Communism DBQ

Communism in the twentieth century did not aid women in their struggle for rights. In theory, women were supposed to have equalized rights like men, but not in actuality. Communism popularized during the socialist movement in the 19th-century in Europe. Factory workers who would spend most of their lives laboring in undesirable conditions started the Industrial Revolution to overthrow capitalism and the rich owners above the working class. After the revolt, communism was forced upon countries like East Germany, France, Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania by the Soviet Union as a way to create a barrier between them and Great Britain who apposed the spread of communism. They promised these countries a better way of life through communism, but did

it apply to women?
Before the revolt occurred, Russia was run by capitalism; a system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than for the working class. In Document 1, Alexandra Kollontai stated, “... I realized for the first time how little our Party concerned itself with the fate of women in the working class... women’s liberation could take place only as the result of a new social order and a different economical system....” (Autobiography, Soviet Union, 1926). Kollontai took her position as a speaker, and, through socialism, worked for the liberation of women, and her equality of rights. After communism replaced capitalism, women were supposed to have equalized rights like men, however, a study published in 1961 by the National Science Foundation says otherwise.
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The chart shown in Document 4 reveals the percentages of women among research and professional personnel in the Soviet Union, 1947-1959.

Sadly, there was little improvement in women taking on these government careers. The biggest increases were only 3%, and resulted in just two career fields: Junior research associates and associate professors. The rest either decreased or had a 1-2% increase by 1959. It was believed that women were able to attempt these careers, but were unable to advance; they knew this, so women didn’t bother to try.

Cuba’s Communist Party also brought up the concern of women not taking up advance careers. The president, Fidel Castro, announced to the Federation of Cuban Women in 1974 how positions are not being filled by enough women. He even goes on to address, “This discrimination even exists within the Cuban Communist Party, where we have only thirteen percent women... [T]hey often have higher revolutionary qualifications than

men
do.” (Document 6).

It is stated that women have high communist credentials, yet, in spite of these credentials, only 13% of members are women. Even with the new revolution in the works, women still are struggling to be just as involved in the Party as men due to the still existing patriarchy.

During the struggle for women’s rights, many would argue that they were all equal, but some happen to be more equal than others. This was a phrase often used by higher-ups who had a more lavish lifestyle during the downs of the Communist Party. Around 1981, the countries forced into communism, or who had chosen it, began to suffer because they could not feed the working class, Romania especially. A letter addressed to Elena Ceausescu (wife of Romanian Communist dictator) in which an anonymous women’s group expressed, “In your capacity of communist woman, wife and mother, where is our foodstuff... after so

many
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exhausting hours of labor in factories and on building sites we are still expected to rush about like mad, hours on end, in search of food...” (Document 7). The statement proves that women were able to get jobs in Communist Romania, but things like food shortages hurt women and their families. The working women would be laboring in factories all day, then have to come home to do domestic work, while women of party officials live rich and lavish lifestyle. Hence the phrase some are more equal than others.
While communism was failing in certain countries, Northern Vietnam was at war with Southern Vietnam and its U.S. allies who strongly disapproved of the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. In order to glorify the Communist Party in North Vietnam during the war, an addition was added to their constitution which promised full equality for women. The article claims, “Women in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam enjoy equal rights with men in all spheres of political, economic,cultural, social, and domestic life,” (Document 3). The article boasts democracy and full equality for women, but it was not created to help women in their struggle for rights, only to aid government officials in fighting the war.
Similar to what Vietnam did, China enforced communist ideals to benefit themselves in their own quest to equalize social classes for the economy. Before communism, China believed that women were to occupy a lower position than men in the hierarchical order of the universe. In order to modernize China’s believes, women were given more job opportunities, but encouraged to put personal life aside and work for the government and their goal of equalizing social classes. Sometime between 1966 and 1976, a propaganda poster for the Chinese Cultural Revolution began to circle, encouraging late marriages, planning for birth, and working hard for the new age. But, as mentioned earlier, women struggle immensely
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because the Communist government had been consistently willing to treat women's liberation as something to be achieved later, after class inequalities had been taken care of.
All things considered, communist movements did not aid women in their struggle for rights in the twentieth century. In the Soviet Union, communism formed in order to replace the wealthy ruling class in order to establish a peaceful, free society, without classes or government. After the revolt, women were still being held back from advancement in certain career fields. In Cuba, this was a huge issue for women; they were said to be just as qualified as men, but the patriarchy in the Communist Party continued to suppress women. As countries struggled to feed the working class, many argued that they were all equal, but women in the working class struggled to labor and search for food that the government barely provided. In the countries who chose communism, women were put second by the communist government who had their own goals like equalizing classes for the benefit of the economy and winning wars against those who posed a threat to the spread of communism. Overall, the struggle of working for the liberation of women, and her equality of rights continued despite the spread of communism.