Spain is certainly one of the leading countries where an independent mass women's movement has arisen. What is most striking today is the process of selforganization undertaken by broad layers of women since the death of Franco. Women's commissions, organized by working women, have become widespread, particularly within the Workers
Commissions-despite foot-dragging by the trade-union bureaucracy (see Inprecor, July 22, 1976).
In addition to a body of demands that are quite advanced compared to most other European countries-for instance, the demand that work schedules be adjusted to fit in with the hours of local child-care centers, and for a gynecological examination twice a year, paid for by social security-the women's commissions stress the importance of the fight to get men to take their share of household responsibilities, and of overcoming divisions in the trade unions, which are a particular source of discouragement for many working women.
Activists in these women's commissions, in alliance with the unified women's groups that have sprung up recently in a number of plants, often participate in local coordinating committees, thereby helping to strengthen the national actions undertaken by the independent women's movement.
Despite its uneven development and obvious difficulty in establishing truly democratic structures that can allow for full participation by delegates from working women's groups, the movement is active today in most of the cities in the Spanish state, and has acquired a mass character. Attesting to this were the recent "Women's Days" held in Valencia and in Euzkadi, where more than 1,000 and 2,000 women, respectively, met to discuss the main issues of the day, focusing their attention on unemployment and the double work-load of women.
Another indication is the campaign for "greater sexual freedom," launched throughout the country last fall by the national coordinating committee. Its goal is to expose all forms of discrimination in the area of sexuality, and particularly to fight for free access to contraception paid for by social security, and for amnesty for all women serving prison terms for abortions.
This campaign, in which groups of housewives and working women in several cities are participating, also seeks to expose the role of the pharmaceutical trusts, which use women as guinea pigs, and the inhumane working conditions imposed by the bosses, which are the source of so many miscarriages among working women.
Finally, there is the proposed amendment to the constitution put forward jointly a few weeks ago by delegates from most of the Madrid women's groups.
Women activists in both the Spanish Communist Party and the MDM (Democratic Women's Movement, a group with close ties to the CP) were an integral part of most of these initiatives. This could not help but cause some turmoil within the CP.
Unresolvable Contradictions
If we study the content of the demands that have been raised for changes in the constitution (the text of which has been adopted by the MDM), we find that they run counter to the Spanish CP's whole class-collaborationist policy. The demands having to do with the right of each person (women especially) to control their bodies and their sexuality, with the right to divorce by mutual consent, with lowering the age of majority to sixteen, with abolishing all references to women's "virtue" by which the punishments imposed on women who "transgress" traditional morality are justified-all are negated by the very provisions of the section of the Moncloa Pact dealing with legal reforms. And what about demands like these-equal wages, socialization of household tasks with everything that implies (child-care centers), fully paid maternity leaves, the right to a job for all women who want to work, a forty-hour week, a single socialsecurity system based on a progressive tax on wages and wealth, with an equal retirement system for all?
It is quite clear that some of these demands have a transitional character in the context of the present economic situation, and that they blatantly contradict the measures imposed by the pact signed by the CP. In holding down wage increases to 22 percent on the pretext of stabilizing the economic situation-even though they claim that this will make it possible to reduce the most glaring wage discrepancies-the bosses are leveling their attacks mainly at women and young people, in view of the lack of a guaranteed minimum wage. The anticipated rise in unemployment will again hit women the hardest, in the name of the "natural"
duties awaiting them at home! With the downgrading of social security provisions, we can be sure that resistance to the demand raised by feminists for free abortion and contraception on demand will be all the greater.
As for widows and all women who have never worked because they were essentially driven out of the labor market, they will continue to receive starvation stipends and to be dependent on their husbands. As far as child care is concerned, and the "abolition of the patriarchal economy based on the family as the unit of production and consumption" (referred to in the above-mentioned text), they will never be achieved with an austerity plan as drastic as that of the Moncloa Pact.
