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Hats off to GDR women
They are on their way!

By JIM TESTER

Ever since Betty Friedan
bounced onto the North Ameri-
can scene with her ‘‘Feminine
Mystique’’ a new consciousness
about the unequal status of
women, in real terms, has been

In his discussions with German
feminist and socialist leader Clara
Zetkin, Lenin clearly pointed out
that women could never have so-
cial equality until they had
economic equality. He stressed
they had to be liberated from the
kitchen and have an equal place
and equal opportunity in the
work-place. These. discussions
were almost. 60 years ago.

This is one of the areas of social
activity in the German Dem-
ocratic Republic where fantastic
progress has been made. The
statistics are overwhelming, and
impressive in the extreme. For
example, in public life women ac-
count for more than a third of all
elected ‘representatives and
judges. Eighty-six per cent of all
women of working age are wage
earners and enjoy equal pay for
work of equal value, alongside
men. Women constitute just ab-

out half the total work force. In
the GDR colleges and universities
women have a slight edge in num-
bers, indicating they are certainly
not going to be left behind in fu-
ture social activity.

Leaders in the GDR readily
confirm there are still problems. It
is a certainty that equal rights for
women cannot be achieved over-
night. Even though those rights
for equal status of men and
women is enshrined in law in the
German socialist state, it takes a
long time to change people’s
attitudes.

It isn’t only a question of men
accepting women in nearly every
position in society, it is also a
question of women themselves
being able to handle such equali-
ty, and have a happy married and
home life besides.

Of course all talk of sex equal-
ity has to take into account the
special child-bearing role of
women. * That’s why they are bar-
red from hazardous and danger-
ous occupations, such as mining
and high rigging. On the. other
hand, women have to know their
youngsters are in good hands
while they are at work.

One in five GDR women working in industry are undergoing training.

The daycare centres in the
GDR are a source of national
pride. Scientifically conceived
and operated, they stress fun ac-
tivities, which teach children to
get along with one another as so-
cial beings, and to develop man-
ual and digital dexterity. They en-
gender a love of the arts, particu-
larly singing, painting and play-
acting. The teachers are espe-
cially trained for pre-school edu-
cational work.

While the demand for pre-
school placements has not yet
been fully met, some-58 out of
every 100 children under age 3 go
to a daycare centre; 94 of ev-
ery 100 youngsters between the

ages of 4to 6 go toakindergarten. .

Without that kind of a practical
back-up, all talk of sexual equality
would be windy rhetoric!

Resolving Women’s Problems

On the afternoon of April 13,
we met with a delegation of local

leaders of the Women’s Dem- :

ocratic Federation of Germany.
One of them was a medical doctor
and member of parliament, a very
down-to-earth type. We learned
in our lengthy discussion the
WDF plays a very active role in
the local and national life of the
people. It is particularly geared to
resolving problems of women. In
the County of Gera, for example,
the WDF operates 1,031
branches with a membership of
75,000. Their influence is much
greater than even these figures in-
dicate.

They are active in home-and-
school activities, discuss
economic plans and make sugges-
tions to government and local au-
thorities, organize seminars on
politics, culture, science and re-
creation, while carrying on indi-
vidual discussions with women
who have problems in the home
or neighborhood.

In fact, every branch of the
WDF has a consulting centre,
in. which family counselling is an
important function. They have
four committees that carry out
special tasks: 1. Home care and
appliance maintenance. 2. Prep-

. J

This new mother will be able to spend the next six months at ho
with her new baby. For any subsequent children she can stay off work
for up to a year with full pay and her job is kept waiting for her. .

aration for marriage; sexual con-

sultation; home-making; hobbies; -

folk art. 3. Family health; diet
and exercise. 4. Legal advice;
how to get a loan; how to build a
home; family affairs.

The women in the German
Democratic Republic are a pow-
erful force — and they know it.
On the basis of the job they have

~ done to help rebuild the economy
_and social structure in their coun-

try, they have earned their certain
place. Hats off to women in the
GDR! They are on their way.

* As of January 1977 maternity
leave’ was prolonged to six
months for the first child, For
second and subsequent children
working mothers are given the op-
tion of taking one year paid leavé
while having their job guaran-
teed.

