[page 15]
held in London in early November was the most significant since the first conference at Ruskin which set up the W.N.C.C. It was the largest with 1,700 women attending and the most positive politically. The women's liberation movement although never homogenous, has been through even a greater period of disintegration and confusion since the conference at Skegness. Most groups have been content in 'doing their own thing' with the only attempt at co-ordination at the bi-annual conferences, the only national event of any significance. The latest conference represents a new development in the movement. Women are now prepared to recognise that personal liberation is not possible without a total transformation fo society. No revolution without women's liberation, no women's liberation without revolution encapsulated the mood of the conference. Discussion therefore at the conference centred on the relationship of WLM to the trade union movement and to left wing groups. We have yet to see whether this discussion will carry forward into co-ordinated action.
It was in this atmosphere that Selma James' pamphlet "Women and the Trade Unions' was discussed and rejected. However the pamphlet had the positive effect of stimulating political discussion so lacking throughout the movement. The significant political development of the movement. A speaker from the official wing of the IRA calling for immediate withdrawal of British Troops was passed with a large majority. Other contributions included a speaker from the Indo-China Committee and an aboriginal woman who discussed the problems of her oppressed race. •Women's Liberatión and the Trade Unions' called by Two future important schools have been arranged. One on the Bristol Women's Lib group and IMG comrades who wrote the pamphlet "The Choice before us". The purpose of this school is to co-ordinate activities within unions around such issues as equal pay and to set up inter-union women's committees. The second school in early February is on 'Sexism and Capitalism'. Obviously the movement has not yet found. a new coherent policy of future aims but I think a step in the right direction has been taken for the more positive political development of the WLM which might lead once more to a more meaningful organisational development.
Wanda Maciuszko.
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