Navigating a divided labor universe: Social democrats and communists in the International Co-operative Women's Guild, 1920s–1960s

This lecture examines a complex relationship between social democrats and communists in the International Women's Co-operative Guild (ICWG), a women-only organization closely connected to the leading co-operative organization, the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA). The ICWG was established in the early 1920s to represent working-class housewives, and it addressed peace issues, co-operative economics, reproductive labor, women's position in the co-operative movement and women's civil and political rights. The co-operative movement – including both the ICA and the ICWG – was distinctive in the international labor movement for its ideologically mixed membership and collaboration between social democratic and communist activists throughout the interwar and post-World War II periods. My analysis focuses on three primary dimensions. First, I explore how the ideological split within the international labor movement shaped relationships within the ICWG. Second, I investigate how communists and social democrats, including activists from socialist Yugoslavia, navigated tensions there. Third, I look at how the dynamics between social democrats and communists influenced the ICWG's relationships and collaborations with the rest of the labor movement. 

Jelena Tešija is a PhD candidate at the Central European University in Vienna and a research affiliate in the ERC Advanced Grant research project ZARAH. Currently, she is participating in a 4-month Erasmus+ traineeship as an external associate at the ZRC SAZU Institute of Culture and Memory Studies in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Her PhD dissertation focuses on the gender and labor history of the International Co-operative Women's Guild (1921–1963). Her research interests include the gender history of the (Yugoslav) co-operative movement, the history of feminisms and women's labor activisms, and historical perspectives on gender and social reproduction. Before starting her PhD in Comparative History, she covered topics related to labor and women's movements as a feminist journalist and editor, an independent researcher, and an activist. In 2025, she co-authored a collaborative research monograph titled Women's Labour Activism in Eastern Europe and Beyond. A New Transnational History. (London: UCL Press) with her colleagues from the ZARAH project. The book is available in Open Access: https://uclpress.co.uk/book/womens-labour-activism-in-eastern-europe-and-beyond/.

Website: https://historicalstudies.ceu.edu/people/jelena-tesija

Contact: tesija.jelena@phd.ceu.edu