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Most of the articles in Socialist Woman deal with the oppression of women in capitalist society. But women in the bureaucratically run societies in Eastern Europe are also oppressed, Indeed, one of the clearest indications that these countries are not socialist is the oppression of women in them. They are not capitalist either, but societies in which a bureaucratic elite has taken over the working classes' decisions as to what to do with what is produced, in the name of socialism. Thus, women are supposed to be liberated, but in reality they are not, as this interview about the position of women in Czechoslorakia with Sybille Plogstedt shows. While women have some economic independence, since it is usual for almost all women to have a job, their position in the family subordinate. This is true of all East European countries, though there are variations, as Sybille shows in the last part of the interview.
At the moment in Czechoslovakia a series of purges and trials is going on that has even been criticized by the British Communist party for its injustice and a Committee for the Defence of Czechoslovak Socialists has been formed (32, Belitha Villas, London N.l. ) But these are merely a second big wave in a series of trials which have been going on ever since the Russian occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Sybille Plogstedt is a Czech-speaking German, a marxist and a revolutionary. It was at the end of 1969 that she was arrested, with a group of young Czechs, on trumped up charges of anti-social activities and undermining the State, charges of which she was found guilty in a framed trial. She spent the period until March 1971 in jail and was then expelled from the country. She keeps in close touch with Czech affairs.
Carol Riddell C.R. What is the economic position of women in CzechoslS.P. Legally, they have equal rights, but this is only a facade. There are more women doing intellectual jobs, like doctors, than in the capitalist states, but these jobs are often in lower regard and have lower pay relatively than here. Women factory workers are concentrated in less skilled jobs in the older and less productive industries like textiles. where, since they work old machines, they cannot produce much and so get low wages. Not only this, but in some factories women doing the same work as men get less wages - this is justified on the groundsthat, for example, since they are more frequently absent, they are less efficient workers, and thus deserve a lower rate. They certainly aren't in positions of management either. I have never ever heard of a woman factory director in Czechoslovakia.
C.R. What about their political position?
S.P. Women are practically excluded from the structure of power and decision making in Czechoslovakia. There are no women on the Political Bureau of the Communist Party, and very few in the regional committees. Only at the local level are women represented in any numbers, and there they are in a small minority. There are one or two organisations for women, but these are totally bureaucratic, and merely co-ordinate with similar organisations in other East European countries. C.R. If women are subordinated in economic and political life, is the same true in the family?
S.P. The situation for ordinary working women in Czechoslovakia is quite difficult. Even the official ideology supports the idea that shopping, hosuework and bringing up children are women's jobs, rather exclusively. Shopping is quite time consuming, as there are insufficient shops and the distribution system is erratic, involving long waits and queueing. Although there are more kinder-gartens, than in the west, there aren't enough, and sor for many families, grandmother is still the childminder, with all that means in distorting theducation of the young children. The most repressive family forms are in the rural areas, especially in Slovakia and among the minority national groups, Hungarians, etc. In some villages marriage is still a very great ceremony. It can last for 3 days to a week. But where there is not such pressure from cultural attitudes, divorce is not legally difficult to obtain.
CR A there social provision for contraception and S.P. Again, the practice is very different from the theory. For instance, contraceptives, including the pill are supposed to be freely available, but often they aren't obtainable for months on end, so unless you lay in a good supply you've had it. Abortion is available, but is hedged round with restrictions. You must appear before a commission of doctors and have to be able to show that your "case" meets certain criteria - for instance, if the baby would be illegitimate, if you are unable to support it, if the father has an incurable disease. There is a possibility of appeal from one commission to another, but the decision of the second commission is final. In practice abortion is quite restricted. Incidentally, the combination of economic subordination and cultural inferiority encourages quite widespread prostitution: especially in bigger hotels catering for western guests. Many of the women in jail with me were prostitutes, and although sentences are heavy, the regime utilizes prostitution with a job, one is much less likely to get arrested than if it is done full time, as not having a job is likely to lead to immediate investigation - groups such as gipsies are persecuted under this legislation too. Many of the prostitutes are young - it is the fastest way for a woman to get a lot of money in Czechoslovakia.
CR. What do you think would have been the impact of the developments of spring "68 in regard to the position of women? I talked to some Czech economists at the time who quite cynically spoke of increasing efficiency and reducing surplus labour by pushing women back into the family. S.P. That may have been so, but since then the regime has not been able to modernize and industry remains labour intensive, so there is a shortage of workers not too many. In fact it was the development of organs of dual power in the workers' councile of 1968 that could have led to the increased participation of women and demands for an improved position in society generally, but these did not express themselves as separate demands at the time - after all even in the USA and Britain, the women's movement had hardly begun developing then. So women became involved in a total oppositional position rather than one relating to their sectional demands.
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C.R Is the situation the same now?
S.P. Certainly. There is absolutely no possibility for women to oppose their subordination through their own organisations. They are either forced back into passivity or into total opposition. Since the regime's official propaganda hardly ever concerns itself with the question of women at all, it does not seem that they are worried about this matter/ yet, in contrast to East Germany, where there has been a considerable easing in the divorce laws, attacks on traditional household roles and even the encouragement of a limited process of conscious development of women stimulated by the party.
C.R Nhy do you think that this i?
In support of the continuing urgent need for the solidarity of all socialists with the struggle in Ireland, we are publishing a report S.P. The Czech working woman is relatively culturally isolated from outside influences, whereas in East Germany the possibility of a peace treaty makes it not unlikely that a vast increase of communication between West German And East German families may take place. Since the West German hausefrau is better off gadget-wise than the East German, perhaps only the conscious idea of a different style of life can protect the regime from being subject to serious discontent from women there; so it is prepared to stimulate reform itself. That is not so in Czechoslovakia. There, any opposition by women to their position must take on the character of a direct opposition to the whole bureaucratic regime.
Republican movement, the International Marxist Group,