capital Comment

STOUT, JONATHAN

Capital Comment By JONATHAN STOUT The Comintern and the International Women's Conference WASHINGTON, D. C..—Last April most Amer-. t» kana hc.ii J tha name of Jacques Dueto* tor >'¦% T time. And...

...predicted in Tltr Aeir AeWer...
...And, underlying and overtopping all, is the fact that if the atomic splitting by science and its technological application in the bomb fail to teach us that we live in a world of change so that out ways of organisation of human interrelationship' must also change, the east is well-nigh hopeless...
...We shall support it vigorously...
...After the congress, they must be spread among the widest possible masses of women and help to determine international mass action on the part of women...
...The impotency of this method is evident...
...When the work of the world was done by those who, if not slavea or serfs, were politically disfranchised and who were economically dispossessed anddisprivileged, who were morally abject, their menial status was inevitably reflected in the idea that the things and processes with which they were occupied were inherently base...
...On one hand, (he scientific and industrial revolutions ere not the kind of revolutions that go backward...
...Communist slogans and Communist proposals must be the center of the work of the congress, of public attention...
...The way out is an to return to subjection to the allega} authority of representatives of the dab mas and institutions which embody «J perpetuate the divisions front which ef Buffer...
...The advent of the atomic bomb dramatises and' highlights issues that have been in active process for generation...
...Our Russian party will be in favor of all proposals and measures which will help to win them...
...Louis Sail I ant...
...has dins, they aay, been allowed to trespass upon a reulm where il ha no rights, the remedy Is to keep physical striatum and industrial technology in a strict subjection to whet representatives of this group tail "moral," Irrespective of the immense changes that are taking place in all the conditions of hvenae life...
...The particular development of scfence am) technology i* nev...
...The in-etVacy of this method is so obvious that added vigor has been given, on the other hand, to those who urge that our only salvation is in a return to obedient acceptance of externally imposed authority...
...Iiearhjuarlers werf* established in 1 .setoimI pVeiil of tiolen oilh> importalM e was the Fren, It^elettJioBH.and tlie revelation that the .French Ww'urijM 'di'i.i ia the mtmt powerful Communist ,cVm id, ji^|Morid ....t*i<fc.,of the Soviet Uniou...
...Zetkin's dictum that "Communist women must be not only the driving, but also the leading force," is fully complied with in the presence on the American delegation of such leading Communists ss Elisabeth Gurley Flynn, sole woman member of the Communist Party's nstionsl committee...
...Voices that learned their speech in on earlier age are accordingly clamorously putting the entire blame for present evils noon the ibis of science and technology...
...biable to causa- such an SfeWal in rlir polith al life and activities of any, an***' of .American < iti/etis, no matter what their •olitical persu.'i.Moi...
...science and the industry based upon it /or human security, snd well-bajqg, instead of foi insecurity and destruction...
...We need appropriate bodies to carry on work amongst them, special methods of agitation and forms of or-pmixation...
...roan—that is, common and wideeprea* —security and well-being...
...The first, of these event...
...But we may and must radically disagree with the creed as to how integration of life is to be achieved...
...We must make the masses of women in the capitalist countries conscious of that and for that purpose arrange a non-party International Women's Congress...
...Today, is 1945, a quarter of eentury later, the idea hat been revived and a teeond attempt it being made...
...Zetkin reports thst Lenin asked her to draw up s plan, which she submitted snd he approved, .The plan follows—and that plan has been followed in the case of •W forthcoming" International Women's Congress: The first tying," Zetkin ssid, "was Is form a committee of women comrades from various countries in constant and close contact with our national [Comintern] sections, to prepare, arrange and call the Congress...
...a * a Revolufioaurjf Science Aad TrodfWonnf MewsjJa One may, or rather must, agree that something is seriously out of joint...
...to one that haa before our very eye* proved itself ineffective...
...Rrawder, it is quite evident that neither [>ue(eV Mateni.-nts nor the succession of events ,m •'••is irrrafl^idle (hatter...
...But there is nothing ne«r or ¦npteeedenied in the scientific and industrial achievements which have led up to it...
...Win them for our struggles snd in particular for the Communist traasformatiou of society...
...With them I would confidently dare more than congress battles...
...Sidney Hiltmsn, wife of the president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union...
...Stephen Wise, goes Sehneiderman, etc...
...Repot t-inf Benin's directives snd his conversations with her, Zetkin says: "We must create s powerful international women's movement, on a clear theoretical basis," Lenin began his con-rerMtion...
...baf etfer Wd aWj...
...The very things that ocean* leai thai the atomic bomb will power to the forces of destruction em the kind of things that have cssem those divisions of classes, groups, rams, •ects, which in tu/n create recourse * force as the agency for settling drib* enees and conflicts...
