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a women's liberation newspaper : fPedestal Vancouver, B.C. . Volume III. No. 3 March. 1971 .15 page two/pedestal/march, 1971 ON STRIKE On February 11, ten thousand textile workers, mostly women, closed down Lodz, Poland with sit-down strikes. On February 15, the Polish government revoked the price increases it had announced in December. The increases in consumer prices had led to strikes by shipyard workers in December. They demanded a reversal of the increase and a reorganization of decision-making to give workers a say in national policy. Their actions brought significant concessions from the government: recognition of democratically elected workers' committees and recognition of the right to strike. However, the price increases remained. And Polish women felt them most severely. Women workers in Poland (as here) are concentrated in low-wage industries like textiles; seventy percent of the four million Polish working women are married and housewives still bear primary responsibility for children . and for feeding and clothing the whole family. Last fall thousands of housewives participated in demonstrations protesting food shortages and long queues for food and consumer goods. polish women On February 5, when delegates from the shipyard workers met with head of state Gierec, they told him: "You have- convinced us you are with us. Now we must convince our wives!:: The women workers of Lodz were not convinced. When they struck on February 11, they demanded a 15% wage increaseto match the price increases. A four-man delegation from the Polit Bureau, headed by Premier Jaroszewicz, spent 18 hours trying to convince the women they were being "unrealistic." But the women stuck to their guns. The demand they had made for themselves was granted to every worker in Poland on February 15—the reversal of the price increases. The success of this action may well lead to other actions by Polish working women. The establishment of public ownership of industry and the planned economy ("communism") opened many occupations to women for the first time. Women now make up 40% of the Polish work force. But Polish women not only continue to bear the responsibility for housework and childcare, they are still used as cheap labor. On February the Trade Union Federation announced a program to improve the position of women workers by increasing the number of jobs open to women, opening managerial positions to women, improving vocational training and establishing kindergartens and day care centers. These inadequate proposals could not prevent the sit-down The Polish government fears that the successful textile workers' strike will encourage both women and men workers to act rather than wait for the government or the union leadership to solve their problems. To discourage further independent action, they issued a communique on February6: "There is absolutely no further possibility of decreasing prices' of increasing wages. Any further step would verge on ' s irresponsibility." Union Ignores Women The Workers' Control Conference was interrupted in a positive way on Saturday, October 24 by a representative of night cleaners in London who had come "to shame the Transport and General Workers' Mrs. May Hobbs had been sent by her fellow women workers because for some weeks they had been trying to organise themselves as members of that union, in the face of the employers' intimidation, but had received very little help from the union. This, the women felt, was because they were women, and were counted as unimportant by the T&GWU. Their conditions meant the greatest effort was needed from the union. As night cleaners they work from 10 p.m. to 6 or 7 a.m. Their take home pay for a five night week is 7 Pounds. They receive neither sick pay or holiday money. The employer can sack them on the spot though they must give one week's notice if they leave. The employers enforce a system of cover work, whereby a woman must do the work of any woman who is away, plus her own work, in the same time. However, she will receive less than half the proper rate of pay for the additional work she has done. British Union Ignores Women Workers Eight years ago these same women attempted to join the union, but were defeated by the employers. In spite of intimidation and threat of the sack, and union indifference, forty women have already joined in this recent campaign. May Hobbs herself has been sacked and blacklisted because of this. She is now unable to get a cleaning job in London, but is determined to unionise as many women as possible. Two office blocks in the Victoria area; the ITV House-, and women cleaners scattered in various districts have been unionised. The women feel deep frustration and anger at the indifference of the union. Mr. Hobbs travelled to Birmingham with her children in the hope of contacting, at the conference, the elusive union leadership. In her recruitment of women workers she has been helped by Women's • Liberation groups in London, who, night by night, leafleted office blocks. The women at the Workers' Control Conference who heard this story were furious at this further example of the maltreatment of female workers by the union movement. They put forward a resolution which urged all Trade Unionists to pay the maximum attention to,the needs of women workers. Jo O'Brian e u a I : Out of 9 n have trade eap labour, is to provide the istrial base and 5, is the National n o m y We all feel strongly the urgent need for a dynamic movement to gain equal pay for Britains's working women. British women suffer the largest differential between male.and female wages anywhere in Europe. More than 4 million get less than 5 shillings an hour and one in 25 get over 10 shilling ar million working women less than 2 n union protection. They are use^d i super-exploited, degraded because > "value" in capitalist society. The one organization which | necessary impetus, resources, i contacts for a struggle on this i; Joint Action Campaign Committee for Women's Equal Rights (NJACWER). Socialist Woman has reported its activities and urged support for it since its formation. It held a successful national e;qual pay demonstration, providesd literature; and spe;ake;rs. The-, outgoing chairwoman, Audrey Hunt, stated that the;y lelt the campaign was worth continuing because the: Equal Pay Bill doesn't really give Equal Pay Now. The; Bill give-s the e^mpfoyeTS 5 years in which to squeeze-, out frerni its provisions by removing men from areas whe-re- women exiuld eonce-ivably be doing the- same we>rk. We again urge wejme-n te> suppeirt *and join this organization. , Vol. 2 No. e Bill (1/5) . w o M E N 1 -■■■ -" - - - "- - Y march, 1971/pedestal/page three International Women's Day, March 8, commemorates the militant activity of women in industry in the early 1900's and specifically a strike called by socialist women of the garment industry in New York on March 8, 1908. Clara Zetkin, a leader of the German Socialist Party, made a motion at the meeting of the congress of the Second International in 1910 that March 8 be declared International Women's Day. It was declared an international working class holiday in honor of wome CELEBRATE! Celebrations of International Women's Day, March 8th, are planned for the whole month of March—after all women deserve more than one day! . Join the celebration of women's continuing struggles by attending a special series every Monday on women around the world. The series features the Women's Theatre and films from North Vietnam. March 8 Women's Liberation in Other Countries A short talk (full of facts and anecdotes) followed by a feature film from North Vietnam—"Sister Tom's Pine INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY!!! March 15 Women in Wars and Revolutions Die of how social upheaval and social change affect women. Maybe a movie. March 22. Mothers and Children A talk or talks on childrearing and lifestyles in other cultures. With "Youth" a short North Vietnamese film about a children's puppet troupe. March 29 Women's Liberation in Canada Lots of information about the movement here plus a special appearance (they don't make any ordinary ones) by the Theatre Group. Mondays, 8:00 p.m. 511 Carrall (Caucus Office) FREE GREETINGS from VIETNAM ceived for 1970 celebrations. Friends the world over, On the occasion of the 60th International Women's Day we send you our most cordial greetings. We extend our most sincere thanks to our sister, friends, and all peace and justice-loving women in the world for their firm and continuous support to our people's just struggle against American imperialist aggression. by the whole world. Numberless old folks and small children have been exterminated—in the ricefields, along the banks of irrigation canals, on the roadside. Numberless women, before falling to the guns of the Americans and their agents, have been forced to witness the death of their own children and listen to their screams* Dear friends, A year after Nixi The N shrunk fro took office, in its en o be perpet- patriotic i am with an rated in South Vie intensity and on a scale greater than ever. The American government continues to introduce into South Viet Nam millions of tons of bombs and shells and tens of thousands of tons ^of noxious chemicals to sow death and suffering there. Villages and hamlets have been razed to the ground, and civilians massacred in Ba Lang An, Kong H'Ring, T.hang Binh, My Tho, Tay Nguen, on the same pattern as the infamous Son My massacre, which is being condemned n no barbarous methods leavour to repress the lovement of the South people in an attempt to Vietnamize the aggressive war in Viet Nam,and has obstinately clung to the rotten puppet regime in the hope of imposing a U.S. neo-colonialist regime on South Viet Nam. It has refused to withdraw all American troops from South Viet •eignty a Democratic Republic of Viet Nam, bombed and shelled provinces south of the former Fourth Zone, prevented the Paris Conference from making any progress, and refused to discuss the correct political solutions to the Viet Nam problem put forward by the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet Nam and the Government of the Democratic Republic of But however obstinate the American aggressors, they have been unable to cope with the invincible strength of our people's was. The Vietnamese people have continued to reap great and all-sided victories. Our fellow- countrymen in the South continue to act on the offensive and to drive the American aggressors into a position or irretrievable defeat. Dear friends, You have actively contributed to those great victories of the Vietnamese people. At present our people's struggle is entering a decisive stage. We urgently call on you to severely denounce and condemn the American imperialists' schemes and crimes against our aggressive war in Viet Nam, abstain from all encroachments on the overeignty and security of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam, withdraw speedily and completely all American troops and troops of foreign countries on the American ide from South Viet Nam without asking for any conditions whatsoever, and leave the South Vietnamese people to settle their own internal problems without any foreign inter- Now more than ever, give your all-out support, both material and moral, to the women and people of Viet Nam in their struggle to wrest back their nation's sacred rights, so that the women and children of Viet Nam may soon enjoy peace in genuine independence. The Vietnamese people's just struggle, benefiting from the wholehearted support of progressive women and people all over the world, will certainly be victorious. The American imperialists will certainly suffer complete failure. VIET NAM WOMEN'S UNION Y''"
' "" ' -■---•-:■-.- OUR INDO A Smile I made a long trip From one end ofthe sky To the other. One evening the colour of dark 'coffee I crossed the threshold That separated peace from war. I was afraid my eyes would fall Into a well filled with tears, And meet the gaze ofthe dead. But when dawn exploded, like a grenade, An exhausted woman smiled to me, The foreign visitor. In her smile, o crucified Viet Nam, I saw thy suffering, thy tenderness, and thy strength. Her smile had sent me from one end of life To the other. Blaga Dimitrovna Bulgarian poetess The War Sometimes we stop reading about Vietnam because we want to escape from the horrors and the brutality or because we feel discouraged that no matter what we do, the war goes on and on. But we should and we must keep up with the events of the war— the following is a brief 01 There is not now, nor has there ever been, an American policy for ending the war in Indochina. The goal of military victory has determined all policy decisions since military advisors were sent to Vietnam, strategic hamlets were constructed, a full-scale invasion was mounted, and when that failed, a massive bombing and chemical assault on the countryside of South Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Only the words to, hide Amer^cVs^ntent^have - changed. Many of us wanted to believe Nixon when he promised, two years ago, to withdraw the troops from Vietnam. Today, it is painfully clear the promises were meant to dissipate dissent at home while the army attempted to win the war. Perhaps the endless newspaper and television reports, in the newly-developed technical language of the Pentagon, about defoliation, anti-personnel weapons, body counts, fire zones, strategic hamlets and Vietnamization have de-sensitized us to the horrors those words describe. 