How is it possible, therefore, that women activists in the CP who participated in drawing up these demands could have listened to Carrillo without raising an eyebrow, when he declared on television: "I am convinced that the workers will support the implementation of the pacts, because the working class is much more responsible than many people think"?
These CP women, who want to be seen as members of an independent women's movement, who have committed themselves to a program whose logic runs counter to the entire day-to-day activity of their party-where do they come from, where are they headed?
The Policy of One Step at a Time
Back in October 1975, even before the death of Franco and in advance of most of the West European CPs, the Spanish Communist Party was already engaging in self-criticism with respect to the lack of initiative it had shown up to then in combatting the oppression of women, and in recognizing "the merit of the feminist movements, whose goal is to obtain equality between women and men." It defined the movement to be built as a broad front in which all currents would coexist (women with and without party affiliations), while avoiding all attempts at manipulation by political parties. This "concern" turns up both in a resolution of the "First Conference of the Spanish Communist Party on the Woman Question," held in October 1976, in which the "manipulation of the masses of women during the election period" is most vigorously condemned, and in a more recent preparatory text for the fifth conference of the Madrid
CP, held in October 1977.
However, a certain number of women activists in the CP and MDM left the party after the election campaign last spring, precisely because they could no longer put up with the role they were forced to play in the independent movement under the CP's manipulative practices. As a former leader of women's liberation work on the campuses told us in an interview not long ago, she had come to make the decision as much out of the impossibility of consistently defending feminist positions inside the CP, as out of discouragement and rebellion over the campaign the CP was carrying out. On the one hand the CP declared, "We are the party of women's liberation," while on the other hand the leadership ordered the women activists not to be too active in their groups, since as a result of actions and demands supported by the CP women, these groups might jeopardize the image greatly desired by the CP on the eve of the elections: that of a mature, rational party that would not frighten the voters.
The phrase "We are the party of women's liberation" goes back to an appendix to the 1975 platform, and turns up again, in a different form, in the 1976 conference resolution. Although the independent women's movement had grown considerably throughout the Spanish state at that time, the analysis made of it reduces it solely to the MDM, with the other groups described as minor and "lacking an implantation among women."
However, a year later, the Madrid branch of the CP admitted that "the 'vocalias' are beginning to play an important role in Madrid (in Barcelona, their role is of central importance), and they
• are mainly led by Trotskyist women." We should explain that the "vocalias" are neighborhood groups, often connected to organizations that include men (neighbors and relatives), which the CP carefully distinguishes from the housewives' groups (Amas de Casa) it has led for ten years, in which it has hegemony. In the beginning, the Amas de Casa were groups in solidarrity with policial prisoners. Later they were transformed into groups active in the neighborhoods around general social questions (the cost of living, housing, and so on). The rise of radicalization among women and the existence of an indepen dent movement led them, while continuing to carry out activities around these same issues, to approach them from the angle of the special needs of women. In light of the goals they have set themselves, it can be said that nothing basically distinguishes them from the "vocalias" except their name and the political line they defend. Still and all, the Federation of Amas de Casa also signed the document on proposed amendments to the constitution mentioned earlier.
It seems clear, therefore, that the relationship of forces established by the existence of women's groups whose political orientation, while not the same as that of revolutionists, is still strongly influenced by organizations claiming to stand to the left of the CP, has compelled the CP to long way-at least in its come a documents!-in its positions on the struggle for women's liberation.
For example, the documents of two years ago were exceedingly vague as to the class character of the movement. In an interview with women leaders of the MDM- who were also leaders of the CP-the phrase "interclass movement" was used, and the emphasis was mainly on the need for alliances with "democratic forces" (meaning primarily bourgeois women's organizations). It was the same in 1976 at the time of the women's conference. However, in an October 1977 article in Argumentos, the Spanish CP's journal, the writer stressed the class differences in the types of oppression suffered by bourgeois and working-class women. This is axio matic from our point of view, but it clearly reflects the influence of other groups in the movement on the MDM and CP.
