[page 15]
INTRODUCTION The position of women in the Eastern Europe workers states, of which the following document gives us a picture, reflects the economic contradictions and political problems that these countries have faced and continue to face. It must be seen in the perspective of the general distortions which have resulted from over-centralised bureaucratic management in the countries of the Soviet economic bloc. The writer's introductory statement is misleading; it is true that the political regimes in these countries have no more effected the liberation of women than capitalist regimes, but this should not imply that they are a kind of capitalisn. a statement would be incorrect. In the immediate post-war period workers in some of these countries gained a limited degree of democratie control over the means of production and productive Since the Conmunist Parties' processes. "cake-over" of these coutries in this period, such control as existed was rapilly lost and political power appropriated by the Communist Parties which were already bureaucratically organised. was because they cane under the economic and political control of the Soviet Communist regime, which was consolidating its own economic bloc in opposition to the Western Marshall programme. Stalinist C.l. of the Soviet Union was anti-revolutionary, viz its policies in relation to China and Yugoslavia at that time, and its ideology of "Socialism in one country" was desigued to protect and safeguard its own existence. As a result of bureaucratised central control severe distortions became apparent in the economies of these countries. In Czechoslovakia, the most industrially advanced, the proportion of reinvestment in heavy industry increased from 570 in 1918, Lo 11.56 in 1965 to 47% in 1966. The rigid policy of the pro-Soviet C.l'. war concentration on heavy induxtry at any price. Light industry consequently suffered, with very little resources allocated to it for development. These industries of course, as ve see, are where there is a high proportion of women workers. Czechoslovakia could nut provide For such yet to be made.
This by 1900.
reformA The and machinery. Tatiana Konkina, Russian engineering student, training at Elek trosta/ Heavy Engineering Works near Moscow, Russia's high proportion of women engineers is a positive achievement, but the real changes are [Photo: Soviet Weekly] oil, metallurgy and power for the rest of the Soviet bloc without her own standard of living declining. This is what was happening in the years preceding 1968, In 1948, two-thirds of the national income was spent on providing for people's needs, e.g. consuner goods and social servicer; this declined to only one-lalf The period of "liberalisation" from about 1966 in Czechoslovakia saw the proposal of radical nes economic and the growth of a new workers' movement, both encouraged by the relaxation of political control. de we know, Warsaw Pact tovasion in 1968 prevented any further developments of the workers' movement which was posing the possibility oF a political revolulion. Centralised management and fight political control was with great difficulty recstablished. But the ceonomic crisis, which had stimulated the period of liberalisation still had to be dealt with, The ouly way in which the bureaucracy couli and still can ktimulate the economy is by increasing incentives to the middle layers of the bureaucracy, i.e. the managers, scientific workers etc, to "make industry profitable". A manager is thus encouraged to streamline his workforce and economise on the use of materials It follows from this that women, as we
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know from our own experience, are pushed out of the work-force when there are economies to be made. Hence the unemployment of women at the present time, There is still a shortage of consumer goods because of the inability of the bureaucracy to deal with the allocation of resources, there is an increasing differential between workers and managers' wages which increases social inequality, and, most important of all, the power and control of managers is increased at the expense of the workers, It is also not surprising to find that social facilities such as nurseries and creches are totally inadequate since this is hardly likely to come very high on the list of priorities of the managing bureaucratic elite.
In addition to the economic crises, the political and ideological crisis of Stalinism must be recognised. Especially since 1968 the majority of people in Czechoslovakia de not believe what the newspapers say; they tend to think the opposite, Hence the effect of a "call" from the Communist Party to women to take office can be predicted. In itaelf the invasion of Czechoslovakia has aggravated the tensions of Stalinism beyond the borders of that countryThe workers of Poland and Hungary have not forgotten their own treatment in 1956. The Soviet Union's own apologetic reason for the invasion, the threat of restoration of capitalism, in itself raises the question, how after twenty years of communism is the threat of counter revolution so imminent that it needs a military invasion to neutralise the counter-revolutionary forces? The effect of communism must indeed be poor! This war of course not the reason for the Women canning crabs on board a Russian factory ship. with her similar positions. invasion of Czechoslovakia, as I indicated before, but these ideological contradictions are faced by the working people in the countries of Eastern Europe all the time.
