We are not making this demand for the sake of a principle, but in the interests of the proletarian class.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that demands are made not as a matter of principle but for the welfare of the working class.
Clara Zetkin's quote highlights the idea that certain demands arise from the necessity to protect and uplift the proletarian class rather than merely adhering to abstract principles. It conveys a sense of urgency and practical concern for the wellbeing of the working class, stressing that actions and demands are rooted in the real conditions and struggles faced by workers.
In practice
In a speech advocating for workers' rights, one might quote Clara Zetkin to emphasize that demands are rooted in the interests of the working class.
In individual industries where female labour pays an important role, any movement advocating better wages, shorter working hours, etc., would not be doomed from the start because of the attitude of those women workers who are not organized.
When the men are silent, it is our duty to raise our voices in behalf of our ideals.
For reforms ameliorate the situation of the working class, they lighten the weight of the chains labour is burdened with by capitalism, but they are not sufficient to crush capitalism and to emancipate the workers from their tyranny.
When the men kill, it is up to us women to fight for the preservation of life.
Each reform, therefore, improving the economical and political situation of the workers proves to be an arm that increases the energy with which the proletarian struggle of classes is fought.
The socialist parties of all countries are duty bound to fight energetically for the implementation of universal women's suffrage which is to be vigorously advocated both by agitation and by parliamentary means. When a battle for suffrage is conducted, it should only be conducted according to socialist principles, and therefore with the demand of universal suffrage for women and men.
The ultimate test of the value of a political system is whether it helps that society to establish conditions which improve the standard of living for the majority of its people.
The biggest lesson I learned from Vietnam is not to trust [our own] government statements.
The three branches of government number considerably more than three and are not, in any sense, 'branches' since that would imply that there is something they are all attached to besides self-aggrandizement and our pocketbooks. ... Government is not a machine with parts; it's an organism. When does an intestine quit being an intestine and start becoming an asshole?
Demand the ballot as the undeniable right of every man who is called to the poll, and take special care that the old constitutional rule and principle, by which majorities alone shall decide in Parliamentary elections, shall not be violated.
Officeholders are the agents of the people, not their masters. Not only is their time and labor due to the government, but they should scrupulously avoid in their political action, as well as in the discharge of their official duty, offending by a display of obtrusive partisanship their neighbors who have relations with them as public officials.
Grant me thirty years of equal division of inheritances and a free press, and I will provide you with a republic.
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