Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1886-08-15
WOMAN IN THE CO-OPERA-
TIVE COMMONWEALTH.
Ertract from Groalunds "Co-operatie
Commonwealth"

advancement.
Yet, woman has hitherto always been
a stepchild, is even so now, and in our
country, in spite Of our boosted "chival-
ry.' If the man of toll is to he pitied
much more, indeed, is the toilng woman;
II husband suffers from an unhappy
marriage, much more wife; and the
distance between the greatest man and
the lowest slave has always been far less
than between the h-placed lady and
the woman of the street. If the CO.
operative Commonwealth would not be
likely to affect vast improvement in the
lot of woman, it would not be worth
hoping for
We have good grounds for expecting
that she will under the coming order of
things he raised as far above her present
position as the woman of the Middle
| Ages was elevated above her sister of
| Ancient Greece or Rome.
Yet, bear in mind that Socialism. in its
There is no Socialist Marriage or Family
| Llfe; we may add, there is no Socialist
Education or morals but neither is there
any Socialist Politics or Justice. Never
theless, Socialists will, as we saw, revo-
lntlonize the administration of affairs and
of Justice. This will be done by a direct
effort: by discarding the present machin-
cry and contrive other instruments. suit
able to collective control of all national
affairs. But Socialism will, also, have
many 'adrect effects of vast consequence.
Production and distribution of wealth
being the roots of Society, they determine
me So"ntneSs Of its t,Wnh and the qualitu
Of ats Ho~ers ond fruit. Hence it comes
that Socialism, by retashionlng economic
relations, will degenerate society through
out all its activities, and, more particu-
larry, will have most marked effect on
Woman. on Education. and on Morals
While, however, the influence of social
cooperation in the other two RESPECTS
will be manifold one, as we shall after
wards see, Woman will be affected in
peculiarly simple, though not the less
effective, manner. The Coming Com
monweath will place her on an eqtdl
toofing with man, economically. that is
ALL
But here it is even more important
than elsewhere to settle what we are to
understand by economic Equality"
We cannot do this better than by COM
pairing the socialist view with the demands
of that persistent class of persons. known
as ''women's rights" champions, of whom
John ,. Mill was representative.
These latter demand that the avenues
to oil employments be opened as freely
to women as they are to in other
words, they agitate for free competition
between the sexes.
Well, we should say that the door to
most a"d"A'im employment has for
long time been open to women of the
| ''ih'''S 'it'7N'N W IIlt u, -,
Census of 1880 there were G32, 900 women
engaged in manufacturing, mechanical
and mining industries, one-sixth of the
whole working force. In some industries
the proportion is far greater, notably in
the cotton mills, where there are consid
erahly more women than men employed.
Have these women s-rights agitators
ever contemplated the result? Which,
under our present industrial system,
simply is, that competition is rendered
yet more savage; that wages sink to a
lower and lower level that whole fam
lily, on an average, comes to earn no more
than the head of the family used to earn
by himself.
OF these G32, 900 females many thousand
were married women and mothers of
children. What kind of family life do
they lead? What kind of training do
those children get Ought we to banker
after more competition?
Again, of the force that used to be en-
ployed in the Census Bureau at Wash
inSton 10 work out the results of the last
census the great majority were women.
1t is fact, notorious to those in a posi-
ton to know, that these women per
formed their work in a very slovenly
manner, evincing next to no interest in
what they were set to do. Would, on
the other hand. not that kind of work
have afforded an excellent TRAINING school