19:30 11.03.2016 | Все новости раздела "Прогрессивная Социалистическая Партия Украины"
Natalia Vitrenko: Let’s protect the holiday of March 8 from vandals (see VIDEO)
Let us propose for your attention the content of Natalia Vitrenko’s, the Leader of the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, video "Let’s protect the holiday of March 8 from vandals"
(In Russian: www. youtube.be
The barbarian officials in Ukrainian office shatter everything : rewrite history, pull down monuments, rename streets and towns, they want to uproot our traditions and our favorite festivals we have been accustomed to celebrating. Thus, now the sword of Damocles is hanging over the March 8 Festival. I can see through what the pro-Western Ukrainian politicians as well as their neo-Nazi accomplices are up to. But on the 26th of February, while looking through another issue of "Segodnya" newspaper, I came across an article containing an answer to the question WOULD YOU ADVISE A BELIEVER CELEBRATE THE MARCH 8 FESTIVAL OR NOT, given by Mitropolit Pavel, the Father Superior of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. In His answer, the holy father pointed out that all Christians should deem that day as the Christian feast related to the first and the second acquisitions of the head of John the Baptist. In other words, all what people should do this day is pray God. ? And what is the secular March 8 Festival? – he continues in the article. – No more than celebration in honor of Clara Zetkin and Roza Luxemburg ? Two women of rather questionable behavior? I cannot get over why Christian believers need such behavior models to follow. I strongly believe that the Chrism carrying Women Festival is a much better example what our women should be like. This year the Festival is to be celebrated on the 15th of May.
On reading the Priest’s comments, I was astonished at the thought what had made the high-ranking priest come up with such an answer, why he had tried to undermine people’s trust to our Church, why he had cited the Orthodox feasts which are an integrated, quite intimate part of our faith against secular festivals . What is the good of it? I wonder why he did not resent the feast of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God being profaned by the Ukrainian President’s order according to which on that day annually the public holiday of the Defender of the fatherland was to be celebrated, coinciding with the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Formation day. In fact, it was nothing but a bloodthirsty gang. That day the priest made no comment on that matter. And now?
Let us look into the matter, what the two women were like. In particular, I would like to dwell on their allegedly questionable behavior. How easy it is to stick labels on a female! It is always a great challenge for any woman to wash off a dirty stain on her reputation!
So, I’d like to start off from Clara Zetkin who was born to a village teacher’s family in 1857 in a small Saxon town, Germany. She was quite intelligent because by the age of 9 she had read through all pieces of work by Goethe & Schiller. She entered the Leipzig Pedagogical Institute to pass the final exams with flying colors. I would like to underline the common, I would even say quite natural feature uniting representatives of the intelligentsia of that time: they were carried away by revolutionary, social ideas. Moreover, she happened to meet a Russian revolutionary by name Osip Zetkin from Odessa. They fell in love with each other and tied the knot. Although they had not applied to the registry office, she took on his second name living in a civil marriage. They had a real love. Eventually, she gave birth to two sons: Maxim and Konstantin whom she cared for and loved very much throughout her whole life. When she was 32, her spouse died of tuberculosis, and she had to look after the two offspring being a widow. Despite the ordeals, she did not stop her revolutionary activities. Even then she fought for not only toiling masses’ right but women’s rights in particular because there had been accumulated a great deal of problems of that kind by that time. She was one of those to found the German Socialist Party which was later renamed the German Social Democratic Party. In 1918, she participated in the communist constituent assembly of Germany. She propagandized that idea, and started to publish the Equality journal where she made the point that women should have the same rights as men did. When working on publishing the journal, she met her second love. She had been living with him until 1914 when World War One broke out. The war split up their previously happy official marriage as her husband adhered to the point that Germany should defeat its enemies and on account of that view he volunteered for the Army, whereas Clara ,like any woman in the world, was dead against the war. Since that time until the end of her days, she lived alone. In a while, she met Rosa Luxemburg along with whom she held the first international women’s conference in Copenhagen in 1910. As a result of the conference, the 8th of March was chosen as the annual day of international women’s fight for their rights and since that year it was supposed to be celebrated annually. Clara Zetkin Visited Russia meeting Lenin and Krupskaya a few times.