With respect to abortion, the third conference of the Spanish CP, held in Madrid in early 1976, said that "a public discussion was essential to win a hearing on this subject and that it costs little to obtain a majority decision by the masses on this subject in the context of democracy." That same year, the pamphlets and leaflets put out by MDM in various cities were mostly silent on this question. So was the platform of demands put forward by the "First National Days of Action" sponsored by the Amas de Casa in 1977. However, the same issue of Argumentos contains an article that clearly outlines the need for women to make the decision, and urges that "all the feminist movements be consulted for once" before passage of the law. To be sure, the article is padded with cautious formulations ("a public discussion, avoiding moral implications," "taking into account the fact that in those countries with more liberal laws, the number of abortions has decreased"'); but it refers i without comment-thereby giving the impression that it is in favor of them-to the proposals of the Association of Women Lawyers concerning the right to abortion in the first three months of pregnancy. Knowing the opposition to abortion that exists within the Spanish state (which explains the caution of the CP, ever anxious to avoid offending anyone), we can conclude that there has been a real improvement in its positions, even if the demand for free abortion upon request by women is still not being raised.
On the question of divorce, two years ago the CP said that there had to be "a discussion." Later it said that "a law" was needed-without explaining what kind. At the same time, in 1977 the Amas de Casa were saying that it was not yet possible to reach a conclusion. And then out of the blue, Argumentos presented a proposal for divorce by mutual consent with a few restrictions. And in the proposed amendment to the constitution, this same proposal was made without restrictions.
A Potentially Explosive Situation
This evolution in the CP's public positions has been accompanied by regular internal self-criticism. From 1975 on, the documents point to the delay in getting involved in struggles, with traces of "machismo" remaining in the relationships between men and women in the organization. From then on, there were proposals to organize special educational series for women to enable them to attain responsi ble positions. Today, these women are demanding that nurseries or child-care centers be set up in Madrid, to concretely enable them to be relieved of some respon sibilities, and that the organization "manage to overcome entrenched habits" in the customary division of labor. Added to this is the demand for meetings of women only to enable them to discuss all these problems. Added to this as well are the various criticisms indicated by the articles, in Argumentos-criticism of government policies in the Eastern European countries, that maintain the special oppression of women through the traditional roles reserved for them and the unchanging status of the family; criticism of the leaderships of the workers movement as a whole, who have failed to develop Marxist theory on the special oppression of women, despite its incompleteness on a certain number of points.
In view of all this, one might be tempted to say that Leninism is perfectly compatible with a reformist, class-collaborationist party like the Spanish CP. However, the truth is a bit more complex.
On the one hand, there is a big gap between the statements of principle and their application. The size of this gap is a function of the class-collaborationist policy of the CP, which has only been reinforced by the Moncloa Pact.
Between "egalitarian" laws and a real change in the situation facing those men and women who are now discriminated against by the system, there is an intermediate step. As a recent article in El País dealing with changes in the constitution pointed out: "Equality before the law will in no way be affected by the inequality that exists on the economic level." In face of this, the statements of principle made by Manuel Azcarate, a leader of the Spanish CP, in the same newspaper stressing the "increasingly profeminist positions of the party" with respect to women's liberation, ring false indeed!
What does any of this mean if it is not reflected in practice in tangible changes for the masses of women, and for the CP women in particular? Furthermore, the party's capacity to change its internal way of functioning, to organize a discussion democratically, has been shown to be extremely limited, bearing in mind the diverging interests between the bureaucratic leadership's line of class collaboration on the one hand, and the aspirations for change expressed by the ranks on the other hand. These aspirations are not limited to minor reforms; they challenge imited to minor reforms; they challenge the very logic of the profit system, as is the case with many of the demands put forward by feminist activists.
