Clara Zetkin suggested the creation of the International Women's Day during the 2nd Socialist Women's International Conference in 1910. After 1970 this date became increasingly associated with a fire that took place in New York City in 1911. In this paper I review the history of the 8th of March, pointing out some of the distortions of its meanings and the repercussions these distortions have had for an understanding of feminist struggles.
feminist history; Jewish and Italian female factory workers; politics; social movements