Uninspired e ree ON Even allowing for the fact that the electoral by Fao by Greg Benton 5 VEARS

districts there were frequent falls of eight to nine TWENTY-FIVE YEARS ago this month, Mao neck are inevitably felt throughout the whole economy, _ ut the growing right turn at home has been per cent. In other areas there was an alarming drop Tse-tung proclaimed the People’s Republic of China including in agriculture. paralleled by a growing conservatism in foreign policy. of 12 to 15 per cent. In the peak hours for — aoe srs dente ne te me? id Ao meseee ig In Sudan, Ethiopia and elsewhere China has connived Labour's vote ~ between 8 o'clock and 10 o'clock cme insurrection now controlled the most populous CULTURAL REVOLUTION at bloody counter-revolution. In Ceylon she joined in the evening — there was a massive drop in the ae : an unholy alliance of US, British and Soviet forces ay Se iste dachdbenstinbie tated ee The Cultural Revolution of 1966-68 was an to suppress the youth ees A Ae = ete ss ~~ ¢ victory for Labour hc ; Pa admission of failure by a section of the Chinese leader- advocates a strentthening o and the EEC asa because the working class were not inspired to Seki leet ao bag Pesce gepee 17, Ship. But because no honest assessment was made of _ counter-weight to the USSR, and has thus voted by go out and vote in great numbers for them. The i ‘45 why this had happened, the general economic strategy panda for Heath in the coming British elections. three per cent national swing to Labour was easily“ Twenty-five years on, how has the new State developed? ? 2 aod ae ce te oe : mapped out then was simply a rehash of the previous Workers’ states have every right to maintain links kept down to one per cent in the marginal seats The first and most striking feature about China abortive policies. In particular, it represented the ith ‘ ovérniments: But once ducii links where the well-oiled Tory machine trundled out today is that the economic imbalances and extremes of continued unwillingness of the bureaucracy to draw bi - sea 8 Sites tevoiation, Wielcaiis Oe the middie ciass'vots. wealth and poverty that characterise similar countries —_ the workers and peasants into supervision and control io tong eg : The close result has been produced by the like India have been eliminated. This is because China of production and of the decision-making processes at wns ; disarray inside the main political party of the enjoys the advantages of a planned economy in which _ qj} Jeyels, This is in fact the only policy truly in the ruling class and the fact that Labour's ‘left turn’ production for profit has been abolished. Revolution- Hae ilabl \ interests of the Chinese revolution itself. The only has been blocked, aries therefore defend the Chinese social and economic China’s. most valuable, most. available, and least sure defence of the Chinese workers’ State is not dipWhat will take place after the election will order as historically superior to that of capitalism. exploited raw material is the critical consciousness of lomatic deals but the destruction of imperialism in flow out of the situation which produced the her workers and peasants — a truth which i its nerve centres. The only way out of China's ape results, The ruling class groupings will SELF-SUFFICIENCY pest ates: Shr casi ers ss sea trol *COROMic impasse is her integration into a world eatil ly conTiadk« fie politics tocianiiie wich But this should not blind us to the considerable over the State machine which explains the present _ system of workers’ states. locked in internal squabbles and disputes : : ; \ enables it to take on the working class. ae yo ics one which are beeind 7 ‘commandism, arrogance and burearcratic ways’ which CRISIS AT TOP ‘ ile pace wip hgh sondespel fermions its bureaucratic and authoritarian methods of work. Godhicar amen In 1949 China's new revolutionary Government ; ‘ ; rooted in the leadership s economic conceptions an have briefly come under attack in the ‘criticise a ; a ind the building of a strong state. But right now ___ The basic tenet of Maoist economic analysis, which The Cultural Revolution was originally designed to Twenty-five years later, this unity has crumbled. 2owell’s policies are fraught with economic it holds in common with Stalinist Russia, is the idea of wipe out such abuses through popular mobilisations ; and political dangers for large sections of the self-sufficiency and ‘socialism in one country’. A at the base; Powerful mass otganisations independent Instead, as a tiny handful of ageing leaders ruling class. The ruling class a whole will not turn nationalist approach of this kind has a strong emotional of the establishment soon emerged under this stimulus. conduct their medieval court intrigues inside the rapidly to Powell, but there is little doubt appeal in China as a result of a century of imperialist’ —_jegding to a substantial rank-and-file presence in local "Forbidden City, the next generation of cliques and groups of the ruling class will become more and humiliation and, more recently, economic sabotage by oe a ; ; : * factions jockey for power in the shadows, their more sympathetic to his ideas, the Soviet Union. factory committees. fingers locked to Mao's failing pulse. ; - : a s regional and national leadership organs, and in the seve Pa — and that is still some years off — we can But China s attempt to lift itself by its own boot- «But Maoism’s aims for these mass organisations were me rata is emis force has run out of Until a Powellite option is adopted however oy “ee tbenlt hy j i collecti ce hi Serane id shif : straps out of the circle of underdevelopment will un- extremely limited. Once they began inevitably - to utions.in the face of the present multiple crisis.

