The profound changes for women begun in areas under control of the Chinese Red Army during the First Civil War. The original Soviets developed in a number of non-contiguous, largely rural locations after the defeats of 1927 in the major cities. These Soviets ruled in areas defended by the Red Army and were the target of the Kuomintang’s incessant ‘encirclement campaigns’ over the next years, eventually leading to their defeat and the retreat now known as the Long March in 1934.

‘The Working Women of Soviet China’ by Tsin Yu  from International Press Correspondence. Vol. 12 No. 2. January 14, 1932.

Before the Soviet Government was organised, the working women lived in inhuman conditions just as in other parts of Kuomintang China. As a result of the backwardness of Chinese economy and the relics of tribal life, working women were not considered as human beings. Legally, the working women had no rights whatever. They had no voting rights and could not be elected; they had no right to inherit or to possess property. If a man killed a woman, he received no punishment. But if a woman killed her husband, she was sentenced to a terrible death. (For example, she was put on a wooden horse and dragged through the streets of the town, nailed to the town wall and left there as a warning example to the people, etc.). Proletarian women had no possibility whatever of receiving any education. As soon as they were able to eat, dress themselves and sleep without help, they were compelled to perform housework. The cruelest thing was the practice of sending them, in most cases at an extremely early age, to other families where they were trained as future brides. The life of such brides was the worst of all for working women. Everyone–old and young, men and women–considered themselves on a higher level than these brides. Everyone could beat or abuse these brides in training. They worked from morning till night with bitter tears. There were often cases where they were killed. When a girl reached the age of 18 or 19, she was married and ceased to undergo training. However, everyone despised a wife who had previously been in the position of a bride in training, including her husband. After marriage, working women had never a moment of happiness. They were slaves of their husbands and mothers-in-law, and in addition they were compelled to do the housework and look after their children. If the husband died, they were compelled to spend their whole lives as widows, or else they were sold to other husbands as slaves or concubines. This was done by the husband’s family. In addition, little girls were often sold as servants or wives. Either of these was merely a variety of slavery.

In the villages which are not under Soviet rule the women work 15-16 hours a day and often more. From the house they hurry to the fields and from the fields they hurry home. They have no idea of the meaning of rest. Women workers in the towns work 13-14 hours a day and receive less wages than men. The wages of men in China are so small that they never have enough to eat. And the situation of women is still worse. Many of the daughters and wives in workers’ families are compelled to become prostitutes, and the situation of prostitutes is so bad that it is hard to describe. Thousands of prostitutes in Shanghai stand on both sides of the landing stage. Whether it is raining, hot or cold, they stand there from 7 in the evening till 4 in the morning, seeking clients. If they succeed in attracting anyone to themselves, this person can do what he likes with them. If they do not succeed, their mistress flogs them. After a few months of such a life, they get syphilis or some other venereal disease and die from illness and bad treatment. In many comparatively backward places, and even in some fairly large towns, working girls are compelled to submit to the custom of binding their feet. As a result, their feet become atrophied and it is difficult for them to walk. The question of marriage is decided by the parents. Women are deprived of the right of free choice and are compelled to bear submissively the bad treatment of their husbands as they have no right of divorce. The life of working women and their inhuman treatment are beyond description.

However, in the Soviet districts of China the situation of women has changed radically. The Central Soviet Government and the local Soviets have passed special laws to defend working women. Women have received all legal rights equally with the men. They have votes and can be elected (at the present time women form at least two-fifths of the membership of local Soviets and other organisations). Women have the right to possess property (women and men are equally entitled to receive a share of land and implements). The working day for women and men is established at 8 hours, and the wages of women and men are equal. Women are not given heavy work. Before and after childbirth they receive a two-month vacation with full pay. The selling of women is absolutely forbidden; slavery has been abolished and concubinage and the custom of training brides has been abolished. The questions of marriage and divorce are now settled freely, and neither the family nor outsiders interfere. It is categorically forbidden to beat or illtreat women, including wives. It is also forbidden to bind the feet of girls. Schools have been founded for women, schools for illiterates, supplementary courses, educational courses. Women have the right to study in all schools and to work on all public bodies. The Soviet government seeks to punish all who oppose these laws. Therefore in the Soviet districts of China, women have begun to lead a “human” life. The working women of China who have lived under inhuman conditions for thousands of years have now, under the Soviet government and the revolutionary dictatorship of the workers and peasants, achieved their first victory in the cause of their liberation.

The fact that working women in the Soviet districts were able to obtain this success is not due to chance, as women are the fresh force which is building, strengthening and developing the Soviet power. All these working women are actively taking part in the struggle against imperialism, the Kuomintang, the militarists, the bureaucrats, the landlords, the bourgeoisie and the kulaks. They are taking part in the sanguinary fights with the enemy, in the Red Army and the guerilla bands; organising first aid, laundry, sewing, boot-making and cooking brigades; forming bodies of scouts and transport detachments, etc., to help the workers’ and peasants’ army in its fights, to stimulate the courage of their fathers, husbands and brothers. The working women of the Soviet districts on the border of Hupeh-Honan-Anwhei fought in the front lines in the battles.

Men who do not take part in the fights, who are not in guerilla bands, detachments of the Red Guards and the Young Guard, and also those who do not take an active part in the work of the various conferences and Soviets, get no food or good treatment from the women at home. The slogan of the working women is now: “Not to marry militarists, bureaucrats, landlords, bourgeois, tuhkao, gentry and kulaks”. Women think it an honour to marry a member of the Party, YCL’ers, Red Guards and members of the Young Guard. The political level of the working women is rapidly rising. The working women, who were supposed to know nothing, deliver long speeches at big meetings, organise agitrop bands, ask questions such as: what is the II. International and the 2 1/2 International, what is socialism and what is the position and the life of women in socialist society, how do the working women live in the U.S.S.R., when shall we have tractors and when can we collectivise agriculture. The women have a strong interest in political life.

In the heroic struggle of the working women of the Soviet districts, they have already achieved economic, political and property equality with men. Life in Soviet China has opened up for the Chinese working women a bright road to complete freedom. The working women of all China are fighting for the Soviets of China, studying the experience of the struggle of the working women in the Soviet Union and fighting for the socialist future of China.

International Press Correspondence, widely known as”Inprecorr” was published by the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) regularly in German and English, occasionally in many other languages, beginning in 1921 and lasting in English until 1938. Inprecorr’s role was to supply translated articles to the English-speaking press of the International from the Comintern’s different sections, as well as news and statements from the ECCI. Many ‘Daily Worker’ and ‘Communist’ articles originated in Inprecorr, and it also published articles by American comrades for use in other countries. It was published at least weekly, and often thrice weekly.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/inprecor/1932/v12n02-jan-14-1932-Inprecor-op.pdf