1 million dead and w funded military personnel 3 million dead and v vounded civilians 7 million refugees half the population of South Vietnam kil wounded or displaced. WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON IN INDOCHINA Vietnamization does not mean letting the Vietnamese run their own country. Vietnamization is :ptable" American casualties by having the Vietnamese fight on the ground while Americans kill from the air. The Americans are withdrawing troops but they do not tell us they are only withdrawing combat troops and plan to leave more that 200,000 support troops to run the increased number of planes, helicopters and other death machines. Vietnamization is a cover-up word for total devastation of the countryside from the air. More than 10 million tons of bombs have been dropped on South Vietnam. While Nixon calls for an end to the production of biological weapons, American planes, spraying chemicals, have totally destroyed 3,211,000 acres of cultivated fields, seriously poisoned 70,000 people and killed 1,000 people. About one-fifth of South Vietnamese pregnant women give birth to deformed children as a result of being exposed to the chemicals. AU this in the name of defoliation. The war of destruction has been extended to Cambodia and Laos. By 1970 more bombs had been dropped in Laos than in both Vietnams. A Laotian peasant describes the bombing: "When I was in my cave, I would just sit there in the dark thinking: Oh please don't let the planes come anymore, don't let the planes come anymore, don't let the planes come ;. Oh Please." Pacification is another popular word to detract attention from the American's attempt to wipe out the population. The Americans face the problem that guerillas and the population cannot be separated—the vast majority of the peasants in the countryside support the struggle against American domination. As one American soldier put it: "To kill the enemy it. . . appears that one must kill the entire population." In an attempt to divide the guerillas and the population, the Americans bomb a village, round up any survivors and force; them into new hamle:ts with barbed wire fences and spiked moats. The peasants' crops and homes are burned to deny them to the NLF. Anyone outside: a "pacified" hamlet is considered the enemy and fair game. Thousands die of starvation in these hamlets and re:fuge:e camps because corrupt government officials filter off any money intended for food. The invasion into. Cambodia was de:scribe;d as a tactic to rout out North Vietnamese bases. But in fact the invasion was an attempt to shore: up the: US-backed Lon Nol regime. More than half of the countryside and two-thirds of the: population of Cambodia are: in the hands of the; popularly-based National United Front of Cambodia. In order to protect US interests, nol, as they say to prole-el the people: from communism, Nixon ordered the: The increased bombing and invasion of Laos is said to cut off supplies from the North. But surely the US government sees the Pathet Lao guerilla force, numbering 50,000, as a threat to the "stability" of Laos. In fact, a potential peace settlement between the Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Government was possible in January before it was sabotaged by the US escalation. American propaganda would have us believe the guerillas survive by means of force alone. But any research into guerilla movements reveals that guerillas cannot survive without the active support of the population. And the;-guerillas are supported because the people have suffered years of exploitation under the French and now the Americans. Listen to peasants in a Laotian village: "I don't even know where America is," says a peasant woman whose daughter has just been killed and who has lost all her belongings. Another peasant remarked: "Before I understood nothing about what was said against American aid, against the US. After the raids on my village, I know what they mean." An. American diplomat concisely described American policy in Indochina. "To make progress in this country, it is necessary to level everything. The inhabitants must go back to zero, lose their traditional culture, for it blocks everything." f>$Mi Progress for whom? Ngo Cong Due, a deputy in the National Assembly, who was elected on a pro-Thieu, pro-war slate in 1967, demanded in September, 1970, an immediate end to the war, immediate withdrawal of all American troops and a peace settlement much like that of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam.. "The US has transformed the South Vietnamese market into a one:-way consumers market. Contraband American goods are inundating the markets," he said. "Ofthe 17 million people currently living in South Vie:tnam, as many as 2 million live on war profits by serving the interests of the: US. . .The experience of the- past few ye:ars has led the South Vietnamese- lo this conclusion: the purpose of American aid is to force the Vietnamese population lo become: totally de-pendent on the: United Stales." Listen to Americans. US News and .World Report, 1954: le: of the: world's r in Indochina. Tin US sees it as a place; ;he:st area rubber, r march, 1971/pedestal/page five SISTERS IMPERIALISM IS: —a prostitute for every GI in Vietnam —welfare mothers living below the poverty level and being told they are lazy bums —a Vietnamese woman being blown up when three GI's rammed a live grenade into her vagina because she could not give them ehrections —workers forced to accept low wages and unemployment to control inflation while no controls are made on high prices and high profits. —mothers teaching their children—"your country, right or wrong." Lodge, former Henry Cabot Vietnam, 1965: "He who holds or has influence in Vietnam can affect the future of the Phillipines and Formosa to the east, Thailand and Burma with their huge rice surpluses to the west, and Malaysia and Indonesia with their rubber, oil and tin to the south. Vietnam thus does not exist in a geographical vacuum—from it large storehouses of wealth and population can be influenced and undermined." We, as women, know first hand the same economic system which is destroying the Vietnamese in order to control Vietnam. We feel it when we try to support families on a meagre paycheck. We know those who control industry are only concerned about profit—not human need. When we need houses and decent medical care, the Canadian and American governments invest money in bombers and biological research stations such as the one at Suffield, Alberta. American capitalism as we have seen from the above quotes, needs to have access to increasing raw materials, market and investment outlets in the third world in order to maintain itself. The system which exploits us as women, workers and mothers is willing to destroy the population of Indochina in order to control their resources and markets. The same system uses blacks and immigrants as cheap labor. It represses dissent and rebellion at home and abroad and the repression will increase to any degree necessary to maintain the empire. We have been divided by the capitalists—we think . our enemy is each other. Whites fight blacks, men fight women, unemployed fight the employed. But we are now beginning to understand who the real enemy is, now we know we must understand each other's struggles in order to unite against our common, enemy. And we will win. The Indochinese are winning—they defeated the French at Dienbienphu in 1954, only to be faced with American aggressors attempting to do what the French failed to do. The Americans have escalatedthe war in. response to each new defeat—will they ultimately escalate to the use of nuclear weapons in order to win the war? The Vietnamese are winning a war against the superior-technology and might of the most powerful nation in the world. They have a more powerful weapon—a people embued with a consciousness and determination to control their own lives. We fear not heaven nor earth, For a thousand families Have become one family, And though for three years Heaven denies us rain, See how our land has water And golden flowers laughing. Laiwu, Shantung children with straw hats to protect them from shell splinters The Plough and The Rifle . . .The Bato co-op members lay their rifles down on the terraces of ricefields and harvesting is resumed. The fields are fragrant with ripe paddy ears and new-mown hay; infectious laughter can be heard while the; rice-husking machine keeps roaring. The faces of people, grave; but not worried, reflect their confidence. Now that many men are away, the young girls really are responsible; for the countryside; they work hard but sing and joke all day long. Before visiting that region submitted to daily bombings, I thought that I would find there sadness and de-.solation; there are; in fact ruins and mourning which fill our hearts with hatred for the enemy. We. sometimes se;e; houses re;duce;d to ashes, and the tender bodies of children crushed by the ememy's bombs; but the; most vivid souvenir I have of Bato is the; expression on the>se; fae:e>s so full of confidence and optimism. Nguyen Phu Cuong tesps e six/pedestal/march, 1971 STories Prom vieTnam The Reprinted from "Women of Viet Nam" rising sun found them already gathered around their range-table for practice. Learning to fire heavy guns was truly difficult compared with what they had gone through when drilling with infantry weapons. The best-educated of them had barely finished junior secondary school. Yet they had to face complex calculations onrange,angle, direction... which they had to complete in a matter of seconds. The physical efforts required were tremendous: the breech of the gun weighs 32 kilograms,and each shell 16 kilograms! Training was no simple matter. Air raids were frequent: enemy aircraft often swarmed in like flies. Practising with a mock-up vessel towed along the beach was not^ quite satisfactory; for instance, it was not bobbing up and down like a real vessel on the water! And so Political Commissar Tran Thi Than proposed that a raft go out to sea and be used as target. The first time such a raft went out, it was rowed by Than herself and a few other girls. It went about 3-4 kilometres off shore and sailed up and down a long time. The following days, it again went out, with other crews. The girls also used every passing boat as practice target. When they fought their first battle, many were deafened by the reports of the guns and could not hear the shouted orders. So they started using a tocsin. It served to relay the commander's firing orders. Also during that first battle," the enemy ship, which four salvoes of our coastal guns had set afire, hit back frantically. At the same time, enemy planes dropped bombs and rockets. The earth shook. Tongues of flames erupted from earth and sky. A gun was buried under the sand, its barrel stopped. Gunner Dinh rushed out with the rammer. Battery commander Giao took off her jacket and used it to clean shells, both the shells and the cleaning "rags being sprinkled with sand. Tat, the No.- 3 gunner',*was wounded but refused to leave her post. Battery commander Gang suffered a wound in the forehead .but continued to issue firing orders, contenting herself with wiping away the dripping blood. That, who at 16 was the youngest member of the unit, kept loading the gun with heavy shells' refusing to be replaced although her hands were badly blistered. Political Commissar Than and Nurse Thoai rushed to the ammunition dump as it burst into flames and together with other gunners, shovelled sand on the fire and smothered it. Then the battle was over, the girls looked at each other and, burst out laughing: their hair was tousled, their clothes bedraggled, their faces blackened, and their ears deafened! Since then, they have gone a long way toward learning to handle big coastal defence guns. At the date of May 16, 1968, barely half a year after the founding of their unit, they had set ablaze three nerican war vessels. But they have not grown complacent and keep training hard, standing ready to fulfil anv task entrusted to them. Everyone in Quang Binh province knows about and is proud of the women gunners of Ngu Thuy village, who are credited with many hits on intruding American war vessels. This coastal artillery unit is composed of young militiawomen, the oldest being 23. On my first visit, I came at a moment when Tran i Quyen, the No. 1 gunner of Battery 4, was talking to her comrades about how to take accurate sight. She showed them how to move their feet and hands A small mock-up vessel was being towed along the beach. The gunners used it as a target for drilling in taking sight. Chap ordered it stopped and set about checking the range-finder, spirit level, and collimator. "The range-finder and spirit level are all right," she said, "but the cross hairs aren't accurately set. Now tell me, when you aim your gun at a real vessel, where do you put the cross hairs?" Three or four girls raised their hands. "All right," said Chap "let Xu, No. 3 gunner, give me the an- "The vertical hair," said Xu, "should be put on the radar mast amidship, and the horizontal hair on the deck, not on the bridge, otherwise the shot would be too long." Watching them for awhile, I realized that the girls were quite proficient in artillery technique. Indeed, I supposed they could aim their big guns as accurately as they would their sewing needles! Suddenly a tocsin sounded the alert. Quick as lightning, the girls rushed to their combat positions. Shells started coming in from the sea, whining over- We all ran to the command post. The, the commander, was giving orders, which were immediately relayed to the batteries. The positions of enemy ships were pinpointed on a chart, while The looked at them through her binoculars. Soon the women gunners got the better of the enemy ships, which hastily turned tail. 11111111 The splendid successes the women gunners of Ngu Thuy have achieved are the results of their unrelenting efforts right from the day of the founding of their ichi extent the margin of ei md how to use the collima- is to reduce to the greatest possible Sky and Earth In a school turned into a lodging quarter at Thanh Hoa, between Hanoi and the 17th Parallel, close by a frequently bombed strategic bridge I met a long-haired girl who seemed to me the very image of Viet Nam. "She's our heroine, she's living in this village," I was told. The girl spoke to me of her work and her fight against American aircraft. She was in a mobile air defence brigade, when the planes attacked the bridge. She had learnt to shoot at small paper-made planes and knew that a bombing is only efficacious when the plane dives down,'but never from a very high altitude. She had been told to aim at the nose and the belly of the aircraft just at the moment when it flattens out, for then it is vulnerable and one can bring it down with a rifle. So she did. Yet, it is no easy thing to let the plane approach because thus one finds oneself in the very fireline of its machine-gun. Once she saw a plane fly away ablaze and fall down, without realizing that it was she who had hit it. She had vanquished the sky. Things thus happen in Viet Nam: a war between Sky and Earth. . . Joris Ivens Dutch documentary-film director Hanoi as it is . . .One of the women I speak with in Hanoi has been to international gatherings; there she has met American women. They are just like me, she says. They love their husbands and their children; they want to see their children grow up. Really, she says, I think the American women are as sentimental as I am—full of love, is that not so? Still, she adds, the most marvellous thing is freedom—freedom and independence and these we will never yield. . . Herbert Aptheker n historian and journalist I Have Been in North Viet Nam . . .But the determination and skilfulness of this admirably and marvellously seasoned people should be stressed. Our peregrinations prove that travelling is possible in spite of bombings; where we passed by, others can do. At Vinh the power-station was working and loudspeakers transmitting an artistic programme. I met a full-of-dash woman in charge of local transmissions. In Vie;t Nam, women play a particularly important role as the;y often have; to replace men. Ne-ar Thanh Hoa I acquainted myself with a 21-ye;ar-old peasant girl who assumed major responsibilities while regularly following training courses. She was the deputy-chief of the; mililiawomen's ejrganization and a me;mbe;r of the; district youth e;e>mmittee;. She; had captured two American pilots. Asked about he;r life;, she only complaine-d of having to attend loo many meetings. The; example- e>f this girl is -an- illustration of Vietnamese; de;me>cracy and the; manner in which the- Georges Fischer Member of the French Standing Committee for Enquiry in V.N. (binese (ppfa^lTE The word conference conjures up images of long, dull sessions on subjects we've all heard too much about, but we couldn't think of a better word and ended up calling it the Indochinese; Conference. Women from North Vietnam, South Vietnam and Laos are coming to Vancouver from April 1 to April 6 to me:e;t with what they called a broad representation of women. That means, women from This Pedestal is dedicated to our Indochinese sisters who will visit us in April, 1971 women's liberation, gay liberation, the youth culture, the third world .community and the work force are going to meet with the Indochinese—and how could that be dull? As the daily press reports an imminent invasion of North Vietnam, the invasion of Laos, the possibility of nuclear weapons it becomes more imperative that we work toward the goal of this conference as expressed by the Indochinese—to build the anti-war movement, j We can help stop" the war only if we come together, only if we understand each other's struggles and work together to stop American imperialism. The Indochinese conference should be the first step. As Canadians, and particularly those of us in Vancouver, we have a tremendous responsibility to organize a conference for as many as 500 women, many of whom will be from out of town. Literature, educationals, delegate selection, billeting, finances, rooms for the conference. Perhaps we should