‘Communist Work Among Women in the United States’ Resolution from The Fourth National Convention of the Workers (Communist) Party of America. Daily Worker Publishing Company, Chicago. 1925.

I. COMMUNIST WORK AMONG WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES.

The work among women is an important phase of the Party activity. This work has been neglected by our Party since its organization. Only some local organizations such as New York, Boston, and Detroit have made a beginning in this respect, but there has been no centralized direction and definite plan of work on a national scale. These conditions must be changed. Our Party must from now on take up this work systematically in order to establish Communist influence among the women workers and draw them into the general struggles of the workers.

II. POLICY FOR WORK AMONG WOMEN IN THE FACTORIES.

1. It must be our aim to establish in the factories where women are employed circles of working women for the discussion of the problem of their place of work and for the discussion of general problems of the working class. As these circles are developed in certain industrial sections they should be combined into conferences of delegates from the circle of that section and later on a city-wide scale.

2. These circles should also be the expression of the social life of women workers and the means of providing educational opportunities. Thru the development of this form of their activities our Party members working within them will be able to influence the social life and the education of the women workers and thus facilitate the work of political education of these workers.

3. Wherever the Party has shop nuclei organized in factories where women are employed one member of the nucleus shall be charged with the responsibility of organizing such circles of women workers. In those sections where nuclei do not yet exist the Party organ responsible for work among women shall appoint comrades working in factories where women are employed to take up this work.

4. The work among the women in the factories must be closely coordinated with the work among the women in the trade unions. For this purpose there should be appointed in the Party trade union fractions in unions in which there are women workers a comrade charged with the work among the women trade union members, who must be in contact with the comrades conducting the work among women in the factories.

III. WORK AMONG THE HOUSEWIVES.

1. Our Party must also seek to organize circles of housewives for participation in and support of the struggles of the workers. These circles should be organized in all the working class sections of the cities.

 2. The Party units in the various sections of the cities shall appoint from among the Party members a comrade specially charged with carrying on this work of organization of circles of housewives.

3. The housewives circles shall be combined thruout the sections of the city and on city-wide scale thru conference of delegates from these bodies.

4. The housewives circles should carry on social and educational activities similar to those to be carried on by the circles in the factories. They must be drawn into close co-operation with the women circles in the factories thru the initiation of common campaigns and thru conferences in which the members of both circles participate as well as thru conferences of delegates from both forms of organization. This is particularly necessary in times of strike and other workers’ struggles.

5. The organizations of proletarian housewives which have been created thru the efforts of our Party members, such as the United Council of Working Class Women in New York City, the Mothers League of Boston, and Detroit Proletarian Women organizations should be made the basis for the development of our work in these cities.

IV. CONFERENCES OF WORKING WOMEN.

1. In order to unite the work of the women factory circles and the housewives circle, conferences of working women shall be called.

2. These conferences shall be held periodically at least once a month, and shall discuss and act upon all problems arising out of the lives of the working women.

3. The “Conference of Working Women” shall consist of (a) women employed in shops, factories, stores, etc.; (b) Local trade unions consisting wholly or partly of working women; and (c) organizations of working class housewives.

4. These conferences shall elect Executive Committees to carry on the work between the meetings of the Conferences. These committees shall be known as “Committees of Working Women.”

5. The following is to be the basis of the program of the “Conferences of Working Women.” a. To carry on an active campaign to unionize the working women. b. To fight for equal pay for equal work. c. To combat child labor. d. To encourage and assist working women to become citizens of the United States. e. To fight for government maintenance of working mothers for a specified period of time before and after childbirth. f. To develop political consciousness and activity among working women. g. To participate in all struggles of the workers jointly with other labor organizations. h. To provide for the educational, cultural, and social needs of the working class housewives. i. To render material and moral support to workers engaged in struggles against capitalists. (Relief in times of strikes, lockouts, etc.) j. To combat the high cost of living. k. To fight for better housing facilities for the workers. l. To fight for better sanitary, fire prevention, and educational facilities for working class quarters. m. To fight for government maintenance of the school children of the workers. n. To participate in all struggles of the workers jointly with other labor organizations.

