DOCUMENTS OF THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT OF CHINA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 350
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Sequence Number: 5
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT
llNA
OF CH NA
ALL CHINA DEMOCRATIC WOMEN'S FEDERATION
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
OF
THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT
OF CHINA
ALL CHINA DEMOCRATIC WOMEN'S FEDERATION
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
1st Edition .......... 1950
2nd Edition ......... 1952
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist
Party of China Concerning the Present Policy of
Women's Work in the Anti-Japanese Bases (Feb. 26, 1943) 1
Welcome the New Policy in Women's Work . .. ............
Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party
of China on the Present Women's Work in the Rural
Districts of the Liberated Areas (December 20, 1948)......... 14
A Report on the Present Policy and Task of the Women's
Movement of China .....................(by TEND PING-cHAQ) . 27
Resolutions on the Present Tasks of the Women's Move-
ment of China (Passed by the First All China YPo))zen's
Congress, April 1, 1949) ............................................. 41
Constitution of the All China Democratic Women's
Federation ......................................................... 47
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
Decision of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China
Concerning the Present Policy of Women's Work
in the Anti-Japanese Bases
(February 26, 1943)
For over five years we have established anti-Japanese bases
behind enemy lines, carried on resistance, and bitterly fought the
enemy and puppets. We have overcome innumerable difficul-
ties and obtained splendid results, relying-mainly on the Eighth
Route and the New Fourth Armies and the broad masses of
the people. Moreover, women, who make up half the popula-
tion, have played an important role in the war of resistance
and our work among women has been effective. But we
lacked a practical and factual approach as well as an adequate
mass viewpoint toward women's work. We failed to go into
the ranks of the masses, to merge ourselves with the broad
masses, and to bury ourselves in hard work.
We did not fully recognize the importance of economic
construction in maintaining resistance and establishing anti-
Japanese bases. We did not see that economic work is most
suitable to women, and we did not firmly grasp the fact that
mobilization of women to participate in production is the most
important link in the chain that protects women's own vital
interests. We did not effectively investigate and study women's
actual conditions, and we did not thoroughly understand their
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
feelings. We showed no concern for their family responsibilities,
their physiological limitations and the difficulties of their
livelihood. We did not consider what women could or should
do in certain places and at certain time.
We suggested slogwis for the women's movement, mapped
out plans, and set up organizations, merely from our subjective
viewpoint. We wanted women to come to meetings regularly,
mobilized them unnecessarily, and wasted some of their energy
and resources. The resit was that our work and our organiza-
tions have become superficial, without real mass support. This
formalistic and subjective tendency of separating from the masses
has constituted the basic reason why women's work has bogged
down and why it is unable to develop further.
In the anti-Japanese bases, where victory is daily getting
closer, yet miseries are daily increasing, there are three impor-
tant tasks before us now: fighting, production work, and education.
What the broad masses of village women can and should do is
to take part especially in production work. Active participation
in production on the part of women is a wartime job as glorious
as that of able-bodied main going to the front.
It is also necessary to begin with the work for economic
prosperity and economic independence in order to promote the
political status of women?., their cultural level and improve their
livelihood, thereby leading to the way of emancipation. Produce
more and store up more; then women and their families will live
well. This not only will be of great benefit to the economic re-
construction in anti-Japanese bases, but also will enable the
women, on the basis of these material conditions, gradually to
overthrow feudal oppression. In this lies the center of their own
interest of the vast number of village women. This also
represents the new orientation of our work among women in
anti-Japanese bases.
To put into effect the above mentioned policy, it will require
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
a thorough change in the York-style, method, and orientation
of women's work everywhere. We must proceed to carry out
intensive investigations and research, so as to understand thorough-
ly the life, needs, and feelings of the masses of village women.
We must consider their subjective capacities and objective
conditions. We must choose central areas in which to begin
our work, which, once gets started, will gradually influence
neighboring areas, and eventually the entire district. Hence we
arrive at the following points : -
(1) Women's Federations and Women's National Salvation
Associations everywhere should make it their primary task the
studying of how to organize village women to take part in
individual or collective production work. They should go to
the countryside to educate, aid, and help village women solve
their difficulties arising from their participation in the produc-
tion front. The sucoess or failure of production work by village
women is The criterion by which our work among women is
judged.
(2) Village women can spin and weave, raise silkworms,
cultivate land, cook, feed pigs, and manage households. We
must make plans in the light of concrete circumstances in each
locality. But women's production plans must be coordinated
with their household production work. We should not repeat
such past mistakes committed in many districts as boasting the
achievement of women by merely showing how many acres of
land reclaimed or afforested, without, however, substantiating
their statement with facts. We must mobilize women to parti-
cipate actively in the production work of the broad masses.
(3) We must proceed to organize the masses of the women
on the basis of their needs and refrain from setting up organiza-
tions merely for the sake of so doing. Women should be organ-
ized to take part in cooperative production and various other
methods of production (such as small units of spinning and
3 _ .
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
weaving, etc.). These units should become the basic organiza-
tions of Women's National Salvation Associations or Women's
Federations and should not remain in name only, without any
definite assignments to perform.
(4) We must cut down as much as possible the frequency
of unnecessary mobilization`of village women, reduce the number
of meetings, and space them of their manpower and resources,
so that they may have more time and energy to engage in
production.
(5) We should encourage women to change those habits
such as feet binding and neglect of physical care which impair
their health and which therefore affect their production work.
(6) As to women's cultural and political eduaction, it
should be conducted along with production work. For example,
the level of their production technique should be raised;
reading classes conducted; tunes and songs composed for them
to amuse themselves while at work.
(7) Women cadres must correct their mistaken view of
looking down upon economic and, productive work. They must
realize that not only is production one of the most important
political tasks in the liberated bases, but it also serves as a link
for them to build and cement their friendship with the peasant
masses. They should by all means go to the villages to organize
production work for women, to'solve their production difficul-
ties and to help raise their economic well-being
To accomplish these things, women workers must them-
selves learn rural economy and understand the nature of women's
production, before they can really become the organizers and
leaders of production work of the rural masses. Many capable
women comrades must go to work in cooperatives. Further-
more, many women Party members and cadres must go to work
in public enterprises ani help them flourish. The conception
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
that it is not shameful to loaf but that it'is something to be
proud of is entirely mistaken.
