07) GREETINGS FOR IWD 2012

People's Voice Editorial

     This year, March 8th marks the beginning of a second century of International Women's Day celebrations. Launched in Copenhagen by a conference of socialist women, IWD quickly became a key date on the calendar of working class and revolutionary movements. March 8th remains a day to measure successes on the path to equality, and to mobilize to achieve complete emancipation from exploitation, oppression, militarism and patriarchy.

     This issue of People's Voice looks at many of the current issues facing women: the ongoing gender pay gap, the impact of high tuition fees, the demands to save and expand vital social programs, the attacks on reproductive rights, and much more. In every such case, full equality is not just a question for women; progress requires unity of all working people against our common enemy, the capitalist ruling class which is destroying our planet in the pursuit of higher corporate profits.

     Today in Canada, the Harper Tories, their corporate backers, and their fundamentalist and male supremacist allies are the most vicious enemies of women's equality. These forces aim to roll back every past gain for pay equity, access to employment and education, and women's control over their own bodies.

     But as powerful as these reactionary forces appear, the strength of the working class and its allies is much greater. Women are now nearly half of the total workforce, and a majority among organized workers in Canada. United to demand people's needs, not corporate greed, millions of working class women have the potential to stop Harper's gang in their tracks, and to help build a powerful movement for equality and fundamental social change.

     The same is true on a global scale. On March 8th, we salute the women of the world, engaged in a historic and courageous struggle to create a future in which the liberation of each is the way towards the emancipation of all!

(The above article is from the March 1-15, 2012, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist 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.)