go back to the beginning in order to understand the political reasons for many of the decisions made thus far. The weekend of February 5th and 6th, at a conference in Portland to plan the Indochinese conference, was the first time many of us had a chance to find out how and why the conference originated. In Budapest last November, at an international socialists women's meeting, three or four American and Canadian women met some Indochinese women who at that time expressed a desire to visit Canada to meet with their old friends (the Voice of Women) and their new friends (Women's Liberation). They said they particularly wanted to meet third world women, and G.I. wives. Many mistakes were made in the actual planning of the conferences to be held in, Toronto and Vancouver. Communication was poor or lacking entirely, particularly in notifying women on the west coast about the original plans. Third world women were not included in the initial planning and because of this racism, the third world women, at the Portland Conference, demanded a separate conference with the Indochinese. Arranging a schedule for the now three conferences (Voice of Women, Women's Liberation and other white groups and Third World) involved many compromises. In order to facilitate the attendance of men and housewives, it was decided that s liberation and third world conferences s close to the weekend as possible. The 3 had requested a full day plenary before ence to speak to the delegates on the id a cultural day. Also, the public meeting for the the women should, be a Indochin the conl situation they face n Canadia Vai community was crucial. Though still subject to change (the communication still very bad) the; following schedule was decided: VsrWven march in South Viebnam boprubesb gSSon My aprnos&ocn& The conference will be held in the Student Union Building at UBC. The plenary and cultural exchange will be open to the public. Workshops will be open for other delegates to attend as observers. During the weekend, while the third world women meet, - women's liberation delegates will be able to attend workshops on gay liberation, nationalism, how to organize working women, etc. The actual agenda of the workshops are to be decided by the delegates to the conference. The question of selection of delegates for the women's liberation conference has proven to be a thorny one. At the Portland conference, it was decided to try to reach women who have been active in some area such as welfare rights, organizing on the job, or fighting for day care "as well as those involved in the women's liberation movement. It was suggested that each group contact as many women as possible and then determine who should attend. Again that matter of communication—many women's liberation groups do not have contacts with other groups and by now there was only two months left before the conference. Hopefully, each area will handle this by at least making real attempts to get in touch with women outside the women's movement. The women's liberation conference will be limited to 200 delegates because of the billeting problem we face here in Vancouver and because a larger number would limit the effectiveness of the conference. All this, as you've probably guessed, costs a fortune. Transporation of the delegates alone will be fairly substantial and on top of that we are responsible for the transportation of the Indochinese women from Montreal to Vancouver and back to Paris which has been estin ited at $10,000. We have set "up a financial committee to appeal for funds (here is the appeal: send cheques to The Indochinese Conference Committee, 511 Carrall Street, Vancouver 4). A benefit dance for the conference will be held at the Pender Auditorium March 19th and some good bands and beer will be available. Do come. The third world women's conference will not be limited, but it is expected approximately 200 women will attend. Billeting for at least 400 women has to be provided—if you have spare beds or spare floors (the . delegates will bring sleeping bags), they will be needed. 'Y%^*PS|j What will be learned at this conference? Certainly, we'll learn more about our sisters involved in various struggles. Hopefully we'll contribute to an understanding which will give an impetus to the anti-war movement. Perhaps most importantly, we'll learn by the example of our Indochinese sisters the necessity of solidarity against o THURSDAY, APRIL 1: SUNDAY, APRIL 4: Voice of Women and Woi nen Strike for 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. —Third-World workshops Peace workshops. 8:00-10:00 p.m. —Public Meeting at Queen FRIDAY, APRIL 2: Elizabeth Theatre 9:00-10:00 a.m. —Registration ($1.00 donation) 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. 3:00-5:00 p.m. ,8:00-10:00 p.m. -Plenary MONDAY, APRIL 5: Women's Liberation w orkshops —Cultural Exchange TUESDAY, APRIL 6: 9:00-12:00 a.irL —Women's Liberation SATURDAY, APRIL 3: 2:00-5:00 p.m. -VCC Teach-In Third-World workshops -SFU Teach-in mm ." -•>*■"-, * -., v »-,'t-r«•- J,-j2- page eight/pedestal/march, 1971 third world Sisbers Third World Women have an integral role to play in the liberation of all oppressed people as well as in the struggle for the liberation of women. Puerto Rican and Black women make up over half of the revolutionary army, and in the struggle for national liberation they must press for the equality of women; the woman's struggle is the revolution within the revolution. Puerto Rican women will be neither behind nor in froht of their brothers but always alongside them in mutual respect and love. We have no control over our bodies, because capitalism finds it necessary to control the woman's body to control population size. The choice of motherhood is being taken out of the mother's hands. She is sterilized to prevent her from having children, or she has to have a child because she cannot get an abortion. Third World sisters are caught up in a complex situation. On the one hand, we feel genocide is being committed against our people.. We know that Puerto Ricans will not be around on the face of the earth very long if Puerto Rican women are sterilized at the rate they are being sterilized now. The practice of sterilization in Puerto Rico goes back" to the 1930's when doctors pushed it as the only means of contraception. In 1947-48, 7% of the women were sterilized; between 1953-54, 4 out of every 25; and by 1965, the number had increased to about 1 out of every 3 women. In many cases our sisters are told that their tubes are going to be "tied" but they are never told that "tying" is really cutting and that the tubes can never be "untied." Part of the genocide is also the use of birth control pills which were tested for 15 years on Puerto Rican sisters (guinea pigs) before being sold on the market in the U.S. Even now many doctors feel that these pills cause cancer and death from blood clotting. Abortions in hospital that are butcher shops are little better than the illegal abortions our women used to get. The first abortion death in New York City under the new abortion law was Carmen Rodriguez, a Puerto Rican sister who died in Lincoln Hopital. Her abortion was legal, but the conditions in the hospital were deadly. On the other hand, we believe that abortions should be legal if they are community controlled, if they are safe, if our people are educated about the risks and if doctors do not sterilize our sisters while performing abortions. We realize that under capitalism our sisters and brothers cannot support large families and the more children we have, the harder it is to support them. We say, change the "system so that women can freely be allowed to have as many children as they want without suffering any consequences. MARRIED TO THE MILITARY ALL HANDS ABANDON SHIP (LNS) I am a navy dependent. At least the Navy likes to think I depend on them. They pay me $100 a month to keep my mouth shut and leave my husband alone. I do neither. Wives are bad for the Navy. Too often we upset the well-oiled military machine. We tend to undo the carefully executed brainwashing by regarding our husbands as men and not service numbers. The process of turning a woman into a dependent is continuous. When a man enters boot camp he is told, "If you were intended to have a wife, you would have been issued one." Recruits who are already married are warned to leave their wives at home for 4 years. Unmarried men are given exaggerated statistics on divorce and are told that women are for one purpose...SEX. You can always get that so why get rried* In the eyes of the Navy (some chaplains included) a wife is a highly paid prostitute, no more. When my husband graduated from boot camp, it is mother and not I who was invited to the; ceremony. This was only a preview of what was to come. On the bottom of his first set of orders to a five month school at Great Lakes he was warned absolutely not to bring dependents. There was a housing shortage and a wife would interfere with his studying. We found an apartment the first day we were there and my husband graduated first in his class. Had we listened to the Navy it would have been a miserable five months for both of us. We were lucky enough to have some money saved so we could rent offbase housing. Base housing is almost impossible to get and rent in Navy towns is high. Moving costs money. If we; had to live entirely on our $200 a month we couldn't do it. For many couples the only alternative is for the wife to live with he;r parents. What is a Navy wife expected to do while her husband is away? Smile, write letters,- and have; babies. The whole; idea is to make a substitute for a husband, to be-eome; a contented cow. Where else can you have; a child for $25? Of course, after a couple; has a baby it becomes impossible to live; on Navy pay. Them the only teasible; choice is to go home to Mom and Dad. I rece-ntly visited a Navy deictor who was she>eke;d that at the ripe old age; e>f 22 I didn't have e-hildre-n. jj Even he- couldn't te;ll me- how I was going to fe;e-d the;m. No mention was made; of the fae;l that the;y wouldn't have a father for the; first three- years of lhe;ir lives. , The; above tactics are only threats. Our husbands are; told they e:an't get commuted rations; the;y e-.an if they are; pe;rsiste;nl. Meist of the; time- housing she)rtage;s don't exist. A se;rvie;e-inan is e;ntille-d to lake- his wife with him to almost every duty station. Who is to stop her if she makes an independent decision to There is more frightening restriction on the Navy wife. In every service wives' manual we are warned not to get involved, not to speak our minds, I quote: "Any credit or discredit on you reflects on him too...Yoi do bea standards and values." If we march in a peace rally it goes into our husbands' records. Letters to Congressmen have a way of finding themselves in Navy file;s. The; military knows that we; might be dedicated enough to continue e>ur activities if they only affected us, but we will he;sitate if we; are; aware; of how hard we; are; making it for our husbands. In effect, we- are; robbe;d of our ide;nlity as pe;e>ple. What e;an we; do? Forge-t the- d<-pe-nde-nl mentality! Since; we; didn't sign a se;rvie;e- e:e>ntract the- Navy has no right to dictate; what we- will and will ne>l do. We can use; our maide-n name* or no name;s at all so it will be; difficult for e>ur ae;tions to be; trac<-d to our It is obvious that e>ur ve;ry prese-nee; make;s the; military une;e>mfortable-. The-y try ve;ry hard te> suppress us. Maybe; the;y realize; we- have; pe>we;r that I 0 I ft -4 ll g i 111 If i lea This article was written by a woman in Gay Liberation. Following it is a conversation between a gay woman and a straight woman about the article. Many sisters in the woman's movement are having experiences with each other which are contrary to our ideas of what sisterhood should be. We've all been involved in instances of gossip, back-biting, expressions of distrust and antipathy. Why does this seem accentuated now in the movement, why is it happening to us, when we have so much to work for together? We pose here one possible reason, using the term, "emotional lag" (by analogy with cultiiral'lag). Our intellectual grasp of male supremacy and institutionalized sexism has been greatly strengthened in the past two years or so. Our minds have grown, and we have a new vision of our relationship to society. What hasn't grown, though, is our emotional responsiveness to our sisters. Not only is it lagging behind our conscious understanehng, but often is in direct conflict with it. Most of us have rapped in groups for hours about men's paternalism, lack of understanding, and prejudices. And when we finally went home we returned to the man we were probably thinking about all evening and we climbed into bed as usual, and he let us talk about it. (After all; the meeting was a mind-blow, wasn't it? You needed to talk a few more hours before you could go to sleep, right?) Of course men do the same thing: they relate to each other intellectually for most things, but come back to their women for a certain kind of emotional support. Many of us are still trying to get on with men, and not just because we feel sorry for them or want to raise their consciousness: Probably the real reason most of us are trying to maintain relationships with men is because, emotionally, we still need it, even though it doesn't make sense. We have really changed our minds, but have not changed our emotions. Too many of us now are existing in this perilously schizophrenic way. We need to learn to see each other as sources of deep and dependable emotional support—and love. It's not too hard to see why we can't give and receive more openly from each other. All our gratification came originally from our parents, and then from friends of both sexes and parents, but by the time we were "adjusted and mature" we had learned to seek our most "meaningful relationships" with men and men only. Our experiences may show us again and again that men denigrate and deceive more than love, but we keep looking for one who's different (and hope that, if he is, he'll be MANLY enough). Then there are sisters who find it impossible to relate to men at all any more, and for them there's an even greater vacuum—and it isn't being filled by other women, for the most part. So after we've figured out that logically we shouldn't be so dependent on men, why are there so many barriers between us and our sisters? What are we afraid of? What's holding us back? Oh God, if she holds my hand tomorrow, I'll wake up and 1-e-s-b-i-a-n will be tatooed on my forehead! Is that it? Or do we fear rejection? We haven't had much experience fielding rejections (since we never made any advances which could be rejected). Maybe a rejection from a sister would seem more devastating Maybe we're afraid we couldn't ever mystify a woman the way we can men-and that that's what it's all about. Or maybe we've never mystified anyone, or been mystified, and it all seems boring. Or maybe there's just a huge lack of real communication among us. We;'re in the process of discarding role and stereotypes, and to function at all together needs a lot more open talk to fill the; gap left by antiquated formalities and sterile sex roles. It seems I still rely o 3 that a lot of gay v. roles. tally Right, gay women have been subject to the same socialization as everyone else, and have traditionally defined themselves as "butch" or "fern". For many it reflects self hate and . rejection of themselves as women. Certainly the Gay Liberation movement across the country ^s.eemstp be.rejectjngroles,_,thoughf, .,„ .',** „||yi S- / think a lot of women are learning to relate to each other in new ways, without using roles. G— They're not using roles, but I don't see the relationships as exactly sisterly. There almost seems to be fear of involvement on an emotional level. Gay women are feeling the same thing, coming from women in the women's movement. 