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Pedestal
16 pages
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g#»A a women's SR/ liberation newspaper >W 4A^1 .15 Pedestal typeset by voluntary labor; printed by union labor Published by Vancouver Women's Caucus WHAT'S INSIDE: Leila Khelad the Palestinian Revolution ..p2 •Makaroff ..p3 •Woman Driver P7 •Cunninghams Boycott p8-9 The Wobblies ..p13 Women of the Blues ..p14 ) page two/the pedestal/october 1970 W *s* I Kavxl itoo AAotiboes Ut life.— 'Frbw>oh For WoMekj' * FReeOort K* T^&STlNB I homeland. Li lei la u OWAtAi A spokesman in Jordan revealed that the last of the hijack hostages have been released by the Arab commandos. In doubt now are the fates of six Arab guerrillas held by Western governments, whose freedom was the initial goal of the hijacking. A seventh Arab commando, Leila Khelad, has been assured of her release by the British government, who have announced that they intend to abide by their decision to release her when the hostages were freed. She was arrested after an abortive attempt to hijack an El Al airliner en route to New York; her male comrade was shot and killed by armed guards. Leila Khelad can trace her commitment to the Palestinian cause back to her childhood in Lebanon, where she learned that the Zionists had usurped her lany Palestinians of her generation, she was educated at the American University of Beirut, where her exposure to the ideas of Arab and Palestinian, liberation led her into the Arab nationalist movement. With the outbreak of the 1967 war, Leila became an active revolutionary, joining the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. For some time she instructed Tiger Cubs (teen-age commandos) in everything from weapons training to' political understanding. In a war where women bear arms on both sides, Leila's activism does not seem remarkable. "In our revolution, the woman has just as big a role to play as her male counterpart." She is no stranger to aerial guerrilla warfare. On August 29, 1969, she successfully commandeered a TWA jet to Syria. This is how she describes that experience, from an interview with Godfrey Jansen. Because Flight 840 5 extra half hour in the loi anxious time and two other t we got on the plane. I noticed late had to wait an This extra wait was an :hings upset me before American lady v four children who seemed very happy and excited about their trip^ I then realized, with a shock, that something dreadful could happen to them if anything went wrong. I love children and wanted to tell the lady not to go on this flight. But when I thought of some of our Palestinian children, who have had nothing in life, I felt a bit stronger and braver.. . My part in the actual take-over was to stand facing down the plane to control the passengers with my pistol and grenade. But when I stood up with the khelad PAT HOFFER grenade in my hand and reached for my pistol, I felt the pistol slipping down my leg inside my trousers. I hadn't eaten for a day and the waistband of my trousers was loose. It was such an anticlimax that I laughed. Instead of brandishing a pistol, there was I bending over with my back to the passengers and fumbling for my weapon up the leg of my trousers. Having retrieved the wretched pistol I put it into my pocket, never to take it out again. It was too scaring and too much like Hollywood. You can't imagine the look of total astonishment on the face of the captain when I went into the cockpit and announced, "I am the new captain. . ." Having put the crew in its place, the next thing I did was to speak to the passengers on the intercom. Our message was this: "Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. Kindly fasten your seat belts. This is your new captain speaking. The Che Guevara Commando Unit of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has taken over command of this TWA flight. .. "Among you is a passenger responsible for the death and misery of a number of Palestinian men, women and children, on behalf of whom we are carrying out this operation to bring this assassin before a revolutionary Palestinian court. The rest of you will be honorable guests of the heroic Palestinian people in a hospitable, friendly country. Every one of you, regardless of religion or nationality, is guaranteed freedom to go wherever he pleases as soon as the plane is safely landed. "Our destination is a friendly country, and friendly people will receive you." why Palestine? For twenty years, Palestinians have been living a nightmare, displaced from their homeland, and .harassed by politicians and international legal and welfare organizations. They have been told they are_pariahs and destined to be beggars; for the most part, the Palestinian Arabs have accepted these definitions and have lived on the charity of the neighboring Arab states, jammed into refugee camps , hopeless and despairing. The six day war in June, 1967, with its humiliating defeat, ironically resulted in a resurgence of national dignity. The Palestinians saw clearly that their leaders were decrepit demagogues who had controlled the Palestinian liberation organizations so as to keep them out of any struggle and divided among themselves. During and after the war, the Palestinian goals crystallized around their need for unity to achieve their objectives: 1) the destruction of the State of Israel as a power structure at the service of Zionism and imperialism; 2) the establishment in Palestine of a multi-racial and multi-religious state; and 3) peaceful co-existence between autonomous. Jewish and Arab groups. Jews and Arabs had lived peaceably together in the Middle East for many years prior to the growth of Zionism and the 1948 war which created the State of Israel. Now Palestinian Arabs have lost basic national rights; within Israel Arabs are second class citizens, and discriminatory immigration laws make it illegal for Arabs of Palestinian origin to return to the country. Who benefits? The State of Israel is accumulating land and wealth, carving it out of a part of the world which previously belonged to others. They are paying an : price for their wealth, as all imperialist countries must; they have the highest per capita expenditure on military/defense budgeting of any country in the world. Harder to evalutate are the cultural and social repercussions on a nation so totally committed to militarism, and the evil effects of suppressing minority national and racial groups within the country. The Western Powers have, in Israel, an entree into the Middle East; one can view Israel as an outpost of essentially European culture in a foreign land. More importantly, the presence of Israel diverts Arab attention from their real economic problems, prominent among them being their oil-based relations with the U.S., Britain and West Germany. The threat of Israel and the divisions within the Arab world over how to handle it keep the Arabs fragmented and no challenge to Western imperialism. The Arab Leaders have been able to use the specter of Israel to deflect attention from their own corruption and incompetence; Israel serves as a scapegoat for all Arab frustrations. Arab leaders have been waxing fat on the spill-over of profits from 'giving' oil to the West, and they have not been sharing the wealth with their citizens. Who loses? The people, as always, are the big losers in this profit-making and market-protecting game. The Arabs from Palestine have lost their independence and autonomy; they are the pawns in the Mid-East struggle. The refugees are penned in their camps, a living example for the Israelis of how the Arabs won't help each other, and a horrifying reminder for the world, according to the Arabs, of. the inhumanity of Israel denying national rights to the Palestinians. The Israeli people are paying heavily for the war, and they are losing any conception of alternate forms of living, which in the more peaceful times before 1948, they were developing so fruitfully. In the increasingly mindless hatred of "Arabs", they are losing sight of any possibility of rapprochement with their neighbors, their cousins in the Middle East for the last 2000 years. It is a truism to say that as long as one group in the world oppresses another, that both parties lose in the long run. We understand that with our own struggle for liberation: that men are the losers too in our present system, and that women's liberation means liberation for men as well. So it is with the Middle East; liberation for the Palestinians, for the Arab people, is a necessary precondition for a lasting peace in the area. And that means the end of all imperialism in the Middle Easf, Western, Israeli and Arab exploitation of the people must Ujfc,tWem.a<>? ^kr^o? Welt, kj£ O.U. Hnoto wWafcT&ke'A do... S\ry&<L do ifc duqairx § MAKAROFF JAILED Six months ago, Dr. Makaroff was charged with three counts of attempting to procure abortions, charges to which he pleaded guilty. Twice before medical doctors here have faced this same "attempting to procure" charge. Both received suspended sentences and one had his license suspended. A third doctor, who worked in the Birks building, was also charged at one time but, being an older man, his heart couldn't take the shock (of being dragged off to jail in the middle of the night) and he died in hospital, under police surveillance of course. Dr. Makaroff was treated somewhat more pleasantly. The only things they took were his files, with which they proceeded to hassle the patients whose names were so carefully recorded. They even managed to arrive at his place during the daylight hours and- Makaroff himself was allowed to remain at home on his own recognizance. But it seems they were just leading the lamb to slaughter. Last week he got sentenced — to three months in jail and a $15,000 fine. Plus, of course, a lecture from the judge (Harvey Sedgwick, 6215 Summit Place, West Van) which was a real gem. "It should not be the function of this court to suggest change or disagree with the law but rather that the law must be upheld." The judge devoted much of his final statement to defending this position. He had to because the defence lawyer, Richard Anderson, based his case on the stupidity of a law which requires a committee's rubber-stamp approval before the doctor can carry out just this one particular operation. If the judge is so concerned about upholding the law then what about the fact that some hospitals are giving certificates for reasons not included in the law — i.e., do not endanger the mother's life or health. Even B.C.'s Minister of Health, Loff- makrk, said in a public statement that if a pregnant woman gets german measles she can have an abortion. It may not be included in the law — but it seems even' a phoney certificate beats none at all. "I believe that a therapeutic abortion committee should be consulted before an abortion is undertaken by any doctor." Dr. Makaroff -considered this his only crime — bypassing the bureaucratic red tape. With the passing of the new law in 1969, abortions can now only be done on the approval of a hospital's abortion committee (no committee, no abortions). As Dr. Makaroff said, this new law violates the privacy of the whole doctor-patient relationship. It humiliates women by exposing then- anguish to total strangers. Strangers, mostly men, who have the power to determine their future, even their life, without ever having seen them. And when they say "No" it's really NO — no discussion, no appeal, and no abortion. What the judge doesn't seem to realize is that many women, thousands of women, who want abortions will not go before any abortion committee. For example, if you're a few months pregnant you just don't have 3 or 4 weeks to waste waiting for the verdict from above. And red:tape takes time to get through. Maybe you're still living with your parents and you don't want them to know. Or- your doctor's a catholic and he never even tells you about therapeutic abortions. And then of course if your case is approved you get to spend two useless days in hospital where you're criticized for taking up space you neither want nor need. "/ am also aware that a substantial income was involved here and that a profit was made from the practice of aborting." defending himself here. Not against the criticisms of people like judge Sedgwick and prosecutor Cliffe, who make substantial profits themselves. But against his own conscience and against us. If, as he says, it is outrageous that women who are not in certain privileged classes are discriminated against, then how does he defend himself? Often he did not charge $500. Although he stated this was his fee he did not ask for it in advance. And if you didn't pay after the operation was over, well there's no way he was going to take you to small debts court. He even took down payments and promissory notes and, he says, no one was ever turned away because they didn't have the money. He worked 18 hours a day doing as many abortions as — he could, living continually on the point of exhaustion, and he felt the stated fee worked as somewhat of a deterrent. In other words, he just couldn't handle the huge and continual stream of women seeking abortions. And so he charged what the traffic would bear. As his lawyer said, "Is a crime worse if you make money?" In fact, of course, if abortions were not mentioned in the criminal code they would be treated just like any other operation — covered by medicare. After Dr. Makaroff's sentencing, over 50 women and men walked through the city in a candlelight procession organized by the Women's Liberation Alliance to protest Canada's inhuman abortion laws. Ne n Dr. Makaroff had trouble FREE ABORTION ON DEMAND! theWCTU LIVES CHARLOTTE BEDARD & CATHY WALKER One of the major priorities of Women's Caucus is working with and educating working women. When we heard in June that an electronics plant employing 80% women workers was hiring summer replacements, the two of us decided to take the opportunity to put theory into action. The plant (Cascade Electronics in Port Moody) had just got certification with the Canadian Electrical Workers (CEW), an independent Canadian union with genuine rank-and-file of the bureaucrats (at least on paper). The women at Cascade had essentially organized themselves, with a minimum of outside help. We felt that given the beginnings of discussion about a women's union, it would be valuable to have experience with a recognized trade union. We were hired as assembly line workers. Charlotte was on afternoon shift with 100% casual (summer) employees and Cathy was on day shift with a substantial number of casual employees, but mostly ■ regular workers. Because of the composition of the two shifts, our objectives became two-fold: Charlotte to attempt to discuss mostly general issues of women's oppression and Cathy to try to talk more specifically about issues of ongoing interest within the plant. APPROACH Both broad topics were difficult to broach in a vacuum. Therefore, to generate discussions we brought in bulk amounts of the McGill Birth Control handbook, the Women's Caucus Abortion pamphlet, and copies of the current Pedestal, as well as pinning up newspaper articles on women's liberation in conscpicuous places. The response was encouraging. Women began lively discussions on the assembly line j and in the plant cafeteria at coffee and lunch breaks. Many requested we bring more literature. One of our biggest "ins" was the fact that both of us had been on the Abortion Caravan. The great success of the campaign meant that nearly all the women had the "line" down pat before we even began to talk to FIRST LEAFLET After talking to the women for several weeks, we decided to direct a leaflet specifically to the casual women. It talked about past militant strikes involving women workers in B.C. (particularly Lenkurt), the improvements in wages, conditions and job security within the plant since certification; and urged women workers to continue to take a leadership position within the union; as well as urging those casuals moving on to other factories to attempt to get unionization there. The leaflet also talked about further issues that the union should tackle at next contract negotiations if it were to truly represent the interests of the union members, namely, equal job opportunities within the plant and plant operated and worker-controlled day care. FIRST MASS GRIEVANCE The favorable response to this leaflet laid the groundwork for fighting the first grievance involving more than one or two individuals. According to the contract, the afternoon shift should have been given an additional 10 cents per hour shift differential above the base rate of $2.13/hour. We discovered this after plowing through the contract which we had smuggled off the union notice board (the company, after three months, had still not printed uj> the contracts — keep 'em down by keepin' 'em ignorant). Charlotte talked the issue up among the casual afternoon shift workers. She found her toughest opposition was the shop steward who was reticient to grieve the issue for several reasons: she was a shop steward but also a supervisor, therefore there was an obvious conflict of interests; the grievance procedures were unfamiliar since certification had been so recent; we were "only" casual workers and wouldn't be there after the end of August anyway. It was difficult for her to understand that if this issue was not challenged immediately the company would have the precedent of contract-breaking, one which would allow them to ..start any regular afternoon shift at the same wages, spite of fears of being fired, in spite of fears of not having the possibility of getting on as a permanent employee, nine (out of about 20, not all of whom had been spoken to about the issue) afternoon shift women signed the grievance forms. The grievance was won and granted retroactively to all the workers. The women had united and won ! THE W.C.T.U. Charlotte quit soon after the grievance was won to go to Vancouver Vocational Scholol to upgrade her secretarial skills. Cathy is now working as a permanent employee at Cascade and will stay on until she is fired or laid off. We and several other women in Women's Caucus as well as one woman who was involved in the Lenkurt strike and in the formation of the CEW. have formed the Women for Canadian' Trade Unions (WCTU). We hope to involved women who already work in Cascade and Phillips Cables, the other plant in the Local in discussions and actions relevant to them. There have been only (excluding ourselves) seven women spread over three meetings in three months who have gone to the regular monthly union meetings. The meetings are dry, dull and do not relate to the workers', particularly women workers', real needs. Although the union is democratically structured, it, will take active participation on the part of all the membership to distinguish it from just another hack union. As well as attempting to involve women factory workers in the WCTU, we are trying to get union approval and sponsorship of a plant newspaper at Cascade. At first we will have to do most of the || writing , but hopefully much of it will soon be taken over by the women themselves. We will also be sponsoring an open showing of the film Salt of the Earth, hopefully in conjunction with the Pulp and Paper Workers of Canada. This film is an excellent example of how unions should work. We .also hope to involve women workers at Cascade in the leafleting we're doing of plants having a majority of women workers, that either do not yet have a union or which have a hack "International" (American) union whose primary interest is in supporting the labor bureaucrats in the States, rather than supporting the interests of the workers here in Canada. We feel that working within and helping to build the existing Canadian, democratic, trade union movement is one of the first steps to building a viable working women's movement. If you would like to join our group, please call Charlotte Bedard, 298-4328 or Karen Cameron, 321-2569. page four/the pedestal/october 1970 Should we print ads? The Pedestal's layout and typesetting is done by us; printing is done by union labor. The production cost of one issue is about $300. Even with the increase in single copy and subscription rates, income from sales is less than the cost of production. Mailing is subsidized by Women's Caucus (our last mailing cost $75). This worked passably well as long as Women's Caucus Was reasonably solvent. But now the Caucus is $900 in debt. What would ads do to us? One alternative is to print paid ads in the Pedestal. We may be able to join an advertising co-op through which each member publication would obtain more and better-paying ads because they would be sold on the basis of total circulation. Some of us oppose the use of advertising as a matter of principle. Advertisers claim they give us the information for knowledgeable and rational consumer decisions. But, in fact, advertising only contributes to the consumer's confusion about the relative merits of so-called competitive products. In reality, the differences between such products are insignificant, and what they call "information" is usually gimickry or sexual objectification. Women are not only exploited by objectification in ads. We, like men, are exploited as consumers: through higher retail prices, we foot the bill for expensive promotional campaigns. The contempt of advertisers for all consumers is obvious in their belief that repetition of senseless phrases is enough to boost sales. We, as women, can be most resentful of the basic premises of the advertising idea. And if we object to the very idea of advertising, how can we allow even selected ads into the Pedestal? The alternatives to ads The problem is that the alternatives seem no better. We could j raise the price again. But women do make less money than men and many women have no money of their own at all. We could stop giving sample copies to new people. But surely giving away sample copies will increase circulation in the long run, as well as familiarizing more people with the women's liberation movement. We could cut the costs of the Pedestal. But, until our circulation increases drastically, the only way to cut costs would be to cut the number of pages. Or we could make a compromise about advertising. Some ads don't objectify women. Some ads are basically just statements of fact. We could print those only, and still participate in the co-op. Other women's liberation papers, such as Off Our Backs, have adopted this kind of policy. With just a half-page of advertising on a single (and avoidable?) space, we could take in enough to meet a large fraction of our costs. To some of us, this seems a reasonable solution to a growing problem, We have presented this discussion because we want you to participate in it: think about it, talk about it with other women, and let us know your feelings. In the meantime, the current need remains. We need to sell more Pedestals; we need more subscriptions; we need, as always, donations and pledges. And we need your ideas — not only on the question of advertising, but on all the ways the Pedestal can be more useful and responsive. OLLOWING SISTERS P ^RTICIPATED IN THIS ISSUE: N . Bergseth, P. i lips, A. Roberts, C. Ston , E. Briemberg, H. Potrebenko, G Neuberger, C ker, C. Bedard, M. Borsky J. Rands, B. Todd, P. Uhl, M. Ben ton. INFO NEEDED Sisters: I know you've moved and your subscription rates have gone up, and I'm hoping this will reach you because I've given away my recent issues of the Pedestal. To make sure I can at least hold on to my personal copy, please send a subscription to each of the following. . . I am presently working on a comprehensive bibliography of women's liberation geared for women who are involved with the movement but who are not necessarily university students. This list is divided into the following sections: Essential Reading, History, Labor, Anthropology, Fiction, Biography, General Reading, Films, Magazines, and Newspapers. It will also include a list of sources for pamphlets and current material. I would like to know what five titles women across the country consider to be essential introductory material. I would also like the title, author, date of publication and annotation if possible of any book or . other ■ material relevant to this list. Specific subjects including birth control and abortion will be dealt with in a separate list, but I'd appreciate suggestions for that also. If we ever get an information centre going on a full time basis, these publications should be invaluable to all women's groups, so please help us put it together. In solidarity, Pat Dewdney 38 Craig St. London 16, Ont. We've printed the address so all readers can help with Pat's bibliography. Don't ' let us down! GROVELLING REACTION To the Editor, I would like to draw attention to 'Grovellings' in the September issue of the Pedestal for the purpose of showing how essential it is to have constantly before us a vision, necessarily imprecise, of what a 'liberated woman' — the new If we ignore this necessity we fall into the trap of believing that every 'gain' made by women within the society is progressive. It is scandalous to suggest that the appointment of the first woman to the Portuguese government is something admirable. The "Portuguese government is fascist — dominated by a small oligarchy in which the military plays an all-important role. This government is fighting a vicious Vietnam-style war against the peoples of its colonies in Africa — Mozambique, Angola and Portuguese Guinea. Repression and exploitation have been used by the Salazar regime and its present representatives for the past forty years against the workers, the poor, and the dissenters within Portugal. Any person, male or female, who supports that regime is contemptible. Similarly, I see it as no achievement that NASA has admitted the possibility of token women within the space program — a program which results in an incredible waste of resources for the purpose of demonstrating to the world the 'superiority' of the U.S. and the American Way of Life. We are not fighting for liberation to become female oppressors, either as astronauts or Cabinet ministers, upholding the power of capitalism, or for a few of us to get better jobs and pay within this system. That is a parody of liberation —. there is no way that we can become liberated over the backs of other people, whether they be the working and unemployed of Canada or the viciously exploited peoples of the Third World. We should be looking for our models to the women of Vietnam, who have been fighting for over twenty years for ■ their liberation; to the women of Cuba; to the militant black women of the U.S.; to the women of China and to the women in our own history who have struggled against great odds for bettering the condition of women. We should hold their example before us and constantly "improve our vision of the possibilities for which we should struggle. We should aim to build a movement of Canadian women strong in their struggle for their own liberation and in unity with that of other liberation struggles in North America and around the world. The one cannot be achieved without the others. Yours, Elizabeth Briemberg Charlene Luboff Vbu ve come a long way^ baby Virginia Slims I MONTREAL ' Fellow women: I have been following Women's Liberation activities for close to a year