" tai 4 dis i tale age doubtedly fail in the long run. Asan economic system, challenge the bureaucratic apparatus they were rapidly a pas te in China is a system of workers’ and personnel and isputes inside the ruling class socialism is historically superior to capitalism mainly | weed formi en tones Peasants’ councils of the soviet type, thrown up in political parties than have gone on before ; mi disbanded or reduced to performing token functions. the course of tevoluts aH October because of its ability to transcend the narrow boundar- after this experience it is no wonder that the ‘criticise this fumblin: te CtUHOR to-overthraw the rule at The Labour Party will not be imifinne from m and — the alba nation paaies jan : Confucius campaign has failed to capture the iz ae this crisis, In fact the tensions inside the Labour aoist policy ot economic isolationism runs counter to imagination of the masses in the same way. The Cultural Revolution failed in its aim to | Party will stretch to breaking point. The this basic premise of Marxism. renew Chinese society. But to the dismay of the scale of the present economic crisis demands Furthermore, it has led to considerable problems in FOREIGN POLICY Maoists it did throw up groups who went beyond not only a fierce attack on the working class both food and industrial production. ‘The rate of growth the role prescribed for them and began to develop but also the direct handout of absolutely of grain output, for instance, lags well behind the rate of ‘The same features recur when one looks at China’s @ Tuthless criticism of everything that exists, colossal subsidies to the capitalists. This Wilson population growth, and grain targets set in the late forvign policy. prt 9 os be coord ister at ae poneeaeie Peale m ie » the a F ate remain unfulfilled by a staggering 100 million During the early 1960's the Chinese leadership Conflict WH ihe paheoce i vie soy rom : pen aaa Tern sreete: we , é rink either from its own conclusions or fi 1929 1931. Sovernment since that:o . fiercely criticised Khrushchev's policy of ‘peaceful co- : : 4 ;

Bu th bi diff - In another key ceonomic indicator, steel, the output existence’ and gave practical support to several It is from the ranks of this explosive residue of 2 ut pe 18 devant 1929 is that the of 20 million tons forecast by Mao for 1967 was only revolutionary movements abroad. This stimulated an WOfkers, students and peasants that the cadres of orking class is not merely undefeated but is reached in 1971. The effects of this important bottle- — important debate in the world Communist movement. re coming Chinese political revolution will be people voting was concentrated most heavily in a Working class areas. In strong working class awn. presented a confident and united fave to the world.

THE PLOUGH — PAGE 7

education. must be combined with one for seculesisation courses. Employers are, in general, unwilling to spend . on Arve aphid Siegen bi — into contracts like Bank Loans or Mortgages without : spa — time and money in training girls and women, there are Working women also have-special needs and, at the male guarantor. It is difficult to raise demands to ecation: also some craft unions which will not allow women to ™oment, there is very little recognition of this, even by coyer this, short of a total overhaul of society, but an Women suffer equally badly when it comes to in-work become apprenticed. We should demand that women be the Unions. In fact, claims for equal pay often meet wi Anti-Discrimination Act, with real teeth, would be an training, which, of course, is a large factor in promotion —_ allowed to enter all trades as apprentices, and that the response that women will haye to give up any important tactical victory for Irish women, and help and career possibilities. This is true both afpprenticeship retraining programmes be extended to women. These concessions they may have won, such as flexible hours underpin the other demands outlined above.

In the last issue of the Plough, we pointed to the need for a ‘Working Women's Charter’ for Irish women, and suggested that the Report on the status of women provided a good basis from which to draw the demands for this. Since then the Annual General Meeting of Branch 2 of the 1.T.G.W.U., accepted a resolution calling for the unions to draw up such a Charter.

The following article is a discussion of possible demands that could be raised in this context, drawn up with reference to the Report.

EQUAL PAY AND OPPORTUNITY High on the list of demands for a Working Women's Charter must be the demand for equal pay, and, indeed this is well covered by the Status Report. However, the ideas it puts forward on this question are very much involved with the blind alley of “work of equal value”. This whole approach leaves too much leeway to the employer, who is then free to, for example, hire a workstudy expert, who will down-grade the women's jobs. Even if, as the report suggests, the Trade Union movement educates it's members in job evaluation they will still have to contend with a system of evaluation designed in the employers’ interests, especially where the Labour Court has the last word One way to cut through this would be, where possible, to put in claims for the male rate, where this is difficult to determine the Unions should demand a rate for the job regardless of sex.