5— There are a Some of the> justified. thousand reasons for that fea i may be exagerated, but some ai G— The only fear I can comprehend is fear of rejection. Is that what you're talking about? 5- That's just one thing. I also think women are justified in fearing the kind of involvement that might jeopardize their jobs, and families, and all their political work. G— I think gay people fear that too. But emotional involvement doesn't have to mean sex. When I speak about being sisters, I'm talking about an emotional openness which might, for some, include sex, but there are also women who are involved sexually yet aren't very sisterly to each other. 5— But I can see how that emotional involvement itself is scarey, even without sex. Because we've learned, unhappily I think, from men, that being affectionate and loving is a prelude to, and a tool for getting us into bed. This isn't cynical—it's realistic. So we have defenses... G- We all have defenses, and I can "understand them to ward off men, but why do you need them with women? S— The defenses just operate in similar situations and aren't very discriminating. G— But when you understand that consciously, then why can't you talk more freely about why you wouldn't want to sleep with a woman? S— Now we're back to sex, and we were trying to talk about emotional involvement. Well, in the first place—and I'm not sure why I have to give reasons for it-is that it's hard to decide to do it in the abstract, as a matter of principle. "Hey, T dig it, so tomorrow, when I go out, I will""" But another thing is that it just doesn 't interest G— That I can understand, because men don't interest me. Women can say the same thing about being a physicist—it doesn't interest me. The reason it doesn't interest them is that it seems impossible. And in the same way, we've been taught that sex with other women is-a- S- JVor that it's a no-no...that implies that it's something out of reach that we want. We're taught that it doesn't exist. But why can't you accept the fact that I'm not interested, just as I accept that you're not interested in men? G— Well, we began talking about the emotional vacuum between sisters. I wish women would stop reacting so much to each other and would begin identifying more with each other. Instead of attacking —or undermining, acting independently, we should encourage one another and work closer together. I really feel part of the problem is that many women refuse to "get involved" because possibly sex might be the result. S— We've just begun to scratch the surface, and it's time to go. I guess I feel that I shouldn't have to justify my sexual preferences, and I feel right now like saying I'm not gay is the same as saying I'm not sisterly. We need to talk a lot ;G_ People are starting to, and that's good. march, 1971/pedestal/page nine C red moon nsino Tndodunese J conference benfiPfb danoe. bo the bards d^jnk toUhfc %olubion 337 W.'fen 9H *!*>' Sunday, Afcril 4 luHktte 3i\docKin€se, Women jGfcjsen QizabdKTfisabnej 8pm. ^donatio* LW?Q Support the conference planning meetings—every Sunday at 2:00 p.m. 511 Carrall Street, Vancouver 4 Financial contributions—please make cheques payable to: The Indochinese Conference Committee and mail to 511 Carrall Street, Vancouver 4 Billeting must be provided for the delegates call Anne Boylan at 435-1289 page ten/pedestal/march, 1971 Chinese Sisters .. .fifteen women started for Gold Flower's home, led by Dark Jade. Gold Flower's husband met them in the courtyard. "Why are you here, comrade cadres?" he asked. His tone was polite. "This is a new society," Dark Jade greeted him abruptly and without any preliminaries. "You must tell the truth of how you have treated our sister. If you do not, you may taste our fists." Chang smiled. His face and manner were courteous and serene. "Has my wife said something about me?" he asked. What he said was perfectly smooth and friendly, but Gold Flower could see his eyes flickering with animosity. "It is true, your wife has spoken of you," said Dark Jade. "But your evil doings have also been uncovered by our special investigators. The past was the day of man. But now we have our day given us by Comrade Mao and the Communist Party. Speak out or we will bind you up." A slow color rose in Chang's cheeks. He stood there with lips tight and eyes black with contempt. "Do what you like," he shrugged. "I don't care. What can a Women's Association, do?" Dark Jade turned to the other women. "Get a rope," she said. The women stirred. One of them brought a grass rope. She moved to bincTup Chang. . He drew back. "Get away," he. said. Dark Jade and another girl rushed at him and slapped his face. Dark Jade's voice had a hard edge. "If you dare to move, we shall beat you to death on the spot." Gold Flower's husband stiffened in surprise. Swiftly the women bound him. Jerking him with unnecessary roughness, they pulled him down the street and then threw him in a room of the Women's Association. Dark Jade slammed and bolted the door. "Let him starve there for three days, the Pig'-" Though this tale may read like the bizarre nightmare of an uptight male chauvinist, it actually happened. It is a characteristic description of one form of struggle carried out by the Women's Associations in thousands of villages in China during and immediately after the Revolutionary War. When I was a child I was told by my teachers that the Chinese Communists had developed a sinister program to destroy the family in China. I was told that the soldiers took the children away from their parents and forced men, women, and children to live in separate barracks. I was never told about the Women's Liberation Movement in China. I was never told about the oppression of women and children in the Chinese feudal family, the murdering of "valueless" female babies, the selling of female children as child brides, prostitutes, and industrial Women occupied the lowest position in the Confucian social order, subject to the absolute authority of their fathers before marriage, their husbands after marriage, their sons or fathers-in-law after the death of their husbands. In their families they were expected to work the hardest and the longest and to eat the least and the worst food and had no legal right to complain when they were beaten by their "natural" superiors. Gold Flower and her sisters were only a few of millions of Chinese women who responded to the Chinese Communist Party's exhortation to organize and liberate themselves from this feudal bondage. It should be no surprise that Mao Tse-tung and the CCP called for the organization and liberation of women. As Marxists they accepted the notion that the degree of liberation of women is a direct reflection of the development of a society. As revolutionary soldiers they recognized that they could not win a people's war while ignoring half the population. Left in isolation and submissive ignorance, the women could only be a conservative force. But once mobilized to fight their immediate enemies, they became a revolutionary force in the struggle against class and national enemies. As practical-minded economists Mao and his comrades recognized that the goals of agricultural and industrial development could never be met without the _ participation of women "in production. The roots of the women's movement in China predate the Communist Party. During the May 4th Movement of 1919, women's organizations demanded the; right to marry freely, to vote, to be- elected to civil posts, to own property, and to be educated. Dur the; selve: the; 1920s, te; moderate Women's Suffrage ;alled for constitutional e;quality al Women's Rights Le-ague which in the; revolution and overthrow Also during the '20's, women urged wome the; feudal warlords, workers, especially in the textile; factories of Shanghai, Wuchang, and Canton be;gan lo organize themselves into unions which fought for shorter hours, highe;r pay, job security, and relief from the; arbitrary fines, be-atings, e;lc. of manage-.rs and foremen. One; women, Wang Y<;h-kin, e;xplain.;d in an interview with Anna Louise- Strong in 1927 how the union in the; Shanghai factory whe;re she; worke-d had won an agreement for 8 e.e-nts a day starling and 15 ce;nts after six memths, as w.-ll as a t " Howe-ver, she; said the; British faclorie up to the; agree;me;nls and many w working se-ve;nle;e-n hours a day from 4 '. Be-twe-e-n 1925 and 1927 women special preipaganda teams we-nl inlo ahe-ad of the; Ne>rlhe;rn Exp.-ditio revolutionary Koumintang Army, me in suppeirl of the struggle agafnst the- e- hour day. >uld not live; m. till 9 p Hundreds of thousands of women were or into local and provincial women's unions bob-haired feminists who propagated concepts of marriage and women's rights hated by the reactionaries that when Chiang I engineered his counter-revolutionary coup, th of them were massacred. But they served inspiration for the Red Detachments of Won supported and fought with the red armies that defeated the Japanese and the Koumintang. During the Civil War in the areas th controlled by the Communists, womei organized into Women's Associations. As 1931, the land reform program of the Kiang granted women the right to own land as wel to actual plots. The first Marrriage Li promulgated at this time. It was the forerunni National Marriage Law established 1 Revolutionary Government in 1950. The str the Women's Association with Gold Flower's described earlier is one fragmentary exampl efforts of the women to make real their leg under the new laws. Before 1949, such strugg place in the liberated areas and served as an ei fund of experience for the national edi educational campaign which took place in publicize and enforce the Marriage Law. Du campaign Marriage Law teams were forme went into villages, factories, and streets anc marriage-reform workers who dealt with gi which ranged from complaints about wife be the demand for equal pay for equal work. Ei about democratic family life was carried c young, and old, male and female. 3, marriage-reform workers were trained, publishing organizations produced over 2, books and 1,165,000 posters and picture b for the campaign. In the East China admini region alone, 1,154,900 lecturers and 30,000 theatrical troupes were in the field. And the \ radio were full of propaganda. So many thousands of couples who h married without mutual consent separated du period under the right granted by the Marri that the law became popularly known as the ' Law." Nevertheless, under the same law's ir many thousands more young people mar reasons of real affection and compatibility. 5 -revolution the; Chinese have; come to be cri only of the old feudal form of marriage bu the bourge-.ois marital relationships. An artic China Youth Daily (August, 1960) reflec We. believe that the very foundations for love, between man woman are common politicalunderstanc comradeship in work, mutual help, mutual respect. Money, position, or so-called prettiness should not be taken consideration for a right marriage, bet they are not reliable foundations for lovt For the exploiting class, the con about marriage is just the opposite. ■ believe in pursuing \ happiness by mi other people suffer. They subscribe to biased viewpoints as "man is superic woman, man is more important women," "man should dominate won etc. Under this type of ideology, wome merely slaves and properties of men marriage is nothing but a process of bu and selling with compulsion. In the bou^ society the whole matrimonial relations! built upon money, and becomes .vim/, "monetary relationship." In an econ relationship women belong to men. Lo nothing but a merchandise; women I their flesh for men's money.. march, 1971 /pedestal/page eleven , vofi/tionaig Force Anna Louise Strong, in The Rise ofthe People's Communes explains the relationship between socialist development of the economy and the growing emancipation of Chinese women. Despite their legal and political equality with men, asserted since liberation, the old patriarchal dictatorship was not broken by one blow. .. The land reform shook the foundation of this rule by giving the women a share of land equally with the men.. The marriage law marriage ai affection a brides. The v shook it still further, declaring equal partnership based on d outlawing the purchase of Cooperative farm again shook it, when it reckoned women's work in "workdays." But, while the woman's work was thus recognized, the payment at harvest still went by custom into the hands of the father-in-law or mother-in-law and the young wife still had to beg for enough of the money she had earned to buy a spool of thread. So the saying went: "Workdays for women are nice like a picture of fruit on the wall; it is pretty buy you can't eat it." The commune dealt to the patriarchal rule what may well be its final blow. Not only were wages henceforth to be paid monthly and direct into the hands of the worker, but a vast network of community dining-rooms, nurseries, kindergartens "liberated" the women from household bondage and gave them the chance for the first time to work on a full equality with men." women almost single-handedly harvested the crops and ploughed and sowed the winter crops while the men worked on thousands of irrigation and steel smelting projects all over the country. Women also started and managed new industries in the communes. In the Leap Forward Commune, Taiho County, Anhwei, they set up a ball-bearing works, of which 64% of the labour force were women. In a commune in Hangchow, 12 women set up a cement plant which employed 103 women and made 60 tons of cement a day for the commune's building projects. Women and the Cultural Revolution Periodically since the final victory of the Red Armies in 1949, China has launched nationwide campaigns to carry the revolution forward by giant steps. These mass mobilizations usually involve widespread criticism of past policies and massive experimentation with new structures and techniques. China's women have been able to use these periods of "socialist upsurge" and officially sanctioned criticism to demand needed changes. The organziation of the mutual aid teams, the co-ops, the commune movement and the Great Leap Forward were such periods. The Cultural Revolution was the latest, longest, and most profound of these periods of criticism, self-criticism and initiation of new forms of social organization. It is difficult to find much in the literature from the period following the Great Leap Forward to the Statistics compiled by the All-China Fede of Women for International Women's Day,' Ma 1959, registered a total of 4,750,000 nurserie kindergartens and 2,650,000 comn dining-rooms in the; communes. An average n cared for about thirty children and in some eve month old infants were accepted. There was t one adult to e-ve-ry four or five; children. In child-care; facilities,'children were; cared for duri e;ve;ning or even overnight if the. parents wan attend a me-e;ting, parly, or whatever, or have; away for an "extended period of time. The; development of these facilities to free; v from the; time-consuming tasks of cookin constant child care; me;ant the; release of close; hundred million women for productive; Iabc which the;y can often double- their family's ine During the; Great Leap Forward in 1958, xation beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1966. The trch 8, criticism that has emerged during the Cultural es and Revolution seems to indicate that this was a period of ichment of "conservative" policies on ts. A prevalent view of economic popularly known as the "black gang ie "capitalist roaders", etc., took the i as its model. This meant reliance on ;xpertise, a tightly knit bureaucracy, and material incentives both in industry and the countryside. This development was paralleled by the re-emergence of traditional views about the proper roles