The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1934-11-16
Continued from last weekly

When she was bidding farewell
to Khoziat, she said, "Ah, my little
daughter, if you only knew how
I'm afraid to face our relatives
and neighbors. 1 have learned
much while l have stayed with you
here, and l have thought that per-
haps you young people are right
after all. 1 don't know. But
am an old woman, Khoziat, and
I am sorry I wasn't dead before
all these new things have come to
destroy the old life"
That was the last Khoziat saw
of her mother. The old woman
died soon afterward-a good, de-
voted, silent and obedient Moslem
woman. Soon af'er Khoziat mar
ried, her husband who was a men,
Der of the Young Communist
League, was transferred from Ko-
kand to Tashkent, to study in the
University. Khoziat went with
him, to study in the Workers Fac
ulty. Here an altogether rev life
began for her. From now on her
life became bound up with the
Revolution.
Long before Khoziat came to
Tashkent, the Communist party
there had done a huge amount of
work with the native women. The
nature of this work is best given
in the following statement of F.
Marchenko, one of the leaders Of
the woman's department in fash
kent:
Our department was organized
on Nov. IL, 1919, when the region
al committee of the Communist
party adopted a resolution calling
for the formation of special wom-
ems departments in all the party
committees in Central Asia. The
purpose of these departments was
preliminary education, agitation,
and organization among the native
women. However, the work at
first moved along rather slowly.
The European, the Russian wom-
en-, the working women and the
wives of working men in fash
kent did begin to stir, to show
signs of life-now meeting, now
a lecture, here and there a politi-
cal circle. But the native Uzbek
and Tadjik women were neither
seen nor heard.
Many a time Dvorkina and my
self, seeing how we'll the work was
progressing in the new, the Euro
pean, section of the city, among
the Russians, would say to our
selves: "This is not the main
thing, the old city is still I'M
touched"
The main trouble was, we did
not know the language. Another
trouble, there were no Moslem
women in the ranks of our party.
And it was only later that Dvor-
kina fortunately happened to come
across Usupova, a Tartar woman.
The latter had had lot of trouble
In her married life, and spoke
bitterly of the lot of the Eastern
woman. She seemed to us very
promising, but we did not know
at the beginning where to use her.
She explained to US the loacl GUS
toms, the traditions; she also serv-
ed as our tongue. We then de-
clded to try first to draw in the
Moslem women of the intelligent
STA. We called two meetings
Quite number came, but thew all
seemed to be half asleep. We
made efforts to have elections for
a special Moslem women's bureau.
also to elect some for FORMING
contacts with other Moslem wono-
en-. But as soon as the meeting
was adjourned, there was no bur
eau, and no one who was WILLING
TO do the necessary work. This
was quite natural, since the crowd
was rather well-to-do, without .
touch of social consciousness, and
certainly without any disposition
to take part in great events.
All our pother came to NOTHING
We succeeded only in getting hold
OF few Moslem women. chiefly
Tartar women-Khusanbaieva Fa-
tlkha, Redkina, Karimova, etc.
We failed badly with the intel
ligentsia. We therefore decided to
begin from the other end, to be-
gin with the poorest class.
Even before we arrived at fash
kent, there had been in the old
city artels of women weavers. Us
ually, these women weavers were
given the cheapest sort of cotton
to work on. The wages were not
paid regularly. And the prices
they received were very low. Of
course it might be better to sell /
their products at the bazaar; but.
first, this was even less certain;
and, second, one needed funds for
the initial investment in cotton,
spindles, etc. And so, these Mos
lem women, meek, ragged, would
come, hand in their weeks work