In order to commemorate International Women's ?Day on
March 8th this year, it is our policy to mobilize all women
to participate actively in production work. Each locality
should decide on detailed methods according to its existing
circumstances
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 ^-
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
Welcome the N ew Policy in Women's Work
(An address delivered by TSAI OHAP'G in March, 1943)
During the War of Resistance, which has lasted more than
five years, women have played. an important role and women's
work has been effective in every an ti-Japanese military base.
Many of our women Party members and woman cadres
were hard-working People who penetrated deeply into the
masses. However, in general, a, practical and factual approach
was lacking, as well as an adequate mass viewpoint. The work
was not sufficiently thorough and practical. Many of the
woman cadres in leading organizations, especially those origina-
ting from the iutelligantsia, did not closely tie their work to
reality. They only knew how to recite on every occasion slogans
such as: "Freedom of Oarriagel" "Economic Independence!"
"Oppose the Four Kinds of Oppression!" They never thought
of adapting their wvorl: to actual conditions but only shouted
loudly for resistance. They never knew what women could or
should do in supporting the war.
In solving family disputes, they sided. with the wife and
strongly censured the husband. They were pertical to the
daughter-in-law and strongly reproved the father-in-law or
mother in law. In tlii:; way, they could not win public approval
and thus became isolated..
When women's organizations were to be set up, these
workers proceeded to v.ork not along the lines of meeting the
needs of a given place and at a given moment, but with a view
to satisfying their personal desire to be in charge of a useless
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
organization which was decorated with a large membership.
When the time arrived for mobilization, they showed no regard
for such things as women's family responsibilities, their physiolo-
gical limitations and the difficulties of their livelihood. The
women were often asked to come to a meeting where the
speeches given were difficult for them to understand. As a
result, the women masses travelled to and from their meeting
places in vain, wasting both their time and their energy.
When something concerning women's welfare needed to be
done, the women workers threw away all considerations of time
and place. Whatever was done at A was likewise to be done at
B. Whatever the Farmer's National Salvation Association and the
Youth National Salvation Association did, the Women's National
Salvation Association copied it. For no purposes at all, meetings
were held, plans mapped out and decisions passed. The women
cadres worked aimlessly. Yet they spared no effort to magnify
what appeared to them to be the success of their work, and then
heaving a sigh of satisfaction, began to settle down to indulge in
it. But actually the problems in which their fellow womenfolks
in a given locality were particularly interested were left
unsolved. As a result, many organizations sponsored by the
Women's Federation and the Women's National Salvation
Association could in no way win widespread popular support.
Many a woman worker was not the leader truly beloved by
the broad masses of women. They were but "civil servants"
who happened to occupy a desk at some office. When they had
nothing better to do, they even went as far as to demand from
the Party full independence of leadership over their fellow
womenfolks. In case they were frustrated in their work, they
did not bother to find out why. Instead, they angrily blamed
the Party and the Government for extending them no help.
Since cadres in the leading organizations went off at such a
_ 7
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
tangent, some of the ,vomen cadres promoted from the worker
and peasant classes to leading posts also followed suit. Thus
many of the cadres who originally rose up from the worker and
peasant classes also became "civil servants" and deserted the
masses. This pattern of subjectivism and formalism and the
absence of mass outlook has made it impossible for women's
work in many places to enter deeply among the broad masses of
women.
In its recent decision on current women's work in the anti-
Japanese bases, the Central Committee of the Chinese Com-
munist Party criticized[ the shortcomings and mistakes of past
work. The Central Committee correctly pointed out the new
line and new work-style to be followed hereafter. It asked each
women worker to understand fully the importance of economic
reconstruction to the war of resistance and to the establishment
of military bases. Economic work is the greatest and most
appropriate contribution women can make today in the war of
resistance. It must be realized that production by women is a
wartime job as glorious as that of able-bodied men going to the
front.
At the same time, helping women to develop production
work is also "the most important link in the chain that protects
women's own vital interests" The decision made by the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of China tells us : "Produce
more and store up more; then women and their families
will live well. This not only will be of great benefit to the
economic reconstruction in anti-Japanese bases but also will
enable the women, on. the basis of these material conditions
gradually to overthrow feudal oppression." For this reason
Women's Federations and Women's National Salvation Associa-
tions everywhere should make it their primary task the studying
of how to organize village women to take part in individual and
collective production work.
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
From now on, wo.men's organizations should never he
allowed to become show windows. Organization work of women
should proceed along the lines of meeting their needs.
"Women should he organized io take part in cooperative prc-
duction and various other methods of production. (such as
small Units of spinning and weaving, etc.)"
This decision of the Central Committee of the Chinese
Communist Party calls upon all woman Party members and wom nan
cadres to put an end to the erroneous view of despising work
in the economic and productive field. They "must themselves
learn rural economy", must be willing to work in cooperatives
and in public economic enterprises, and. must really become the
organizers and 'producers among the broad masses of villagers.
This decision concerning the work among women made by the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of 'China is a
document of historical significance. It furnishes the direction
towards which Party and non-Party women workers as will as
all women Party members must strive today.
This new direction of women's work has in several localities
in the Shensi-Kansu-Ninghsia Liberated Area produced lively
examples for other regions to emulate. In the Second Hsiang*
of the Liu Lin District in Yenan country, the achievements of
women's spinning movement and other fields fully bear witness-
to the correctness of the decision of the Central Committee of
the Communist Party of China.
Originally there was no woman in any family engaged in
textile in the Second Hsiang of the Liu Lin District. Patient
promotion and help rendered by Director Liu of the Yenan
South District Cooperative, made women of 220 families become
familiar with spinning, and the spinning and weaving of women
become a production movement of the whole Hsiang. Thus, the
*A Hsiang is an administrative unit containing a number of villages.
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 I?
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
economy of Shensi-Kansu-Ninghsia Liberated Area was developed
on the one hand.-and the income of peasants' families were in-
ci-cased on the other.
Engaging in spinning and weaving the women in that
Hsiang not only increased their production and savings and en-
joyed a better life with their family, but also on the understanding
of the meaning of "husband and wife all go one way, sand and
earth will turn into go d", the solidarity of villagers and family
narmony were promoted. Things like man heating woman and
quarrel between neighbours are no longer popular. Their posi-
tion has been gradually promoted with a comparatively com-
fortable economy which can substantially sustain their. own
selves. Those women Who are working hard in production and
earning money are respected by other people. Owing to the
fact that men are engaged in cultivation and do not understand
the quality of cotton, good or bad., women who stay home all the
day, then cross the hills and run about in groups, frequenting
the cooperatives to "get cotton, deliver yarn, and exchange
cloth". They are free now !
