Mallika Sengupta

Tell Us Marx

She who spun rhymes, wove blankets
The Dravidian woman who sowed wheat
In the Aryan man’s fields, reared his kids
If she isn’t worker, then what is work?



Tell us, Marx, who is a worker who isn’t
New industrial workers with monthly wages
Are they the only ones who work?
Slum life is the Industrial Age’s gift
To the worker’s housewife

She draws water, mops floors, cooks food
After daily grind at night
She beats her son and weeps
She too isn’t worker?

Then tell us, Marx, what is work!
Since housework is unpaid labour, will women ...