...The respected and immaculate skirts of Dean Gildersleeve of Barnard College...
...tiiip i 'bytt of significance ia about to occur...
...It is that, of course...
...Edger Snow, pro-Communist writer on Chins...
...Chsrlotte Hswkins Brown, nstionsl sponsor of the American Youth for Democracy (wartime successor of the Young Communist League I; Henrietta Buckmaster, a member of the defense committee for the convicted Communist perjurer Morris U. Schappes...
...Kvny weakening of the forces of the enemy is simultaneously a strengthening of our power...
...Actual institutional cooditione are still such as to give color and practice...
...t Red InteniMtional of 'I'tade Iftions...
...ss related in an authoritative Com-msniit pamphlet by Clara Zetkin, Ger-nan Communist woman leader...
...The same conditions that render it a threat to human security and well-being are the kind of thing which, before the bomb was dreamed of, threatened the eecurity of masses »/ people...
...Rose Sehneiderman of the Women's Trade Union Lesgue...
...lady-like English pacifists, and passionate French feminists...
...That will draw a clear and inersdicsble line of distinction between our policy snd ftmisism...
...Industrial arts, or technologies are today the product of inventions made possible only by scientific insight which has been acquired through command of highly iniclle...
...Science and indus-trial technology are themselves too new to have made •their way into the more basic conditions of our civilb gallon...
...But il is ouly a consummalion of the scientific and industrial developments of the past...
...The idea that this subjection would be improved or remedied by still more systematic subjection to external authority is the idea that an evil can be improved by intensifying it...
...Kreurli CoiHininii,*t ColUbo- . /*tor...
...They will be the iron center of our ranks...
...For it concerns the bearing of the discovery and tlie invention in question upon tlie urgent problem of the security of the peoples of the earth, including moat amphaliiiBj our own...
...And the practical consequences of this division are e forge part of just the evils that now need to be overcome...
...Zetkin continues: "The first task of its members will be to get In touch with women leaders ef women workers organ ¦»d in trade unions, of the political working class women's movement of ••trrgeois women's organisations of every ••ft, including women doctors, teachers, Journalists, etc., and to set up in the ?sriou* countries a national non-party *wsngements committee...
...hi '^nejjjNewmt...
...While I had been talking," Zetkin writes, "Lenin had nodded repeatedly in agreement and said, 'It may make it possible for us to win over to our side large masses of women...
...The former naturally engrosses public attention and public discussion...
...Zetkin continues: "I elaborated hp* the National Committees could make thorough preparations for the congress by s systematic campaign in the press snd st meetings...
...Dorothy Reliance, s vice-president of the same union...
...But that wat in f920...
...For one of the main tenets of tha latter was precisely that there is a split in the very nature of things, and hence not to be overcome, between what is "material" and what is moral and ideal—that which is euphemistically and emotionally called "spiritual...
...Muriel Draper, who has served as a sponsor of more Communist front organizations than almost any other single individual in America, and II other women who fall more or less into the same category ss Miss Draper, although with somewhat less eclat...
...And it may be suggested Mat »S*7 stiff entcriain an imperfect estimation of H,e sun's import anc* It wan nnnVr the somewhat dra-' >q|*c cHUumsiai.ce of calling the signal which over-tku> Earl rWdcr, fuehrer of the American Coii.-am»a*s that the naiue ef Diielos, secretary of the fnp^ Communist Parly, was fctrodueed, to lit* 4atmican OSmftc...
...And what is more serious—there is neither new or unprecedented in the kind of problem that Is presented to mankind: the problem of systematic use of the resources thai physics...
...We must pin over to our side the millions of toiling women in the towns sad villages...
...while permitting, the comrades in Jyla to pursue an internationalist policy...
...Wii |,| the so called Inter national Women's CnafcriajoBj |q, be fate in IVi* on November 20...
...daughters of Privy Councilors, and freshly baked government Councilors...
...It is to carry forward the appli ration of our best scientific procedure...
...The nature of the effort is further made clear by the composition of the Americsn delegation now on its way to Paris...
...foofff^jBr reiiM i nrd thoroughly in control of tlie C«a»morti«|», de>|.iip the participation of a number *f »otkAnm*HSt ttade union organization*, and •"•ffged \n a real sense as, a powerful, sikcessor to ^Wffecliial, del mi...
...Among them tire msny well-known and respected (garat, such ss Dean Virginis Gilder-titeve, Helen Keller, Mrs...
...Bethune, the noted Negro social worker, and Mrs...
...We are dealing with millions of women...
...That is our alpha snd omega...
