The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-11-06
THE WORKING WOMAN
WOMEN SHARE SOVIET POWER

the like, just like the men. There
are also women taking the course
in the various printing trades.
A large number of women take
the courses to enter tine Workers
Faculties. These Workers Facul-
/ ties are organized under the aus
! pices of the Industrial Technical
High Schools to prepare men and
women workers for entrance to the
Technical C,-cges. The courses Of
the Workers Faculties last foul
years, and all students, both mer
and women, are supplied with rooms
and money while in the faculties
But technical training is not the
only type of education given to wo-
men in the Soviet Union. In the last
en- years three million women have
for the first time learned to read
and write. Every factory has its
workers club, one Of the chief func-
tions of which is to organize study
circles of various kinds. In these
study circles, 80 per cent of those
attending are women. The workers
libraries have over twelve million
subscribers, and women make up
40 per cent of these. Even factory
and enterprise in the U. S. S. R.
has "Wall Paper" which is made
up of contributions from the work
er-correspondents of the factory and
from other factories in the industry.
The women take an active interest
in these wall papers, which are one
of the most popular educational
forces in the Union.
Even the women of the Far East
are well taken care of by the Soviet
system. Here, where women WIRE
most oppressed before the revolu-
ton the government has taken spe-
cial efforts to educate them. In many
sections of Siberia, there was not
even any written language among
the people, and the government has
sent its experts cut to formulate
an alphabet for these people so that
they could develop written culture
which could be handed down and
spread among the people in less
hazardous fashion than depending
on work of mouth.
Every phase of life of the women
workers is thought out under work
ers' rule. Working women who have
worked in industry until they are
old are granted pensions of 80
rubles a month. The children of
workers are we'll cared for. In 1927
there were 3,219 nurseries in the
factories and 708 in the villages to
care for babies while their mothers
were at work. There were besides
5,741 summer nurseries, carried on
during the summer for peasant wo-
men who had to work long hours
in the fields. Working women with
nursing infants are given half
hour at regular intervals to feed
their children.
The nurseries take care of the
children from two months old to
three and a half years. Working
mothers are given leave of two
months before and after the birth
of the child, with pay, with free
medical care, so that they do not
have to use the nurseries until after
the two months are up. After the
children reach three and a half years
they are cared for by the kinder
garten, of which there are 1869 in
the Soviet Union, caring for $500
children. The number of these nur-
series and kindergartens is being in
creased constantly, so that in time
there will be full care for every
workers child in the Union.
One of the most interesting fea-
lures of the work in caring for the
health of workers in the Soviet
Union is the fact that most of it is
carried out on property which was
formerly monopolized by the bour-
geoisie. 1t is a common sight to see
huge palaces which formerly housed
a family of two Or three with their
servants now turned into workers
rest homes, kindergartens, play
grounds and the like. When the
workers of the United States take
over power into their own hands,
such things will be natural events,
here, too.
Such an event will take place,
however, only when the women of
this country arouse themselves. Mill
tant organization, such as the women
of Gastonia have given an inspiring
example of, must involve the en-
tire group of working women. By
fighting side by side with the men
in every phase of the class struggle,
women will bring that day of work