for-women in society. This development was reflected in the journal of the Women's Association. In its last issue (August, 1966) before it ceased publication, China's Women issued a self-criticism of its previous six ye;ars of propagating traditional views general , Soviet Unio technology, "...These absurd views were intended to create ideological confusion so that women cadres and women staff and workers would be intoxicated with the small heaven of motherhood, bearing children, and managing family affairs, and sink into the quagmire of the bourgeois "theory of human nature", forgetting class struggle and disregarding revolution. This is an echo of the reactionary themes advocated by modern revisionism, such as "feminine tenderness", "mother love" and "human sentiments" ...Under the pretext of presenting opposite views in discussions, she (the editor) published without any criticism, such reactionary articles as "For Women to Engage in Enterprises is Like Flying Kites Under the Bed", "Women live for the Purpose of Raising Children", "Women Should do More Family Duties", thus openly attacking and insulting all the women of new China..." Another indication of what the Cultural Revolution has meant for women can be found in Jan Myrdal's article "Mao's China" which appeared ih Look, February 10, 1970. During the Cultural Revolution the women demanded the right to be able to attend meetings. In theory they were equal, but in practice the men would go off to the meetings and leave their wive to care for the children. "Many people said that men were not suited to take care of children: 'They cannot breast feed them.' " But as a result of a decision by the brigade in the spring of 1967 the women have the same right to attend meetings and men have the duty to stay at home and care for the children so their wives can attend. "It is good for the men to learn how to take care of children, and it is good for the children too. Formerly, it was nearly only men who spoke at meetings...Now the women too discuss and decide because the men have learned how to take care of children." Marxism consists of thousands of truths, but they all boil down to one sentence, 'It is right to rebel' ...And from this truth there follows resistance, struggle, the fight for socialism." (Mao Tse-tung during the Cultural Revolution) ■ It is clear that the full liberation of women, (and men) is not a gift which can be delivered by even the most benevolent of governments. The significance of the Cultural Revolution has been the recognition of "the right to rebel", that is the right for groups to organize and to demand and receive access to mass media of communication, so as to be able to promulgate their criticisms and demands effectively and to strive for change by winning over the masses of the population to their position. If the Maoist line' prevails the way has been opened for women to demand further changes that will be required to guarantee their full and equal participation in the further development of China. .. .It's easy enough to talk about the freeing of women. But it isn't a thing that happens of itself, even when we have a - government that makes laws to give women equality with men. My own experience and the struggles I've shared with other women in our district show this very clearly. We have to make an effort for ourselves. We become really equal when we start" to work outside the home, when we win our right to the jobs that men do and to get equal pay for equal work. ("How we became equal" by Shen Chi-Lan China Reconstructs, Mar. 1955.) ^-■^-•'.,j:v.,-.-;>v*i'.<>.;3 page twelve/pedestal/march, 1971 F R E E $oittital Bourgeois ideology says you have only one life to live. You know. . .eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you may die. Don't give a damn about what your sister and brother are experiencing. Just do what you can do to get a little bit of pleasure out of life. What we are saying is that our lives are no different from the lives of our brothers and sisters who have been shot down by the pigs, from Huey Newton and the Soledad Brothers who are being railroaded to the gas chamber for murder they had nothing to do with, from Bobby Seale, who's being railroaded to the electric chair. We cannot separate ourselves from what is happening to them— Liberation is synonymous with revolution for me... .A revolution is .not just armed struggle. It's not just the period in which you can take over. A revolution has a very, very long spectrum.. .The most difficult task comes.. .after you 've been able to seize. power.. .when you have to set about the task of building a new world... Che made the very important point that the society you're going to build is already reflected in the nature of the struggle that you're carrying out. And one of the most important things in relationship to that is the building of a collective spirit, getting away from this individualistic orientation towards personal salvation, personal involvement.. .One of the most important things that has to be done in the process of carrying out a revolutionary struggle is to merge those two different levels, to merge the personal with the political where they're no longer separate. What people have to start doing is to build that collective spirit. To overcome that notion of bourgeois individuality which separates one person from the next and which defines the individual as someone who can assert himself at the expense of his neighbor, at the expense of his brother by destroying his brother. You have to make a lot of sacrifices. You can't even pose before yourself the alternative of what am I going to do. Am I going to stay home and get high and have a good time tonight, or am I going out to try and rap with the people, to try to organize?.. .You don't have that alternative any more. It has to be only one course. . .the revolutionary course... Of course, anybody who's talking about overthrowing the government, overthrowing capitalism, faces the possibility of losing his life. But.. .that doesn't paralyze you, because you don't see your life, your individual life, as being so important.. .1 have given my life to the struggle. My life belongs to the struggle. If I have to lose my life in the struggle, well, then, that's the way it will have to be. A hell of a lot of brothers and sisters have already given their lives for the struggle. I think that if we look around us we see that somehow or another a very small minority of people in this country have all of the wealth in their hands and to top that, we don't even see them out working. We do not see them in the factories. We don't see them in the fields. We don't see them using their labor to produce the products which they then present. That tells me that something is wrong. Why is it that the masses of the people in this country have to work 8 hours a day every day and somehow or another what they produce goes to some people who are sitting out at a country club, on a golf course, and not doing a damn thing? That tells me that something is wrong and it tells me that maybe the real criminals in this society are not all of the people who populate the prisons across the state, but those people who have stolen thewealthof the world from the people. Those are the criminals. And that means the Rockefellers, the Kennedys, you .know that whole Kennedy family, and that means the state that is designed to protect their property, because that's what Nixon's doing, that's what Reagan's doing, that's what they're all doing. And so every time a black child in this city dies, we should indict them for murder, because they're the ones who killed that block child. ,^YCh"e person who spoke these words was, in the past 20 years, only the third woman to appear on the FBI's most wanted list. Maeland Productions is now producing a documentary film of her life—"The Making of a Fugitive^Ihe story of Angela Davis is a story of a person who is oppressed on all sides: she is a woman and she is black. However, it must be understood that Angela Davis is not an isolated case. SOLEDADjpROTHERS <\ ** In middle: January 1970 a group of 7 black and 8 white prisoners from Soledad's 'maximum security wing, after months of vicious attempts by the guards to stir up hatred between whites, blacks, and Chicanos were released for the first' time into a prison "exercise yard". A white tower guard opened fire killing 3 black men while white prisoners watched with approval and other blacks looked on helplessly from their cells. Three days later the coroner's jury ruled the deaths "justifiable homicide". The guard who had fired without warning, was fully exonerated. White prisoners agreed that there hacLbeen a fight between~S*Bittfand black prisoners and that the guard shot (without notice) to break it up. On the fourth day a white guard was found dead in Y-wing. Three black prisoners were charged: John Cluchette, Fleeta Drumgo and George Jackson—who have become known as the Soledad Brothers. THREE BLACK PRISONERS ARE DEAD AT SOLEDAD. This is " called justifiable homicide. ONE WHITE GUARD IS DEAD. This is called murder. The ADMITTED killer of three black prisoners does not face charges. HE IS A WHITE "CORRECTIONAL OFFICER". The ACCUSED killers of the white guard go to court draped in chains. They face the death penaltyi THEY ARE, ^BLAC&n PRISONERS. Their attorneys state . they were accused not on evidence, but because they were identified as Black Militants. AN ATTEMPT FOR JUSTICE No black man or woman can fail to understand the unbearable pressure which led Jonathan to his death, struck down in the midst of battle. ^pUpjSAuguiti7 at Marin County -Hall of "Justice," San Rafael, Califqrhia^>George Jackson's brother, Jonathan Jackson, stopped a trial at gunpoint. He quickly freed and armed the defendant, James McClain, a black prisoner and two fellow prisoners waiting to testify in McClain's behalf, and took 5 hostages, including the judge. Pigs just opened fire-not caring who they killed; but just determined to stop Jackson and the; prisoners. Jackson, the judge and two of the; prisoners were killed. Jonathan's plan was to trade the kidnap hostages for the "Soledad Brothe-.rs". ^BU^Etij^yiAGEE IS ON TRIAL, TOO . The third ■ prisoner, Rue-hell M^-^sl^unde-d but Iivifd^o;. face first degree murder-'eharges for the death of the Judge. ' yP?[??;*Wi% ^iH§ Angela 'r/Mar 1 foi inty, ^urdc-r-rarid >idnappbig£the<wetoppns use;d II^puEfhased^Wi-'flrfdelr'lhe California ^^^^^mayj^mnd gudlv ol >ffc.ms^sl^p«fpc-irator. A nge>ljrw}mf-~ W&MM. m mounted an- elaborate e;d he;rdown and arre;sir^it.e;pon October ANGELA'S BACKGROUND Daughter of middle class parents, educated in Europe, a very brilliant student, she was known to be extremely shy and quiet. "She was so serious minded," her mother recalls. "When I was 12 I helped organize interracial study groups. . .but they were busted up by the police." She won a scholarship at Brandeis University, met Herbert Marcuse and enrolled for graduate work in philosophy at the Institute of Social Research in Frankfurt. "My political involvement stems from my existence in the South". She left Europe in 1967 as one of her teachers explained "because she could no longer tolerate the deterioration of the situation in the U.S. without becoming actively involved," and went to the University of California at San Diego and started organizing the black community there. A fellow student in San Diego says, "She used to say 'What group in fKe~country has been consistent in a Marxist analysis of American society?' Because of the long commitment and obvious sincerity of the CP she joined it, even though it was considered too old hat, 40 years old, dull. She chose CP Marxism because it is scientific, it develops class-consciousness and it is a long-range project." Her Marxist commitment led her toward the Panthers, who were evolving a Marxist ideology of their own. "She was never really hung up on that leadership thing," says a San Diego friend. But, in the middle of 1969 Angela had leadership thrust upon her. The UCLA Philosophy Department was looking for an instructor, and she seemed to fit the bill perfectly. "The rest of us," notes a UCLA philosophy professor, "are under the influence of British empiricists and analytical logical positivists. Her real value was that she filled a tremendous gap in the offerings of the department." Shortly after she .was hired as an acting assistant professor a FBI informer announced she was a Communist-and the board of regents promptly fired her. She asserted: "Let there be no doubt-my stand is forth-right, as a black woman, my politics and political affiliation are bound up with and flow from participation in my people's struggle for liberation and with the fight of oppressed people all over the world against American Imperialism.' A storm of protest broke over the UCLA campus—the ouster was challenged and eventually quashed in the courts and a crowd of 2,000 students and faculty turned out for her first lecture. "Resistance, rejection, defiance, on every level, on every front are integral. elements of the voyage ' toward freedom. The; path of liberation is marked by resistance at every crossroad: mental resistance, physical resistance, resistance directed to the concerted attempt to obstruct the path. T think we can learn from the experience of the slave." He;r lectures that year were tape recorded, her studemts were thoroughly quizzed on he;r performance. "She rated excellent in e;ve;ry area," "There were no flaws," reports Prof. Donald Kalish, them chairman of the Department. Evem so the regents fired her again. This time the;y made; no mention of her CP membership (so as not to be ove;rrule;d again by the; courts) but cited allegedly inflammatory speeches she; had made; out of class. In e;ffecl, she was fired for regularly denouncing university support of military research, for her work in de;fe;nse: of the; Sole;dad Brothers and for her vie;w of education as a political process. Ange;la became a public personality.She had received numerous threats and purchased a fe;w guns for se;lf-protection. She we;nt targe;t practicing and she travelled in the eximpany of body-guards. SO HAD ANGELA MASTERMINDED THE ATTEMPT FOR JUSTICE AT MARIN COUNTY? "She would hardly have suggested the use of weapons so easily traceable to her." "It wouldn't be characteristic of Angela to let a 17 year old walk into certain suicide." IS ANGELA GUILTY OF MURDER KIDNAPPING? As Huey P. Newton stated: "In order to draw attention from the responsible persons, Angela Davis was hunted, captured, and accused of crimes which the American reactionary system is in fact guilty of". WHY HAD SHE FLED? "Out of loyalty," said a professor .friend, "She would do anything, even risk killing during capture by the FBI, rather that disassociate herself from Johnny Jackson when he had sacrificed his life." The whole thing was an obvious frame-up and fair trials for black people are impossible in the white courts. MILITANT WOMEN Women have always been expected to be wives and mothers only. They are respected, for being good mothers, good cooks, good housewives and not for being intelligent, strong, educated or militant. Angela Davis is smashing the ruling class stereotype of women, especially that of Black women, as she acts against the system itself. "The struggle against racism, against all the evils [of] US capitalism, must be carried forth wherever we find ourselves. My role [in prison] is to assist in the creation of another front of struggle." Angela has not given up, she has proven her strength, revolutionary courage, she has given her life to the struggle. She is fighting for all of us. She has not given up hope—even in the Women's House of Detention she is fighting—she was on a hunger strike protesting the conditions there—they put her in solitary confinement—still she has not given up and neither must we. She is not alone—crowds chanted