6. These conferences shall be called in each locality by a special committee to be known as “The Provisional Committee of the Conference of Working Women.” The Provisional Committee is to be made up of men and women engaged in or otherwise connected with the struggle of the working women.

7. Such provisional Committees shall be established immediately. Before calling the conference, a widespread agitation must be carried on among women in the shops, factories, stores, and in the unions popularizing the task of these conferences.

V. PARTY ORGANIZATION FOR WORK AMONG WOMEN.

The following organizational apparatus shall be established in the Party at once to conduct the work among women:

1. In all leading committees of the Party such as the Central: Executive Committee, District Executive Committees, City Executive Committees, and after the Party reorganization is affected, the Section Executive Committee and Sub-Section Executive Committee, and at present in the present existing branches and shop nuclei, an individual member or sub-committee shall be appointed as responsible head of the work among women. This sub-committee or individual member shall be authorized to form a larger committee by drawing into the work other comrades, particularly women from the factories. The sub-committee or individual member, however, shall be responsible for conduct of the work to the leading committee making the appointment.

2. In order to keep before the Party the necessity of systematically carrying on the work among women and in order that this work shall support and be in line with the general political policies of the Party, the question of work among women should be placed on the agenda of the leading committees and regular reports on the progress of the work submitted. The Organization Committee of the C.E.C. shall also place the question on its agenda and once each three months at least it should come before the C.E.C.

3. Whenever the Party initiates a campaign, the instructions sent to the Party units shall contain a special section instructing the Party units how to apply this campaign to the work among the working women so that the women are drawn into all the general campaigns of the Party.

4. The first step in putting this program into effect shall be the calling in each city of city conferences to consist of all the members of the branch and nuclei sub-committees on Women’s Work and also the women committees from the trade union fractions. These conferences shall be made thoroly familiar with the program, and mobilized to carry it out in the following manner. Similar conferences shall be held from time to time and at a later stage of development of the work it may be possible to hold these conferences on a larger scale.

5. At all times the Party members in the non-partisan organizations must form Communist fractions and work under the direction of the Party sub-committees on Women’s Work in their respective localities.

VI. PRESS AND LITERATURE.

1. The Party should publish literature making especial appeal to working women and the party press should from time to time carry articles dealing with current political questions from the same angle.

(Adopted unanimously.)

The Fourth National Convention of the Workers (Communist) Party of America. Daily Worker Publishing Company, Chicago. 1925.

Contents: Majority Report on Credentials, Minority Report on Credentials, Rules or Order of the Convention, Report of the Central Executive Committee, (a) The Farmer-Labor Party Campaign, (b) The Election Campaign, (c) The Labor Party Campaign, (d) United Front and Other Special Campaigns, (e) Trade Union, I.W.W. Ind. Unions etc., (f) Agrarian Educational Women’s Negroes’ and AntiImperialist Work, (g) Our Party Press, (h) Membership of Our Party, (i) The Party Publications, Different Languages, (j) Language Sections, (k) Financial Statement of the National Office, Majority Resolution on the Report of C.E.C., Minority Resolution on the Report of the C.E.C., Majority Resolution on C.I. Decision on American Question, Minority Resolution on C.I. Decision on American’ Question, The Present Situation and the Immediate Tasks of the Party, Instructions for Labor Party Campaign, Resolution on Rolshevization of the Party, Resolution on the Liquidation of Loreism, Motion on the Expulsion of Lore from the Party, The Industrial Work of the Workers (Communist) Party, (a) Main Tasks of the Party in the Trade Unions, (b) Necessary Organizational Measures, (c) Shop Committees, (d) Amalgamation and International, (e) Party Policies for Trade Union Work, The International Labor Defense Endorsed, Communist Agrarian Program and Policies, The American Negro and the Proletarian Revolution, (a) The Negro in American History, (b) Negro Race Movements, Communist Work Among Women in the United States!, The American Communist Struggle Against Imperialism, Our Pledge to the Soviet Union, Resolution on the Young Workers League, Resolutions of the Appeals Committee, Building of the Communist Press, Report of the Daily Worker Financial etc., Election of the Incoming Central Executive Committee. 86 pages.

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