As required by production, they willingly join the textile
groups and cooperatives. Recognizing the benefits provided by,
these organizations, they truly uphold them. As required by
production they are ah,o concerned with politics. They respect
Director Liu and labour heroes of the South District Cooperative,
but they hate those loafers; all of them have become the topic
of their daily discussion. They also understand the economic
construction policy of tl e Shensi-Kansu-Ninghsia Border Govern-
ment and the significance of awarding a labour hero. In the
course of carrying out production, gradually they come to fight
the feudal bondage. They have been equipped with power to
fight those people who maltreat the child bride. They already
detest the bound feet, while the girls of the Second Hsiang are
now free from foot-binding. They have started with the
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
thought of demanding for culture that would enable them "to
write down and clear accounts better by themselves." They
come to admire those literate and learned women.
The women spinning movement in the Second Hsiang of
the Liu Lin District has developed into an overall movement to
struggle for the interests of women. Doesn't this provide an
ample proof for the entire correctness of the Decision of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China that in the
villages of the Anti-Japanese Bases "it is also necessary to begin
with the work for economic prosperity and economic indepen-
dence in order to promote the political status of women, their
cultural level and improve their livelihood, thereby leading to
the way of emancipation". And this "will enable the women,
on the bases of these material conditions, gradually to overthrow
the feudal oppression".
However, we must further deeply realize that the textile
movement of the women in that Hsiang can never be achieved if
a practical spirit and an attitude guided by mass conception are
lacking.
Sometime ago, the Women Federation of that Hsiang had
also organized textile groups but they never brought about any
effect. The textile mills established in Kao-Mao-Bay, Ch'uan-
K'ou, Yenan in 1940, compelled women in that district to learn
spining and weaving, but in vain. A textile enterprise, set up
at Nan-Chuan-Ho by the South District Cooperative in May 1941,
raised the call to pay one catty of cotton for the spinning of one
catty of thread; however, there still remained the bad influence
among the people with regard to the compulsion on women in
learning spinning and weaving in the past. On the one hand,
they were afraid of "being transferred to the factory once finish-
ing their learning", or of "losing their wives for the sake of earn-
ing some money"; on the other hand, they worried that "they
had no time" or "they were too dull to learn such thing".
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
After continuous investigations by Director Liu of the Co-
operative who carefully weighed the sentiments and demands in
their livelihood, patient.}r employed different means favourable
to them to help and encourage them, and proved through their
own practical life experiences that textile was really beneficial to
them, after these then, the whole district "slowly unfolded
textile activities."
This explains that today we will not perform our work
satisfactorily if we only know that we should organize women to
develop production but fail to leans the practical working method
of Director Liu which merges with the masses.
We must oppose t ke attitude of treating the new direction
of women's work with a subjective and formalistic method of
work which assumes that "everything would be all right" only
that we pay attention to the mobilization and organization of
women in the participation in production.
It will necessarily meet with the opposition of the masses,
however, if our producdon plan which is impossible to be per-
forme I or which is impracticable and incompatible to the
demands of the masses, is raised; for example, to introduce the
slogan of breeding a pig for each family in those places where
there is a shortage of food while the people are still taking bran
as their subsidiary cereal; or, for example, to forcefully hold
women training classes i n the mobilization of women in spinning
and weaving, and teach them the method of using textile me-
chinary for 16 and 24 counts'. The masses would, as a result,
declare the bankruptcy of any of your "good" production slogans
and "satisfactory" plan. Those possesing such defects must
learn from Director Liu who leads the textile movement of the
wcrnen in the Liu Lin District.
Ever since the decision was made public, among those who
first enthusiastically rc;ponded to the call of 'the Central Com-
mittee were the Yenan women workers, woman cadres and
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
woman party members. Many women.. workers of the upper
organizations- who have hither to not done much work now
understand the new direction in women's work, and have already
begun to change their ideology and their methods of work. Many
woman Party members and . woman cadres have worked in
cooperatives and in supply stores thus finding many suitable jobs
for their fellow woman comrades.
However, there is need for even greater courage and even
greeter determination to carry the work forward. We must be
prepared to face adverse circumstances and must not despair.
We must be determined to go deeply among the masses and be
able to feel at home.- We must prepare to undergo practical
and ideological training. Only in this way can we thoroughly
carry out the decision of the Central Committee of the Chinese
Communist Party and popularize the women's movement of the
Second Hsiang of the Liu Lin District. Only in this way can we
induce many woman cadres and Party members to participate
in economic work and production work, and make it a source
of inspiration 1
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
Decision of the Central Committee
of the Communist Party of China
On the Present Women's Work
in the Rural Districts of the Liberated Areas
(Dacember 20, 1948)
The following is a decision on. the present women's work in
the rural districts of the Liberated Areas, a decision based on the
recommendation of the Women's Work Conference held in
September 1948, under the auspices of the Central Committee
of the Communist Party of China::
(I) The people of China had stubbornly fought the eight
years War of Resistance and defeated the Japanese imperialism.
Now they have waged the People's War of Liberation for two
and a half years and attained a great victory without precedent.
And, after a year or a> they will be able to overthrow the
reactionary rule of the Kuomintang basically.
The achievement of this victory is owed to the correct
leadership of the Party, the gallantry and fighting capacity of
the People's Liberation Army as well as the bitter struggles of
the broad masses of peop.e. The Chinese women who constitute
one half of the population, have also played an important part
and have become an indispensable force in the defeat of the
enemy and the construction of a New China.
There are rlefinile achievements in the women's work.
Especially since the prom ulgation of the "Decision Concerning the
Present Policy of Women's Work in Various Anti-Japanese Bases"
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
in February, 194, by the Central Committee, the women's work
in the Liberated Areas had secured the guidance of a clear and
definite policy. Wherever this policy was executed, the women's
work underwent marked changes: the broad woman masses in
the countryside had been further mobilised and organised to take
part iii handicraft, agricultural and subsidiary production, in
strong support to the war. Greater number of women in the
Liberated Areas were mobilised during. the land reform move-
ment to participate actively in the struggles for equal distribution
of land and for the extermination of feudalism.
In areas where land reform has been completed, a funda-
mental change in the class relations took place in the villages.
Men and women, old or young, all alike received a portion of
land. A considerable number of women were elected district or
village representatives, and even village chiefs or deputy chiefs,
or became cadres of a higher rank. The consciousness and
positiveness of women have been highly raised while their
political, economic, domestic and social status, likewise, experi-
enced a basic change. It opened a way for the complete
emancipation of the chinese women.
