W.I.T.C.H. (organisation)

Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell, shortened W.I.T.C.H., was the name of several related but independent feminist groups active in the United States as part of the women's liberation movement during the late 1960s. The name W.I.T.C.H. was also sometimes expanded as "Women Inspired to Tell their Collective History," "Women Interested in Toppling Consumer Holidays," and many other variations.

The first WITCH group was established in New York City in October 1968. Its founders were socialist feminists, or "politicos", who had formerly been members of the New York Radical Women group. They opposed the idea advocated by radical feminists that feminist women should campaign against patriarchy alone. Instead, WITCH argued that feminists should ally with a range of left-wing causes to bring about wider social change in the United States. Various scholars have suggested that in embracing the iconography of the witch, WITCH represented forerunners of various forms of feminist-oriented modern Paganism such as Dianic Wicca.

"The most significant aspect of WITCH was its choice of central symbol: the witch. By choosing this symbol, feminists were identifying themselves with everything women were taught not to be: ugly, aggressive, independent, and malicious. Feminists took this symbol and molded it - not into the fairy tale "good witch," but into a symbol of female power, knowledge, independence, and martyrdom."

Within the women's liberation movement of the United States during the 1960s, there was a division between the "politicos" and the "radical feminists". The politicos were socialist feminists and attributed the oppression of women to capitalism, seeking to ally with other leftist causes – such as the New Left, black liberation movement, student movement, and anti-war movement – in a wider socio-political movement to bring about revolutionary change. Conversely, the radical feminists did not view women's oppression as a symptom of capitalism and wanted women's liberation to remain independent of the wider leftist movement.

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