New Britain herald., 1917-05-04
BIRTH OF NEW ERA
 FOR RUSSIAN WOMEN
Suffrage Expected to ,R Great G eat
 Aid in Educational Line

Petrograd, May 4.-Woman suffrage has come quietly and unostentatiously to Russia The Provisional govern
 mont has not yet officially announced
 it's full views on the subject, but in dividua1 ministers have stated that 1t Is decided that women will vote at both the municipal and rural. councils elections. and also in the elections for ]. the General Constitutional Assem bly,. l Universal suffrage for women will 1 be curious and interesting experi-. ment ip Russia. From the mass of peasant women fully intelligent vot- ing can scarcely be expected at pres ent, but no doubt for them the vote will be highly stimulating and edu- .cative opportunity. The men voters do not expect that women of this class will vote independently, and say therefore that their participation will only slightly affect the result.
 The attitude of the average peasant to his women folk is still, on the whole, contemptuous, but sometimes
 a capable woman rules a whole vil- lage, and 1t Is a well-known fact that
 in certain religious sects the women
 are the leaders. te
 In Petrograd there have been sev-
 eral woman's suffrage demonstrations
 since the revolution. with speeches in
 the City Hall and processions with red
 flags. They have not been militant,
 but rather educational demonstra-
 tions. remainders to the women them
 selves to be up and doing, and 8 re-
 proach to those men who, while not
 seriously objecting to woman's suf-
 frage, wish 1t were not coming SO soon. .sas.e s,5
 Educational facilities to women in
 both the secondary and university schools were granted in Russia long before most other European countries
 For years past, too, women have had rather greater liberty of thought and action than men, and while there has been no very strong or organized suf- frage movement. women have been directly engaged in public work by the side of the men, and 1t seemed to nobody any great step from the posi- ton they thus enjoyed to the actual vote.
 Women in Revolution.
 When the revolution came, every one Joined in, women as well as men. Women who had been nursing or studying or writing or working in re- lief societies or cooperative stores or intuition factories, or simply house keeping, came forward and took their l places naturally in the many-sided l movement. Women were prominent ! in the bread processions which were reluctantly fired on by the soldiers. Women workers and girl < students 1 marched With the ssoidisrs ana work men and Y took revolutionary, red-sI Jagged rides in the cornmandeered ] 
 Women leaders came to the Duma l with information and advice, estab- l lished connections, and helped to ] gather up the loose ends of the cha otic movement Women and girls ! crowded into the Duma with the throng of soldiers and workmen, radi- ated out into the myriad committees, food. operated typewriters, and found for themselves suitable places in the general organization Young women were found frequently as speakers at the impromptu mass meetings where orators of the people harangued the crowds at street cor ners. A woman's organization plas- tered the town with bills urging equal recognition of the sexes
 "A woman writer was placed at the head of the organization of temporary 1 soup Kitchens opened for the soldiers during the revolution week. The City Council elected to it's permanent com mfttee several women, including Madame MiNukoff and Counters Pan- In. There were meetings especially | organized by woman house servants to 1 urge an improvement in their work l ing conditions but, as nobody knew what to demand, nothing further happened. There have been continu- ous meetings of women at the Wom- l ems University and Medical College, with stormy conflicts between the l moderates and the radicals, and thou sands Of resolutions have been passed, l declaring for equal suffrage, resump- ton of work, continuation of the war. and support of the Provisional gov- l ernment.
 Schoolgirls everywhere have been imbued with the new spirit. They ! have organized, elected committees and councils, and passed resolutions. 1 usually under the advice and counsel ! Of their teachers. The schools hum with the voluntary study. of civics and economies. s
 Pupils in the various schools of Petrograd proposed the formation of a Union of Pupils. to which each :, school was to, send proportional delegation. The principals vetoed the enterprise, and said if the delegates i met they would resign. The delegates did meet. the organization was formed