outside the Women's House of Detention "Free Angela!" and a fund has been set up for her defense. Yet inside the prisons are many black people jvho are being punished for being—black. This kind of injustice is common to most black people. As children they are dragged into court for scrapes which would have been smoothed over were they white and middle-class. Angela is not an isolated case as the media wishes you to believe. It is important to remember this. As Angela stated in a recent interview: "Numbers are important to any successful defense campaign. THE DEMAND TO FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS MUST BURST OUT OF A MOVEMENT ENCOMPASSING THE BROAD MASSES OF PEOPLE. Although quantity is of paramount importance, alone it is insufficient. The political content of a defense movement must be crystal clear at all times. In this context, I would insist that the rallying cry of the campaign not be limited to "Free Angela". Everyone participating must realize that I cannot be truly free as long as there; e;xists another political prisoner. And, in turn, political prisoners will not know freedom until the last starving black child in Mississippi is assured nourishment, clothing and shelter." page fourteen/pedestal/march, 1971 women in cuba Reprinted from Hysteria, February 5, 1971 Recently I spent six weeks in Cuba with 400 other NorthAmericanson the third Venceremos Brigade. We went there to show our support for the Cuban people and for the revolution they are carrying out. We lived and worked with Cubans our own age, and got to know them pretty well-but it was sometimes hard, because we come from such different cultures. One of the most confusing things about Cuban society was the position of women within it. The Cuban men and women working with our Brigade really treated each other like comrades, and seemed to get along with each other much better than we Northamericans. But any Cuban in the camp who had any kind of leadership position was a man. The Cuban women were generally-more flirtatious than we were, and they all set their hairand used make-up. Very few Cubans are all white, yet all the women o aspire to white standards of beauty—straight or slightly curly, but definitely not frizzy, hair (and many of them dyed their hair red or blonde). I remember standing in the ladies' room of a restaurant while we were on tour watching all the black Northamerican women fluffing up their afroes, and all the Cuban women trying to flatten down their hair with water and scarves, and thinking that the contrast was very s£d. Since the Cuban women seemed to accept and do a lot of the things that white Northamerican women reject when they get intcJ liberation, many of us thought that the Cuban women were unliberated. But then we started asking questions, and talking to the women we met about their lives. We visited a village on the Isle of Youth, and asked an old woman how the Revolution had changed her life (we apologized because we thought that would be a really long question to answer). Her face lit up, and she said that the question would be very easy to answer: "After the Revolution my life began." There was a translator in the camp named Carmen that some of us talked to a lot, and when we asked her the same question she said,. "After the Revolution it was like a thousand windows opening up." Women (and men too) all over Cuba gave us thelsame kind of answers. And when you know something about what their lives were like before the Revolution, it's easy to understand why they feel that way. life began The old woman we talked to in the village of Victoria used to live with her husband and family as a tenant on a farm—he barely made; enough money to keep them alive, and she ne;ver worked outside; the home (although that probably included some field work). We called her an old woman because -she looked about 80, although she was only 55; that's an indication of how hard her life; was. Now she works in an elementary school, taking care of children between classes. The villages are; pretty spread out on the; Isle of Youth, so all of the; schools are; semi— boarding schoolchildren live; there; during the; week and go home on wce;ke;nds. It's good for the; children that she; works the;re, the woman told us, because; she;'s like; a grandmother to them, so the;y're; not afraid to be: away from home. And now that her e;hildren have- :nt of her own village. But when I compared her with my grandmother, or with most poor old women in the United States, I could see why she dated her life from 1959. Carmen was younger (35) and her life had changed even more dramatically. She came from a working class family in Havana, and was sent to the American school there by an aunt who had a little bit of money. She learned to speak good. English at school, but since she didn't have outstanding translating skills and was unwilling to sleep with some influential guy, she couldn't get a job. So she got married and became a housewife. She was sympathetic to the Revolution from the start, very quickly started working, and joined a women's militia unit. She told us that the sight of women marching in the streets in pants and carrying guns really blew people's minds; more important it really changed the images women had of themelves—for. the first time they could see themselves as fighters, strong and independent. She had a child, but was able to put her daughter into a free daycare center when she was 45 days old, which meant that she didn't have to stop working very long. She also got divorced very soon after her child was born. Carmen said that there were many divorces after the Revolution, and explained why. For one thing, she said, the Revolution really changed people's. lives, and since not everyone changed in the same way, couples who got along before suddenly discovered how incompatible they were. And women who were always really unhappy with their husbands had had no alternatives—they needed financial support and some kind of security. The Revolution encourages all women to work, trains those who are unskilled, and takes care of their children. So many women got out of unhappy marriages as soon as they were financially independent. (Divorce is also a very simple procedure, and since all women are assured of jobs, there are no ugly hassles over alimony.) Carmen hasn't remarried and lives with her younger brother and her nine and a half year old daughter in Havana, but since she works as a translator for a government agency,she travels a lot. He;r daughter goes lo a semi-boarding school and comes home: on weekends. When we asked her how she: felt about not se:e:ing her child too much, she told us that she: thought he:r daughter was growing up in the: best possible way. "Whe:n she comes home on wee:ke:nds she is ve:ry happy lo be with mc and all of her relatives, but when she gets back on the: bus Sunday she embraces her classmates, and is e:qually happy to be back with the:m." The: family is a very important unit lo the Cubans, but husband and wife: ofte:n work on diffe:re:nl parts of the island, and the: children spe;nd more lime: with other children than with their parents. With all the: separation, and with a loi of the: economic: lies gone, we: asked he:r whal he:ld the: Cuban family loge:the:r, and she: said "love:." i talking lo Carme:n and olhe: grown up, it gives her something lo do. (It also frees le-arne;d a lot about the: economic: and political Ihe mothers of all those- children for jobs outside advances wonicn have made:. More- lhan half of all lhe:ir homes.) She- was illiterate before- ihe: doctors are- women, as are: a large: pe:rce:ntage: of all Resolution, but we: saw lots of newspapers lying other skille;d professions. (Education is free, and around he:r house:, be-e:ause: she- le:arned to read during women are: e:ne:ourage:d lo study just as much as mem.) the 1961 Literacy campaign. I wouldn't call he:r a The: Young Communisls, an organization of young revolutionary—she- wasn't really that interested in students and worke:rs who will be: in ihe: Parly when whal was going on in Cuba as a whole-, or <ve:n in the- they are: olde-r, is 50% women. The-re: is an — --— ■■■■ march, 1971/pedestal/page fifteen organization, the Federation of Cuban Women, which deals entirely with problems that women face in working. Many men in Cuba are upset with the new equality for women and refuse to let their wives work, but the Federation makes sure that those women can get out of the house. Aside from free day care, women have maternity leaves (they don't get fired, the way so many women do in the United States). They also get wonderful medical care while they are pregnant: special diets, classes so that they can have natural childbirth if they live in cities and towns, monthly checkups if they live way out in the countryside. And all medical care in Cuba is free. Birth control is available to all women, but there are no educational campaigns about it. Abortion is also available to all women, but you can't just walk into a hospital and have one. You have to get permission from a local board, sometimes of the Federation of Cuban Women, sometimes of the local block committee (Committee for the Defense of the Revolution). That's very easy, but you have to have the consent of the father, whether or not you are married. That really upset us, and made us realize that the concept of an individual woman having control over her own body is not yet an important one for the Cubans. But we also realized that having a baby in an underpopulated socialist society, where all material needs of mother and child are taken care of, is quite different from having a baby here. The fact that Cubans were not at all open about sex, and that a real double standard seems to prevail, was also upsetting to us—but once again, we had to understand where the Cubans were coming from. If you had a boyfriend before the Revolution, it meant that he came over to your house about three times a week, and sat with you and your parents in the living room Nice girls never went out unchaperoned. Today if you asked young people about chaperones, they would laugh in your face. And among young Cubans a lot of the double standard is disappearing. Before i to I other woman for itries). Now that thj||reyolution men used their j house and have children, and kept a pleasure (very common in Latin coi is actively discouraged, and men v keep a mistress as well as a wife are forbidden membership in the Party. But homosexuals are also forbidden membership in the Party, and Cuban treatment of homosexuals is really terrible in general. A lot of that "is due to the really rigid Latin conception of masculinity (Cubans we talked to seemed almost to ignore the existence of gay women)—machismo is a Spanish word, and is a-very important part of Latin culture. It means self-assertion (for men) and was a reaction of Spanish and Latin men to being oppressed—you had to make sure no man insulted your self-pride and self-assertion—it also included the subordination of women, especially your own wonian. People are no longer oppressed in Cuba, so the material basis for machismo has disappeared. But the attitude remains—many Cuban men have accepted working with women as comrades, and even being directed by women, but they can't stand to have their wives equal to them—and it will take a while longer to fade away. In the United States, women (especially white, middle-class women) are very concerned with personal liberation—changing our attitude about "ourselves, changing the: roles we play with respect to the men we know, or else not associating with men at all. But we: live: in a society where: wc are materially unequal, a society which is racist to the: core, and in which relationships are: pe:rve:rtcd by capitalistic values. It's still important for us to experiment with different and better ways to live, but I'm convinced thai while: we: live: in a sick and oppressive: society, our attempts are: bound to come: out screwed up. economic advancement than with changes in altitudes and roles. But after see-ing the: tremendous change - economic and human - lhal have: come about in 11 years, I think that lhe:y are laying the: groundwork for a much healthier personal liberation than we; will ever be: able: lo aehie-.ve: until our own re-volution succeeds. Naomi stiiL page sixteen/pedestal/march, 1971 I' GREATEST THING ON EARTH Excerpted from an article by Melba Windoffer While visiting beautiful Collier Memorial Park this fall I was upset and deeply angered by the memorial to the loggers of the northwest at the entrance of the Logging Memorial, carved into a log at the park entrance, highway 97, southern Oregon. This dedication poem was written by Nelson Reed. Oh! Stranger, ponder well, what breed of men were these, cruisers, fullers, skinners, ox, horse, and "cat" chokesetters and the rest who used these tools. No summer searing dust could parch their soul, no bitter breath of winter could chill their hearts, 'Twas never said they worked for pay "alone" tho it was good and always freely spent. Tough jobs to lick they always welcomed with each day, "Well bury that old mill in logs," their boast. Such men as these have made the country great, beyond the grasp of smaller meaner men. Pray God, oh stranger, others yet be born worthy as they to wear the "loggers boots". Collier Memorial Park is part of the terminated Kalamath Indian Reservation. The park is dedicated to "Cap" Collier, a white employer of the eulogized loggers. This poem about the loggers of the northwest does not tell it like it was. I grew up near Centralia, Washington during the period of the greatest logging activity and I have a very different version of their life than "Cap" Collier and Nelson Reed. It is true that ordinary loggers could not have their minds on pay alone, because they had to be concerned with staying alive in this dangerous occupation. But "Cap" Collier and his kind clearly had their minds on profits alone. The workers' struggle never erupted in the woods of Oregon on the same level of intensity as it did in Washington, but the same conditions existed: long hours, dirty bed rolls, bed bugs and filthy sleeping quarters, low pay paid in company script, poor food, speed-up with ever increasing efficiency of machinery and always danger from worn gear. Bed bugs and sleepifr^rolls were one of the big complaints of the | Th^eriod from 1912 to 1917 was marked by a series ot'bitter struggles in the lumber industry in the northeast. It started in Aberdeen, Washington in 1912 with a struggle for a $2.50 daily wage. This was a hard fought battle, organized by the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World), but was finally won after a lot of suffering by the striking workers. During the Aberdeen strike the picket lines were broken, hundreds of striking workers filled the jails of Aberdeen and the surrounding little towns. Women members of the striking workers' families took to the picket lines during the strike while husbands, .sons, sweethearts and brothers were in jail. They were driven off with fire hoses. They finally won and this successful strike greatly enhanced.the prestige of the IWW. They were soon to lead a number of other strikes against low wages, dirty beds; for decent food and the 8 hour day. During the first world war one of the great strikes of the northwest took place: — the strike for the 8 hour day in the woods. Seattle newspapers advised employers and the public "Demands may seem just but employers must not grant them because if they control the jobs systematic loafing and sabotage would result — hampering the war effort." The United States government moved in to break the strike for the employers by drafting men and putting them into the woods to work in the "Spruce Camps". However, the 8 hour day was won by the workers refusing to work more than 8 hours. In direct action the workers