Significantly, it is precisely among these women that the first seeds of opposition are developing within the party. Led by CP women who have carried out work in the universities-and even though in in the universities-and even though in the beginning there were weaknesses in its composition, from both the geographic standpoint and the sectors that it encompassed-the opposition seems to have gained a greater hearing in the last few months, especially since the failure of the sectarian campaign imposed by the leadership during the spring elections. The attempt to palm off the MDM as the women's liberation movement seems to have received but slight response. So little that at a recent internal conference on this question, Carrillo is said to have proposed a change in tactics, consisting of sending women CP members into all of the women's groups that had some following. including the Women's Liberation Front of Madrid, which the CP had totally avoided up until then.
But the leadership will not be able to stifle the protests of the women involvedor their determination to establish an open, democratic discussion leading to joint work with other currents in the movement-through 180 degree turns of this kind without any thoroughgoing selfcriticism, and without changing its manipulative policies.
This is what was revealed by the following episode. The CP had set up a party commission to study a bill on divorce that is soon to be discussed by the Cortes. The women leaders of the CP and MDM who took part in this commission called on some of the women in the opposition caucus to work with them on it. The latter then demanded to consult with delegates from the coordinating committee of the independent movement in Madrid, in order to be able to present the most unified proposal possible. This was done.
The proposal now includes the demand for divorce by mutual consent, with the woman having the right to decide on custody of the children in case of a disagreement. It remains to be seen whether the CP deputies will defend the bill in these terms during the parliamentary debate. Another episode in the struggle against the practices of the leadership is even more significant. The women in the opposition caucus forced the leadership to call a general assembly of women CP members in Madrid last December, to discuss the question of internal democracy and the party's orientation toward the independent women's movement. Criticisms were raised on all sides, there were plenty of accusations of manipulation, and despite the defensive attitude of the women leaders of the CP and of the MDM, it was
MARVIN WRIGHT LINDO
[Costa Rican police broke up a demonstration by 500 residents of the Limoncito barrio in the city of Limón November 23 and arrested six community leaders and two leaders of the Organización Socialista de los Trabajadores (Socialist Workers Organization).
[Shoot-to-kill orders were then issued for Marvin Wright Lindo, a leader of the Black community in Limón province and one of Costa Rica's best-known trade unionists. Wright later turned himself in and all charges against him were dropped. The other eight persons are still facing trial on charges of "instigating a riot."
[In the United States, the U.S. Committee for Justice to Latin American Political Prisoners has mounted a campaign against the Oduber government's repression. One result of that effort is the following letter by the president of the Internathe critical resolution of the "minority oppositionists" that received a majority of votes.
The sole response to this by the leadership was to say that it would be necessary to discuss it at the next congress, six months from then. It can easily be predicted that the internal battle is not going to end there.
tional Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union.
[For more information on the events in Costa Rica, see Intercontinental Press, December 12, 1977, p. 1356.]
President Daniel Oduber Quirós San Jose, Costa Rica Dear Mr. President:
It has been brought to our attention that Mr. Marvin Wright Lindo, a prominent figure in the Costa Rica trade union movement, and several of his colleagues and supporters are being detained and beaten, or threatened with detention for certain of their political activities in Costa Rica.
The ILWU, a union which has always charted its own course politically, is deeply committed to workers and their rights, and to the proposition that certain rights and civil liberties supercede any and all political questions.
We regard the treatment of Marvin Wright and his supporters as unwarranted and unprincipled, and urge that your government abandon its efforts to hound and persecute them for their political beliefs. Continued harassment on the part of your government would mark a sad departure from the democratic and libertarian traditions on which Costa Rica prides itself.
Respectfully and sincerely,
James R. Herman, President
Correction
The article on Pakistan in last week's issue (p. 69) inadvertently appeared under the headline intended for a forthcoming article on India. The title should have read "Pakistani Police Gun Down Strikers," as noted in the table of contents.
The article on India, "Janata Party Introduces Preventive Detention' Bill," appears elsewhere in this issue.
Demand Hands Off Marvin Wright