now. I have just finished reading a fantastic article on Women and Liberation in the August 1970 issue of Ladies Home Journal. Up until now I have been a strong but silent supporter (out of my own home) of the movement. What I mean is that at home I have not been so silent. I would now like to become an active supporter and participator in the movement. I've written to you for your help and assistance. What I would like to know is the groups and locations in Canada — specifically Montreal as I am livinghere presently, also, any Canadian publications — magazines, newspapers, etc. that may be available to me. Of all the literature I've recently read on women's lib., eg. in Ramparts, also Saturday Night, I feel I am in agreement with the wishes, feelings, frustrations. . . of women's liberation. I hope to hear from you soon, as I am anxious to be more involved. Yours truly, Montreal DRESS DISPUTE The following letter was originally sent to the Sun, which used it as for an article. We are publishing as much of the original letter as space permits. Editor The Sun Sir:. A rule, as a rule, is a rule. But when does a rule cease to be a rule and become a dictatorial mandate? For three days, beginning on August 4th, I have been called by certain people of authority at BCVS names such as "childish and immature" and "irresponsible and undisciplined". I have spent many valuable hours in conference with these people; hours that could be better spent in a more worthwhile manner by all concerned. I have been threatened with dismissal from BCVS. Why? Because I am a lady who chose to wear slacks to class. Not blue jeans, not party slacks, but rather the tasteful and modest type seen everyday in downtown Vancouver on ladies of good taste and respectability. ... To you who feel that the question of equality for women is irrelevant or hypothetical, let me relate my story. Last Tuesday (August 4), I wore a pair of tasteful slacks to BCVS, after, I must admit, I was told only to wear clothing that was appropos to the type of training I would be undergoing. In my case, this consists of "appropriate office dress." Certainly, many people would not consider such a request to be bizarre or unreasonable, and I am not questioning this rule per se. It does, however, seem rather odd that while even most high school students are allowed to dress as they please, within the limits of good taste, BCVS students are required to adhere to dress regulations , in spite of good taste. Dress regulations? Dress regulations at BCVS? At an adult education institute? A brief look around the campus doesn't give the impression that ' special dress regulations are in eflfefctSatr. v BCVS. But of course not! The majority of^the students, which are men, are simply not required to adhere to any standard of dress. Male students can be seen wearing clothes ranging from sport shirts and casual slacks to tie-dyed T-shirts and cut-off jeans; and wearing hair.styles running from crew cut and clean shaven to flowing tresses and beards. Dress regulations? Yes! Dress regulations! .Dress regulations applicable to women students only! The reason for this discriminating rule, I was told, is due to the fact that there are ladies who do not know how to dress tastefully for the job they are being trained for./^j^^S — To date, I have not been able to definitely confirm who it is. that defines what is good taste at BCVS. Whoever it is, I cannot help but disagree with his idea of tasteful dress. In my opinion, a micro-mini so short that the top of the panty hose which covers the wearer's derriere is exposed, does not constitute "appropriate office dress", nor, for that matter, even tasteful dress. At BCVS it does. A glance around the cafeteria during the lunch hour will turn up at least several of these tastefully dressed beauties. For as I was. told by a particular teacher, it makes no difference what kind of a dress I wear, as long as it has a skirt. So it is. For example: One day I wore a dressy pant suit with a tunic top the length of a very short mini dress. To remain on campus that day, it was necessary for me to remove the slacks and wear the tunic top as a dress. Since this confrontation took place before lunch, the administrator and the two teachers (one of whom insists on addressing mi- women students as "Clowns". .. and the classroom is supposed to simulate actual working conditions?) I was dealing with, seemed to have no qualms - about allowing me to go to lunch in the cafeteria in my short "dress", and indeed, I had to request that I be allowed to put my slacks back on, for modesty's sake, before I appeared in the cafeteria! Obviously, good taste and modesty appear- to have no basis in determining what is considered "appropriate office dress" at BCVS. ... Mrs. Teri W. DeWolf BERKELEY To Whom it may Concern: The enclosed is a personal congratulation from my reading your Volume II No. 6 edition for July-August 1970 of the Pedestal. I am happy to see you confront old P.E.T. himself - this is a further cry in behalf of human decency than anything this Babylon could get from Tricky Dick in Washington D.C. I purchased this copy of your paper at the Co-op here in Berkeley and since I am a co-op council member I have always taken the stand that any publication that informs the public on real human issues has priority at our bookstore since we are about the only place of any size here in the East Bay Area that will handle any publication that does not follow the old American • Chauvinist rhetoric. We are experiencing more facism. on the part of our government everyday and as I am sure you Canadians have long been aware of and that this nation has a Human Resource SLAG PILE of an Economy all geared to War. The minority races and the students have tried to inform the general public only to be killed or jailed, but with the workman now being thrown out of work it is finally getting home to them as a lot of them are now on welfare. I was elected as shop steward for my local qf the Machinists Union and being from Berkeley in a white racist factory making war goods I have forced others to think, and the results of this nation's lack of human concern starting from Nixon on down has really hit them hard, and now I am not The Radical but- one who is sought after for answers or directions on getting answers. One of the Berkeley Crowd October 1970/the pedestal/page five ACROSS CANADA (Sisters - if the address is wrong, if we haven't included you, or if the phone number is wrong or missing, please let us know. We need to hear from you.) WINNIPEG c/o Joyce Arnold 1029Corydon, Apt. 2 475-1582 THUNDER BAY c/o Joan Baril 12LyleSt. HAMILTON DISTRICT 297 Wentworth North CALGARY c/o Sharon Hunt 2440-14th St. SW, Apt. 3 244-06*59 EDMONTON 10-10168-100 Street 429-4463 FREDERICTON c/o Carol Hamilton-Smith 748 Forest Hill Rd. REGINA c/o Doris Rands 3630 Argyle Rd. 536-8805 SASKATOON c/o Margaret Mahood 127 LakeCres. 374-4188 MONTREAL 3837 Blvd. St. Laurent Montreal 131 TORONTO New Feminists P.O. Box 597, Sta. A Women's Liberation c/o Peggy Morton 52 Elgin St. 922-8121 For meeting dates, see Calendar, back page. WOMEN'S CAUCUS —■ EDUCATION WORKSHOPS UBC - Jane Rule 224-0557 SFU-Jan Patterson 524-4598 VCC-Cathy Wi lander 433-0290 High School - Planning a strategy meeting with other education workshops & Teachers Study Group for Oct. 7, 8pm, office. Trudi Gallant 939-7713, Robin Boal 987-5048 PEDESTAL Plans content, writes or solicits articles & produces the paper. Jean Rands 298-8430, Anne Roberts 988-0950 MEDIA PROJECT To learn to do good propaganda for women: mixed media slide shows, photography, silk- -screen, off-set printing & media guerrilla attack. C. Stone 874-1338 , Pat Hoffer 731-5412 MOTHERS For a chance to get together — maybe 1 afternoon a week in office - with child care. Liz Briemberg 298-9638 WORKING WOMEN'S WORKSHOP The Cunningham Boycott and women's union are the major projects. Bouk Elzinga 254-6673, Jean Rands 298-8430. ABORTION INFORMATION Joint project with Women's Liberation group. Counsels women who need abortions. Call the office or D.J. O'Donnell, 879-5836 if you can help. OFFICE GROUP We need volunteers to spend a half or whole day answering letters & phone. Drop in if you only have an hour or so.. Mary Borsky 879-6086 or office. COORDINATING COMMITTEE Includes representatives from each workshop; open to everyone. Exchanges & evaluates info from workshops; plans agenda for general meetings, etc. WOMEN'S THEATRE Just starting. To do guerrilla theatre & short plays. Helen Potrebenko 255-3915 OTHER GROUPS CHILDCARE ACTION Coalition including Women's Caucus members. Mich Tenney 876-2677 - TEACHERS-STUDY GROUP I FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS Research & action on women's liberation issues in the schools. Supports Women's Caucus & has considerable overlap of membership. Carole Mortenson 876-5894. GOAL "Get Our Abortions Liberalized." Single issue around abortion. Box 5082, Station E, Van. VAN. WOMEN'S LIBERATfON Centre at Fanshen House, women's work collective, 879-5836 WOMEN'S LIBERATION ALLIANCE New group formed after exclusion of YS/LSA from Women's Caucus. Mary Trew pjtep SOJO UMNER TR UTH, "THE LIBYAN SIBYL." ihat man over there say fhatawoman needs to>behelpedinto carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helped me into carriages, or over mud puddles, or j wet me a best place... Avidaiwtl awomenl took at me. Look at my arm! I have plowed OAidplanted anda atkered into varws, and no man- coudd head me... Andamt I a women 2 I could as much and eat a* much a*amanwfienl could act if j and bear the lash as well... A ndairvt la woman ? I have Borned thirteen children andseen tyiem most all sold off into slavery. And when I cried out with a mothers grief none but Jeswsheard... Andamtl awomatiV SojurnerTruth '■ Speech before the Woman's Rights Convention at Akron,Obio in tS5\. October 1970/the pedestal/page se WOMAN DRIVER I'm probably the worst taxi-driver that ever lived, ahd besides that, I have acquired 5 points for various infractions. If I was going to be a permanent driver, I would take karate lessons and the 150th time somebody asked me if it wasn't a dangerous job for a woman, I would kill him dead. I dislike the question about whether or not I'm married even worse, and get asked it more often, but it's easier to answer. I tell them it's none of their business, and therein lies one of the charms of cab-driving. You don't have to simper sweetly at the customers. I only need to smile at them when I feel like it, which, I must confess, is still fairly often. I'm a happy driver, but it's a stagnant state of grinning ignorance of which I am not proud. When I first began driving last year, I was really indignant about the crap a woman driver has to take and gave women's liberation speeches to captive audiences. I don't any more. More and more often I answer the nauseating questions in the accepted way and agree it's a nice day. It doesn't seem worthwhile to fight. You can, with enormous energy, bring one insulter to see the error of his ways, but he is followed by multitudes of others saying the same mindless things. There is no grand battle to be fought and won, only the day to day sameness grinding Other jobs have some kind of hope of betterment built in. Cabbies know there's nowhere to go, and we talk about the mythical Big Trip that will boost our income to livable standards this month. We know also that there's never going to be peace in the world and that improving society is only another fool's dream, like our Big Trip . The few steady drivers I know are men who have grown old pushing hack and who complain of the stomach and back problems that go with the job. A few are people on their way down, small businessmen who lost, ex-executives over 40. There are seasonal workers, like fishermen, who only drive during the winter. There is a' fairly large proportion of foreigners; Greeks being the largest in the company I work for. The individual members of another race or nationality do not appear to suffer any discrimination from other drivers. The Greeks, however, are subjected to about the same amount of hostility as women. Passengers vary in their attitudes. Some will not ride with women; others will only ride with white people. Although the number of women drivers is increasing, there are still relatively few. Three of the women I know have been driving since the war when nearly all cabbies were women. Another half-dozen or so are married to male drivers. Several of us are students. I don't know if my initiation was typical. One day a group of about 10 of us listened to a four hour lecture, standing (amenities like chairs or coffee-breaks are too luxurious for mere cabbies), and my head was a jumble of thousands of rules about what to do, when not to do it and what to do instead. Besides all that, I was woefully aware of the fact that I had no sense of direction. The next day I was sent out with a fat old driver named Smith who was supposed to show me how all the rules I didn't remember worked in practice. Instead of learning anything, I spent the day listening to Smith talk about all the fucking he'd ever done, or imagined he'd done. He ended the long, long monologue by telling me he'd get in my pants next, baby, and I'd find out what a great fucker he was. I was too totally demoralized by the previous day's lecture, and my lack of a sense of direction to tell him to shut up. My first day on my own was every bit as bad as one would expect. I kept getting lost. The car I was driving was difficult to steer and kept stalling. I took it back and the manager told me that drivers who complained about the condition of the car couldn't work there. Near the end of the day, I