Soviet Woman, 1950: 'Women of Asia Fight for the Freedom and Independence of the Peoples'

=== [PDF page 1] === Women of Asia Fighf fo r fhe Freedom and Independence of the Peoples By A. N. ATANEPESOVA Another glorious page in the history of the women’s international democratic movement was inscribed at the end of last year when the Conference of the Women of the Countries of Asia was held in Peking, ancient capital of the Chinese People’s Republic. Here, for the first time in the world, gathered delegates sent by women who throughout the centuries had silently endured their lot of slaves, had endured inhuman labour, humiliations, helplessness in the face of the sufferings of their children. We, delegates of the women of the U.S.S.R., were 'deeply moved as we watched meetings between delegates from other lands; they understood one another well: slave labour on plan tations and back-breaking toil on tiny strips of land; undivided rule in the family by the man; the death of children from starvation; childbirth out in the open field; and hunger, hunger and once again hunger— this they all knew. lo the women of New China, Mongolia, North Korea and liber ated Viet-Nam, however, these were now no more than bitter mem ories. For at the price of their own blood and the blood of their sons they have won, with their own hands, that splendid life of today toward which the women of the colonial and dependent coun tries of Asia languishing under the yoke of foreign imperialism are so ardently striving. Delegates came to the Peking Conference to discuss vital problems of the women’s movement from India, the Lebanon, Burma, Malaya and elsewhere, all in all 198 of them, 165 representing the various countries of Asia. The Conference heard a report by Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier, General Secretary of the Women’s International Democratic Federation, on the fight waged by the Federation for peace and the independence of peoples. It also heard and discussed reports on the struggle of Asia’s women for national independence, for people’s democracy, on their economic and political position, and the protection of children. In Peking, the entire atmosphere was a reminder of the great vic tory scored by the Chinese people, a victory which the women of China played their part in winning. With deep admiration and love the delegates from the colonial countries gazed upon their Chi nese sisters— full-fledged citizens of a free country, women who have come to know the joy of unclouded motherhood. A storm of applause greeted the address by Tsai Chang, Chairman of the All-China Wom en’s Democratic Federation, numbering more than 22,000,000 mem bers, who spoke about the Chinese women’s struggle and victory, of their valour in battle and their heroism on the labour front. Splendid songs have been composed by the Chinese people about their heroines. In this country where up until recently the birth of a girl-child was considered a misfortune in the family, the people sing of the young woman Li Lan-in, a fearless commander who struck terror into the heart of the enemy. Thousands like her fought shoulder to shoulder with the men in the ranks of the People’s Liber ation Army and the partisan detachments, moved by hatred for the enslavers and a burning desire to see their native land free. The Chinese delegates spoke with pride of the rights the women of liberated China have won and how they are exercising these rights. Many women already hold high posts in the Government. Yesterday’s peasant women are learning industrial trades, are working in factories and mills. After centuries of darkness and slavery the working women of China have gained access to education and culture. The proud speeches by the representatives of the Korean People’s Democratic Republic and the Mongolian People’s Republic, where a new, free life is being built, also profoundly stirred the delegates. And how their eyes burned with hatred, anger and unswerving determina tion when the word “ struggle,” a word understandable in all lan guages, rang out from the platform. Only a struggle for national inde pendence and democracy, a consistent and stubborn struggle will bring genuine freedom to the dependent and colonial peoples and deliver millions of women and children from slavery. Many heroic examples of this struggle were cited at the Confer ence. Ho Ti Min, a delegate from liberated Viet-Nam, told of the heroism of the women partisans in the southern districts of the democratic republic of Viet-Nam. Lilia Suripno of Indonesia related a heroic page from her people’s struggle. She told how a group of Indonesian partisans, among them women with rifles in their hands and babies tied to their backs, waged a long and unequal battle against Dutch troops armed to the teeth. Indonesian women work on the plantations with their babies strapped to their backs, and that is the way they went into battle too. The life of the working people of “ independent” India cannot be called a life— it is slow death from malnutrition and back-break ing toil, said the Indian delegate Mila Mitru. And the women’s lot is even harder than the men’s. Horrible, familiar scenes rose before the Conference delegates— women who have experienced the fruits of the “ civilization” brought to their countries by foreign imperialism— as Mila Mitru spoke. She told of millions of homeless, starving, ragged people. Undisguised slave labour is in force on the tea and jute plantations where halfnaked women slaves toil from sunrise to sunset beneath the burning sun, emaciated and disfigured by hunger and disease, paid no more than half the wages of men. In her report, Amita Devy, of India, described the hopeless position of children in the colonial and dependent countries of Asia. We, rep resentatives of the great Soviet Union, where the young generation is accorded such loving care, were shocked by the fearful fate of the colonial children and the appalling death rate among them. These are children who have been denied their childhood, happiness and future, children to whom schools are inaccessible and who have been de prived of strength and abilities by tuberculosis and dystrophy. The blacker the facts characterizing the brigand policy of the im perialists in the colonial countries, the more decisive and firm were the voices of the speakers, the stronger the hatred they directed against those who are to blame for their misfortunes. With ardent sympathy the delegates heard speakers describe how the women of India, Iran and other Asian countries are rising to fight their oppres sors. They realize that the rule of the imperialists will bring their country to destruction, and that to put an end to the crimes committed by the imperialists an end must be put to their domination in Asia. The Conference showed how the women’s democratic movement in Asia is growing in scope and strength, and how it is calling forth wild rage in the imperialist camp. The colonizers and their native servitors are employing the most brutal methods to put down the women’s movement. They are aware of the enormous role the women of Asia are playing in the national liberation movement, and they mercilessly persecute the leaders and participants in this movement. But persecution by the reactionary camp is not frightening away the women patriots; it is only multiplying their forces. Women are active everywhere, taking part in strikes, in protest meetings and in the partisan movement. Organizations in fourteen countries of Asia are now affiliated with the Women’s International Democratic Federation, and ever new masses of working women are rallying under its banners. As the women of the colonial and dependent countries of Asia spoke, each seemed to be taking up the story where the one before had left off. Each was filled with the same anguish for the sufferings of the children, the same fiery wrath against the foreign imperialists who are plundering the people; each told of the persecutions that patriots are forced to endure, and each had the same strong, unshakeable faith in victory, in the triumph of people’s democracy. Yes, determination to fight for national independence and for democracy, and faith in victory, are growing greater and stronger. We will fight the way our courageous sisters, the women of China, Indonesia and Viet-Nam, have fought and are fighting— thus spoke the delegates representing almost 500 million women of Asia. This was a formidable cry calling to battle yesterday’s slaves who realize that the exploitation and oppression of women and children can be eliminated only by liberating the entire people as a whole, and that this liberation is inconceivable without a resolute struggle for in dependence, for people’s democracy, for world peace. We, representatives of the Asian Soviet republics, were constantly aware of the great love cherished for the Soviet Union by the dele gates representing millions of oppressed women; we were witnesses of their tremendous interest in the life of the Soviet women and their enthusiasm over the rights the Great October Socialist Revolution gave the women of the Soviet Union. The delegates to the Conference knew that our mothers too had once gazed upon the world through the black mesh of the paranja, that they had been ignorant, poor and without rights, that their children had once grown up illiterate and broken by toil. Today Soviet women are equal citizens of the mighty 43