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THE WORK OF THE PARTY AND KNE AMONG WOMEN WHO JOIN OR BELONG TO THE WORKING CLASS AND THE POPULAR STRATA

35. Despite the progress made during this period, the specialized party work in women in the organs of the Party has not been consolidated. This is related to the low degree of assimilation regarding our theoretical positions and the contemporary problems in the ideological struggle on women's inequality. As a result, it is difficult to incorporate the specialized work of the Party among women —even more of the KNE— in all areas of the Party’s activity i.e., ideological–political, organizational, the work in the trade union movement, the movement of the self-employed, the farmers’ movement, the student movement and the work of the communists in the radical women's movement. At the same time, there are gaps and weaknesses in terms of guidance in the promotion of women in the organs of the Party and the movement (an issue which is not solved by quotas, as promoted by bourgeois perception and practice) as well as in the guidance of the Party Groups of the OGE associations.

From this point of view, the organs of the Party must concern themselves with the process of developing and raising the awareness of female cadres (at organizational, trade union, but also ideological level) in order to contribute, regardless of their field of responsibility, to the effort of the Party’s organs to enhance their interest, awareness, creative thinking and control in relation to the promotion of the above tasks. This direction will be strengthened by the improvement of their Marxist education and by their participation in the elaboration of our positions based on the developments that concern the life of women of all ages who join or belong to the working class.

The substantial discussion in the organs and in the Party Organizations on the Marxist conception of the women's issue, especially in organizations in Universities–Research and the sectoral organizations, can be particularly useful, from an ideological–theoretical point of view, for the effort of members and cadres, especially women, to contribute to the specialization and popularization of positions on women's equality, based on their field of study. It can contribute to the effort of orienting comrades to engage in research on aspects of the women's issue, as an aspect of the ideological–political counterattack.

At the same time, the Sectoral Committees should focus on the support of the communist mothers —cadres and members— with practical measures as well.  Central initiatives at the level of Regional or Sectoral Organizations, such as the creation of spaces and programmes for creative activities for infants and small children of school age, are of great importance from a practical and educational point of view.

In addition to organizational measures, ideological–political support of comrades is necessary, in order to formulate criteria on the content of a creative relationship between parent and child. The elaboration of a rich, multifaceted action plan for children and parents (literary books, plays, games–constructions) with specific discussions with parents, especially mothers, utilizing the experience from discussions on the book “Talking to our children for the crisis, for the war” and elaborating the publication “And yet it moves” can be useful. In this direction, communist criteria for thinking and confronting the dominant bourgeois conception will be formed, which presents the care and upbringing of children as an exclusively individual–family matter.

36. Addressing long-term gaps in the understanding of the need to specialize the Party’s intervention in women is a key factor in improving women's recruitment rates, in accordance with the main goal of Party building in sectors and workplaces, aiming mainly at the consolidation of the activity of young women in Party and KNE.

The improvement of the percentage of female Party members over the past 4 years, although it was not unified in Regional Organizations, even Sectoral Organizations, as well as the increase in the percentage of women recruitment, is not accompanied by conclusions drawn by the generalization of experience, positive and negative, or specific ideological, political, and organizational measures. The lack of planning concerns especially the organs in Regional and Sectoral Organizations, where female participation is lower in relation to both the nationwide percentage and the percentage of women’s employment in the respective region. At the same time, the socio–class composition of female Party members in each Regional Organization needs to be constantly monitored, especially in industry and other sectors, in economic sectors with a high concentration of salaried women or sectors which exert influence on the consciousness of working class and popular strata (e.g. education).

37. The organs of the Party and the KNE need to be systematically concerned with the preparation of women in the Party’s circle of influence for their accession in the Party, taking into account that more creative time and thought is required, along with measures to overcome the additional objective obstacles that limit the time devoted to reading and studying, the participation in social action, but also subjective perceptions on women’s’ position in society, which still exist, as well as religious backgrounds. Several factors have intensified in the current conditions as irregular working hours, part-time work, and fixed-term contracts are generalized. This situation affects women’s way of thinking and attitude, even of women Party members; even more so in the conditions of the restrictive measures with the generalization of teleworking and the suspension of contracts, and e-education, that burden family and personal life.

The planning and discussion in the organs concern the creative control of the development of the consciousness and the attitude of women in the Party’s circle of influence, the experience from the recruitment proposals to women, the elaboration of a multifaceted plan of Party activity that takes into account the composition of women in the Party’s circle of influence. The focus needs to be on the Party’s programmatic conception of the position of women in socialist–communist society, the attitude of women towards imperialist war, book presentations of recent editions of Synchroni Epochi and articles by KOMEP. Thus, the direction of improving the age and socio-class composition of women in the Party’s circle of influence, the attraction of more women in Party activity and through their participation in the movement, as well as in women’s association, in parents’ association can become creative.

