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Women's Councils in the Soviet Union One o f th e m o st ch a ra c ter istic fe a tu r e s o f th e p o strev o lu tio n ary period o f 1918-1920 w as th e p articip ation o f citizen s in th e recon stru ction o f th e cou n try W h ile undoubtedly th e S o v ie t U n ion and its R epublics u n d er w en t a g r e a t deal o f d estru ction d urin g W orld W ar I and th e re v olution, ideological re co n stru c tion w as th e p rim ary g oal o f th e C om m unist P a rty . T he p a r tic i p ation o f citizen s in variou s p oli tica l en terp rises, lesso n s and sem in ars w as com pulsory. W om en w h o join ed th e labor force w ere eq u ally su b jected to p o liti cal en lig h ten m en t and train in g. S pecial w om en ’s co m m itte es w ere created b y th e P a r ty on job s ite s, fa r m s and liv in g areas. T heir ta sk w a s to in volve w om en in p olitical problem s and educa tion , to g e t th e m in tere sted in in c rea sin g in d u strial production, and in m a n a g em en t problem s. Special em p h asis w as placed by th e P a r ty on co m b a ttin g illite r acy am on g w om en. T h ese com m itte e s w orked under th e lead ership o f th e C om m unist P a r ty and convened p eriod ically by d istr ic ts. In 1920, th e co m m itte es u n d erw en t som e ch a n g es. T heir nam e w a s ch an ged to W om en ’s Councils, th eir w ork under th e direction o f th e P a r ty w as r e focu sed on m ore “h o u s e w ify ” f i e l d s : child care, k in d ergarten s, su p ervision o f y o u th and th eir education, clean lin ess on job s ite s, b e a u tific a tio n o f citie s, h ea lth care etc. A lso, w om en ’s co m m itte es had o ften been in volved in m e d ia tin g fa m ily a f fa ir s. W om en a c tiv is ts h a v e been re a ch in g n ot only w o rk in g w o m en b u t also h o u se w iv es and h ave tired o f n a k i n g ind ep en d en t d e cision s, o f m a n a g in g a ffa ir s, I’ll jo in som e n ice a u xiliary. I am certain I ’ll look fin e w ith a cor sa g e (blue flow ers, p le a se) p in ned h ig h on m y le f t shoulder— or w ouldn’t I? W h at do you th ink , s is te r s ? Helen Sydney been en cou ragin g th e ir p a rtici p ation in su ch com m u n ity p ro j e c ts as clean in g str e e ts . Y ou n g g ir ls also w ere involved in th e w ork o f th e councils. T he w om en ’s councils m e et p e riod ically b y d istr ic ts, in th e sam e m anner th a t w om en ’s com m itte e s o f y e ste r y e a r did. T he in v ited sp eak ers are m em b ers of th e p a rty or d esig n a ted b y th e P a r ty lectu rers. W om en’s Councils h a v e e x i s t ed in th is fo r m a t ever since. U n til fa ir ly re cen tly w om en ’s councils did n o t h a v e an y w r it ten b y-law s, nor w as th er e an y coord in atin g body on a n ation al level. T he councils w ere sim p ly cells o f th e C om m unist p a rty or gan ized to a ttr a c t and involve w om en in th e P a r t y ’s work, and th e P a r ty w as d irectly involved in th e a c tiv itie s o f th e councils. It is a w ell know n fa c t th a t w o m en ’s councils w ork b est w h ere th e P a r ty su p ervision is clo s e st. T he P a r ty ’s prod din gs e x p lain th e m a ss m em b ersh ip and th e g r e a t num ber o f councils th a t “sp o n ta n e o u sly ” sp rin g from now here. (F or exam p le in th e Tadzik R epublic 500 coun cils w ere created in 1 9 6 5 !) T here h as been a n ew d evelop m e n t in th e w om en ’s sector in 1970. “S o v ie t w om an ,” th e only w om en ’s m agazin e in th e S o v ie t U n ion reported in it s F eb ru ary 1970 issu e on th e a c tiv itie s o f th e w om en ’s councils and also im plied th a t th e s e councils h ave a str u c tu r e and som e b y-law s. F or exam ple, a council can be organized on a job s ite w h ere th er e are 50 w om en. A leader is elected b y th is group and 3-7 a c tiv is ts are elected ch airm en o f the council, resp on sib le fo r sta n d in g co m m itte es su ch as v o tin g com m ittee, cu ltu ral a f fa ir s , h ealth , etc. Councils w ork according to plan s th a t h a v e been d iscu ssed and agreed upon w ith th e P a r ty and voted upon b y th e m em b ers o f th e se councils. M on th ly m e e tin g s are Mrs. Stefanie PotC’Ckv, M.D. recent ly was elected N ational P resident of the U krainian Catholic W om en’s League of Canada held, and ev ery th re e m on th s th er e are d istr ic t m e e tin g s. P a st a c tiv itie s are d iscussed, plans are m ade fo r th e fu tu r e and w om en are inform ed ab out th e n e w e st d evelop m en t in th e work o f th e C om m unist P a r ty and th e S o v iet G overnm ent. T he C om m unist P a r ty th rou gh its local co m m ittees still a c tiv e ly p a rticip a tes in th e w ork of w om en ’s councils, in fo rm in g and a d v isin g th em and h elp in g in p lan n in g a c tiv itie s and carryin g th e m out. A s can be seen from th e above d escrip tion , v e r y little ch an ge occurred sin ce th e f ir s t w om en ’s co m m ittte es w ere created in 1918. In an a tte m p t to w in W e s t ern m eth od s h ave been u sed to create a t le a s t som e sim ila r ity b etw een S o v ie t w om en ’s councils and w e stern w om en ’s o rg a n iza tion s. H ow ever, it is ra th er d if fic u lt fo r th e s e councils to be com e independent. T h ey h ave been and con tin ue to be cells o f th e C om m unist P a r ty de sign ed to a c tiv a te th e fem a le population. T he P a r ty p ressu re im posed on w om en and a lm ost com pu lsory m em b ersh ip in th e councils m ake th e m q u ite un popular w ith w om en. A quite on e-sid ed p rogram focu sed h e a v ily on th e P a r ty and G overn НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ — ЛИПЕНЬ-ВЕРЕСЕНЬ, 1971 21
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