simply pulled the whistle and left the job at the end of 8 hours. The IWW had traditionally disavowed "politics" in favor of "the one big union" non-partisan approach based on simple class solidarity and,class struggle. This was easy for them to accept, for the vast majority as migrant workers had no right to vote and it took little to persuade them that political action was a "snare". The IWW was the American embodiment of economism. Politics was avoided as being divisive and irrelevant. But it was precisely the political action oi the capitalist state that broke the back of the IWW as a union. The IWW was compelled to transform its principal activities into those of a defense organization, striving by legal methods and propaganda to protect the political and civil rights of its members against the capitalist state power. The story of Wesley Everest is a prime example of how capitalism crushed and destroyed the "one big By 1919 there were only two IWW halls in existence. One of these was in Centralia, Washington. Most of the land around Centralia was owned by the Eastern Railway and Lumber Company. This company also owned the local railroad and the coal mines. Centralia was virtually a company town, as were most of the small towns in Le:wis county in that The IWW hall had be:e:n raided a number of times in" the past. Furniture: was damaged and stolen, records destroyed and individual members beaten up. The- two newspapers, the Chamber of Commerce, ihe: Elks Club, the: Police: Chief arid ihe: Mayor were- the: rail company's solid support and mouthpieces. At the: e:nd of the: war the American Ie:gion and the: Citizens Protective- Le-ague were: forme-d to enforce "law and order". It was complete- fre:e:dom for the employers but no union agitation or organization for the: workers. In the: fall of 1919 a plot was hatched in the: Klks' Club to once: and for all destroy the- IWW in Ce-nlralia during the Armistice Day Parade;. The- IWW, upon he:aring of the: plan, gol le:gal advie:e: from Elmer Smith, a local attorney, who jnforme-d them the-y had the: legal righl lo elefe-nd their property with guns if necessary. In the hall on that . ds November 11, 1919 were eight armed men intent defending their hall. One of these men was a lumberjack and ex-soldier, Wesley Everest, recently returned from France. No shots were fired that afternoon by the unionists until the door of the building was broken in. (This was testified to by a local doctor at the trial that followed and he was virtually crucified by that small town as a result of this testimony.) Most of the shooting was done by Wesley Everest. He held off the mob until the last minute and is credited with saving the lives of his seven comrades by his action. Wesley Everest was brutally lynched after having been tortured. He was left injured and dying in the jail where his comrades could see him and not help him for some hours before being taken out and finished off in the style of small town, respectable, white middle class male citizens. As Wesley Everest was being taken from the jail he told his comrades, "Tell the boys, I died for my class." The heroism of Wesley Everest and the many men like him will never be forgotten by American workers; the capitalists history books cannot rob us of our rightful history. But a part of the legacy left us by the heroes of the IWW is the lessons we can and must learn from their mistakes. James P. Cannon, a former member of the IWW writes: "77ie best part of the record of the IWW was written in its first 15 years. .. The turning point came with the entrance of the United States into the first World War in the spring of 1917, and the Russian Revolution in the same year. Then "politics" which the IWW had disavowed and cast out, came and broke the door. These two events.. .again coinciding in Russia and America as in 1905. . .demonstrated that "political action" was not merely a matter of the ballot box, subordinate to the direct conflict of the unions and the employers on the economic field, but the very essence of the class struggle. In opposing actions of two different classes the "political state" which the IWW had thought to ignore, was revealed as the centralized power of the ruling class; and the holding of the state power showed in each case which class was really ruling. . . From the other side, the same determining role of political action was demonstrated positively by the Russian Revolution. The Russian workers took the state power into their own hands and used that power to expropriate the capitalists and suppress all j attempts at counter-revolution.. .Morover the organizing and directing centre of the victorious revolution Ka'd^tttMed out to be not an all-inclusive union, but a party of selected revolutionists united by a program and bound by discipline." The implications for our course of action are drawn from this point. Only through revolutionary class -struggle, and revolutionary, principled, and disciplined action can we end the exploitation of workers and the political repressiveness of the capitalist state. And only by making the revolution can we fully resurrect the history and the heroes of the working class. Then there will be a statue in the Centralia City Park dedicated to Wesley Everest, with his dying message, rather than the present statue dedicated to the Le;gionaire who was killed during the attack on the: IWW hall. Then parks such as the Collier Memorial Park in Oregon will be: returned to their rightful owners, the: American Indians. Then the: nause-ating phony eulogy to wage: slave:s, in a park name:d for a man who exploited and worked them to de:alh, will bexome: a relic of a primitive: soe:ial system and culture. ore man's cornmenfes O a v^ srmu voice) It must have been about 4 p. Saturday afternoon. Not that it matters really, but every story must have an opening sentence, and that one's as good as any. We were sitting there at a table in an "Authentic English Fish and Chips Shoppe" fulfilling our needs and talking about society and capitalism and exploitation and other things that are good for intellectuals to talk about and make you know that you "really are different" from the unaware masses. Revolution talk goes very well with fish and chips. I was with two women. In more normal circumstances I would say something like "there were two chicks with me", but somehow at 4 p.m. that day I couldn't quite put it that way. You see, one of them happened to be the chick-girl-woman that I was living with, and the other was a friend of hers, and the two of them were full-fledged, card-carrying members of the V.W.C., which is sort of the way you say Vancouver Women's Caucus when you're trying to make people think you know more about them than you do. I was sitting there listening to them talking and I secretly wondered if other people thought that it would be almost as cool to talk to two women of the V.W.C. as it would be to talk to two Black Panthers, except that the Black Panthers actually had to kill and be killed, and the women of course did not. I came to the conclusion that it was still very much a status thing, even if second to the Panthers, to be sitting here with these women, and I silently hoped that some suave young executive wearing the latest flair-pant suit and pink shirt with apache tie would come in and make some with-it remark to them so that they would reply with a beautiful put-down that they had learned from their survival school, in a carelessly loud voice so that Other people in the room would hear, and they would then mutter the words that would brand him as a male chauvinist pig, and he would back sheepisblyi.out of the place chased by the knowing looks of the other patrons. A man branded! Just as these thoughts were racing through my mind (not racing really, more like stumbling, except that racing is the word they seem to use these days, whoever ' overheard they" are), anyway, as they ng through my mind, I the dreaded phrase that convulses the stomachs of even the strongest, attacks th most virile of men, and ; last remaining stronghold of libe aggres oppre MAN-HATING". At least I think I ie;ard it, or maybe I just -expected it and :nticipatedit by a few sexonds. Immediately I was on the; defensive. I ne;an, here; I was, the; hated male, the r, the exploiting, manipulating >r. For countless centuries had bee;n subservient to me. I ;d them in many roles. If :ally, then I use;d them r occasionally as "the; that extra touch of status. If unattractive, I use;d the;m as che;ap labour. Often, as all of these-. My se;xual tive; physie n-be;hind-lhe;-n e;nde;a rade; , here the; Ioe;ke-r room, and r nade; the;m sluts lo be; use;d, de;spise-d, and use;d again whencve-.r ne;e;de;d. I told th ;m to be; witty and e;le;ve;r when it weiuld b.mefit my re;pulatie>n, but ne;\ -r to be; se) witty that it might put to doubt my natural superiority as a man. And, as a gracious gesture of my benevolence, I placed them on a pedestal by making sure that they really believed that they, not dogs, were man's best friend. And how the tables were turned. Now I was outnumbered and outspirited. I mean, they had a cause to fight for, and I had none. I wasn't black or an Indian or a woman or even a Jew. In fact, I was probably the worst of all possible things - a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant Male who was a University Intellectual with the; paper to prove it, and who was well-off enough to be able to afford Authentic English fish and chips at 4 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon. 1 wasn't eligible; for any liberation group e;xce;pt the anti-capitalist group, whose main e;fforts come from pe;ople who are "unemployed anyway and I have a good job. Of course; I was on the; defensive. But somehow, I didn't completely think I should be. Some;he>w I didn't think I should be; forced to acce;pt the guilt of my ane;e;stors, or even my brothers in this world today. I reached under the table and pinched myself be;low" the be;ll, as if making sure that I did, inde;e;d, fit the biological definition of a man. Sure enough, after a little groping around, I discovered that I truly was the dreaded creature, the tyrant that must be defeated. And yet I still felt it wasn't right. What had I myself done to deserve this hostility? If man really is using women as sex toys and cheap labour, where the hell is my share of the profits? I mean, if I'm going to be blamed for something, I may as well go ahead and do it! And that thought was my inspiration. As we were leaving the fish and chip shop, I deliberately put on my face the most male-chauvinistic look I could concoct (which admittedly isn't all that much) and did my best to look up the skirt of some cute broad that was sitting at the window table. I then opened the door for my own chick (note the possessive adjective) and headed for home determined to rest my weary body for the bread-winning work that I must of course do the next week.-And the; funny thing was, it wasn't much different from the way things usually I thought of all kinds of oppressors, from any age in history. Did they all march, 1971/pedestal/page seventeen really feel wicked like all good tyrants should? Or had they just been so well socialized that they didn't even attempt to justify their privileged positions. To many of them, it must have seemed just "natural", (and this concept of things being "natural" is still oppressing us in many ways today, not the least of which is in terms of women's roles). Oh, I.m sure that some of them were able to break through their socialization and see that their privileges were hurting other people. And I'm sure that many of these more aware men decided to go on exploiting anyway. But all of them? Enough to even justify the generalized feelings of hatred against all men which some of the most militant feminists of today propose? Maybe women aren't the only ones trying to shed their oppressions. Maybe many are ahead of men, because then- oppressions have been the most obvious. But men have been socialized just as effectively as women, except that they have been socialized into usually more convenient roles (except with things like fighting wars), so it sort of stands to reason that they wouldn't be as quick to attempt to liberate themselves from them. The disadvantages of their roles are usually more subtle, and are not manifested as much in terms of economic or sexual factors, but instead seem to hurt in more undefinable ways. A man who has power over others is not really free. He is a hedonist whose pleasures become an addiction which enslaves him. And besides, who wants to be hated anyway? It seems to me (for what it's worth, and it's worth a lot to me) that true liberation for women cannot be achieved by merely demanding equality with men, although it's a start. You don't have to read Watkins or Marcuse or Sartre or any of the other "great people to quote" before you can realize that as long as human beings exist as marketable commodities whose relationships to each other at any given time are very largely determined by the - state of the economic system, They Will Be Oppressed. Until we all realize that our economic system should be a tool for humanity, rather than the other way around, and that the rules of any economic game must be fitted to the players, rather than the players fitted to the rules, people will continue to be oppressed. True, women suffer a kind of double-barrelled oppression—they suffer as pawns of the economy as do men, and they also suffer in terms of sexism, which amplifies this economic oppression. But, as one woman friend put it so well, "asking for equality with men in this society only means asking for the right to be a more expensive commodity." Better than being cheap maybe, but no big deal. Maybe I should start a male liberation movement. Maybe it wouldn't go anywhere. But either way, I have to deal with my own oppressions. However, I hope you won't think me too chauvinistic if I make one little squeak of advice to all fervent man-haters. Your oppression goes far beyond that put on by individual men. Its basis lies in the mistaken values and systems of living in this society, and to be liberated completely from them will take the sustained efforts of both men and women. Besides, these people you hate aren't so bad-it's the men they've become! Robin Cam page eighteen/pedestal/march, 1971 Qj2/k SZScfe: TORONTO DAY CARE Dear sisters: I'm sending a cheque for five dollars for two subscriptions to the Pedestal. .. I would also like to get in touch with someone - in « Vancouver doing work around day care. Right now, a group of us in Toronto Women's Liberation are working on the problem of making day care jnore than a few isolated com- munity organizing projects. We are thinking tentatively of some sort of public campaign calling for more federal government financial support of day care. The danger with this tactic, of course, is keeping the various governments from having control over the centres. From the experience of the war, it seems logical to make day care an extension of the school system in Ontario (and perhaps elsewhere). But an extension of the authoritarian learning situations to children of two and older doesn't seem to be much of an answer. One of the problems we see with the community co-operative day care centres — at least as we know them — is their impracticability for Working mothers. The alternative of having day care set up in places of work is not acceptable because it could benefit the corporations by lessening women's mobility on the job market and perhaps reinforce the sex-typing of jobs. This is just a very brief description of the problem we are trying to deal with. We have just begun to work on it arid . would appreciate hearing from women who are interested in the same problem and who, possibly, have already come up with some answers. Could you please pass on this