38. In the KNE, the participation of women is increased, in relation to the Party, while the participation varies among the various sections of the youth and the Regional Organizations. There are difficulties in promoting girls in the organs of the KNE and the bodies of the mass movement. They seem to have more hesitations to take on responsibilities, even in school student councils. At the same time,  there is a number of factors that contribute to young women’s withdrawal from KNE in the period of their transition to the Party, such as family problems, insecurity, and negative influence from their life partner.

Based on the above, the organs of the Party need to support the BOs of the KNE with specific ideological– political–organizational measures, in order to project in a creative way the communist values, the conditions in which the modern “silent” heroism develops and foster endurance in the difficulties of class struggle, but also of the working, study, life conditions. At the same time, the ideological–political support to the Organizations of KNE can formulate a dialectical–materialistic perception of complex social issues, so that the ideological–political confrontation is solidly and aggressively organized in universities, schools, and places where young people are gathered.

The effort to enrich the intervention of the Party among primary school children according to the perception of the women's issue is a more challenging task. We take into account that the bourgeoisie, with its multi-tentacled mechanisms, ideologically intervenes in the thinking and the attitude of the youth on the unequal relations between the sexes at a very young age. Therefore, there is a need for a more systematic multifaceted contribution to the various activities of the Party for these ages, but also to the material of the bimonthly children’s magazine “Kokkino Aerostato”.

39. Reports from monitoring and evaluating the intervention of bourgeois institutions (government institutions, Regions, Municipalities) among women need to be constantly discussed in the organs, in order to organize the appropriate ideological–political struggle. Still, we are far from the organization of a constant ideological struggle against bourgeois ideology and politics but also against the opportunist views on women's inequality, which needs to be based on monitoring and assessing their intervention in women who belong to or join the working class or the popular strata (in each sector, workplace, field of study).

It is necessary to give emphasis on the intensity of the ideological–political work, as it can play a decisive role in dealing with the atmosphere of fear and reduced demands that characterize the sentiment, the attitude of women on whom we focus due to their socio-class position.

The axes of the Party’s intervention need to reveal the class exploitative character of governmental policies and capitalist employers, other bourgeois staffs, but also the effort to strengthen the mechanisms of assimilation through Corporate Social Responsibility, NGOs which has a particular effect on women's consciousness. The generalization of flexible working relations and teleworking among female workforce, in the name of “harmonizing family and professional life”, continues to be at the heart of the assault of capital and bourgeois staffs both in the EU and Greece. At the same time, measures to manage the acute consequences from the expansion of women’s salaried work and the lack of social support for maternity are being reinforced, while the EU strategic choices lead to the deterioration and commercialization of healthcare services. The programme of the ND government “Nanny of the neighborhood” is characteristic, as well as the measures proposed in the "Pissaridis report" (paternity leave, flexibility in working hours and maternity leave, etc.).

These political practices are based on the outdated, conservative views on individual responsibility for family care which, in the best case, is shared more equally by women and men. In fact, these views overlook social responsibility for substantive measures supporting family, measures which are determined by the cost–benefit approach in relation to bourgeois state and business groups. This logic also determines the operation of services and structures for the care of infants, toddlers, the elderly, the disabled and their adaptation to the flexible working relationships of working mothers.

In this context, the direction of social democratic and opportunist political forces in EU and Greece calling for a distribution of European funds based on the effects of the pandemic on women is strengthened. The social democratic forces in feminist movement are also moving in this direction, while in recent years there has been a systematic effort for the feminist movement to revive in Greece as well, targeting especially the youth.

They seek to conceal the class orientation of EU subsidies at the expense of workers' and people's interests but also the class policies of managing the pandemic with serious consequences for working and unemployed women. The low percentage of women in the so-called “Decision-Making Centers”, the “male-dominated” society, the “male-domination” in the higher levels of higher education and especially in natural sciences are being presented as causes of inequality in the relations between the two sexes, particularly in the condition of restrictive measures.

In the context of university projects on sexes, theories about “social gender” are reproduced, which in fact deny or downgrade their biological essence to such an extent that they completely detach issues of social behaviors, perceptions, etc. from the economic and social background which, in combination with the special position of women in the reproductive process, brought about additional social inequalities on the ground of the domination of exploitative economic relations.

They form a distorted notion of “individual rights”, isolating them from the socio-economic nature of rights, overemphasizing certain individual choices, such as homosexual sexual orientation or even the so-called “self-determination of one’s body” in prostitution and drugs. This is a distortion of the perception of individual rights, which is not related to the necessary defense of individuals with particular choices against any form of social alienation, violence, racism, etc. The view of the KKE is based precisely on the confrontation with such reactionary and dangerous phenomena, on the defence of each individual personality against any form of racism, violence, alienation, bullying, and other attacks.