12) CPC CONVENTION RESOLUTION HONOURS COMMUNIST WOMEN LEADERS
The 38th Central Convention of the Communist Party of Canada will be held from May 21-23 in Toronto. One feature of the Draft Political Report is a special discussion of some objective and subjective barriers to women joining the Communist movement, which is often seen as predominantly male.
There are, however, many examples of women Communist leaders. The document mentions Alexandra Kollontai, Clara Zetkin, Dolores Ibarruri, Annie Buller, Léa Roback, Dorise Neilsen, Gladys Marín, Transito Amaguana, to name a few. Who were these women?
Alexandra Kollontai (1872–1952) was drawn to revolutionary politics as a young woman. Joining the Bolshevik Party while in exile, she is remembered for her effort in the construction of a socialist society. This work included helping to found the women’s department of the Party, which combated illiteracy and educated women about the new marriage, education and working laws. In 1920 the USSR became the first country to allow abortion in all circumstances (although it was re-criminalized from 1936 to 1955). Kollontai wrote extensively about marriage, the family and sexuality under socialism from a Marxist perspective. Fluent in several languages, she became the second woman ambassador in modern times, serving as Soviet Ambassador to Norway and later Mexico and Sweden.
Clara Zetkin (1857–1933) was 25 when she was exiled from Germany for political activities. Zetkin was an outspoken voice for women’s suffrage and equal opportunities, editing the socialist women’s newspaper “Equality.” In 1911 she helped organize the first International Women’s Day. A close friend and comrade of Rosa Luxembourg, Zetkin strongly opposed the First World War. When socialists split over the war, she helped found the Communist Party of Germany. In 1933, she returned to exile with the rise of Hitler Fascism. Throughout her life, she wrote on the importance of women’s struggles in working class emancipation, arguing “no women, no revolution.”
Dolores Ibarruri (1895-1989) grew up in a mining town and worked with her husband as a union organizer, using the pen name “La Pasionaria” in the miners’ paper. Joining the Communist Party of Spain in 1920, she became the editor of its newspaper. Ibarruri organized women to oppose the rising danger of fascism in Spain and internationally, forming Mujeres Antifascistas in 1934 and attending the First Worldwide Meeting of Women against War and Fascism in Paris. On the eve of the Spanish Civil War she was elected to Parliament, and her rallying calls for the Republican cause are still chanted in the streets, such as “Fascism shall not pass!” Narrowly escaping capture by the fascists several times, she went into exile as the war ended in 1939, and became the leader of the Communist Party of Spain in 1942. Greeted by large crowds when she returned in 1977, she was re-elected to Parliament.
Annie Buller (1895-1973) was drawn to socialist politics as a young woman. Working with her comrades Becky Buhay and Bella Gauld, Buller helped found the Montreal Labour College, and joined the Communist Party of Canada. During the 1920s, she was an organizer of predominantly female needle trades. In 1931, Buller traveled to Estevan, Saskatchewan, to speak at a solidarity rally for striking coal miners. Police brutally attacked the rally, and she was convicted of “inciting a riot”. After one year in jail, Buller continued her union organizing. When Canada became the only Western country to ban the Communist Party for its initial opposition to World War II, a crackdown was launched on communist and labour activists. Buller was one of the few women who were jailed from 1940 to 1942. During the Cold War, she helped organize International Women’s Day events in Toronto and was active in the Party until her death.
Léa Roback (1903-2000) joined the Communist Party of Canada in Montreal, becoming deeply active in the local working class, Quebecois and Jewish communities, and around the struggle for women’s suffrage. (Quebec was the last province to allow women to vote, in 1944.) Roback helped form the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) in Montreal, leading a strike of 5000 workers in 1937, and organized the predominantly female workforce at RCA Victor during the Second World War. She helped launch the Party’s first Marxist bookstore, and ran two successful election campaigns for Fred Rose, the second Communist MP elected in Canada. While Roback left the Party in 1958, she remained active in struggles for peace and women’s rights.
An immigrant from England, Dorise Neilsen (1902-1980) became active in labour and farm struggles in Saskatchewan. In 1940, she became was the third woman ever elected to Parliament, and the first with young children, on a Unity slate of Communists and CCFers in North Battleford riding. When the federal government banned the Communist Party in the same year, she became the defacto public spokesperson for the party. By 1945, the CCF leaders broke up the unity slate and Nielsen was defeated, but she remained outspoken on the status of women, working as a women’s organizer for the Party. In the late 1950s Nielsen moved to China, where she worked as an editor for Foreign Languages Press in Beijing.
Gladys Marín (1941-2005) was elected as a Communist member to Chile’s Chamber of Deputies at age 24. The same year she became leader of the Chilean Communist Youth. Marin was re-elected in the 1970 campaign which brought Salvador Allende’s Popular Unity coalition into office. After Pinochet’s coup in 1973, Marin was forced underground and later into exile. During this time her husband was murdered. She returned to Chile in 1978 and went underground again, fighting for the restoration of democracy. In 1994 Marin was elected leader of the Communist Party of Chile, a post she held until her death. Throughout her life, Marin spoke out powerfully for women’s rights, including the fight to legalize divorce in 2005. Her funeral saw over 200,000 people march in the streets of Santiago to honor her life of struggle.
Transito Amaguana (1909-2009) was born to a slave family in Ecuador. Despite suffering from domestic violence as a young married woman, she helped organize agricultural workers and established the first indigenous people’s organization in the country. The Ecuadorian Federation of Indigenous People, which was close to the Communist Party, marched on the capital city numerous times in protest. Transito often carried her two infant children on these marches. Joining the Communist Party of Ecuador, she traveled to Cuba and the USSR to represent indigenous people. On her return from one tour she was arrested for four months, but in later years she was honoured as a heroic fighter. Her funeral was attended by President Rafael Correa, and the anti-imperialist 18th World Festival of Youth and Students commemorated her struggle.
The above article is from the March 16-31, 2016, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)