...s.1 thi some time, the very fact that the sasslpns have found it necessary to JjSslly disestablish the capitol of ths SSitern and remove it from Moscow t, Paris is interpreted here ss evidence afwhst the Russians hsve in mind for tktfuture and ss revealing the Russisns' belief thst the future course of goisis in international affairs requires ,-let-up under which they can disclaim nsponsibilKy for the double game which tk*y sppsrently are preparing to pursue...
...h thuv succession of evenU that retailed tin fact T" «*" Septemliei 1 Jawaues Uu< loa issued a call for •* Cwsaiiinist lui^rnational...
...It's spelled S-U-CK-K-Rl i iialism aiuMi ili^ Splil Atom Science and Morals in the Atomic Age Ity John Dewey r i^lllf...
...aiuiplilies matter* tot the •uemlVs strategiau, ^me it kerps thr various feet from tripping Sver their own toes, per-iTting the comrades in the Kremlin to r,ue s nationalist and imperislist ju...
...It is idle to suppose that exhortations, addressed chiefly to the emotions, will create subjection to abstract ¦ami principles...
...This was followed precisely late last summer at s meeting ef French Communist women, which set up a Committee of Initiative, composed of leading French women Communists throughout the world...
...They have been superimposed as eatrrnal strata upon institutions and habits so old as to be established beyond the reach of easy fundamental transformation...
...of enr time are ont of gear with the heril-age of moral values and) aims by which we belatedly j)g»faa||,j|ftlln^ Jk»is customary to give the name of 'Vultui al teg" to the di* icpem v in question...
...Meantime, the actual conditions that are supposedly justified by this philosophy are the source of the main problems and dangers of ou.r lime...
...Such a congress would accentuate the disintegration and so weaken the forces of the counter-revolution...
...inali/ed (or "rational") procedures—a fact dramatically demonstrated in the atomic bomb...
...But theoretical formulation of this division originated as an intellectual expression and attempted justification of established institutional conditions...
...and results so that they will operate within, not just outside of and against, the moral values and concerns of ka-niaiiitv It is the business of moders man to use every effort to see to it thn the immense technological resouren now at our command are not limited in use to aims which are degraded is advance as merely material or utili...
...Of course, Communist women mast be not only the driving, but also the leading force in the preparatory work...
...Zetkin reports that "unfortunstely, the congress came to grief...
...Think of the position during large-scale industrial disputes or political strikes...
...They say, these things operate |s> herently on a material and non-moral plane, and that the uses snd enjoyments they nave brought to own-kind have seduced men from proper care for hither "spiritual" thing*, the materiali*ti...
...to one that is said to have a monopoly of the higher moral and "spiritual" truths upon which the ordered life of mankind is dependent...
...These events have been going on wines the scien tide revelation of the seventeenth e«ntury and the industrial revolution of the elfh leenth and nineteenth...
...8u-san B. Anthony II, sctive lesder in the Communist wing in the Newspsper Guild...
...In atari, the splitting of the atom a* a acientific dweovery and product., n of tha atomic boaab aaf a te«h»elefk«l lereiop...
...parted on Sept...
...the struggles for our demands for women must be bound up with the object of leiiing power, of establishing the prole-tarian dictatorship...
...Gilford Pinchot, the colorful society woman, form a rather daxzling . front, behind which lurk more obscure and far more sinister figures...
...tarian in some low sense, but ire lyt tematically employed in behalf of ha...
...14 that this was done...
...The campaign would be of particular importance in appealing to the largest possible masses of women and in directing their attention to Communism and the parties of the Com-munist International...
...this...
...Mas named llie organization's serictaiv-gcnrial...
...and brought about the revival of W CofMRtiiiist Party, .jpfi^t, i* its prewar political...
...The claims of the latter group raiae a question of fundamental importance: How far do the confusions and conflicts from* which we suffer arise from the perpetuation, under changed conditions, of just the doctrines to which we are urged to return...
...support to the philosophy of separation between matter and mind (even though practical dealings with "matter" are the expression of intelligent understanding), between nature and man, between science and morals...
...it has lost the support of the traditions, customs, and institutions which once gave it whatever efacacy it poscssed...
...That is not feminism, that is practical revolutionary expediency...
...But merely calling it a fag lends to conceal front view the fateful fact that it Wings with it a deep tragic apiit between what is distinctive...
...There can be no teal mass movement without women...
...And Lenin added, reports Zetkin: "The congress would arouse and increase unrest, uncertainty, hostilities and conflicts in the camp of the bourgeoisie and their reformist friends...
...was the halting of tlie Wo, Id Trade I uion Conference in lydt inSeptembr...
...The panic-ulai culmination is indeed novel, SO novel as la Seem leic-atienally unprecedented...
...is an innnediate issue and a longtime I problem presented by the splitting of the atom and the production of the atomic bomb...