This helps us to understand the context in which the oppression of our sisters in East Europe exists, We can see that this oppression is a political oppression by a usurping bureaucracy, in which women have the responsibilities for their children and home, for which enough social provisions have not been made by the present regime. The workers can only organise their society for the benefit of everyone when they have regained political control from the bureaucrats. Perhaps the potential for this is greater than we imagine; but the practical difficulties are enormous. The experience of Czechoslovakia shows us that the political revolution cannot succeed in one country alone. It must spread, in particular to the Soviet Union where there are very small signs that this is beginning. We must develop a greater understanding of the nature of the oppression of our sisters in the East European workers states in order to work towards a revolutionary movement which can liberate working people.
I do not know of any dictum more appropriate to describe the situation of women in Eastern Europe than that of Marx: "Capitalism has not torn the woman from the hearth and has not thrown her into social activity in order to proceed emancipation, but to exploit her more savagely tran man." Por the fifties have seen in most of these countries - we exelude here the Soviet Union - a pressure developed to force women out of their homes into wage labour - a drive parallel to forced collectivization carried out at the same time. Under the slogan of "equal rights" women suddenly got the same right as far as hard work was concerned, without regard to their "home" duties, to child bearing and education and with smaller salaries than men holding the same or At present women represent 40% of the Labour force in Poland, 43% in Bulgaria, degree - mostly light industries like textiles, show production, food processing ete. By coincidence, these industries have suffered most by the policy of preferring heavy industry with the consequence that they have the most
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obsolete machinery which in turn demands from the women far more hard work than men have to perform. A woman delegate at the recent congress of the Czechoslovak C.P. told the congress: "The machinery in our textile enterprise is 70% obsolete. Consumer industry in our district has two-thirds obsolete machinery." Bulgarian research has also shown that, with the exception of mining, industries. with greatest percentage of those in which women prevail: hosiery mills, tobacco industry, shoe and synthetic rubber production.
In spite of their numbers, however, women seldom advance to higher posts. Poland, most branches of the metal industry are entirely - or to a very high degree - feminised, but women represent only 0,6% of the foremen! Hungarian experience, but also that of other countries, shows lower wage earnings for women holding the same occupations as men do.
Poland is the only country within the that has official unemployment records. According to recent data, 85,000 women are looking for work, while there are only 22,000 vacancies. plan for 1971-1975 as proposed under Gomulka (it has been greatly changed since) has foreseen no employment for about a quarter of a million girls coming out of school during this period. (In the Warsaw region alone there were 9,000 women waiting to be employed at the end of last May with no provision for the 18,000-19,000 school-leavers scheduled to come out of school in July/August. The relief creches and kindergartens to provide for employed mothers are insufficient. In Poland again, only 15% of those applying for vacant places for for creches and 50% of those for kindergarten were satisfied.
As far as working conditions are concerned, there is a lot to be desired.
Czechoslovakia night-work for women is prohibited, there is no hope for such a measure in Hungary for the next decade. Poland is preparing some measures limiting the night-work of women. ilecently, a Polish newspaper complained that in the south-eastern part of the country women having finished their shift on Saturday night are left without transport facilities. They either have to wait 5-7 hours for the next bus or have to go by foot quite a few kilometres before reaching home. After they leave their workplace, they have a "second shift" at home. In hours of the day.
it.
sickness are children's textiles.
In bottlenecks. enough."
While in them still more.
states, read:
Leon Trotsky:
Dave Ridell: Poland, home and wage labour of an employed woman takes between 15 and 17 30% of these women leave their home in the morning without having breakfast - there is no time for In Hungary, an employed woman needs about 30 hours for her housework weekly. No wonder - queues have not disappeared in Eastern Europe since the last wir. reader complained recently in a Czechoslovak paper: her town, a district capital in Northern Bohemia with aboul 14,000 inhabitants, has only two shops of delivered twice a month. Battles are then fought in front of the shop. "1 get underwear for my seven-year-old daughter rarely, " says the reader. Another one writes: "1 have Lo spend 90 minutes buying food alone." A Slovak woman living in a regional capital of 40,000 inhabitants: "Services are insufficient, creches and kindergartens are There is, however, not a single woman either on the distriel or the regional administrative couneil. We have had enough of flowers and flattering words at the March 8th celebrations (International Women's Day celebrated throughout the Soviet bloe). That is not It is significant after a quarter of a century of "socialism" to hear these words. The Communist Parties, anxious to have women's support for their expisiting policies, are now pressing for a greater participation of women in public offices. However, their own example in striking: the different commiltees of the recent Congress of the Czechoslovak C.P. has had between one-ninth and one-fifth women delegates only. There is not a single woman in either the Czechoslovak, Polish or itumanian governments.
