March 8th is International Women's Day, a day with a history as fascinating and unique as the women it celebrates.
The first Women's Day celebrations took place in 1909 in New York City, at the suggestion of American labour activist and suffragist Theresa Malkiel, and in 1910 an annual Women's Day was proposed at the International Socialist Women's Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. In 1911, over a million people across Denmark, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland celebrated International Women's Day.
Soviet Russia was the first country to recognize the day as a national holiday in 1917, after women's suffrage demonstrations triggered the beginning of the Russian Revolution.
Leon Trotsky wrote of that day that "meetings and actions were foreseen. But we did not imagine that this 'Women's Day' would inaugurate the revolution... But in the morning, despite the orders to the contrary [women] textile workers left their work in several factories and sent delegates to ask for support of the strike... which led to mass strike." One week later, the Emperor of Russia, Nicholas II, abdicated and the provisional government granted women the right to vote.
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