Nevertheless there still exist certain defects in the women's
work in the Liberated Areas. In some districts, the Decision
promulgated by the Central Committee in February, 1943, has
not been adequately recognised nor fully understood by the Party
organizations and women bodies. They did not know that to
organise women in active participation in production is the
central task of women's work and is also the key point for
defending the special interests of women and fighting for their
emancipation from the yoke of feudal vestige. In some localities,
this decision has even been entirely ignored, and consequently,
has not been strictly and thoroughly carried out.
Ir come other districts, there exists a lack of conscious atten-
tion to the removal of the remaining feudal bondage over
- 1S'-
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
women. Attention hay also not been given to women's special
interests and demands during the process of mobilising women
to take part in production, land reform and in the work of
supporting the front. It was assumed that everything would
be settled by itself voluntarily once women were mobilised to
join production and land reform. Or else, women's work was
being mechanically divorced from the general work. This, as a
result, disabled the woman masses from removing their special.
sufferings in time and kept them from being fully organised.
In some districts, there still existed the old erroneous
tendency of isolating work for women's emancipation,, thereby
causing controversies between male and female peasants, between
young and old women, and consequently alienating women
from the masses. This tendency has, in the main, been corrected
since 1945. Only in a few regions, it has not yet been completely
overcome but is in the process of being rectified. But as regards
the previous deviation, it is still a comparatively universal
phenomenon existing in various districts up to the present
moment.
The principal cause of these defects is that part of the
cadres of the Party and women's organisations in certain districts
lack an overall conception of mass work, a complete recognition
of the importance of women's movement, a profound under-
standing that women's work is a part of the whole revolutionary
work, and have not been able to coordinate properly the mobilisa-
tion of women in active production and the protection of their
special interests.
In addition, the party organisations and women bodies in
certain districts have not given enough attention to the glorious
task of leading the women masses to support the war and con-
solidate--the troops. 'I hey have neglected the work to help and
to care for the famslias of the soldiers, and have not properly
criticised or educated those "camp-followers" and other activities
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
detrimental to army consolidation. They have not made women
understand that there could not be a real liberation of women if
there is no victory of the people's war of liberation. Consequently
they have not been able to rouse the enthusiasm of the woman
masses support the war.
Owing to the lack of examination of work at due time, of
the summation of experiences, and of correction-of deviations,
the defects mentioned above have not been promptly rectified.
(II) The present policy of women's work in liberated areas
should still be the mobilisation and organisation of broad masses
of women to actively participate in production. Such work
should be-taken as The basic work of women. The basic policy
adopted by the Central Committee in Februrary 1943, still holds
absolutely good to-day.
It is necessary, however, to make the whole Party and all
the cadres doing women's work, as well as the active elements of
the woman masses, understand that all the laws of the old society
that held women in bondage and disgrace are no longer in
existence. New laws which guarantee complete equality between
men and women in their economic, political and social status
have been drafted or basically drafted in the initial stage of the
establishment of the New Democratic Government. The ques-
tion is how these laws can 'be thoroughly put into effect.
Due to the old conception of regarding women to be
inferior to men, due to the various feudalistic customs and
traditions, especially the economic dependence of women on men,
due to women's inability to, or even contempt of labour, a speedy
materialisation of the rights enjoyable by women as provided by
law has been impeded.
For reasons mentioned above, some necessary work still has
to be done in order to thoroughly realise the rights of the
women. Firstly it is necessary to secure for women equal
economic rights and status with men and equal allocation of
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 II?
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
land and property. Secondly, it is necessary to make women
fully understand the iniportance of labour and take it as a
glory. They should actively take part in all kinds of labour and
production work which they can bear physically, and turn them-
selves into creators of family and social wealth. Only when
women labour actively and gradually become economically inde-
pendent, can they be respected by their fathers-in-law, mothers-
in-law, husbands and the community. Only thus harmony and
unity in the family can be further promoted, and women's
social and political st~.tus can be raised and stabilised. Only
thus a solid foundation for the complete realization o: the
various laws for equality between men and women can be
provided.
The experiences cf the past several years have proved this
point. That is to sav, in areas where women have actively
joined in labour and p ?oduction, taken labour as a glory, where
education on equality oetween men and women has been effect-
ed, feudal bondage opposed, and land distributed, the status of
women is entirely different from what it was. They are happy
and confident. They command the respect of others and quite
a number of active members have been elected as representatives
or taken part in other racial and political activities.
We should therefore use all our efforts to continue the
mobilization and organ:.zation of the great mass of women in the
liberated countryside to participate in agricultural, handicraft
production and production of secondary occupations. As to the
concrete steps in the restoration and development of production,
or as to which should be the main production of women of
various localities, it is to be decided according to the specific time
and place. It should also take into consideration the production
plan worked out jointly by the local party and political-organiza-
tions. It should moreover consider the condition of manpower
and of women's original habits in production.
-15-
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
In order to keep on and promote women's enthusiasm in
joining production, the various women's problems should be
solved in accordance with the policy mapped out by the Party,
or with the policy related to the handling of the remaining land
reform problems.
The government should protect by law women's right to
land. When land certificates are issued on family basis, it must
be written these certificates that men and women enjoy equal
right to the land. All adults in the family have the authority
to dispose their properties democratically. If necessary, land
certificates may be issued separately to women. At the same
time, long range work aiming at publicity and explanation
should be carried out among all peasants in order to make all
men and women peasants fully understand the importance of
protecting women's right to land.
For a sound development of rural women's production, it is
necessary to implement correctly and completely the policy of
"organization", and to mobilise energetically the woman masses
to participate in various cooperatives (such as agricultural labour-
exchange, mutual aid group, producers' cooperatives such as
weaving groups, and supply and sale cooperatives). In agricul-
tural production it is suitable for women to participate in small
size mutual aid group which is formed by a few families, and can
be joined by both men and women. In the handicraft production
and production of secondary occupations it suits women better to
join the various supply and sale cooperatives.
The methods employed must be in accordance with the
principle of self willingness and mutual benefit, thus demons-
trating the democratic spirit and encouraging the initiative of
the masses. Strict abstinence from excessive intervention,
compulsion and orders and formalism is to be observed. At the
same time, laissez faireism is to be avoided.
Production is taken as the centre of women's work. In the
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
course o' production, educational work for women should be
strengtheued, their political consciousness and cultural level
raised. They should le mobilised to participate in the establish-
ment of democracy. Sanitation work for women and infants
(such as cadres training class on sanitation for women and infants
and formation of Chinese and Western medical and pharmaceutical
cooperatives) should ke promoted and the special interests of
women protected..