...Besides, even if we are out-voted, the very fact of our struggle will push Communism into the foreground, and will lie of extremely good propaganda value in creating contacts for work later on...
...The argemy is rr»srd because tha haaah appeafed at an agency ol destruction towsrd thr (|„*e „f the greatest steno of human destruction the world lias eveT s<vn The irony of the situation is that an instrumentalit\ which was developed as a means of security during war presents itself in the cold light of (he day after as the gr utest threat to security that human imagination can encompass...
...What these rejected American women are getting tkahsslves into, and the real significance af the Congress, are indicated by the ¦est reliable Communist sources—the organisational directives of Lenin bun idf...
...The loos haa come about, moreover, through the practical impact of just the scientific and industrial developments which are deplored...
...1 he long-term problem concerns the position and the use, actual and potential, of physical science and the technologies of indnslrial production in present and future human life if il i* to be genuinely humane...
...hii^pajit event, began, to give this episode in-?rnrei Mjpin'ji...
...Must I again awesr to you thst...
...Aa long as the split exists, science and technology will loo often operate in inhuman ways...
...But it ia still true that the great mass of workers are abut out, because of defective education and economic disadvantage, from sharing in the knowledge on which their work is based...
...And having had aV .fanoti «iis1|halaf the effectiveness of DucW words *• the a4Mji(rf Mr...
...This week a large group of American *omen were scheduled to lesve for Paris to attend the Congress...
...Dudes' call for a revival of the Comin-ttrn has focused earnest attention here on the fact that the Communists inter-mtionslly are reverting to their original oxtici—interrupted by the war—and, in turn, en the significance of such moves as tkt International Women's Congress...
...a) nralk)) thaJL | mere letter from IJsa.Ua, #¦»'¦»« in the French Communist Party's pnI...
...pious Christians, blessed by the Pope, or swearing hy Luther...
...That would be very good, very good...
...It will be Interesting to observe with whst faithfulness Lenin's and Zetkin's program for sn Internstionsl Women's Congress ia followed by such woolly lambs among the political tigers at Dean Cildeisleeve, et al...
...1 agree to the congress...
...In bringing them to a heal, the later development ne • sum mniion of what had preceded, fere SO upon our observation tendencies 1 hat we bad nut previously seen -and to ausna extent had not wanted to ate...
...What a reflection of its futility and hopelessness...
...There's a good Americsn word for the type...
...The thesis must clearly point out that real freedom for women is pos-nbis only through Communism...
...What has all this to do with the atomic bomb...
...Ruth YoungV snd such more nebulously-plsced chsrsc-ters ss Anns Berenson, active leader in the Communist-controlled UOPWA...
...In tWetlew of sophjjri^ated diplomatic observers af loiifj experience wfjn Itu**iaii tactics, it is now tegarde^ as evident that the Husaian masters have E'HKhe4'Pr«/nce as tlie extramural aenler of the •".itional mim.imsl movement instead - ol -t)rRani*ational«y...
...If the- split in question were merely a matter of something labelled philosophy, it would be too remote and anemic to be of .consequence...
...WP^E**11'' C«*ier* ate" Commtuusinr, attacking a%)4a>> policy of 'ooiiakoraW' in the prnwcu-•iff* (k* war effort, *-nt the American Commitni I* 4as> cantor <>on* of selfftaaemeot, caused-the decani-talioo, of Bt..wdei...
...Mo Intelllren* firaan can henceforth fall to note that the physical science and the industrial toihnatagj...
...human en one side and the science and technology we label merely material on the other side...
...The gain would be great, tremendous.' " Zetkin continues: "I expect the best from our Russian comrades in this matter...
...PajjflhiaulK.>n» of Anmrkunn) who are unschooled i* Vintfili i of i!o<MMiNiat p«lkkal organization *« ibe time by the questions raised l.i 0t s^^ian./, remarW %Rhsome wonder that una affell ofcriticism in an obscure little French paper '. rfvtrhMi not .eve., the bulk of American...
...What a picture of the chaos and decay of the bourgeois such a congress would give...
...Since the industrial arts were matters of custom, acquired by manual apprenticeship on the part of those who practiced them, "reason" and true science were taken to be the manifestation of faculties possessed only by a superior group...
...Just imagine those who will meet together with the 'hyenas of the Revolution' and, if all goes well under their leadership—honest, tame social democratic women...
...ment bring Into central foeua events thai for • long tine have been working in piecemeal and Scattered fashion...
...The French Cwnmunlst organ, Femmtt Franeait...
...And it is still true that in spite of the abolition of slavery and serfdom by means of political emancipation, the workers of the world have little shsre in control of the work they perform...

Vol. 28 • November 1945 • No. 46


 
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