scraped a parked car, mostly because I was just too tired to give a damn. The manager told me I was finished, but then he changed his mind for some reason. The next week I had to go explain my actions to the Safety Committee and they were very nice to me. I think it was because I had proved their assumptions about the uselessness of women and Simon Fraser students. I stuck it out through those first miserable months mostly because I didn't know what else to do. Now the other drivers more or less accept me as one of- them, and it's been months already since the manager threatened to fire Tme. Although you don't see much of them, you need the other drivers quite desperately. If there's an accident or the car breaks down, it's nice to have someone there to help quickly. At 5 o'clock on a Sunday morning when the only people-Still on the streets are hungry, mean, angry, hungover, you need to notice and listen for each other. Cabbies are not nice people. They drink a lot to get the bad taste out of their mouth, they steal to supplement their meager income, they gamble in the hope that a big win will get them out of this racket. But in a hard and hostile world we make an attempt to look after each other. (Unless, of course, it means missing a fare.) In my first months of driving everybody could tell I wasn't a cab-driver. More and more often now fares accept me as the driver and are surprised to find I am also a student. I don't know why. I smile a lot less than before, but that probably has more to do with Simon Fraser than the cab. I worry less about the state of the world and more about my personal problems. I am less interested in the passenger than the amount of the tip he is likely to give. It's ' becoming a matter of survival; other values are becoming less important. All of us drive drunks to boot-leggers, addicts to pushers, executives to business deals. Without asking questions or even caring about it, if certain kinds of people always go to a certain place, the function of the place becomes obvious. It doesn't matter; what -jiijatters is the amount of money you can get. Values, principles, for the rest of us. It's the biggest son-of-a-bitch that rules the world and us who were born poor will die Women ride in cabs less often than men and count the change carefully and deliberate over the amount of the tip. When I started driving, I used to give away free rides but now I have been burned enough times to know that fares are not to be trusted; they're all the same and they're all dishonest. Attitudes to me vary with the kind of passenger. Workers, as I have said, are apologetic. Businessmen want to set up a deal. Prostitutes and waitresses treat me as an equal, fancier ladies seem frightened of me. Little old ladies are the only people delighted to see a woman driver. Loggers, diamond drillers, construction workers and other kinds of transient laborers are the best kind of fares unless they're mean-drunk and then they're the worst. Happy drunk they are delighted to see a sex object driving, make a lot of noise, carry their own luggage, and tip hugely. I'm a slightly better grade of meat than they've been accustomed to and sometimes they are vastly indignant to find I do not sell my body as well as my soul. I prefer that to driving the ruling class around, in spite of everything, and tend to hang around the lower class hotels. The people there seem to me less dangerous. I like being a cabbie. It's honest. I've worked in a cafe, an office, and many hospitals. Once I was training to be a teacher and now I am almost a university graduate. Having done all that, all I ask of my job is that the dishonesty be open and direct; and the lying deliberately vindictive. If somebody is out to get me, it's better that they do it with a gun or a knife or a fiery crash on the highway; it's easier than being stepped on like an ant without even being noticed, or with innocent protestations that it's all for my own good. I like the city. It's a great sprawling organism; its kindness, are all very nice but you can't live on the amount of money an honest cab-driver would make. You have to make money on the side and there 'are various ways of doing this. It's life on a slightly more elemental level which makes it easier to see how you are being screwed. If I am nothing but a cheap body, then inevitably for me a fare becomes simply a fare. It's difficult to regard them as people. It may be a good fare or a bad fare, but that's as far as I go. I have driven all over the city and am learning what it's about. The value of people is measurable only in money and I get very little money. I get the rotting stomach, the constant fear, and in return enough money for liquor to forget it all. The run-of-the-mill workers who don't ride very often are slightly apologetic about the circumstances which led them into the cab. They don't ride far and they rarely tip. The people who have the money are the pimps, pushers, executives, prostitutes, bootleggers, gamblers, stockbrokers. It isn't about to change. The ruling class might change but it will remain the same inward particles continually changing without altering the essential pattern. I like the sunrises best: the sun coming up over the mountain, its light filtering through the city muck. I like the sound of tires on pavement. Sometimes it seems I end where the car does, rolling down Granville, the sun beating down on the black top, covered with sweat and grease, the radio mumbling its incessant monologue. The first time I went to Grande Prairie as a child from the farm, I thought it the most enormously magnificent city possible. The dreams of poverty are, limited and I never imagined I would have an identity that was acceptable; that I would be driving people around Vancouver in this kind of casual routine. When I first went back to university I told people it was because I wanted to have bigger daydreams, but they turned out to be just as restricted in their own way as those of poverty. So now I push hack and I think it's a big deal. HELEN POTREBENKO . .page eight/the pedestal/october 1970 strike! "It is particularly significant that throughout its 42 years of existence, Cunninghams have never been involved in a labor dispute. This has been achieved because the firm expresses its appreciation of its employees' loyalty in something more tangible than mere phrases. Western Business & Industry, October/53 They might have added that the firm takes "disloyalty" pretty seriously too. Only one aspect of Cunninghams operations has a union contract: Western Wholesale Drugs. When those employees joined the union about a year ago, Ralph T. Cunningham himself called them together to "persuade" them to withdraw from the union. Certification was won only after the union took the company to court for breaking the labor law by coercing employees out of the At CH. Hosken, the other wholesale subsidiary of Cunninghams, certification was won last spring. But the company has yet to bargain seriously. The first block to negotiations was disagreement over who should be in the bargaining unit. The company insisted that the four women who delivered to Cunninghams stores should not be members of the union. Apparently they felt that these women would be in a key position to organize the stores, since they spent time arranging merchandise with the workers in the stores themselves. Soon after certification, the company fired the four women. When the union brought those women to negotiations, the company refused to meet with them. The union took a strike vote, and the strike began in May. The union is demanding the same wages and job conditions that apply at Western Wholesale, where employees do essentially the same work (warehouse work). Who's on strike? The company claims "there are only 5 people on strike out of a total of 42 employees." In fact, the original bargaining unit consisted on 21 people according to the union, 17 according to the company. If there are 42 employees, that includes management and sales staff. There are eight women on strike. This does not include the four women who were fired, and therefore can't formally be on strike. But they support the, strike and hope to return to their jobs when it is settled. The strikers receive from $39 to $47 per week strike pay from the union, depending on the number of dependents they are supporting. CH. Hosken is still operating with scab labor. The scabs include some who worked at Hosken before the strike. The three men who worked there before the strike are now working behind picket lines, along with 5 or 6 women. The company has also hired a large number of new people as scabs. Although trade unionists are not crossing the women's picket line, they are handling the goods. The company has scabs driving the products to terminals where they are handled by the teamsters and the railway unions. When teamsters at one trucking company refused to handle products from Hosken because of the strike, they were told by their union that they would get no support for this action. The boycott campaign seems to be one way to put real pressure on the company. The response of the company (requesting a meeting with Women's Caucus, approaching us while we picket the stores, and now a leaflet purporting to answer ours) suggests that the boycott worries them already. The campaign now has the formal support of the BC Federation of Labor and the IWA Region 1 (see article this page). If this can be translated into publicity and action to involve all trade unionists, as well as a growing number of women consumers, the boycott can be effective. Boycott Cunninghams in support of the w 9 pm for postering, or Sat. 2 pm for leafletingti boycott — see the bottom right-hand corner for %Olm mi "At Cunninghams we care. .." so much that for the sake of profit, we are prepared to keep on selling DDT — in spite of its disastrous long- term ecological effects. Apparently, Cunninghams also sells something for cleaning paint brushes which has about the highest concentration of sulphates of anything generally available. . ■ IT'S ALL IN THE FA By ELIZABETH BRIEMBERG Cunninghams is a family company which has, over the years, expanded to the point where it is the second . largest retail-wholesale drug business in Canada which operates through twenty subsidiaries. G.T. Cunningham started with a single store in Vancouver in 1911 and the company grew gradually until 1939 when Cunningham pulled his biggest deal, buying out the 23 stores of the Vancouver Drug Company. From then on the growth accelerated. g By 1949 he owned 38 pharmacies in B.C., employed 400 people and received annual retail sales of $4 million. By 1970 the company owned 84 stores under the following names: Cunninghams, Toban, Savers, Woolco, Reliable, Surrey, Woolworth Drug (Chilliwack) and Merry Mart. It also owns wholly the flourishing wholesale operations, Western Wholesale Drug and CH. Hosken Ltd. Three more stores are scheduled to open in Alberta and another was bought in the Yukon in Spring 1970. Employees numbered 1,041 and sales ran at close to $46 million last year. The growth in sales between 1964 and 1969 was running at 14.5% per year, and the sales as reported for the year ending in March L970 had increased by 20% over those for the previous year. In addition, Western Wholesale Drug provides all the merchandising, marketing, financial and planning services for a 'fast-growing cooperative chain' (quote from 1969 company quarterly report) of 60 .independently owned Western Drug stores. These stores in fact hold a franchise from Cunninghams so that although Cunninghams benefits from having the additional retail outlets, its capital outlay and risk are minimized. Who are the people who own the company? They are all male of course! The founder, G.T. Cunningham, was educated in Vancouver and at the Ontario College of Pharmacy before opening his first store in downtown Vancouver. As his company expanded so did his wealth and power. He became director of several additional companies — B.C. Power Corporation Ltd., Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Peace River Power Development Company Ltd., B.C. Electric and B.C. Pacific Insurance, and chairman of the board of governors of the University of British Columbia. He was an alderman of the city of Vancouver and Chairman of the Vancouver School Board. He also sat on the Metropolitan Health Committee, the Vancouver Town Planning Commission and on the Board of Management of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. He was a president of the Kiwanis Association, a professional and businessmen's service organization. By the time of his death in 1965 he had not only accumulated a-multi-million dollar business but he had also scaled the heights in social climbing in the city — he was a member of several elite clubs including the Vancouver Club, an exclusively male club at which the directors of large corporations, judges and bankers make decisions that rule our lives. As the Financial Post says 'The long-established family association and reputation, partly due to public spirited community contributions and service, is one of the company's major assets.' His son, R.T. Cunningham, the present chairman of Cunninghams, joined the company in 1937 and quickly rose to be president. He is a director of several other companies including the Bank of B.C., Seaboard Life Insurance and Royal General Insurance. He became president of the Vancouver Board of Trade in 1965. The founder's son-in-law, J.S. Mackay, is also a director of the company and his main interest is in the broadcasting world where he is President of Selkirk Holdings. Selkirk Holdings Ltd. owns All Canada Radio and T.V. and has a large interest (26%) in B.C. Television and Broadcasting System Ltd., which operates CHAN- TV and CKWX in Vancouver. Cunninghams cares . . . about the media Another director of the company, John MacD. Lecky, is also a director of the Sun Publishing Company and was previously advertising director for the Sun. The Sun Publishing Company is 50% owned by the giant Southam Press. This is interesting because Selkirk Holdings is owned 30% by Southam Press. Could it be that the lack of media coverage on the boycott of Cunninghams has anything to do with the relationship of the Sun (Southams) and Selkirk and Cunninghams through their boards of directors and their common financial interests? The majority of the remaining directors of Cunninghams worked their way up through the company into WINGHAMS on strike at CH. Hosken! If you can help in the campaign, call the office (684-0523) or come down any Wed. : picketing, or come to a working women's workshop meeting. These pages have some background to the definitions of a few trade union terms. October 1970/the pedestal/page nl A consumer boycott, like the one we are trying to build against Cunninghams, can be an important weapon in winning a strike. It can be an effective way for working women to support each other, since so many of us work in retail or wholesale of one sort or another. But it isn't easy. Our experience with Cunninghams so far has demonstrated the powerlessness of consumers in this society. Cunninghams is the second-largest drug company in Canada; owns drug stores under half a dozen other names, and holds a virtual monopoly in many areas of BC. Our picket lines around drug stores are not like picket lines around operations that are actually on strike. The people who work at Cunninghams are not scabs. They are workers who have no union protection, and can't refuse to handle Hosken products without losing their jobs. The customers are not scabs. They are people we are trying to talk to, to explain the strike at Hosken and why they should support it. This means our pickets are really "information pickets" — not an attempt to physically keep people out of the stores, but an attempt to pass on information. With a major effort to distribute information, with the active support of the trade union movement ior the campaign, the boycott against Cunninghams could be successful in pressuring the company to settle with the women at Hosken. As well, the campaign can lay the basis for future action in two LMILY... management positions before being promoted to the Board. The company constantly reiterates its good relations with its employees and at one time used to divide a third of its profits among its employees. However, this division was by no means equal — they used a system of points which were awarded to employees according to length of service and loyalty to the company. Those with the most points got the largest slice of the pie. This is a system used by many large .corporations including Ford, to undermine possible unrest amongst employees by rewarding loyalty to the ways: by reaching thousands of women workers and consumers with some basic ideas of women's liberation; and by warning all those companies which profit from the cheap labor of women workers that thousands of women are prepared to act in solidarity with strikes like this one. firm. In fact, we estimate that even if the money had been evenly divided among the employees the approximate bonus would have amounted to only $200 for the year. This was calculated for the year 1950 when the company was still using this sytem. We intend to do further research on Company/Employee relations and will present this in the next issue of the Pedestal.. Cunninghams cares ... about education Another link of interest which we hope to explore further is the relationship between Cunninghams and the UBC School of Pharmacy. Many of Cunninghams management were trained at UBC and the founder of Cunninghams sat on the Board of Governors of UBC for about thirty years and became Chairman of that board. Prior to the opening of the School of Pharmacy, representations were made over twenty years by the Pharmaceutical Association of BC and after Cunningham donated $25,000 for the building fund in 1946 the School was opened. It was essential for the expansion of the economy that more trained pharmacists be available and it is cheaper for the company to get them trained at the University than for the company to train them itself. The gift was certainly in the best interests of tbe A "public" company? We found it to be a time consuming job to obtain information on the company and in many cases information simply was not available. We used the Financial Post Survey of Industrials, the Library's company files, the Canadian Who's Who, the Directory of Directors as well as the very inadequate newspaper clipping service at the Vancouver Public Library. It became almost like a jigsaw puzzle to fit together all the scattered information to . gain a coherent picture. The research on the company's labor relations will be even more obstructed by lack of information. This situation exists despite the fact that Cunninghams is a public company which clearly demonstrates how the laws governing public companies enable vital information to be concealed. MORE SUPPORT... WHEREAS: 85% of working women in Canada are unorganized, and WHEREAS: It is the responsibility of all trade unionists to support the effort:; of these workers to gain job security, decent wages and the right to a collective agreement, and WHEREAS: The women at CH. Hosken have been on strike for five months for these rights, now THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: That this convention of the IWA Region 1 support the campaign initiated by Vancouver Women's Caucus to boycott Cunninghams Drugs in support of the strikers at CH. Hosken, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That we urge all locals of IWA Region 1 to actively support this campaign, and specifically to inform their members and the general public of the boycott. ...MORE ACTION" The convention of the International Woodworkers of America Region 1 (western provinces) unanimously adopted this resolution September 18. More important, the discussion showed that women in the IWA are determined that the union go beyond lip-service in support of the struggles of working women. ■ Connie Hawley, the only woman plant chairman in the Region and one of the four women delegates to the convention, tied in the Cunninghams boycott with her efforts for women within the IWA. She is fighting for an end to "women's jobs" and "men's jobs"; combined with union agreements to prevent companies from refusing to hire women. Where Connie is plant chairman, in a plywood mill at Golden, there are 15 women and 75 men. She hopes to begin communication among all the women in the Region so that small groups in each mill can support each other and increases their effectiveness within the union. Speaking on the resolution, Connie said: "This happens to be a very serious problem among our own working women who are IWA members and pay the same amount of dues, and support our union just as any male members. We have the same right to expect the same kind\jf action, not just words. "If you go against this resolution, then you are open for criticism. We are not prepared to wait for you to decide that maybe there is a solution and you could possibly do more than you have in the past, which hasn't gained us any status. Wages, yes, but you didn't stop at wages for the men. "If you pass it, then we will expect you to support this resolution, not just pass it. You will be committing yourselves to looking into your own plants and giving us more support and more action." union jargon CERTIFICATION: when the Labor Relations Board (supposedly impartial, appointed by the provincial government) recognizes a union as representing a group of employees. Certification can be granted when a majority of the workers involved join the BARGAINING UNIT: consists of the workers who are represented by the union under one certification. Both the union and the company can make representations as to who should be included in the bargaining unit. The Labor Relations Board decides this question when it grants certification (in the Hosken situation, the Board agreed with the union that the four women should be included in the bargaining unit). SCAB: anyone who works behind a picket line doing work that would normally be done by someone on strike. - page ten/the pedestal/october 1970 A SON, A SON, MY KINGDOM FOR A SON So you want to have a baby. Aside from the fact that you've been trying for maybe five years and just can't seem to get one started, aside from the fact that there are children starving to death right here in your own city who could probably live off your garbage, you want to have a baby — your very own baby. So, what do you do? First of all ask a doctor — see the world through the eye of a microscope. Like — if you're male, well short of having a uterus transplant (but they're working on it) you can go through the whole birth thing with your wife — a la Lamaze and "natural" childbirth. So what if there's nothing natural about it — it is the closest you're going to get to procreation. Now, if you're a woman and this whole missing heir problem is your husband's fault well there's always artifical insemination. It's all very scientifically done — like you'll never know the guy's name or anything — you just buy some of his sperm and your doctor does it up for you. NOW — taah daah - if it's you that's at fault (like a blocked fallopian tube) well they're working on that too. In vitro fertilization it's called. The idea is to get one of your eggs — if you're going to be this kid's mother the egg's got to be yours, right? — fertilize it, and put it back either into the fallopian tube (past the blocked point) or right into the uterus — but this means 3-5 days of test-tube life for the embryo and they haven't yet discovered what embryos like to eat. At this point the U.S. doctor who's working on this sees the health of this embryonic fetus — right number of chromosomes etc. — as his I Like I said — a microscopic view of the w - a microscopic (for further discussion of this birds-eye-\ population problem see Ladies Horn Sept./70.) ;w of the Journal, THE PILL vs. THE MALE EGO DISASTER The history of contraceptives can be dated as far back as about 1850 B.C. when, so an Egyptian papyrus describes, women used some kind of pasty mixture in the hope of killing spermatazoa. Aristotle recommended combining olive oil with either oil of cedar or ointment of lead and applying it directly to the womb. Over the years women have used moistened sponges, or wool soakedl with various substances, as diaphragms and the modern type of diaphragm, now usually used with contraceptive creams or jellies, was invented in about 1800 A.D. Today we're also got spermaticides, intra-uterine devices, and the pill. And last month, September, nineteen hundred and seventy, our federal government finally heard about birth control. The health department, under John Munro (remember, he went to Venice when we went to Ottawa), is allotting funds for research of its own on the subject. How much difference this will make is really debatable — like government researchers are usually just as male as pharmaceutical firms' researchers. And this is important — for example, most drug companies won't even bother providing money or facilities for research into the development of a safe efficient male contraceptive pill. According to one research chemist this aversion could be due, in part at least, to the fact that most firms are run by men and they just don't like tampering with male fertility. Another reason could be the low profit potential — the drugs are so simple that exclusive patents would probably be impossible. Hopefully government research will be able to help here. In the meantime, scientists are working on a new contraceptive for women. It's a chemical (one of the prostaglandins) in a tablet form that would be used once a month if a woman thinks she's pregnant. Inserted into the vagina, one in the morning and one again four hours later, it apparentiy causes abortion. So far, anyway, they are only considering using it in hospitals. THE BELITTLED HOUSEWIFE House household for id for o because v, Sylva es are domestic slaves. We provi services and sexual availability room and board. Not only are we r HELP WANTED: FEMALE 99.6 hours a week; bed & bored; must be good cook, careful shopper, and loving babysitter; responsible for providing pleasant atmosphere and constant emotional support. No pay. ir work, we are considered less than humar e perform it. Individually we may rebel — sex, throw dishes, blow HIS money, some go on strike. But nothing's changed . Gelber, head of the federal Women's pointed out that unpaid. domestic services, if figured at the going rate, would represent a substantial percentage of the national income. She feels that society's negative attitude toward housework is in no small way responsible for the dissatisfaction of today's young women. But perhaps this dissatisfaction is not simply the It of some misdirected belittling. Maybe it's something more important than just repairing the gross national product. In fact, one group of psychologists found that the people most capable of enjoying housework were children eight and nine years old. The solution lies, not in a change of attitude, but in a restructuring of the whole sex-role, nuclear-family, framework. The responsibility for maintaining society has got to be put where it belongs — not on individual women's shoulders but on the community's shoulders (and that includes