‘Conference of Socialist Women in Girard’ from The Progressive Woman. Vol. 3 No. 26. July, 1909.

All over the world women are becoming actively interested. in Socialism and the Socialist movement. In Germany the Socialist women’s societies support a weekly paper for women, with a circulation of more than 80,000 In Finland, where a number of Socialist women have been elected to the diet, or parliament, they also have a paper of their own. In England the Socialist and trades union women have a splendid little magazine in The Woman Worker.

In the United States organizations of Socialist women are growing at a rapid rate. In California, Indiana and New York these organizations are especially strong. Kansas, under the work of Miss Caroline Lowe, the state organizer, is rapidly coming to the front in this respect. This is evidenced by an organization of Socialist women’s committees, with a membership of more than 200, and which has just closed a most successful conference in Girard.

The conference of the Socialist women’s committees convened in the county court room, on June 4th, at 1 o’clock. The meeting was opened with music by Mrs. Emma Johns-Call, who never fails to please with her renditions of both classical and popular airs. After the address of welcome, followed the regular routine work of such a gathering-the election of officers, reports of committees, etc. The evening session was opened again with music by Mrs. Call, after which Kipling’s “Capitalistic Class” was sung by the women’s quartette of the Girard women’s committee-Mesdames Kaneko, Lovejoy, Hewitt and Withrow. A hearty encore brought a response with “The Fairyland Waltz,” which was also well received.

Fred D. Warren, of the Appeal to Reason, was then introduced by chairman Mrs. Kaneko, as the speaker of the evening. His subject was “What Will be the Attitude of the Church Toward Socialism?”

Mr. Warren is a forceful speaker, with an analytical mind and a keen sense of humor. He brought much applause from his bearers during his talk.

The session of Saturday morning was opened by a paper by Grace D. Brewer, on Socialist literature. At 10 o’clock the conference adjourned to attend the funeral of Comrade Glass, and marched to his home in a body.

At noon a picture was taken of most of the visitors and delegates-it is to be regretted that a number were not in it-in front of the Appeal to Reason office. The delegates were also photographed as they ate a dinner together the evening before in Osborn’s restaurant. Comrade Duncan the official photographer for the Socialists of Girard, did the photographing.

The afternoon was given to open discussion, papers being read on the following subjects: “Child Labor,” Mrs. Mary Lovejoy; “The White Slave Traffic,” Mrs. Elizabeth Vincent; “Woman’s Work Abroad,” Mrs. Effie Withrow. Mrs. Puckett, of Kincaid, acted as chairman for the afternoon. A monologue, “Hepsy at the Convention,” was given by Mrs. Lillie Tubbs, and a playlet, “The Socialist’s Wife,”‘ written by Mrs. Kaneko, was presented by members of the women’s committee of Girard.

Miss Berry, of Coffeyville, brought in the report of the committee on study work for the coming winter and the resolutions committee brought in resolutions condemning the action of the federal court in its decision in the Fred D. Warren case; condemning the white slave traffic; the child labor evil, and endorsing the magazine, The Progressive Woman, calling upon the women of Kansas to work for its wider circulation; endorsing the suffrage movement, and the work of the National Political Refugee Defense League. Resolutions were also read recommending that we cherish the memory of Alice Lewis (Pittsburg), who met a sudden and cruel death by being run down by a freight train on a principal crossing in her city last February, and that we do all in our might to push forward the cause upon which she had set her heart, and in which she was engaged when death took her away.

This first conference of the Socialist Women’s Committees of Kansas is but the small beginning of what is hoped to become a great work in the near future. Kansas women are beginning to recognize, as do their sisters in other states and foreign lands, that economic slavery of a producing class is contrary to the best interests of society as a whole, and are setting their faces against it.

The Socialist Woman was a monthly magazine edited by Josephine Conger-Kaneko from 1907 with this aim: “The Socialist Woman exists for the sole purpose of bringing women into touch with the Socialist idea. We intend to make this paper a forum for the discussion of problems that lie closest to women’s lives, from the Socialist standpoint”. In 1908, Conger-Kaneko and her husband Japanese socialist Kiichi Kaneko moved to Girard, Kansas home of Appeal to Reason, which would print Socialist Woman. In 1909 it was renamed The Progressive Woman, and The Coming Nation in 1913. Its contributors included Socialist Party activist Kate Richards O’Hare, Alice Stone Blackwell, Eugene V. Debs, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, and others. A treat of the journal was the For Kiddies in Socialist Homes column by Elizabeth Vincent.The Progressive Woman lasted until 1916.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/socialist-woman/090700-progressivewoman-v2w26.pdf