As regards the feudalistic ideas and traditional customs
which prevent women from taking part in political, economic
and cultural activities---first and foremost in production-they
must be consciously anc: systematically wiped out. It should not be
assumed that upon women's participation in production, the
existing feudalistic yoke on women "iii automatically disappear
and therefore there is no need of doing anything about it. i t is
wrong to adopt this laissez faireism and to neglect the sped f
interests of women.
In the process of production it is zPcessary to go through all
kinds of mass organize.tions and meetings to constantly conducr
thought education among all peasants, snaking them understand
the true idea of equality between men and women; to criticize
feudal ideology and inherited customs; and to point out that all
feudal customs fettering women must be abolished. When
required by circurnstar..ces, the backward elements who want to
maintain the old feudal customs and who constantly torment and
oppress women should be properly criticized and reformed.
However, it :must be understood that this kind of struggle
is the internal thought struggle of the peasants and should
be rigorously distinguished from the struggle against the
feudal landlord class. The aim of this struggle is to educate
the whole peasantry more effectively; to provide better conditions.
for mobilizing women to participate in production and other
construction work; to establish truly democratic and peaceful
20
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
homes, and to further consolidate and strengthen the peasants'
internal solidarity.
At the same time, we must realize that this task is also for
the reform of the peasants' ideology; it is a process of protracted
efforts and we must not rush at it. We should oppose letting it
drift on its own. course and also oppose hastiness. Foot-binding,
infanticide, monetary marriage, child betrothal, etc., should' be
prohibited by law and education of the masses for the complete
execution or these laws must be carried out simultaneously.
In some districts of the Liberated Areas, there are certain
clauses in the marriage laws which violate the principles of
equality between men and women and freedom of marriage;
These must be rectified immediately.
The work among woman peasants in newly liberated areas
should, in accordance with the instructions of the Central
Committee, be conducted in the following directions: to publicise
the policies of the Party (including the policy on women's work),
t.. expand the influence of the Party spirit, to unmask all false
propaganda and rumours of the enemy, and to stabilize the social
order. In the areas where reduction oi. rent and interest or
land reform is being carried out, we should mobilize and lead
the vast masses of women to participate in the work of production
and reconstruction, and in supporting the people's liberation war.
In those new areas where reduction of rent and interest
or land distribution has already been carried out, the central
link of women's work there is also the mobilization of women
to participate in production labour. However, feudal traditions
fettering women are naturally very prevalent in those places.
Therefore, it is necessary to teach the vast masses of the people
the meaning of equality between men and women; to enlighten
their consciousness and gradually to eliminate,those traditions.
(111) With regard to the problem of the form of women's
organisation, formerly in some regions women's individual
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
organisation were abolished or merely existed in name. This is
not at all proper. According to the actual situation of the
Chinese women at present, we still need to have women's indivi-
dual organizations to lead and promote wornens work, unite and
educate the vast rnasse! ol. women and constantly serve them.
The women's representative conference is the best form
of organisation for uniting the women masses. Such an organ-
isations should he for:'ned in every place and on all levels.
Women's representative conference of the village level is the
fundamental organismion of this kind of conference. The
1 epresent.tives should be democratically elected by the woman
masses, and should include women delegates to the people's
representative conference, delegates from women's organisations
(such as woman delegates from textile groups, cooperatives,
literary classes, etc.), 2.nd delegates directly elected from among
the vast woman masses (to be elected by a definite number of
women according to their living districts)
The function of this kind of conference is to represent the
opinion of the woman masses, to discuss the direction, tasks and
important undertakings of the local women's work, to transmit
the policies, orders or decisions of the democratic government
and higher authourities, and to mobilize the vast masses of
women to make common efforts to enforce these measures.
Meanwhile, it is necessary to elect from the representative con-
ference a committee to carry out its resolutions, to attend to
daily routine and to cor.vene conferences at regular intervals.
The name of this committee may be decided by public
opinion. In the regions where the masses are well acquainted
with. women's federations, it may be called a "committee of
women's federation." Furthermore, for the purpose of fortify-
ing the mass basis, the committee of women's representative
conference should adopt various forms of organisations-such as
literary classes, cooperatives, mutual-aid groups, etc.,-to organise
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
the woman masses with different demands. At the same time,
the committee should keep contact with the vast masses of
disorganised women and render them service.
In cities as well as in villages and in the county seats,
women's representative conferences should also be convened and
the committees of women's federations be elected in accordance
with the above-mentioned principles to lead women's work.
In the past, the formation of women's federations in a few
districts was not based on the actual conditions of the masses.
The federation often emphasized on the increase of membership,
held too many small-group meetings but did not convene repres-
entative conferences for quite long periods. In their work the
woman, members completed the so-called tasks assigned by the
higher authourities in a formalistic way. They paid no
attention'to the masses. Consequently, the women's federations
became alienated from the masses and were exclusively operated
by a few. Such mistakes must be corrected.
In the newly liberated- villages, women organisations may be
set up according to the local situation. However, we must system-
atically and methodically carry out our preparatory work before-
hand, establishing step by step women's organisations, uniting
and educating the vast woman masses according to the needs and
consciousness of the masses. Such women's organisations should
rely on the labouring women as their basis.
(IV) In conformity with the needs of the development of
the revolution at present, we must boldly train, utilize and pro-
mote large numbers of woman cadres within and outside the
Party to hold all working posts, and we must strengthen the cadres
in women's organisations of all levels. Man and woman cadres
with equal capacity should be assigned to the same tasks,
provided with the same opportunities for learning and education
and should not be treated differently.
Moreover, according to the particular conditions of woman
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 11?
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
cadres, special attention must be paid to raise their political,
theoretical and cultural levels and their ability to work. We
must help to solve their special difficulties, establish chile
welfare institutions, nurseries, or organise labour-exchange and
mutual-aid units among them to alleviate their hardship. These
can further serve as the starting point for the development of
child welfare work in society.
To the labouring woman cadres newly recruited from the
villages we must step up their education, particularly at their
original posts. We must train them patiently, promote them
step by step. and take care of developing women party members.
In the new areas, special attention must be paid to the training
of local women cadres. Party schools of all levels and training
classes operated by the government should methodically enrol
woman cadres to study. Organisational and publicity depart-
ments of all levels of the Party should list the training and
education of woman cadres in their routines.
