AFTER the conclusion of the Conference of Women Communist Leaders organised by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) in Athens on November 10-11, along with comrades from Russia and Kazakhistan, I was being driven to the airport by a young member of the KKE, Lambrini.  On the way, she told me about her family, her political commitment and about the problems that young people in Greece face today.  She is 24 years old and has a brother and sister close to her in age.  Her father and mother are both dedicated Communist militants and she and her siblings also belong to the Party.  Her father was dismissed from his job after he organised a strike in his factory and consequently lost not only his wages but also his pension and other benefits.  Her mother never had a regular job.  She herself is highly educated and holds a Masters Degree in Toxicology but she has not been able to find employment.  She has only been able to access temporary work on a contract basis for about six months.  After a gap of three months, she hopes to get work of a similar nature for about three months.  Her sister, a graphic artist, is also unemployed.  Her brother who has a Master’s Degree in Communications Engineering is working as a waiter in a restaurant. 

Neo-liberal policies and the austerity measures forced on Greece by the EU and a treacherous national government  have destroyed the hopes and dreams of millions like Lambrini.  But her determination to fight and to be part of the struggle to change the system and its policies provide a silver lining to this grim reality.

The Conference of Women Communist leaders from 20 countries had been organised by the KKE as part of the centenary celebrations of the October Revolution. The topics for discussion were - “The specialisation of the work of the CPs amongst women – Exchange of experience on the woman question” and “Growing inequality of women due to austerity measures of the EU and capitalism”.

Of course, this was not only an important but a very ambitious agenda and a conference lasting about nine hours could only initiate the discussion.  The role played by the KKE in taking this very positive step that was much needed at a time when women across the world are facing attacks on their rights and livelihoods and are being rendered increasingly vulnerable to violence and insecurity was appreciated by all the participants. I was fortunate and privileged to have attended it on behalf of the CPI(M).

A majority of the participants were from the erstwhile socialist countries and, without any exception, they said that all the rights and welfare measures that women had enjoyed under socialism had been cruelly snatched from them.  They also spoke of the regressive and intensely patriarchal nature of the regimes that had been established in the name of ‘democracy’.  Without exception, these regimes were corrupt, regressive and increasingly authoritarian.  They did not even attempt to disguise their contempt for women, their rights and their demands for jobs, education, health facilities and child are.

In Croatia, we were told, the Catholic Church has unleashed a ferocious attack on the right to abortion and is mobilising large numbers of women in its support.  Every year, 40-day long vigils are organised in front of hospitals and clinics and nurses, doctors and women seeking abortions are heckled, abused and even attacked.

From Hungary, the comrade said that women faced mass unemployment and more than 30 percent of the population now lived in poverty.

Latvia now has the lowest expenditure on women’s welfare and needs in the EU. The government’s policies are making it increasingly difficult for women with children to find employment and, as a result, a very large proportion of women in the child-bearing age are childless.  This, in turn, is creating a situation in which schools are being closed down and consequently, teachers, most of whom are women, are losing their jobs.  Latvian women are also prone to violence and one-third of all women and children have suffered domestic violence.

In Russia also women have lost many of the rights and facilities that they enjoyed under socialism.  Trade union rights are also under attack and active members and leaders of union – including women – face repression and loss of their jobs.

The comrade from Kazakhistan who is herself a doctor, expressed great bitterness when she spoke of the collapse of health services in her country.  She said that women and children are suffering tremendous problems as a result of this.  Many traditional and religious practices that had disappeared during the socialist era are once again being enforced and accepted, often in more virulent forms than before.

Many of the speakers from these countries expressed concern over the fact that the proportion of female members to male in their respective parties was very low.  The highest was 25 percent (Latvia).  They also complained that while workers issues were discussed at women’s meetings, women’s issues were never on the agenda of workers’ meetings.  The comrade from Croatia made an interesting comment when she said that the fact that the unpaid work of women made possible paid work for men needed to be publicised and internalised.

Other EU countries also, including those belonging to the ‘developed’ world, are undergoing similar experiences.  Greece, of course, has been specially hit by ‘austerity’ measures but Italy, Spain and Ireland are not very far behind.  The Irish comrade said that the Brexit vote is being deliberately misrepresented as a vote inspired by racism.  Actually, a very large number of Brexit voters were voting in anger against the austerity policies insisted upon by the EU and being implemented by the Irish government on its urging.

Sweden, for long considered a model welfare State is also seeing growing attacks on working peoples’ rights.  Many of the benefits that working women had won like permanent jobs, maternity benefits, free medical services, child benefits and low-cost housing are now subject to cuts.  The rents of low-cost housing have been considerably increasing forcing working class families to leave them and face homelessness – a phenomenon that was returned to Sweden after many decades.  This is being done to hand valuable, urban property over to property dealers and construction corporates.

Leaders of the Greece Communist Party spoke in great detail of the growing unemployment among all sections of urban women and the increased visibility and hardships of women labourers in agriculture.  They also described the horrific conditions of the growing numbers of migrants who are forced to flee their homelands because of the disastrous policies adopted by the imperialist powers.  The conditions in which women and children are forced to live in the ‘camps’, their vulnerability to violence and hunger and their destitution are all creating problems not only for them but for the people of the host countries.  It is a matter of great pride for all of us that Greek Communists, especially the women comrades, are at the forefront of providing relief to migrants and fighting for their rights.

The young comrade from Turkey said that, after centuries, Turkish women were given equal rights and employment opportunities when Turkey became a secular republic.  Now, however, they were facing the assault of a religion-based right wing committed to neo-liberal reforms and the increased profits of the corporate sector.  When the ‘Taksim Uprising’ of 2013 in which many women working in the service sector participated was crushed, the resulting sense of despair has weakened united struggles against exploitation and religious diktats.  She said that the battle for secularism was becoming a crucial part of women’s struggles for their rights and livelihood.

Representatives of three Communist Parties from Latin America, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela, attended the conference.  All of them said that while they were aware of the limitations of the Bolivar Project undertaken in many countries of the region, the present situation was that even this project was under tremendous attack.  Imperialist machinations were once again impacting adversely against livelihoods and rights of the poor, especially women, and repressive, reactionary regimes were being imposed.  Violence, often resulting in death, was becoming commonplace.

From South Africa, the representative of the Communist Party said that while apartheid had been defeated, patriarchy and capitalism were alive and kicking.  In fact, class divisions and class exploitation was increasing.

On behalf of the CPI, a description of the many problems that women face in India was presented. I distributed our Party’s document on the Women’s Question (2005) among the participants along with a short note on the importance the CPI(M) is trying to give to the raising of women’s issues by the Party and  to the recruitment, training and promotion of women in the Party.  I spoke about our Party’s understanding of the threefold nature of women’s oppression in India – as women (gender), as citizens (political) and as workers (class).  The role of Communist women in AIDWA, its autonomous nature and its emphasis on united campaigns on social and class issues as well as the issue of violence that women face and all its dimensions, was also part of my short address to the participants.  It was very heartening that many of the participants appreciated some of these points in their own presentations.

It is important to re-iterate that the initiative taken by the Greek Communist Party was very welcome and comes at a most opportune moment.  Every effort should be made to take this initiative forward so that struggling women all over the world can benefit from a sharing of views and experiences and a strengthening of solidarity.