It is also very important to combat some of the concepts involved in O’ Leary’s Equal Pay Legislation. There is no point in women making equal pay claims if they are likely to loose their jobs in the attempt (job security in this case is at the whim of the employers). Even if a group of women in one job actually succeed, their success will not help the rest of that trade. According to the Act, equal pay must be fought for, unit by unit, even within the same firm if, for instance, it owns factories in different towns. The onus is on the women to fight for equal pay, not on the employer to implement _ A demand around equal pay should change this balance and safeguard the woman worker. Equal pay, even if perfectly implemented, is not, however, enough. There is far from equal opportunity for women in employment.

EDUCATION AND APPRENTICESHIPS Women represent one-third of the work force, and yet in 1970 only 1 in 40 women were in positions earning over £20.00 a week, as opposed to 2 out of 3 men.

They are chiefly employed in service positions, such as typists, clerks doing routine work, shop assistants and in light assembly work. ew women reach the dizzy heights of management or the “prestige” professions; out of 954 Architects and Surveyors only 32 were women, in the 1966 census. Part of this is, obviously, a product of direct discrimination against women. Promotion or employment of men in preference to women when women have equal or even greater qualifications. However, this only represents part of the problem, the questions of education and training are equally important. Although, admittedly, now more girls get the opportunity to take the subjects at secondary level, they need to get into University or to train for professional jobs. However, the majority are still educated in single sex schools, run by religious orders, imbued with the “woman as mother and housewife” philosophy, which actively discourages them from trying to get the necessary qualifications. Any demand, therefore, for equality of opportunity in level, and in craft training. In 1966 out of 24,193 apprentices only 3,542 were women (85% of these were shop assistants or hairdressers), and they represented only 15% of the people involved in IDA, IMI and ANCO parent families. rapidly. would be financed by state subsidies under the control of Irish society by men is more widespread than the of the Trade nian Mauennens marital situation, single women also suffer from HE SPECIA for men only, and they too are usually unable to ente and maternity leave. It is clear that a Charter must contend with this, women have no choice in the matter of the two sexes they are the child-bearers, First, women should be given a real choice about their future, this means that each woman should have the right to control the fertility of her own body, It is very important that the Irish Charter contains the dema for legal, readily available contraception. This, in the Irish context, would mean large grants from the Government to the Family Planning Association and th ‘Family Planning Service to extend their services into th rest of the country. Ideally, this function should be taken over by the State, so that the provision of “services is not governed by profit margins, but at this point it would be better to.use the existing organisation as they have the specialised knowledge and experienced gynaecologists, Secondly, there should be provision of abortion facilities for all women who want to use them. The number going over on the mailboat every week fully justifies including this demand, even though, of course, it will be viewed as contraversial. But, if wome1 do decide to have children, there should be full provision of facilities for them. Maternity leave should be extended to at least 12 weeks, and no woman should lose any job rights, such as inclusion in a pension schem promotion or job security because of her pregnancy, Employers and local welfare Authorities should also be pressed to extend the present day nursery and child care services to cater for working mothers. At the moment this need is almost unmet. For example, there are only 6 day nurseries in Dublin. These should be finaficed to a large extent, so that the charge to the mother is as small as-possible. The home-help allowanc given to widowers should be extended to cover all singh NEED FOR EQUAL UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT This point raises the whole question of social welfa1 benefits, Any Irish Charter should claim equal unemployment benefit for women, especially in the present situation, when unemployment is increasing This is especially evident in relation to married won at present they have no legal right to unemployment benefit, as it is assumed that they will be “provided for by their husbands. But separated and widowed women are also treated unequally and single women are, for instance, unable to claim unemployment benefit unless they have a dependant, or a certain number of stamps, qualifications that single men don’t have to meet. The system of taxation should also be changed to end the discrimination against women. Each person should be treated as an individual for purposes of taxation, extra social needs should be met by higher social welfare payments and grants.

WOMEN IN A MALE-DOMINATED SOCIETY — THE NEED FOR AN ANTI-DISCRIMINATION BILL All of the above questions are reflected and emphasized by the position of women legally, especial im relation to married women. It is a cliche to say that women in the South are legally chattels, that is possessions of their husbands, nevertheless such is thei position. Any demands raised in Ireland must include some which combat this situation and establish equali before the law, so that women have an equal right to enter into contracts, such as mortgages and H.P. agreements; an equal right to all marital property and equal guardianship of any children. But the dominati discrimination, There are still many jobs that advertis