men). Daycare co-operatives, putting an end to sex-role channeling in the schools — the possibilities are almost endless. But only then, when the essentials of life are available to all, will we be free — men, women and children, to explore our real potentials. TWO ITEMS STOLEN FROM*CrlATELAINE: 1. Car Insurance - men and women both pay $7 for the same $5000 death and disability coverage. BUT only the heirs of married men are eligible to collect the whole $5000. The families of women killed in a car caccident are only considered able to collect half that. 2. Source Book Press (185 Madison Ave., N.Y. 10016) is publishing a source library of the women's movement history — forty titles in 63 volumes. A couple of titles: A Vindication of the Rights of Women, by Mary Wollstonecraft (1792); The Man-Made World, by Charlotte Gilman (1910). Looks like we're not just a passing fad. A little magazine (2 issues so far) is now being distributed free to those of us lucky enough to live in certain chosen areas (lots of children, single-family dwellings, etc.). According to the editorial in the first issue "our objective is to serve the Canadian homemaker in the day-to-day performance of her many vitally important roles as woman, wife, mother and household executive." Accordingly they ran an article on the "new feminists" ("a social fire that housewives must control"): "The homemaker's understanding of what the • liberation movement is all about is crucial to its control. Her knowledge of the movement, support for its reasonable aims and rejection of its violent aspect could defuse the hate bomb (of radical feminism). What she has to say about feminism cannot help but influence her husband's attitude towards the liberation ladies." Most of the letters of response published in the second issue were really good. As one woman wrote: "Don't tell your readers how they can stop this movement. Tell them how their daughters will be spared the same dismal life they pretend to like." All women working for the City of Vancouver are discriminated against. Even if you're a doctor working in public health and you've been there all your life. Now we all know that people can't be hired and fired on the basis of their race, religion or sex anymore. But, and here's the catch, retirement and pension plans are exempt from all such controls. And the Municipal Superannuation Act discriminates — men must retire at 65, women at 60. Of course, you can be re-employed for a further five years — at the discretion of the employer who, needless to say, is always a man. At a recent convention of the American Psychological Association a group, of women psychologists demanded $1 million in order to set up all-female therapeutic communities. According to Dr. Phyllis Chesler women must be liberated from male psychologists and psychiatrsists, liberated from paying up to $40 an hour for the "privilege" of being kept in our place. "Male psychologists ought to pay their women patients for the privilege of feeling superior." Right — and what about liberation from male doctors who insist we have babies according to their rules, and then there's male lawyers. The AFL-CIO opposes the women's lib movement for absolute equality and they're lobbying against the amendment for equality that's now pending in the U.S. Senate. According to the president, a man, women don't want to give up the job protection they have w example he uses is coal r are not allowed to work protection?"). In his own a through legislation. Th< rung - right nm s(thi "job think the new legislation to work in mines, and, wants that. The point he free to follow their own of those men wouldn't "hi the min ifused v is women will be forced le says, what woman es is that if women were ■hosen careers maybe ' to work in the c VGH1 By GAIL NEUBERGER This is a talk given at UBC t school at a public meeting sponsored by the Teachers' Study Group. The channelling process that begins at birth ensures society of two main types of people: dominant males, dependent females. Fels Research Institute for the study of Human Development in Ohio has spent many years studying human growth and behavior. Fels scientists doubt that differences in behavior are innate. They believe parents raise children according to a social pattern that demands independent boys and dependent girls. They found these subtle pressures to be almost unnoticeable. For example, mothers fondle girl babies more and are twice as likely to nurse a girl as a boy. The child begins to become dependent on the mother thus beginning her development into what is considered to be a feminine person. Nearly all human behavior is learned rather than inherited. Man is much less a creature of instinct than any other animal. In a study of I.Q. Fels scientists found that between ages 2 and 12 boys scored large increases twice as often as girls. Fels thinks the tests overlooked variables in boys such as intensified desire and confidence, and in girls the growing awareness of society's demand that boys be smarter. From the time girls are able to crawl they are encouraged to play with dolls, keep clean, look pretty, tidy up, in contrast to the encouragement boys receive to experiment , construct blocks, be aggressive, leave the cleaning up for mother. Littie girls are not naturally sugar and spice and all that's nice but are pressured to conform that Suggested gifts for children always have the boys receiving building sets, racing cars, microscopes, space rockets," models, encouraging creativity and exploration while the same lists suggest Barbies, Doll houses, toy irons that work, stoves that cook, everything in miniature -that will condition the girl child into what is expected of her, a housewife. The division of labor of household chores teaches that women wash, scrub, iron, sew and cook while men build, paint and landscape. Girls are expected to behave differently. It is considered anti-female to be aggressive, loudw sloppy. They begin very early to see men as stronger emotionally (boys don't cry) as providers (daddy works ) as boss (ask your father). This early conditioning gradually instills in the child that males are more important, more useful, and that in turn sows the belief that therefore she is unworthy and unimportant. Over the years psychologists and . psychiatrists have shown that both sexes consistently value men more highly than women. Characteristics considered male are usually praised; those female are criticized ■ By the time the child reaches school age, male-female roles are firmly implanted. The school system does little or nothing to deter this channelling, but instead reinforces it. All texts have stories or pictures showing mother as the homemaker (despite that fact that 34% of all women work outside the home) father as the provider. Boys are encouraged to experiment with scientific apparatus. Girls are praised for neatness and literary skills. With the predominance of female teachers in the elementary schools, with the male principal as the head, the belief that females are incapable is strengthened. Texts also picture men as doctors, scientists, lawyers; women as nurses, secretaries, waitresses. The girl quickly, begins to realize that at school she Will not be rewarded for creativity and experimentation, but for conformity and paying attention to detail! Now you teachers may be saying " That isn't true in my room," but how often do you ask girls to do clean up chores because they will do a neater job? How often do you praise the girls for behaving better than the boys? How often do you ask the boys to set up projectors, mechanical equipment etc.? School regulations usually separate the sexes further. Boys are encouraged to use playing fields, involve themselves in body' contact sports which develop aggressive, competitive behavior while girls are asked not to play with the boys but to stay on the paved sections of the playground and play games such as hopscotch, skip, f jacks; where competition is limited and the main rule is wait in line to take your turn. Clothing regulations also restrict the girl to playing the previously mentioned games by restricting freedom of . movement in team sports and on playground apparatus. The girl quickly falls behind physically as the natural urge to exercise large muscles is hindered by feminine attire. Studies show that by the time the girl reaches junior high she has begun to feel the social pressure of being able to attract the opposite sex. To the average girl of this age, marriage is seen as the ultimate aim. Naturally so, as she has come to see herself as inadequate and dependent. She has become the object of mass advertising. She is barraged daily by ads in magazines and TV to be ' desirable, be wanted, be needed. She hears and sees what she should do in order to change those qualities of herself that are not desirable, wanted or needed and she discovers most often that there is little of her left that doesn't need changing. By being intellectually inferior she will be more likely to attract the opposite sex. By wearing padded bras and makeup she will enhance her desirability. By having important dates she will increase her status. During these teen years, the girl's entire waking moments are aimed at attracting a boy. If she doesn't, she is a failure. Not only does she think so, her peers, her parents, the advertising world, our entire society thinks she is a failure. Counsellors in junior and senior high, channel girls into commercial courses, home economics majors, teachers and nurses training. It is considered unfeminine or odd at the least to major in drafting mechanics, science or mathematics. Positions of high school office such as student council president and editor of the paper are thought to be male jobs, while subordinate positions such as secretary and social chairman are filled by females. The end product of our school system provides society with subservient females, lacking confidence, feeling secure only in secondary roles. Ute've, *SOO.'ea to deb*. Ute NEED HOKJ&W ! Tk t^OUL CQA 0$OrTl» Ob <5*taUjt UjWtaJtJum* 5 tokj n& ^&& tw flu Ser\& at, pe&Kdofctdb chaqwu- Toys & soft furnishings for the lounge contact Andrea or Karen 321-2569 Do ADS hakb Yoo Seewe? DO Yoo waiot to Fight * BACK? Gocriu-A MtDi* Rrotsot ■"first? weefeWd I & p.m. How. Odb.B 503 CarroAS*. page twelve/the pedestal/october 1970 Che Htui5 filtered by Canadian Press Newspapers in Canada consistently report Women's liberation activities as women fighting for bra-lessriess and free love or screaming bitches who have no valid arguments or domineering women who are striving to enslave men. Most reporters would reply to that statement with an indignant declaration of their objectivity in covering all news. At Canadian Press, the national news agency, they say they have no interest except an "unbiased, fearless recordingof fact. Conflicting sides of a dispute are given balanced, objective treatment." CP is a cooperative news-gathering and distributing association of more than 100 Canadian daily newspapers. Each paper pays for this service on the basis of circulation, but each paper has an equal voice in the policies and operation of CP. This might imply a great deal of diversified opinion, but in fact there is not. The majority of papers in Canada are wholly-owned or controlled by two major corporations — Southam and Free Press. CP has bureaus in each major city and they collect the news of their location and transmit it to all the papers across the country. Thus, for example, The Edmonton Journal relies on CP coverage for much of its news outside Alberta and most of its international news. It is a powerful shaper of public opinion across the country. Editors are fond of saying that they are run by, and must meet the needs of,■Liberal papers, NDP papers and Socred papers and therefore they have to be objective. However, when we are talking about the necessity of fundamentally changing the economic and political institutions of this society' in order to liberate oppressed people, fairness to all political parties is largely irrelevant. All political parties operate within, and accept the structure of, this society. They are part of, and dependent on, those who control the corporations and businesses which benefit from this type of society. At Canadian Press, events are viewed within the context of the dominant values of this society. If you see the world through those eyes, you are considered by the bureau chief and editor as "objective". If you accept a different set of values, your writing is considered biased. A dominant value in society is, for example, that women's place is in the home. Therefore CP supplies vast quantities of stories on recipes, fashioi , homemaking hints and the woman behind the grea:. man. These stories perpetuate and support the value that women should be housewives and let the men take care of the affairs of the world. The result of such stories is to advocate that the situation should remain as it is. Instead of stories on the delights of new recipes, why not stories on the frustration of facing a pile of dirty dishes every day? "What exists is — and there is no reason to explain it." That sums up CP's attitude. If women work for low wages, they do not see that it would be relevant to have an article explaining how women's situation in the home enables" employers to exploit women. The number of people arrested at demonstrations of unemployed, war protesters and other groups becomes more important than what they are protesting about. When I wrote a story on the abortion caravan as it travelled through Edmonton, I wrote ". .. Canada's ' inhumane abortion laws." The editor told me that this was a blatant example of my bias. But if I did not describe the laws as bad, it would imply that they are at least acceptable. By not opposing the oppression of women, and other oppressed groups, the media supports it. Are these examples of a conspiracy within the media? Are all reporters given the line and forbidden to deviate? No, I think not. First, the rules for CP staff members ensure that those people who do not believe the dominant values in society are unable to keep their jobs for long. As a member of women's liberation, I gave an interview on CBC radio about the abortion service we set up in Edmonton. I did not identify myself as a reporter for CP. However, a doctor, who recognized my voice from a previous private interview, complained to my boss. I was then informed that no employee may make public statements that "reflect in any way on CP's objectivity. It is not permissible for CP employees ... to take sides (except as private voters) on publicly controversial matters." 