On the other hand, the woman cadres themselves should,
under the leadership a:id education of the Party, consciously
work hard, get acquair...ted with the routines, strengthen and
raise working efficiency, conscientiously study theories, policies,
cultural knowledge, and knowledge an& technique of production
work, promote criticism and self-criticism, overcome women's
weaknesses, strive hard to progress and strengthen the ideology
of serving the people. These are the fundamental requirements
for raising women to be outstanding cadres of the Party.
(V) After the National Land Conference in 1947, Party
committee members of all levels have generally devoted more
attention to and have had some improvements in leading
women's work. Nevertheless, they have not yet carried out
their leadership constantly and methodically. This was man-
ifested in the passive attitude of the cadres. The subordinates
merely followed the instructions of their superiors and never
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
take any initiativeness. A small number of Party committee
members had not overcome their negligence and laissez faireism
towards women's work.
From now on, the whole Party must have an overall under-
standing that the mobilisation of the vast woman masses to
participate in revolutionary struggles is an indispensable force
for the winning of nationwide victory in the revolution. We
must pay attention to the direction of the women's work and to
achieve the aim of the Party concerning woman's work. The
Party committee members should list this as an integral }art of
the overall work of the Party. When mapping out, reviewing and
summarising various work, they should include the women's
work. Party newspapers and news agencies of all levels should
redouble publicity and reports on women's work. Party com-
mittee members above the county level should establish and
enhance the organisation of women's committees and give them
direction and assistance constantly. Below the district level, the
leadership of women's work should go through the Party branch
and special personnel should be appointed to assume the
responsibility.
The tasks and responsibilities of women's committees of
various levels are to study women's problems and policies and to
review women's work under the leadership of the Party committee
members of the same level. They must also make proposals to
the latter for directing and promoting women's work.
The Party should go one step further to correct inside and
outside the Party the remnant feudal ideology of preferring men
to women, the thought of excluding women's work from the
overall work and the inclination of carrying it out all alone.
Party organisations of various levels should intensify the study
and practice of Marxism-Leninism and the ideology of Mao Tse-
tang in directing women's work, in training mass viewpoint, in
accurately grasping the policy of women's movement and in
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
overcoming undisciplined and anarchic situation. Workers for
women should further face the reality, mingle with the masses.
They should work harder, and whole-heartedly serve the woman
masses so that women's movement may be promoted one step
further.
(VI) To meet the reeds of the development of the national
revolution, we must concentrate women's fighting force. Women
organisations in the Liberated Areas should strive hard to unite
women of the whole country to oppose American imperialism,
feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism, and to struggle jointly
for ousting American imperialism from China, for defeating the
reactionary rule of the Kuomintang and for the establishment of
a New Democratic People's Republic.
For these purposes, we decided to convene the All China
Women's Congress in spring 1949 and to establish the All China
Democratic Women's Federation, as proposed by women organisa-
tions in the Liberated Areas, so that our national women's
movement may forge ahead more extensively and forcefully
under the leadership of a unified direction.
December 20, 1948.
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
A Report on the Present Policy and Task of
the Women's Movement of China
(An address delivered by TENG YING-CHAO at the First
All China Women's Congress on March 26, 1949)
I
The "May 4th" Movement in 1919 ushered in the new
democratic period in China's revolution. During the past
thirty years, the Chinese women have joined rank with the
masses in the struggle against imperialism, feudalism, bureau-
cratic capitalism and the reactionary rule of the Kuomintang.
They participated actively in the various revolutionary move-
ments: the "May 4th" Movement in 1919, the "May 50th"
Movement in 1935, the Northern Expedition against warlords
(1924), the agrarian reform, the Resistance War against the
Japanese (1937-45) and the People's War of Liberation (1946 up
to the present). For our national independence, democratic
freedom as well as for our own emancipation, we Chinese
women, especially the working women and the revolutionary
intellectuals, have made courageous sacrifices, successive strifes,
indomitable struggles and have achieved increasing solidarity.
Thus the Chinese women have not only contributed considerably
to the cause of the Chinese revolution, but also become an in-
dispensable force both in defeating the enemy and in construct-
ing a new China.
'Glorious achievements have been recorded in the history of
the Chinese women's movement; numerous heroines of revolution
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
have emerged, and some of them have become martyrs and
passed into immortality 1
The Chinese women's movement is always closely linked
with China's revolution, along with the victorious development
of which it evolves. During the two ye^rs and eight months'of
the People's War of Liberation the broad masses of women in
the Liberated Areas have responded extensively to the call of the
Chinese Communist Party and the People's Government in
ardent support of the War, in heroic struggle and, in sanguinary
sacrifice. They have shown great courage and heroism.
Many women personally sent their sons, husbands, fathers
and brothers to join the army or to take part in the fightings.
(In 1948, in a single recruitment in Shantung, 4,844-men were
encouraged to join the army by their women folks.) Many
women domated blood for transfusion to save the lives of the
wounded soldiers. In 1948, women comrades in the East China
Field Army donated 20,000 c.c. of blood to the wounded, and
thus enabled 1,221 men to earn outstanding merits in battle-
field.
Almost all the women in the Liberated Areas particpated
in the service of supply. -During the two and half years of the,
War, about fifty million pairs of hand-stitched army shoes were
made by women. Last year, in Shantung alone, four and half
million pairs of army shoes were made in a period of six months.
During the Battle of i uaihai (around Suchow), women of
southern Shantung made 1,070,000 pairs of shoes, 1,100,000
pairs of socks and 460,000 suits of uniform for the army.
In supplying food to the army, women of Feihsien, Ling-
shu, and Choting (three county seats in Shantung) milled flour
and husked rice totalli:rg 16,650,000 catties in one month's
time. I hat was in December, 1948. Recently, in the battles
of Mukden and west Liaoning (in Manchuria), of Peiping and
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
Tientsin and in many other battles, vast number of women had
given enthusiastic support to the cause. A number of women
even courageously partook in the direct combat against the
enemies.
In the campaign for reduction of rent and interest, as well
as in land reform, thousands upon thousands of peasant women
resolutely and bravely joined the struggle against feudalism.
After the All China Land Conference which was called by
the Chinese Communist Party in 1947, rural women of the
Liberated Areas participating in land reform constituted about
50% to 60% of the total women population in regions where
mobilization work had been better carried out. In some regions,
the figure reached as high as 80%. Among the members of
the poor peasants' corps and the new peasants' unions forty per
cent are women.
In the peasant conferences of various levels, women re-
presentatives occupied 30% of the seats at the village level, 20%
at the district level and 10% at the county level. By joining
the various campaigns, the rural women have greatly enhanced
their own. consciousness. Their participation, meanwhile,
broadened the rank of the peasants and added more strength in
crushing feudalism. The feudal land system has already been
abolished in some places while it is being gradually abolished in
other places..
