March 8th: maybe the most glorious day for the Working Class in history

March 8th was proclaimed International Working Women's Day in 1910 by the Second International and soon became a day of struggle against Capitalism and Patriarchy through the World. 

There is anyhow one particularly critical March 8th: that of 1917. On that day, the working women of Petrograd marched in troves through the streets of the Russian city demanding something as basic as bread. 

The day before the workers of Putilov had declared a strike and the demands of the women were central to mobilize the rest of the workers of the city. By March 10th there was a general strike and the city was paralyzed. The demand of bread had become a generalized cry of "down with the Tsar!" and "down with the war!". 

When on March 11th, the totalitarian regime sent the few "reliable" troops they had to repress the masses, these mutinied. The Russian Revolution had begun. 

Who is still alive don’t say “never”,
firmness is not firm,
not everything will continue the same,
when the dominating will have spoken
the dominated will speak.
Who dares to say “never”?
Who does it depend on that oppression continues? On us.
Who does it depend on that it ends? On us, too.
Let the one who’s defeated get up!
The one who’s lost, let him combat!
Who could stop the one who knows his situation?
Hence today´s losers will be the winners of tomorrow
and never will become today.

Bertolt Brecht.

Also a good one from historical Basque Punk band La Polla Records, "Iván":

Translation:

This story which was could well be true

seems a lie, we are going to tell it anyhow:

In the Russia of the beloved Tsar

lived a peasant known as Ivan.

Laboring the land without pause,

suffering much hunger, with no time to think.

Sowing, sowing, sowing and sowing

and Count Borrowich gets all the harvest.

The petty priest asks resignation, 

he invites himself to diner and eats the best food.

Ivan was there, Ivan was there, Ivan was there...

One good day he was with the hoe

came some men, told him: "komrade,

there are no masters anymore to be obeyed;

you are a free man, we've got the power!"

Thinking, thinking, thinking and thinking,

Ivan gradually gets used to the idea: 

nobility has been overthrown, 

there will be no more jerks living out of the rest.

Ivan was there, Ivan was there, Ivan was there...

Jumping on one leg, 

the sickle and the hammer on the red flag. 

With persistence and some attention, 

what kind of somersaults makes reality!

Yesterday I was involved in a conversation in which certain woman complained without much sense "as if we need one special day!" I had to protest: this is something that women have given themselves by choice and to the whole humankind. It is a holy day of the working class, of the people and, of course, of women in particular, no kidding!

Keep the struggle up, sisters!