letter to someone who might be able to help? In solidarity, Barb Cameron Toronto [Vancouver women: If you are interested in discussing these and other problems of child care, come to a meeting on Tuesday, March 9, at the office -511 Carrall St.] W.C.T.U. DOES LIVE! Dear Madame, Your October 1970 issue of the "Pedestal" has just reached my desk, in which there is an article with inch-high black headline: "The W.C.T.U. Lives" Naturally our women of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union are deeply disturbed. We have used those initials since our incorporation the 19th of August, 1890. I have written to the Registrar of Companies, and he informs me that you are not registered under the name Women for Canadian Trade Unions as named in the said article, at least in B.C. — possibly you are registered Federally, and of course that is your prerogative. Our point is — that there is likely to . be conflicts arising out of your using an abbreviation W.C.T.U. when already it has been used all over-the world (we are a World organization) for over 80 years. We feel quite sure you wouldn't want to be confused -with our group. This is for your information — you probably haven't thought of it — and headline "W.C.T.U. Lives" is likely the error of the press. Trusting this will have alerted you to something you would not be aware of and not happy about. Sincerely, Dorothy M. Crawford Corresponding Secretary FROM MOOSE JAW Dear sisters: Thought I'd better write and subscribe to the newspaper for another year. The Pedestal is a good paper, has the kind of news I like to hear. I read in our local paper that the New Feminists from Toronto are planning an abortion campaign about the same time this year as you did last year. Are the Vancouver lib organizations going this year? (PtPttfPel Got myself a convert. One night she announced in a livingroom that she was a feminist. I guess my constant talking paid off. One more for our side. Right now my name stands the same, but when I send this letter I have another which is going for an application for changing names. I soon will have my birth name added back. Another step in the right direction. Haven't got too much more news for now, and very anxious to hear from you. Maureen Bender BOYCOTT SCAB LETTUCE On behalf of the United Farm Workers' union and on behalf of the striking lettuce workers of the Bud Antle Farm in Salinas, California, the UFWOC (United Farm Workers Organizing Committee) is filing suit against the Teamster local 890 and against Bud Antle Inc.; Bud Antle Inc. is one of the largest lettuce growers in California. The suit is for $50,000 actual damages for each striking farm worker and $10,000,000 punitive damages. The UFWOC charges the Teamsters with conspiring with Bud Antle to deny farm workers the right to organize'and be represented by their own union. on the fact that the Teamsters local 890 loaned $1 million from their pension fund to Bud Antle in 1963. Antle still owes the Teamsters $500,000 and is paying $12,000 monthly. The UFWOC charges that the Teamsters local 890 suffers from a conflict of interest and cannot legally claim to represent the employees of a company in which it has a financial investment. The Teamsters claim to represent the 1000 farm workers on the Bud Antle ranch. On July 28, 1970, Teamsters local 890 announced that they had signed contracts for farm workers with Antle and approximately 190 other vegetable growers in California. These contracts were signed secretly. The farm workers were not given the opportunity to vote on whether or not they wanted the Teamsters to be their The contracts provide an hourly wage increase of 2 cents; 4 unpaid holidays a y_ear; No ban on 2,4-D, 2,4,5,-T, DDT, ALDRIN and other hard pesticides; No end to child labor; No sanitary facilities; No grievance procedures; No job security. These contracts are 5 year agreements. There is a Teamster union WITCH, in a rai, Miss Teenage B.C. guerilla the;atre abo r Teenage B.C. Typical be;auty contests use; such figure; -24-36 to judge- the; winne;r. But Master Te-e-.nage; 2. contestants had the;ir manhe>e>d tested. And here is the- unanimously chosen winne-r! dues charge of $1.30 per week from each worker. On August 24, 1970 Antle's workers and 5000 other lettuce workers struck to protest the Teamster contract and to demand representation by the United Farm Workers' Organizing. Committee. "It is tragic when a so-called workers' organization such as Teamsters local 890 becomes a tool of the growers to '- suppress farm workers," stated Michael Bridges, member of the Vancouver Volunteer Committee for the United Farm Workers. "The Teamster-lettuce indutry conspiracy is a unholy union to keep the poor, poor," he concluded. - jSig|§£vS^ BOYCOTT SCAB LETTUCE (INCLUDING TEAMSTER LETTUCE) PEDESTAL READ IN NYC Dear editor: Ingrid Szabo's article "Speaking Up" was beautifully to the point. Economic dependency keeps women suppressed and only economic independence will provide women with the opportunities for new roles in society. This independence supported by law and buffered with day care centres will free women to develop their potential. Collectively women can be a moving force for change; I am beginning to believe the only movement that can cause significant change in our society. Collective unity and acquisition of political power will be women's salvation. The world can no longer sustain the myth of male supremacy to nourish male egoes. We need all people to create new ways of living. Your paper is great and read in New York City. Keep up the good works— Yours for equality, Ralph Duggan After attending the Lionel Tiger lecture at UBC, I am writing your paper to protest the behavior of some women's lib freaks. Their rudeness, intollerance and sure foolishness must have set back your movement several years. By disregarding the right of the 1,000 people who came to hear Mr. Tiger express his theories, these "ladies" showed how immature some fanatics can be. The sheer hate expressed by one woman especially destroyed any good will already existing in my mind towards woman's liberation groups in general. What wild image: of men these women must have if they have to express their views in such a crude manner. I realize you have to get people's attention but this action succeeded only in making a mockery of your justified claims. I understood that Tiger believes social roles have: a biologi- r^^^-"' "'■* '*> AO OOri 000 ve-ir- what I observed last night, certain women resort to baiting and castration of men to feel they are liberated. Equality is never reached by crushing male egos. Up against the wall, "ladies", I personally refuse to accept your crude attempts to subdue me with abuse, screaming and hate. If this is all this group can offer, forget it. Women don't need to be liberated, they need to mature and face realities. Social roles took thousands of years to develop and will not change through such ''gorilla theatre". Yours disgusted Paul Smith PS: If someone could explain to me what they hoped to achieve at UBC Monday evening, I am ready and prepared to listen. march, 1971/pedestal/page. nineteen * &u<oe TO % *Lmk \K Jtte^ m xm Dear Pedestal: I seem to have gone down for the third time in attempts to write the definitive political analysis of Canadian women's liberation, and so I am turning to more familiar ground. As a librarian, I see women come and go in their search for facts and ideas on the movement. I have just finished printing a basic booklist of women's literature designed to appeal to the average person not involved in any movement. But I find too that women in my own group don't quite know where to turn or what to think about the thousands of books, magazines, newspapers, pamphlets and news clippings which concern them. So I thought maybe you could use a regular blurb on printed material — not just books. I think I could go on forever talking about old books, new books, my favorites, the books I hate, the magazines that destroy your soul, the newspapers that give you strength. How many of you know the Punch Book of Women's Rights, or the S.C.U.M. Manifesto, or Cleverdon's Woman Suffrage Movement in Canada.. .? Anyway, I have access to these1 things, and would like more women to read them. Let me know what you think of the enclosed beginnings. Solidarity, Pat Dewdney BBS GNUS When I begin to think about the best books on women's liberation, I am always reminded of a cartoon showing two booksellers unpacking cartons of books. One says to the other, 'I certainly hope women's liberation lasts longer than pollution did!" The market is flooded with books about the neo- feminist movement, and unless you have some knowledge of who is who, you could get bogged down in a pedantic study, turned off by a grudging liberal, or simply bewildered by good books with conflicting philosophies. If you've never read anything at all from a feminist viewpoint, you could start with The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan, founder of the National Organization for Women. Despite the atmosphere of reformism, this book will remain a classic in the literature of the women's movement, perhaps because it was the first to take a critical (if somewhat tiresome) look at "the problem which has no name". Born Female by Caroline Bird is another good one to start with, particularly if you are working. It deals with the oppression of women from an economic point of view, albeit supporting the present capitalist system. Somewhere in your reading, you will pick up Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex. It's not an easy book to read or comprehend in full; individual chapters, after you accept her hypothesis, can be a personal breakthrough. It's a classic — read it. At this point you might tune in to the movement of the 70's. Don't start with Sexual Politics; it may be the Bible of the women's liberation movement, but it's not the sort of thing you hum yourself to sleep by. Read it when you have a solid base of philosophy, and when you have fots of time to recall all the other books you've ever read. The book which seems to bring it • all together now is Robin Morgan's anthology, Sisterhood is Powerful,- a collection of articles on all aspects of women's liberation, plus poetry and such historical documents as the N.O.W. Bill of Rights. An earlier version of Sisterhood is Powerful is the magazine (thick pamphlet?) Notes from the Second Year, which is also essential reading, especially if you still believe in immoral advertising and the vaginal orgasm. Notes from the Second Year has a lot of good articles on organizing a radical feminist movement, from consciousness raising to manifestoes. It's also the only anthology I know of which includes a statement by Toronto's New Feminists. You can get Notes for $1.50 from Radical Feminism, P.O. Box AA, Old Chelsea Station, New York, N.Y. 10011. There should be a Notes from the Third Year soon. Once you get into pamphlets and reprints, you're away to the races and you better buy a filing cabinet. A good idea is to write to major organizations and feminist bookstores, enclosing a dollar, and ask them to send sample material. JSverywoman in Los Angeles will send you past issues very cheaply; so will many other newspapers. The New Feminist bookstore in Chicago will supply you with lots of catalogues and order forms; they sell pins and bumper stickers too. Watch out for commercial rip-offs. Make sure you're dealing with a women's collective and unionized or volunteer labor. Find out if other political groups back them. You'll learn a lot by writing to the publishing collectives — most of the women are very helpful and will often drop you a personal note. Don't forget to add postage and foreign exchange where necessary. Quebec's all-male jury system. Lise Baker refused to testify in Paul Rose's murder-kidnap trial,.saying, "If 'you won't recognize women as jurors, how can you recognize them as witnesses?.. .I'm obliged to refuse to testify." As the judge was sentencing Lise, seven women rushed into the empty jury box chanting "Discrimination" The police pulled them out and six were sentenced to a month's imprisonment. The eventh, Marjolaine Peloquin, shouted, "They're raping us again," and got two months. Another ! triumph of Quebec justice. I I; page twenty/pedestal/march, 1971 for meeting dates see Calender Liberation to help women through the therapeutic abortion system. If you'd like to counsel, call the office, or D.J. at 879-5836. THE PEDESTAL Always needs more people for writing, layout, proofreading, typesetting. ANNE 988-0950 OFFICE Everyone can help in the office — answering mail & phone, mailings, etc. Call BARB 738-2073. EDUCATION UBC-Mostly general education around women's liberation - JANE RULE 224-0557 SFU-MELODY 683-0906 VCC-Cathy Wilander 433-0290 High Schools — TRUDI 939-7713, ROBIN 987-5048. MEDIA PROJECT Learning to do propaganda for women—mixed media, slide shows, photography, media guerrilla attack -maybe even a movie this spring. PAT 731-5412 CHILD CARE A small group, needing members. Now planning to go to several areas of Vancouver to ask people about their day care needs. This info will be used for a propaganda campaign, and in considering the possibility of setting up Children's Houses If you can help, call ISOBEL 732-7059. WORKING WOMEN The workshop's activities have slowed down lately and discussions have centered on our own situations at work. We are trying to develop a strategy for organizing on the job. One conclusion so far is that more educational work, public meetings -and literature are needed. This week, March 9, we will begin a discussion of strategy around child care. Also the Teamsters have promised not to handle any struck goods in support of the Hosken strike and we want to try to keep them to that promise. GENERAL MEETINGS The general meeting was devoted to reports from people involved in planning the Indochinese conference and the supporting lecture series and benefit, and from the various workshops. The failure of communication in the Caucus and our apparent inability to attract and involve women not already working on some Caucus activity was mentioned but not discussed. A paper on this subject is available at the office for people interested in beginning the discussion. PEDESTAL STAFF LIST: Barb Todd, Pat Hoffer, Anne Goldstein, Kathy Gallagher, Jean Rands, Anne Roberts, Pat Uhl, Margaret Benston, Ginger Richards, Carol Phillips Dori Retzlaff Special Contributor—Robin Carr tofntljtr tdoti pest QUEBEC 3637 rue Ste. Famill Women's Centre (84 3964 Ste. Famille, Iv ONTARIO Shirley Greenberg 297 Wentworth North R. Feller (821-9393) 38 Craig St., I 565 King E., Box 461, Sudbury MANITOBA Ste. 606B, 416 Mail SASKATCHEWAN ition 722-10th 215-22nd Ave. N.E. Calgary 64 Sybilline House (432-7685) n St., Toronto 5830) ■6252) iw 685-2755 Bonnie Ann Dukwa Dept. of Chemistry Notre Dame Universe Nelson, B.C. 1 1 IUU 1 w 1" 1 /JL Unites ottieRu)is&note&. 434-05:23 SUWDfW mo<\&Ay TO£.St>fW wewesoM >HD«ttM FR\DfeV SfcTUftO** Mil 6fr-Si 2 Utork?A<l CeaNSeUirv4L ItAcmuA. "to** «** SfcSSlOA t& ... ,,£ 6 IndocVuna. C*tf Sftti«t.' ' OvUdcart fttoftTION C0UA%UiNG /4 /J ft i IntockiAflL CeoS. u>oftKiiva C0UA~tf.Ui*ta 18 Lnfor«u*.l ^£»ior\ $?? S| 40 fo>€S*M. jjSj -2' *U6t %& 33 Ccun&iwju& 4-1«? 45* tf&EXlftlG *&2 44 Air fatttdV. 1 # IndbcWMuCsnf *06t 32? 30 CCK»r\«fcUina MSP «t'U6C April. / IrvJocKi*V«.Si. • GoftScAirvct vow- wsp tuiru**/ fifty Con*. -1 IrvAocJk>r»e&£. ^ VCC tiwwin V * ? /c Want *n ABORTION 2 Coun«5fc.llm<\ ^\ Q 511 C^ftLL St«£fLt 4W-0523 L
Vol. 3, no. 3; March 1971
Newspapers
British Columbia
English
Vancouver: University of British Columbia Library
Vancouver : Vancouver Women's Caucus
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Women's rights--Periodicals
Feminism--Periodicals
Pedestal: A Women's Liberation Newspaper
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