Labouring women also played an important role at the
production front. The women workers actively participated. in
the construction of cities and industries while the peasant women
spare no effort to restore and develop their, spinning and weaving
crafts, thus ensuring adequate supply of cloth to meet the
military and civilian needs. The Taihong Range 100-day
Spinning and Weaving Campaign, well-known throughout- the
country, can serve as a good example. In response to that
campaign, morg than 70,000 women weaved 156,660,000 square
-29-
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
feet of cloth, enough for a whole year's military and civilian
consumption.
At the same time, the peasant women generally take part
in agricultural production. In :1948, 409 to SO% of the able-
)odUed labouring women took part; in agriculture in the Liberated
Areas. Sometimes the Figure reached as high as 70% to 90%.
n some villages women labour surpassed that of men.
Oftentimes the spring ploughing, summer tilling and
autumn harvest were mainly done by women,--of whom not a
few have become skilled agriculture labourers. The women
replaced hc men. who were fighting at the front. They ex-
panded their farming acreage, stepped up production and also
greatly raised their own social status.
Women in the Liberated Areas also actively participated in
the work of democratic construction. In the ten -provinces in
Manchuria, women ho..ding top-level posts in the provincial
government numbered 13, in the county government, 290, in
the special administrations, 125. Those who served as village
heads numbered 3,629.
In North China, a. certain district of Yiyuan, Shantung
Province has 47 villages, of which 48 chiefs and deputy chiefs
were women. In some exceptional cases, out of 15 cadres of a
village, only one was ma.n. Politically, women now enjoy equal
rights with men. They have exerted great effort in cultural
construction, protection of motherhood and infants and in child
welfare. Our democratic government has shattered the yoke of
feudal and colonial reign.,., and annuled the laws that restrained
and oppressed women. A new law which ensures equal political
and economic right of women and men, was promulgated,
authorizing women to have equal share of land and equal pay for
equal work with men.
Women masses in the Liberated Areas have been eman-
cipated from the oppression of imperialism, feudalism, bureaucra-
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
tic capitalism and the Kuomintang reactionaries. Their position
in the fields of politics, economics and culture has been greatly
raised. The same is true with regard to their social and
domestic positions. Women's emancipation has been built on
the solid foundation of economic independence. In regions
where land reform have been completed., the position of women
has undergone fundamental changes. The road toward com-
plete emancipation was opened. They have been elevated from
the position of humble slaves to that of masters of the new
society. The road taken by the women of the Liberated Areas
will be followed by women of the entire country.
The broad masses of women in the Kuomintang-controlled
areas is under a completely different situation. Under the aggres-
sion of imperialism and the oppression of the Kuomintang
reactionaries, the political situation is dark, the secret agents are
outrageous, and the economy has reached bankrupcy. American
troops stationed in China had repeatedly committed scandalous
and abominable acts towards many Chinese women. Following
the heels of the Kuomintang troops, there is always raping, mass
slaughter, and malicious burning of villages and houses. Vast
number of women and children, enslaved and in utter destitu-
tion, perish as a result of their horrible livelihood. They have
no freedom whatsoever. All their rights are deprived. Women
could stand such sufferings no more. They rise to fight against
persecution, against starvation. They demand freedom, food,
struggling for their right of existence. Organized woman
workers and students have played an important role in the
people's courageous and indomitable struggle in the Kuomintang-
controlled areas. Their work is coordinated with - the efforts of
the women in the Liberated Areas.
The different life and position of women under two differ-
ent systems and in two different areas disclose one truth. That
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
is: women must respond to the call of. the Chinese. Communist
Party and rely on their own efforts and struggles; freedom and
emancipation can be obtained only in a society where. there. is no
oppression and where democratic political power is safeguarded..
From now on we women should follow.the 'revolutionary
course of New Democracy, treading on the blood-stained foot- -
prints of our heroic inartyrs! Our general task is to carry to the
very end the struggle against imperlalism, feudalism and bureau- '
cratic capitalsim, to clean up the remaining forces of:..-the
Kuomintang reactionary clique, to build up a unified People's
Democratic Republic of China. and to complete .the New Demo-
On the other hand the Kuomintang reactionary clique is
totally defeated from. the military point of view. With its
atrophied remnants, the government in Nanking is ; quiokly
disintegrating. Its economic and- political crisis has become a
hopeless case. in an attempt to seek for a breathing spell, the
Kuomintang reactionary clique, in desperation, launched its .
hypocritical "peace" plot so as to gain time to reorganize its
remaining forces, to go on resistance and to stage a comeback.
We women should heighten our vigilance in order to check
the enemy's clandestine plot and carry the revolution- to its'
victorious end. We permitting no intruding wreckers. We
have the strong conviction that a lasting peace can only be
assured by the 8-point peace terms as proposed by Mao Tze-tung,
of China.
The main task right 'before us is to further strengthen the
solidarity of the entire Chinese women. Together- with-men,
we will give our ardent support to Chairman Mao's 8-point peace
terms and exert every effort for its realization.
- 32 -
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
We-women love peace, and are eager to have peace. How-
ever, we must be able to discern the true from the false, the
enemy from the friend. We are whole-heartedly working for a
genuine, lasting peace while deadly opposed to a false one. We
give our full support to the just people's revolutionary war
which is waged for the purpose of ending an anti-popular and
counter-revolutionary war. Such is the only way to attain
genuine peace.
The destiny of China should be determined by the Chinese
people themselves. We are opposed to the military intervention
and political plot of the American imperialism, to the so-called
-"international mediation," and to any form of intervention of
China's affairs by any foreign government. Only the Chinese
people have the right to, and are able to solve China's problems.
III
Time is approaching a nationwide liberation. We are
confronted with the urgent task of constructing a new China,
which is enormous and difficult. This mounting responsibility
rests on us emancipated women. In the Liberated Areas, the
most important task at present is to actively restore and expand
production. Accomplishment of such a task will enable us to
support the People's War of Liberation to promote women's
education and to raise the cultural level of women. The
traditional conception of "labour is contemptible" should be done
away with, while the new idea of "labour is honorable" should
be built up. Our work is to oppose the evil customs of the
feudal society, to advocate freedom of marriage, to organize
women to participate actively in democratic construction and to
use our democratic political rights in promoting child welfare
and protection of motherhood and infants, and to improve the
health of women and children. - This will enable us to build up
a new society, both healthy and wealthy.