1 was fired. In order to keep my job, I would have had to accept the position that I must do nothing to change the society. Only those people who do not want to change society could accept such a position. Second, because the bureaus are very small, there is a great deal of personal pressure to conform to their ideal image of a CP employee. The pressure is often more direct.' We were not organized into a union and thus pay raises and promotions depended on the likes and dislikes of the news editor and bureau chief. CP is consistent in the office with what it reports to the nation. CP's internal policies display the same prejudices and discrimination against women found throughout society. On the first day of my job, I was given a booklet for the newcomer which included the statement: "News association work is regarded as considerably more taxing than work on an individual newspaper. . . The strenuous nature of the average job and the need of staff flexibility in smaller bureaus reduce the number of positions available for women below the proportion on the average newspaper." There are approximately 250 editorial staff members at CP and about 20 of these are women (who as of yet have not collapsed from the work). Newspapers commonly have quotas on the number of women they will hire for newsroom work (the Edmonton Journal hires four). Radio stations have a general policy of not hiring women. Most bureaus feel most comfortable when they have one woman on staff — someone who can fill the requirements for womea's page stories and attend women's association meetings. Also it is nice to have a token woman around to keep track of the coffee fund and to flirt with. ANNE ROBERTS FROM BEHINl? A CLOMP POOR IN A BtrrWAtTllAOtfWllO's OPINO THBBHOUTTNO- FAMOU* NEWBPAPBR OFHCB.FAMILIAR '~ WORP9 ribs* But how i* this pobbiblb— brucb wayhb amp clark kbnt working a* rbfortbrb forbpitor loss lamb? An ttAUStiol situAmie be sure.. A CRISIS .^Umj! wobblies October 1970/the pedestal/page thirteen The working women's workshop is presently.exploring the history of working people's struggles and the trade union movement, to develop strategies for our own movement. This month we are beginning lb examine the history of the IWW in relation to our discussion on a women's union. The Industrial Workers of the World was a radical movement with a sense of humor and a singing voice. The Wobblies captured the imagination of a whole generation of workers — the immigrant and migratory workers, the unskilled, unorganized and unwanted, the poorest and weakest sections of labor. The IWW linked the immediate demands of the workers for higher wages and shorter working hours with a revolutionary aim. They viewed "strikes as mere incidents in the class war. They are tests of strength, periodic drills in the course of which workers train themselves for concerted action." The Wobblies did not recognize contracts, for only temporary truces could be effected on the battlefield of labor and capital. "The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life. "Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the earth and the machinery of production and abolish the wage system." Preamble of the IWW, 1908 This organization of the workers as a class was to begin with the establishment of industrial unions. These would be different from the existing unions of the AFL in that all the workers in an industry (or in a factory, mine or mill) would be included in one organization, rather than divided up according to crafts. The objective of the Wobblies was to organize the entire working class along industrial lines. The IWW was formed during a time when North America was still primarily agricultural. New immigrants were arriving by the millions. Deep cultural and religious differences cut across any attempts to forge working class unity, while language barriers hampered understanding: Only 10 per cent of the labor force was organized into unions, about half in the craft unions of the American Federation of Labor. At the same time, industry was expanding tremendously and the personal fortunes and power represented by the Rockefeller and Vanderbilt trusts caused great inequality and injustice. The Wobblies saw that the centering of ownership of industry into fewer and fewer hands made existing trade unions unable to cope with that power. The craft unions of the AFL (each particular skill in the productive process was organized into a separate union) forced workers to be pitted against one another. When one craft went on strike, the others would remain on the job, thus ensuring defeat for all workers. The crafts which the AFL organized were dominated by white, anglo-saxon workers, and the AFL Women's History Research Center Inc. 2325 Oak, Berkeley, 524-7772 A research, lending, corresponding, and selling library of women's literature:' books, periodicals, pamphlets, bibliographies, articles, clippings, tapes, and pictures. Topics include women in countries, in women's groups, specific women, roles, subjects, women in history, action projects, specific men's statements on women. Work done by women using it. A running catalogue including addresses t5 order materials is available at cost to other groups to avoid having to start from scratch. operated to protect its members' interests against other workers. Craftsmen feared that immigrants and blacks would be trained to perform their jobs and . would replace them. One of the first acts of the AFL was to produce union labels which would identify products as made by white craftsmen. When the IWW was formed in 1905 by socialists, anarchists, radical miners and revolutionary industrial unionists they proposed that the workers could win if all workers in an industry, or all industries if necessary, cease work whenever a strike occurred. The Wobblies recognized that the struggle of one is the struggle of all. They had no membership restrictions on the basis of race or sex. In our hands is placed a power Greater than their hoarded gold; Greater than the might of armies Magnified a thousand fold. The Wobblies urged workers to rely on their own collective strength. Any gains made by the working class, up to the establishment of the new society, the "industrial democracy" that they envisaged, would be brought about by the independent efforts of the workers themselves. They argued for "direct action" rather than "political action" (thejballot) on the basis that.no real reforms could be gained through the state. This analysis was verified by one of the capitalist giants, Vanderbilt when he pointed out: "What do I care about law? Hain't I got the power?" Sheer economic force, the Wobblies said, would decide economic and social questions 'between conflicting forces. Direct action found expression in strikes, free speech fights, boycotts and demonstra- "When the boatload of Wobblies came up to Everett, the sherriff says 'Don't you come 'no further. Who the hell's your leader anyhow?' WHOPS YER LEADER ? And the Wobblies yelled right back — 'We don't got no leader. We're all leaders.' And they kep right on comin'." Wobblies propaganda was spread through songs, word-of-mouth, and street corner speeches. One of the more important IWW campaigns was the right to speak publicly outside the factory, in the shanty towns, in the slums — where the workers were to be found. Many towns and cities passed by-laws to eliminate this activity. The IWW response was to send out the word across the country and Wobblies walked and jumped freight cars to head for the particular city, where they immediately stood on "street corners and talked about the IWW. As one was arrested, another took his place. Usually the strain on police and jail facilities forced the town officials to give in and retract the law. We can bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old. For the union makes us strong! Membership in the Wobblies probably never exceeded 100,000 at any one time. But perhaps as many as one million workers held IWW cards at some time during their lives. Many moved in and out of the union, depending on whether they could afford the minimal dues of five cents a month. Their work in the early part of this century laid the basis for the large scale organization of industrial workers later. Although they suffered many defeats, they also organized successful industrial strikes, and began the task of organizing the industrial working class thirty years before the "official" trade union movement was willing to take it on. The Wobblies explanation of the situation workers faced was in complete opposition to the AFL and the trade union movement today. The Wobblies understood that the basic problem is that human beings are forced to sell their labor. The AFL, like unions today, fought for a bigger piece of the pie, but didn't challenge the fact that the employers still owned and controlled the pie. The IWW looked beyond the immediate needs for shorter hours and higher pay, to see a society where the workers would enjoy the results of their own labor. fii Their experience provides valuable lessons even today, particularly for women workers who are still "unorganized, underpaid and underemployed. The kind of solidarity they developed among thousands of workers is an example for us, as we attempt to deal with the way women are pitted against one another in this society. The structure of the Wobblies was something like what we need. Our potential strength can 'only be realized if we bring together women office-workers and assembly-line workers, part-time and full-time workers, as well as housewives who move in and out of the work force. Like the Wobblies, a movement of working women cannot stop at immediate demands. The demands of the existing unions are inadequate to meet the needs of working women. Equal pay is not enough so long as free and democratic child care is not available; so long as companies can stop hiring women after equal pay is won; so long as we do not have the right to equal work itself. Only a movement which challenges the oppression of women in all its aspects can represent the needs of working women. page fourteen/the pedestal/october 1970 You got to feel the blues to sing them — you've got to have a hurt somewhere inside. With me, life started out with a hurt... People talk about the blues coming back.' Why, the blues have never left. The blues will never leave. The blues satisfies the ear. They can hear what you're saying if you sing them fast or slow. In the blues, you get more feeling. Big Mama Thornton What is the blues? For some people it is exciting, even glamorous, for other it is the symbol of the oppression of a racial minority. For some Blacks it is part of a proud tradition while for others it is the last. brand of the plantation, and humiliating. There are some who view the blues as a music of protest and some who consider it a music of self-pity; there are those who consider it important primarily as an influence on jazz, and those who use it to inspire their own music making. Seen from any point of view, blues is both a state of mind and a music which gives voice to it. Blues is the wail of the forsaken, the cry of independence, the passion of the lusty, the anger of the frustrated and the laughter of the fatalist. It is the agony of indecision, the despair of the jobless, the anguish of the bereaved and the dry wit of the cynic. The blues is the personal emotion of the individual finding through music a vehicle for self-expression. But it is also a social music; the blues can be entertainment, it can be the music for dancing and drinking by, the music of a class within a segregated group. So the blues can be the creation of artists within a folk community, whether it's in the deep, rural South or in the congested ghettoes of the industrial cities. And the story of the blues is the story of humble, obscure, unassuming men and women, and it is the story of some whose names became household words — in Negro households, that is. "Who first thought of getting Race records for the Race? Okeh, that's right. Genuine Race artists make genuine Blues for Okeh.. . It's a cheerful day, folks for everybody," bragged the General Phonograph Corporation when it published the Blue Book of Blues to introduce the singers on the Okeh label. They had been afraid to record and advertise Negro records, so they listed them as "Race Records", and that's how they were known. f <m The Negro artist who broke through the color line was a woman, Mamie Smith. Her success with Crazy Blues highlighted the lucrative market that already existed for Negro music, and other companies were quick to record their own Negro artists. None of them departed from'the already established principle that the "Blues" was sung by women vaudeville and jazz entertainers, with little of the 'down-home' blues feeling. It was not until Bessie Smith's recording of Down Hearted Blues in 1923 that the authentic voice of the blues was heard on "record. However, the potential of the southern, rural singers, and particularly the male blues guitarists and pianists was slow in being recognized. The Whites who owned the record companies and developed the music had little feeling or understanding for this unfamiliar music, often referred to as 'savage' or 'heathen'. They were concerned primarily with how to make a profit, and so they broke into Race Records with music they knew themselves: women singers with a sweet style, singing in a jazz or vaudeville idiom. It was only when their commercial success was assured that they began to branch out into all areas of Negro music, including the most raw, grass-roots rural song. ... I've got a different system and a way of my own, When my man starts kicking I let him find another home. I get full of good liquor and walk the street all night, Go home and put my man out if he don't treat me right, Wild women don't worry, wild women don't have the blues. You never get nothing by being an angel child, You better change your ways and get real wild. I want to tell you something I wouldn't tell you no lie, Wild women are the only kind that really get by, 'Cause wild women don't worry, wild women don't have the blues. One of the great women blues singers was Gertrude 'Ma' Rainey, a travelling artist who heard her first blues song in Missouri in 1902, and thereafter used blues numbers in her act. In later years the blues came to dominate all her work; even her most boisterous songs had a melancholy _ underlying them and her low-down, meaningful blues were without rival on the tent shows. 