left lacked both
the clarity and flexibility to democratize their perspective and connect with
this new political subject. Just as an anecdote: in Peru, while
we went out to defend the cause of workers,
striking teachers, and peasants coming down from the Andes to
Lima, demanding to be heard by the government, we were labeled
as bold, libertarian feminists, within the classic canons
of the left. The day we marched for abortion rights, far
fewer of us showed up. We were brutally attacked; none of
the "sensitive" activists joined us, and the next day, the newspaper
Marka, at that time under leftist control (later to be
captured by Shining Path), published an article by the
poet Paco Bendezú titled: "Feminists are like flowers without water... that is
to say, we didn't have a man to water us!"

From Revolutionary Cuba: Feminism and Marxism in the Work of
Isabel Larguía and John Dumoulin recounts how Isabel and John's undeniable relationship
with feminism took on different emphases at different
times. Isabel distanced herself from the proposals of North American and European feminisms. The nascent feminist movement in
Latin America, in Argentina and Mexico, was seemingly measured by the parameters
of white feminism from the North. However, around that time,
the Black feminist movement emerged in the United States, confronting a feminism that thought in its own terms, generalizing
to all women. In England, there were also Marxist feminists

Peruvian
feminism feminist and did not hold a favorable opinion of Latin American feminism.
They considered Isabel and John's intellectual output suspicious
precisely because they considered it feminist work. As
Mabel and Emmanuel point out, although the duo proposed building
a new morality to confront the gendered and sexual dimension of
discrimination against women and its impact on daily life,
compulsory heterosexuality remained unquestioned, thus closing the
door to non-reproductive sexuality. In short, it was the weight of the
patriarchal “climate” within the Cuban and Latin American left.

It is true that within the Marxist feminist reflections of
that period, the issue of domestic labor had to be central.
For this reason, Larguía and Dumoulin were, by far, pioneers in
Latin America and beyond. Similar perspectives quickly developed,
with many nuances, but all pointing to the recognition of the value
of the sphere of reproduction for the functioning of
labor power and capital. It is possible that many of these perspectives
have not read this research. But perhaps many more have. Mabel
and Emmanuel provide a crucial piece of information: in most
subsequent articles on domestic labor, with similar arguments,
there is no mention, with a few exceptions, of the
duo's essay. It is true that this contribution was marginal due to the inherent
tensions between feminism and Marxism. But its appropriation, without attribution,
can also be explained today by what Silvia Rivera Cusicansqui
calls “epistemic extractivism.” Bellucci and Theumer
also categorize it as an “epistemic privilege of the global north.”
From revolutionary Cuba. Feminism and Marxism in the work of
Isabel Larguía and John Dumoulin deserve to be read and explored in
all the dimensions it offers regarding the still complex and difficult relationship
between Latin American feminisms and the left in the region.
The latter are not always willing—although there are valuable exceptions—
to democratize and broaden their horizons to include the multiple
and powerful ways in which social movements, and especially
feminist movements, are attempting to subvert the patriarchal order and
fight against capitalism and coloniality. We will continue
to promote the scandal of feminist transgression.
Virginia (Gina) Vargas