The Importance of Going to the Right Meeting: 1970s Swedish Feminists’ International Practice

In this chapter, I investigate why Grupp 8, the most prominent of the radical feminist groups in Sweden in the 1970s, was so sparse in its collaborations with other feminist organisations, both in Sweden and across Europe. I do so by using the concept of field, borrowed from the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. Looking deeper into Grupp 8’s practices, it is evident that socialism was one of the main goals of the group, the other being women’s “emancipation.” While the field of women’s movements showed positive interest in Grupp 8, making it possible for Grupp 8 to choose potential collaborators, the field of revolutionary socialism was very suspicious of them. When collaborating with organisations from within Scandinavia, Grupp 8 could identify the political tendencies of these organisations. This was not the case with international invitations, however, which led Grupp 8 to drop its participation in the main feminist gatherings of the 1970s in Europe. Going to a meeting that could later be connected to specific actors in the field of revolutionary socialism might have ruined the already weak legitimacy of Grupp 8 as a socialist group.