'The Mother of the Blues', they called her, and as she stepped forward to the footlights and soared into Bo-Weavil Blues or moaning her Yonder Comes the Blues she was the maternal archetype of the blues. / worry all day, I worry all night, Every time my man comes home he wants to fuss andfight, When I pick up the paper to try to read the news, Just when I'm satisfied, yonder comes the blues. I went down to the river each and every day, Trying to keep from throwing myself away. I walked and I walked 'til I wore out my shoes, I can't walk no further, yonder comes the blues... People have the different blues and think they're mighty sad, But blues about a man the worst I ever had. I been disgusted and all confused, Every time I look around, yonder comes the blues Ma Rainey "Yonder Comes the Blues" Ida Cox "Wild Women Blues" LOVE Love dominates the blues, but in the blues it is the pain rather than the promise of love that is repeated over and over again. And it is not the superficial sentimentality of the 'love' that dominates American popular song; it is not adolescent emotion, a half-awakened sexuality expressed in terms of 'hearts and flowers', 'where the kiss becomes the physical expression of love. The Blues reflects adult love, with honesty and simplicity; if there is sometimes a lack of emotional subtlety there is in the blues the expression of a love that is mature and intensely felt. In the blues there is an acceptance of the reality of love, both physical and emotional. My man, my man, leaves me so low down, My man, my man, leaves me so low down, Everything I do; seems like to me is wrong. I love my man, but he loves somebody else, I love my man, but he loves somebody else, I think I'm a damn fool to keep on worrying myself. If you've ever lay down thinkin'about your man at night, If you've ever lay down thinkin' about your man at night, And he will get you twistin' and turnin'and you couldn't lay just right. My baby came to me. with the tears rolling down his face, My baby came to me with the tears rolling down his face, Babe, I'm sorry for you, but some other woman has taken your place. Alice Moore ■" "My Man Blues" Gertrude "Ma" Rainey Ma Rainey's only rival was Bessie Smith, whose greatness seemed to lie in the complexity of her own personality. She was rough and brawling, addicted to gin, capable of startling gestures of generosity and also of jealousy, hurt and hurtful in turns. From her tortured being she produced a music which has been a measure of jazz expression and she remains now, as she was in her day, the 'Empress of the Blues'. I'm a young woman and ain 't done runnin' roun' I'm a young woman and ain't done runnin' roun' Some people calls me a hobo, some calls me a bum, Nobody knows my name, nobody know what I've done. I'm as good as anyone in your town, I ain't no ftigft yeller, I'm a deep yeller-brown I ain't gonna marry, ain't gonna settle down, I'm gonna drink good moonshine an' run these browns down 1M CAROL PHILLIPS October 1970/the pedestal/page fifteen Bes lith For most of her career, Bessie Smith worked in the professional theatre, at first highly successfully. With the Depression and the decline of the recording industry generally, her career slowly waned. Racism killed her: involved in a car accident in 1937, she bled to death on the way to a second, Negro hospital, after the first hospital refused admittance because she was black. Until the women of the blues sang their message of love and despair, there were only two areas of respectable employment for black women in America — domestic work and the church. Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith not only created the classic blues, but a whole new concept of what a black woman could do and be. They created an opening in a smothering, all-inclusive blanket of bigotry. No one has suffered more on this continent than the black women, whose only hope was the hope of attaining heaven. Sorry I do washing just to make my livelihood, Sorry I do washing just to make my livelihood. Oh the washwoman's life it ain't a bit of good. Rather be a scullion, cooking in some white folks yard. Rather be a scullion, cooking in some white folks yard. I could eat up plenty, wouldn't have to work so hard. Bessie Smith H2frIE/T There is*little social protest in the blues. There is often a note of anger and frustration; sometimes the poverty and the rootlessness in which the singer has lived is evident in a word or a phrase, but there is little open protest at the social conditions under which a Negro in the United States is forced to live. There is complaint, but protest has been stifled. One of the few songs which makes a fundamental attack on the American economic system was sung by Bessie Smith who clearly saw the need for radical, socialist change. Mr. Rich Man, Mr. Rich Man, open up your heart and mind, Mr. Rich Man, Mr. Rich Man, open up your heart and mind. Give the poor man a chance, help stop these hard, hard, times". While you living in your mansion you don't know what hard times meat While you living in your mansion you don't know what hard times meat Poor working man's wife is starving while your wife is living like a queer Please listen to my pleading, cause I can't stand these hard times long. Oh, listen to my pleading, can't stand these hard times long. They'll make an honest man to think that you know is wrong. If all men thought the better a ma He would do anything you ask hin would start again today, in the name of the U.S.A. alarmed at popularity of the blues When the war is over all men must live the same as you. And the war is over all men must live the same as you. If it wasn't for the poor man, Mr. Rich Man, what would you do? Rhythm & Blues and Rock and Roll did not supercede the blues. The Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin all are indebted to the Blues. "The blues never left," like Big Mama Thornoton says: the blues are the basis for everything that is significant in popular music today, and no one can play that music like the people who originated it. H^Dl^S Blues Charters, Samuel. The Country Blues. New York: Rinehart, 1959. Charters, Samuel. The Poetry of the Blues. New York: Oak Publications, 1963. Larkin, Rochelle. Soul Music! New York: Lancer, 1970. Oliver, Paul. The Story of the Blues. London: Barrie & Rockcliff, The Cresset Presset, 1969. U3orY\e.vVs Liloerocfciow PAMPHLETS Our Generation: "Women's Liberation Kit" — nine basic articles. $2.25. Write 3934 Rue St-Urbain, Montreal 131. Hogtown Press: Variety of articles. Write for literature list to 11 Olive Ave., Toronto. PERIODICALS It Ain's Me Babe c/o WL Office, 2398 Bancroft Ave., Berkeley, Calif. 94704. Everywoman 6516 W. 83rd St., Los Angeles, Calif. 90045. Notes from the Second Year $1.50, The Feminists, Box AA, Old Chelsea Station, N.Y. 10011. Off Our Backs 2318 Ashmead Place NW (bsmt), Washington, De.C. 20009. Rat 241 E. 14th St., Manhattan, N.Y. 10003. Socialist Woman 21 Watcombe Circus, Carrington, Nottingham, England. Up prom Under 339 Lafayette St., N.Y. 10012. Women: A Journal of Liberation 3028 Greenmount Ave., Baltimore, Maryland 21218. The theme of the Pedestal review page is taken from the song "Bread and Roses"; this song was inspired by the banners carried by striking women mill workers in Lawrence, Mass. in 1908. Send us drawings, photographs, poetry and reviews of books, movies or records (The Pedestal, 511 Carrall St., Van. page sixteen/the pedestal/october 1970 $1.50 Worth of Woman BY CLAUDIA STEIN After a psychologically and economically depressing term involved(?) as a substitute teacher: I was faced with the summer and the almost certainty of no further income. A committed, beautiful involvement happening in July as a volunteer leader in the Chinese Community and a small honorarium.. . then what?" There were important things I wanted to do in which "free" in the economic sense wasn't the key word. A friend suggested I could earn enough money to tide me over by working for Office Assistance, Office Overload and other temporary etceteras. The thought grated my sense of worth but my priorities shifted from meaningful involvement to financial It seems employers are now superkeen on batteries of tests. All applicants must take a verbal reasoning test, spelling and grammar test, general aptitude test; as well as the usual clerical tests, filing and typing. I was told my scores, laughed at how low they were, laughed incredulously when told those scores were still above the average of the applicants. Except for typing — 15 w.p.m. hardly makes it! My wage scale was established at $1.50 an hour. That would always be the flat rate, regardless of the hourly rate paid to the temporary help company. They can and do take 35% of that rate. My awareness level of what was involved began to rise and my feelings about working for that rate of pay, correlating with the jobs I had to do, were no longer passive. I could empathize with the many women who found themselves in the position of having to work at the minimum wage, even if their education and job experience warranted a more challenging or creative involvement. I only worked at various jobs for 2Yi weeks — it seemed much longer, more laborious and dull than I could have imagined. One task in particular was searching out a missing file in a large law firm. That was my sole job; no one else in the office had the time to undertake a complete search. But, that file had been missing for five weeks and the client was to appear in court within five days. I wanted to find the file because I was angry that it had been misplaced for so long, and that someone's immigration case would suffer if it was not found. It took me 3/4 hours — time spent in being TEorough ("You must look in all the lawyers' desk drawers, under desks, behind curtains.. ."). I felt uncomfortable about doing that, I felt isolated, but I did find it — in a dead file. After my sudden and welcome elation had abated, my thought was, thank God, now I can leave. Yet The last word in 1970 office equipment! another file had slipped out of their easy .grasp and I was asked to stay. The detective work lasted two days, in which time I became quite conscious of the exploitation of the women in the office by the lawyers, and the pressure of the heavy work load. I was also very aware of my enveloping depression and the strong feeling that if I had to do this type of work for any extended period I would suffer a psychological death. Positive feedback is important, so is some relevant interaction and meaningful conversation between people. What if that doesn't take place? How long can one go on in a less than stimulating situation and continue to be an interesting, vital person? There are women, because of circumstances, who have to work for the minimum wage, perhaps at a job that will deaden some or most of their feelings of self-worth. Other outside interests can replace and strengthen those feelings, but that 8 hour day at $1.50 an hour takes a big chunk out of a life. I experienced something that I wouldn't have had I not been in financial need. That experience said, "Did you see the two-level male-female thing going on? — do you dig it? Would you be able to stand up for what you believe in, in that job situation, or do you have a "place" (and for your own good stay in it). Do you feel exploited? Does a human equality exist among the workers in the firm? WHAT or WHO ARE YOU ANYWAY? " I am a woman, a human being, an equal entity. I am striving for liberation not enslavement — liberation for myself and the children I am now teaching. Thank you temporary employment for making me really see that the struggle is RIGHT ON. fWb .-i^dX m^ M^ >MB^H wW* * aul Acrtvmes HeeT no-me of=f«cc omues6 W^ISHInHSftlm onteftiotse. 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Women's rights--Periodicals
Feminism--Periodicals
Pedestal: A Women's Liberation Newspaper
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