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UKRAINIAN WOMAN OUR ENGLISH COLUMN 'Equal Political Rights of Soviet Women 7 Su'ch was the title of the first talk at the seminar on thq “equal ity of women in USSR,” delivered by academician Anna Pankratova, member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of USSR. The sem inar was held in Moscow, from September 15 to October 1, 1956, as it had already been re ported in OUR L IF E some time а до. The lecturer presented the re view of the activities of Soviet women in political sphere. The listeners heard her assert that the Soviet woman is enjoying full equality which was recognized by the All-Russian Congress of the Soviets in January, 1918. In 1936 the new constitution pro vided a universal, equal ;and dir ec’t suffrage by secret ballot, and the article 137 of the constitution reiterated the rights of women to elect and be elected on equal (onus with men. The lecturer stressed as an achievement of this and previous laws th at in 1939 when the first elections under the new constitution took place, 2,- 154,668 members, or 34.1 per cent of the total membership of the electoral commissions, were w o men. I t may look so if one takes into consideration merely the laws and the figures. And such a standard may apply in democratic nations where the elections arfe really the expression of the activities of the masses. However, in USSR, as is commonly known; the elections are simply an em pty mockery craftily periormed, which has only outwardly preserved all forms of electoral procedure. For the voters may vote for none but for th e ' exclusive governm ental ticket furnished by one party which is in full and unequivocal control of the government. In other words, the voter in USSR has no right to choose, or elect, but is a mere robot, an autom at that is to deliver the ballot. Besides the unusual conditions in USSR are forcing the men and women to perform this farce of voting, so called. The. elections are being well prepared and the lists of voters in every precinct are thoroughly scrutinized. Qnly serious illness may be considered an extenuation for a person re fraining from voting. Otherwise such an absence may result, in such persecution as a loss of em ployment, an inquest by MVD, and so forth. Thus the men arid women in USSR take part in the elections most numerously, and there probably is no other coun try in the world w-ith such a high percentage of voting persons as in USSR. The same pertains to electoral commissions. These are formed, within the frame of careful prep aration by the authorities, after special scheme, from Soviet “acti vists” m ost subservient persons in USSR. Accordingly then consider ing the large number of working women, there has usually been in these commissions a large quan tity of women. For fear of losing their employment they must car ry out all orders and prepare the elections by organizing and a t tending the meeti-ngs, visiting the voters at home, and remaining on duty at the polls. All this is a heavy burden for the tired w ork ing women, yet no one would dare refuse such an additional assign ment for they realize what; con sequences such declining might entail. Other statem ents by P ankra tova also require interpretation, e.g., as to the number of women, deputies of the Supreme Soviet who constitute 25.8 per cent of the membership, and as to the members of Presidium, where there are 4 women to 11 men. She emphasized the participation of an Uzbek woman, Masuda Sulta nova and Kazakh vyoman, Zara Omarova, in order to show that there are women from Asian So viet republics at the head of. the Supreme .Soviet. Like the preparation of elec tions, the names of the candidates are also propagandized by the government, through its varied channels. The ticket, listing the candidates is being fixed by the party, again after special scheme, which selects m ostly the party members, including a few non- party persons who are needed for some reason, like scientists and artists.; But all of them, members of local Soviets and of the Sup reme Soviet alike, are obligated to follow^ strictly the party line or directives. They would not be perm itted to utter some separate opinion or to start a separate ac tion, let alone the'‘form ing of: an opposition as is the custom in the parliaments of the: western world. They just raise their hands to carry the governm ent’s proposals planned in advance of the session, Hence, we may justly and rea sonably state that the women de puties of the Supreme Soviet, who form one quarter of the. as semblage, do not represent any attainm ent of feminist movement, as it m ight be considered in de mocratic countries. True, among these women there may be some politically, proficient or eminent scholars. Still they, did not come to be candidates through their personal m erit but at the order of the party. They become deputies, like, their; fellovsv men, solely be-
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