This bird's eye view gives a rather fragmentary picture of the problem. But it proves sufficiently that far from giving equal rights to women, the so-called "socialist" states have put in many respects a greater burden on them than capitalism has, and continue to exploit (From the Neus & Letters Women's Liberation Committee).
For more information on "socialism" in Russia and the East European THE REVOLUTION BETRAYED (E1.25)
THE CLASS NATURE OF THE SOVIET STATE IN DEFENCE OF MARXISM (E1.05) (20p) STALINISM AND BOLSHEVISM (15p)
MANIFESTO OF THE REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST PARTY OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA (4p)
IS THE SOVIET UNION STATE CAPITALIST? (3p)
[page 18]
REVIEWS continued:
Zander says it is the first book he has been involved with which is not critical of the law and does not make proposals for change, The book accepts the law as it is, but as such it explains in simple terms how the law operates in England and (It does not apply to Scotland). It is the first law book to include a description of the terms and immediate implications of the Industrial Relationa Act and of the Immigration Bill, although a few amendments have been made latter since the book went to press, The book does not restrict itself simply to statutes and precedents, but covers court procedure, the powers of the police how to complain against solicitors and the police, and also deals with such matters as social security benefits and tax, which are outside the immediate scope of the law. Apart from anything else, it is a useful handbook for Claimants Union operators.
Hilary Brazen Film Review: "DIARY OF A MAD HOUSEWIFE" Tina is the wife of a very successful and snobish New York lawyer, who is also one of the biggest male chauvinists ever to be portrayed as such on the screen, Usually, the behaviour of men towards is so much taken for granted that the (usually) male presenters of f1lm would never dream of criticising it. Tina's life is ruled, on the one hand, by her husband's demands - that she make more of herseli, that she stop snowing him up, that she gives a great party to impress the people who really matter, that she brings their daughters up right, ad nausea - and on the other hand, by the trappings of her husband's success -the endless gadgets, even the servants. In an effort to escape from the impossible demands of her life. Tina falls into another trap and has an affair with another variety of male chauvinist, who sees women only as sex objects and has evolved a technique of getting them flocking into his bed. Only someone as desperate as Tina - and as innocent -would not have recognised his ploys for the polished technique they were. Where this film scores so magnificently is in the way in which one can instantly identify with the heroine. One may not have actually met a prize boor-cum-nagcum-compulsive talker like Tina's husband or one of the world's all time gifts to women, like George, although most of us will recognise elements of one or the other in some man we know; but_what 1a instantly recognisable is Tina's reaction, The dialogue is superb. One just knows that it is exactly what one would have said in the same situation - or would have liked to have said. And it is all done with such humour and truth that one is always kept interested. Some moments of the film are so shocking, 1,e. shock one's susceptibilities, that the audience gasp, mainly at moments when the cool cheek of one of the two men hite home a little too hard, It was mostLy the men who were gasping). Personally, 1 found lover-boy more true to life than the husband, but an American girl who saw the film with me found the husband more typical of American men. Tina is not one of America's underprivileged women - in fact, part of her trouble is that she is overprivileged. But she is of the stuff of which the women's liberation movement in the States and our understanding of that movement and its wealnesses maj be increased by seeing this film, Tina does not break our of her prison; the f1lm keeps very close to the book right up to the end and neither of the two endings resolves her problems. The f1lm does not set out to be an analysis of the problems of Americian society and so cannot give an answer, but within the context of what it seeks to do, the film is highly successful and highly enjoyable and much recommended. Do take a man along with you, he might even learn something!
In the last issue, we published a poem on "Working Wives " by a DATA member (without permission, for which toe apologise). The author of the poem, Mrs. Jennifer Mcintosh, sends us the following piece on a related subject, which also appeared in the DATA Journal:
EQUALITY?
Who does not wish to lead a life of happiness without the strife?
If we're content, we just stagnate, but when provoked retaliate.
Some want more cash, and some their rights:
A million reasons for our fights; To air one's views and have your say.
A union's meeting's the finest way.
Equal Pay is all the rage They're more concerned about their wage; But EQUAL RIGHTS is what / crave, Within the law, to spend or save.
He wants a car, and one he gets, but YOU keep working to pay the debts!!!
What use more money, when you find YOU cannot spend it-till your husband's signed?
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C38.
Whilst shopping...
\BE SILLY DON'T LUV-WE'RE NOT OPPRESSED!
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----- pull-quotes -----
46.2% in Czechoslovakia, 40% in Hungary, 48% in East Germany. Entire industries are feminized to an unusually high
children were satisfied. In lungary the situation is better: 40% of applications
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1 SHOULD'VE REALISED AGES AGO