-~
-.93
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
In implementing the above-mentioned tasks, the concrete
steps, the methods and the emphasis of work differ in cities and
countrysides as well as-in the new -arid the old liberated areas.
The great majority of cities in the Liberated Areas have
been newly liberated. Only in a. few of them preliminary work
of women has been done: Many more cities will be liberated
in the near future. Therefore, our immediate new task is to.
organize urban women work. We shall center our work around
urban women while not neglecting that of rural women..
Woman workers of the progressive class are our main.targets.
At the same time we will not forget to unite all other- labouring
women and to win over the support 'of women intellectuals and
women of other strata. Of .most importance is to organize
women into various productive work- in' coordination with the
construction of urban economy.
When a city is liberated, instead of simply offering relief,
the first thing to do into organize worren`nto work of production.
At this stage we ought to widely publicize the various'policies of
the People's Democratic Government and'to expose the deceitful
propaganda and threat of the Kuomintang reactionary 'clique.
This is done for the reason of keeping women from worry and
fear. When revolutionary order i0restored, we ought to render
further services to the women masses by means of centering
the women's work around production.
The Sixth All China Labour Congress which. prescribed the
mission of the Chinese trade union movement, had stipulated
conditions for woman industrial workers such as "equal pay for
equal work with men,". and "pregnant women must be given
leave with full pay for 45 days at the time of confinements"
We give our full endorsement to all these stipulations. As to
other labouring women, stress is laid. on mobilizing and or-
ganizin2 them into work of production. They are encouraged
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
to join the various suppliers', productive, and consumers'
cooperatives or other mutual-aid groups.
We want to protect the position already attained by pro-
fessional women. We shall further create opportunities for
them and further consolidate their position. On the other hand
we encourage the employment. of woman staff in all branches of
work. As to woman intellectuals, work is directed along the
line of re-moulding their thought, promoting their knowledge
and technique, so that they can, together with the working and
peasant women, render services to the nation.
in cities which have been liberated for a longer period of
time and where preliminary work for women has been carried
out, our work is to further organize women into the work of
productive reconstruction, to raise their cultural level and to
expand the welfare undertakings for women and children. At
the same time we actively organize women for democratic con-
struction, help them to make use of their democratic rights. We
shall, by means of education, let the women understand that
men and women are born equal. We shall adequately criticize
the feudal conception that women are inferior. Laws protecting
the rights of women should be enforced so that the feudal
tradition which holds women in bondage will be gradually
abolished.
City women of all circles may join the various organizations
according to their occupations, institutions and schools. These
organizations, should, on the basis of their actual needs, set up
bodies or appoint cadres to be responsible for women's work.
Representatives should be elected from among women to take
part in conferences called by various units and to pass down orders
from higher authorities. Such preliminary work will pave the
way for a city-wide conference of -women representatives and
then the establishment of a unified' leading organization-
women's federation.
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
Concerning women's work in the liberated rural districts,
we support the policy and task stated in the "Decision on the.
Present Women's Work in the Rural Districts of theLiberated
Areas" which was proclaimed in last December by the Central
Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. We take that
decision as our guiding principles. In Liberated Areas where
stability has been achieved, we organize all women capable of
working into the production front so as to ensure more production
for this year. Our methods are: -voluntary groupings; mutual
benefits; equitable trade of goods, pay according to work and
division of labour as well as cooperation between men and women.
Special attention is directed to the protection of the special
interest of women. All the feudal conceptions and traditions
that prevent women from participating in productive, political
and cultural activities should he abolished conscientiously.
In newly liberated areas, women should be mobilized to join
the broad masses in the campaign for reduction of rent and
interest. They are organized to take part in productive con=
struction in support of the war. After reduction of rent and
interest is attained, our work is still essentially production.
However, we ought to direct our attention at the same time to
the task of setting up women's organizations.
the reactionaries and to realize the 8-point peace terms as pro-
posed by Chairman Mao-Tze-twng.
16 -
Efforis should be made to shatter the hypocritical peace' plot-of
raise their political consciousness, not to believe in the deceitful,
anti-popular propaganda of the Kuomintang reactionary' clique.
all their revolutionary struggles. On their part, they ought to
Kuomintang-controlled. areas. We give our ardent support to
who are suffering all the miseries and hardships in the
W ,e are concerned about and sympathetic with our sisters,
IV
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
The arrival of the victorious Liberation Army will save the
women in the Kuomintang-controlled areas from the depths of
misery and hardship. Women there should be well prepared.
When time is opportune, they ought to support the Liberation
Army, to create conditions for the disintegration of the enemy
forces, and for :he downfall of the Kuomintang reactionary
clique. All such efforts will precipitate the liberation of the
Kuomintang controlled areas.
Meanwhile, at the right moment, they should protest
against the Kuomintangs forced conscription of men, against re-
quisition of grain and, against persecution.; fight for their daily
necessities and their right of existence. In all these activities
tactics should be employed so as to avoid unnecessary losses. As
to women's organizations, it is preferable to have ingenuiously-
formed, divided unitsof different patterns.
V
In accordance with the development of nationwide victory
of the revolution and the needs of women's movement, a unified
policy should be adopted to direct more effectively the women's
campaigns, to mobilize more extensively the women masses and
to expand women's democratic movement. Therefore we suggest
to the Women's Congress the establishment of an All China
Democratic Women's Federation.
At present, various women's organizations have been set up,
embracing hundreds of thousands of women from all of the
Liberated Arob-s. From those organizations large number of
woman cadres have been raised and cultivated. Good results
have been achieved. Since the Women's Union of the Liberated
Areas, answering the call of the Chinese Communist Party,
proposed the convocation of an All China Women's Congress last
December, women's representative conferences of all levels have
been held all over the Liberated Areas. The purpose of these
Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
 Approved For Release 2007/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00418R007700130005-7
meetings was to sum up their work and to streiigthen women's
relations with the broad masses. -
Women's organizations in Kuomintang area also responded
to our call in different ways. Work has been carried, out among
women to ensure political, ideological, functional and organiza-
tional preparations, as well as to build tip a foundation among
the masses. Therefore. conditions for erecting. a centralized
leadership of the women's movement on a nationwide scale are
ripe. Hundreds of thousands of women have representation at
this convention. And we think. we have the power to' form an
organization of general leadership for democratic women through-
out the country. . Let us hail the birth of the All China De-
mocratic Women's Federation.
V'I
In order to carry our the above-mentioned tasks, we must,
on the basis of our present work, strive to penetrate deeper into
the masses, and to strick to a systematic