Interest-free loans of 5,000
marks ($2,500) are available to
married couples, repayment
being partly or wholly remitted §
one or more children are born. In
addition 1,000 marks is given thé
mother for each child born.—Ed-

“WORK aun WAGES!”

Documentary Account of Life and Times of
Arthur Evans, Leader of the On to Ottawa Trek 1935.

81/2” x 11”, 297 pages, Trade Union Research Bureau,
138 East Cordova, Vancouver, B.C. V6A 1K7

By Ben Swankey and
Jean Evans Sheils

*

—

Does Communism come from outside?

A reader writes: ‘‘In discussing the ~

question of social change with an ac-
quaintance of mine, he took the posi-
tion that the Communist Party and
communism are alien and foreign to
_ Canada and therefore are importations

from abroad, i.e., the USSR. What do
you say to this?”

* * *

These are very important questions
that require firm rebuttal. For contrary
to those who disseminate such views,
the Communist Party and communism
are not alien or foreign to any country.
Both arise out of the day-to-day
economic and political struggles of the
working people against the exploitation
and oppression of the capitalist system.
Both, like the working class itself, are
products of the exploitative nature of
capitalism.

Fundamentally, the question of
communism is a class question and not
a national question. Consequently, it
cannot be alien to the working class. It

is the logical outcome of the economic -

and political struggle of the working
class in all countries where capitalism
rules. ‘

The conditions that make socialism
inevitable mature in the womb of
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—AUGUST 25, 1978—Page 6

Marxism-Leninism in Today’s World

‘Capitalist society, just as the conditions

that made capitalism inevitable in the
past matured in the womb of feudal soc-
iety. And, just as the capitalists waged a
revolutionary struggle against the feud-
als for their economic system, so do the
workers wage their revolutionary
struggle against the capitalists for their
system — socialism.
ee ae

The struggle to make the transforma-
tion from one socio-economic system
to another is political with the aim of
transferring political and state power
from one class to another. In making
the change from capitalism to socialism
such a transfer of power is from the
capitalists to the workers. For this
struggle the workers need their own
political party. This is reasonable. Be-
cause it would be utopian to expect the
parties of the capitalist class to preside
over the liquidation of their own sys-
tem. Neither can the workers depend
on the parties of social democracy,
such as the NDP, for they are parties of
vacilation.

The working class needs its own
party both for the day-to-day struggle to

advance their vital interests and to
carry through the transition to social-
ism. Such a party is the Communist
Party, which through its work, its
teachings, its leadership of struggles,
joins scientific socialism with the labor
movement which is essential for the
achievement of working class power

- and socialism.

* * *

There can be no-denying the fact,
that both the Communist Party and the
ideals of communism in Canada, as in
all countries, are rooted in the class
struggle of our country. There can be
no denying the fact either, that the
course of Canada’s development leads
inevitably to the replacement of capital-
ism by socialism, and the rule of the
capitalist class by that of the working
class. The same holds true for every
country still languishing under the rule
of capital.

Understandably, this fact of life does
not go down well with the capitalists.
As aconsequence they invented the big
lie that all communist parties are
foreign and alien to their particular
countries; and thai in fact such parties

are actually ‘‘sections’’ of the Com —
munist Party of the Soviet Union, and
that communism is ‘‘exported’’ by
Moscow. This brazen lie serves the 10°
terests of international capital as well aS |
the capitalists of the remaining
capitalist countries.
* * * ‘

This lie is based on a deliberate dis
tortion of the world outlook of scientifi¢
socialism which is based on the scienc&
of Marxism-Leninism. The world out
look. of communism, the highest eX"
pression of which is proletarian interna ”
tionalism, is the voluntary bond cé&
menting the unity of the internatio
working-class movement. Such solidat
ity is essential because national sec
tions of the international movement
face a common enemy — internationa
capital, while at once conducting thei!
individual national struggles against
their ‘‘own’’ capitalists.

Communist and Workers’ Parties:

- faithful to the principles of Marxism-

Leninism and to the cause of the work-
ers of their own countries, cannot bé

_ anything else but internationalist. Be"

cause working-class internationalism 1S
the iron-clad guarantee of the victory 9
socialism in all countries.