Anna Damon, editor of Working Woman and head of the Communist Party Department for Work Among Women, with some internal direction for 1932’s upcoming I.W.D. commemorations.

‘Tasks of International Women’s Day Campaign’ by Anna Damon from Party Organizer. Vol. 5 No. 2. February, 1932.

INTERNATIONAL Women’s Day, March 8th, this year should mark a real turn in our work among women, first and foremost toward women factory workers, unemployed and Negro women.

The tasks set down in a recent E.C.C.I. letter to the Central Committee of our Party on March 8th, states: “The Polit Secretariat of the E.C.C.I. makes the Central Committee responsible for the carrying through of the campaign on a large scale. March 8th must be observed in all capitalist countries as an international demonstration and fighting day. Its keynote is the struggle against the capitalist offensive and against the threatening war danger, especially the danger of intervention against the Soviet Union and against the fascist reaction.” It states further: “We lay stress on the tasks set down by the Eleventh Plenum of the E.C.C.I. of “utilization of the slightest signs of protest of the working class against the exploitation and fascist reaction for work among women. We emphasize that March 8th campaign is the task of the whole Party.”

Negro Women Most Militant Fighters

The objective conditions for making I.W.D. a mass campaign of struggle against U.S. capitalism are very favorable. The effects of the third year of economic crisis in U.S. has had a great radicalization effect on the Negro and white working-class women. Wherever the Party and the T.U.U.L. made attempts to mobilize women for partial demands affecting their daily lives the results were above expectations. We need only look towards the recent strikes in Lawrence, coal strikes in Pennsylvania, Kentucky; dressmakers’ strike in New York. The experiences of struggles against high cost of living, etc., against evictions, for immediate relief for school children showed good examples of united front struggles (small scale), and proved the correctness of struggles for partial demands.

In Cleveland there exist now, as a result of these struggles, well organized unemployed branches which have over 500 women members, the largest number being Negro women, who are the most militant and leading forces in the unemployment activities. Maggie Jones, a Negro women, is the organizer of the largest Unemployed Council in Cleveland.

Bring March 8th into Factories

The tasks confronting the Party in connection with I.W.D. campaign is to develop, broaden out and dramatize the struggles among the masses of women. To utilize the burning issues of the daily demands of the working class women for developing the campaign of I.W.D.

In all activities the Party must consciously direct the work among factory workers, among unemployed and Negro women, and make every effort to gain members for the Party to better the composition of the Party. We must throughout the campaign arouse the working women to the reality of imperialist war and the war of intervention against the Soviet Union and Soviet China; to counteract the dangerous pacifist and the patriotic influences among the working class women and win them for the class struggle.

We must begin careful work in the factories by taking the very first steps to group our contacts, meet with them, discuss their daily problems in the factories and homes, work out demands, and lay a basis for delegate meetings from factory workers.

International Women’s Day–a Party Campaign

In the directives of the Central Committee on International Women’s Day, we have tried to give in a concrete and simple form how to conduct I.W.D. campaign, laying the greatest stress on factory activities. It goes without saying that these directives will have to be on district, city and town scale, paying attention to the outlying industrial sections.

We must state frankly that judging from the reports received to date in the Central Committee, there is no indication that the districts plan to make I.W.D. a Party campaign. So far it seems to be a campaign of the Women’s Departments only. This impermissible situation has to be remedied at once. There is only one month left, and the District Committees must immediately throw the forces of the Party in the campaign, tighten up the activities. The entire Party must be made conscious of the political significance of the campaign and mobilized for the tasks.

Don’t Repeat Past Mistakes

This year the weaknesses of last campaign were forcibly brought out in the I.W.D. preparatory conferences which have been held in Chicago and in New York.

These conferences were supposed to have been broad united front conferences around immediate concrete issues, and were to be used as a basis for developing struggles on a larger scale. In reality they were no different from the traditional conferences of the past and did not sufficiently represent women factory workers. We did not get beyond our closest Party and Trade Union Unity League sympathizers.

In Chicago the comrades did succeed in mobilizing the Negro women (out of 110 delegates, 50 were Negro). This is an outstanding achievement.

In the short time left, the Districts, sections and units should without further delay, activize the campaign in line with the E.C.C.I. and Central Committee directives.

Anna Damon.