Thread by @DearthOfSid

A bit about the history of #InternationalWomensDay: THREAD

1. The earliest Woman's Day observance can be traced back to 1909 when the Socialist Party of America organized a Women's Day in New York City.

2. After a year, in the 1910 International Socialist Woman's Conference, the German delegates like Clara Zetkin proposed that a special Women's day be organized annually to promote equal rights including suffrage for women and the proposal was greeted with unanimous approval.

3. On March 8 1917, women textile workers began a demonstration for "Bread and Peace" in Petrograd which marked the beginning of the February Revolution. 7 days later, the Emperor of Russia abdicated the throne and the provisional government granted women the right to vote.

4. Following the October Revolution of 1917, Alexandra Kollontai and Vladimir Lenin declared March 8th Women's Day an official holiday in the Soviet Union. Subsequently, the day was celebrated by the Socialist movement and by many communist countries worldwide.

5. Until the late 1960s, the Woman's Day was predominantly a communist holiday after which it was adopted by the second-wave of feminist movement. Later in 1977, the UN General Assembly declared March 8 as the UN Day for women's rights and world peace.

6. Today, March 8th is celebrated across the world as #InternationalWomensDay to celebrate women's achievements while reemphasising the demand for gender equality, drawing attention to the struggles for women’s economic, social and cultural rights.

7. "...the corporations work to commercialize it, but I fear it will lose its progressive roots. The way to prevent that is to mark the holiday as it was originally intended, to plan protests and celebrate it as the progressive holiday it was."

penntoday.upenn.edu/news/history-b…