The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-12-09
BY MARGARET coWL

COMMUNIST work among women
~ in our party has been moving as
with leaden feet. With the exception
of some work done among housewives
we can register few results. We must
examine the reasons why the work
has not made progress.
Among the several reasons for the
slowness to gain results is that in
stead of building the party apparatus
simultaneously with work to be per-
formed we left this important sphere
of work to the most inexperienced sec
ton of the party-the housewives. By
not giving utmost attention to work
among the women in the factories
from the very start proves that we
did not fully understand the nature of
Communist work among women We
have now given this latter work the
oretical recognition and there are in
dications that the party is seriously
planning to properly place work
among women in shops and trade
unions.
THERE are still quite a number Of
L comrades, specially women com
rades active in the trade unions who
have not gotten rid of the house
wife character" of work among the
women. Even now, when we are at
tempting to build the party apparatus
for women's work, almost in every in
stance it is necessary to explain to
the comrades that women's work is
part of the general party work and
that the most important part of Com
munist work among women is the
work among the women in the fac
tories and trade unions as the more
important section of the working
class women, therefore, women's
work is MOTTO be limited to the wom-
en- comrades who do not work in the
factories for wage. Out of this ide-
illogical confusion we are slowly
evolving into systematically planned
work, with purposeful leadership.
TNHE comrades on the District Ex-
4
New York are now paying more atten-
ton to Communist work among wom-
en- and have placed work in the shops
and the trade unions as the first or
der for this work. The work is now
recognized as an important depart
ment of the party by the leading par
ty committees in New York. Our task
now is to carry this understanding
down to the ranks in the party.
Party Apparatus.
TN our practical work among the
L housewives it has been proven that
unless we build the party apparatus,
unless we furnish the motor power,
the entire works will not move in the
direction we want 1t to. Much en-
srgy spent by a few comrades result
I'd in a splendid organization in one
instance, but the entire work went
under because the party members
were not modified to give it life.
In New York the d. e. C.. has built
up a district committee for work
among women under the direct super
vision of the d. E. c. of the party.
The executives of some OF the COM
mittees of the subsections of the par
ty have appointed one of their mem
bers to be responsible for work
among the women. The units in the
party have not yet appointed com
rades for this task. No plans of &C
tual work have been submitted to the
subsections, that is why the party
has not functioned in this work. How
ever, these plans are being drawn up
by the District Women's Committee.
Organization.
THE District Women's Committee
L has subdivided itself into three
main sections with a chairman for
each subdivision: 1. Work among
the women in the shops and the trade
unions. 2. Work among the house
wives and non-party organizations.
3. Educational and Research Commit
tee. Each subdivision has been in
structed TO enlarge itself by drawing
in comrades interested in the different
work. The District Women's Commit
tee meets twice monthly where the
reports and the plans for future work
by the subcommittee are taken up.
The District Womens' Committee calls
conferences Of party subsection func-
tionaries on work among the women
thru the party district Office where a
representative Of the Party d. r. c. is
one of the speakers. The party sub
section functionaries for work among
women call meetings of similar func-
tionaries from the lower units of their
party subsection where a representa-
tive OF the District Women's Commit
tee is present. Forms and methods
for mass work for every party unit
and especially for the shop nuclei are
the chief points on the order Of bust
ness at these subsection meetings.
The apparatus as described is alb
.solutely necessary within the frame
IL