In the early election to Reichstag, national socialists won. She needn’t have come then to make her brilliant speech in Reichstag as she was not feeling good, but having been a Reichstag deputy between 1922 and 1933,
she had a guaranteed right to take the floor as the oldest Reichstag deputy. Certainly, Clara Zetkin couldn’t help jumping to the opportunity. Her anti-Nazi speech was flaming, sparkling in front of the German Nazis sitting in the same hall. She pointed to the horror of the Nazi essence and the awful consequences it might entail. She called upon all anti-Nazi political forces for uniting against Nazism. It was a mere miracle she managed to flee from Germany as they were determined to do away with her. She passed away in a year (in 1933) The funeral service was attended by over 600 thousand people !!! That is how her deeds and contribution to protecting the labor masses’ as well as women’s rights were appreciated!! Where on Earth can you see any trace of questionable behavior?!!
Now I would like to dwell on Rosa Luxemburg. While Clara Zetkin was a woman of, say, mediocre beauty, Rosa was a real Jewish beauty. She was black curled, black eyed. She was born in Zamostye, Poland. She went to the Zurich University, and she was a student of brilliant mind. At the age of 26, she defended her dissertation in Constitutional Law and obtained an academic degree to become a Doctor of Law. Needless to say that such an amazingly beautiful young woman influenced by the revolutionary ideas met her sweetheart. Along with her spouse, she founded Polish Democratic Party. Having been living for many years together, they finally had to flee from Poland to Germany. When she arrived in Germany, despite her true love to Leo, she had to arrange a mock marriage with another man in order to be naturalized. She got down to revolutionary activities including women’s rights. Besides those activities, applying her great scientific potential she wrote a number of serious scientific books. I strongly recommend that her books be read nowadays as well. One of them was entitled "The Social reforms, or Revolution" written in 1890, "Capital Accumulation" which was translated into Russian in 1921, after she had died. It was she who introduced an extremely smart conception, PARLIAMENTARY CRITINISM in her work "The Social Reforms, or Revolution", which is quite urgent nowadays too. In her pieces of work, she proved that bourgeoisie would never give up their social and political preferences, property, and pursuits. She also underlined that it would be naпve to expect that stratum of society to improve the working conditions of the industrial class. Roza Luxemburg entered into polemics with Lenin. To get at the point of the matter, let us remember Lenin’s underlying principles: the rulers are unable and the ruled ones are unwilling, the Communist Party playing a key role, while Roza Luxemburg claimed that Revolution was a spontaneous protest of civil masses, the Party’s role being the least. In other words, her point was that people should realize the necessity of revolution and embark on a struggle. By the way, she did not support the political diktat of the Party; she was against authoritarianism in the matter of political formation. In 1913 there appeared the political movement LUXEMBURGISM. It is a Marxist movement not recognizing the political diktat of the Party. The platform of her political views was the following – the party is dominant not over Soviets but in Soviets. Roza Lyxemburg served time for four years. For example, she was condemn to penal servitude, shooting, each time being rescued by her friends. Yes, she had another great love in her life, love to Konstantin, one of Clara Zetkin’s sons. Clara Zetkin was older Roza Luxemburg by 14 years (Roza was born in 1871). The son was even younger , but he got keen on his Mother’s revolutionary ideas. Roza followed suit. No wonder men could not take their eyes off the ardent female revolutionary. It is natural that men could not have carried along by a frozen chicken. Certainly, not. A woman must be feminine. At this point I would like to refer to the French revolutionary barricades and that famous female image which always inspired men. Roza Luxemburg fought selflessly: even when she was in prison she founded an underground organization (it was called the Spartak Union). And now I would like to cite the motto of the union – down with wage labor!! It is silly to rely on capitalists’ relinquishing their property, profits, and privileges voluntarily, etc. It goes without saying the working class followed her because they trusted her. The February Revolution took place in 1917 followed by the Great October Revolution in Russia, the Germany proletariat rose as well. The Keiser Germany Government was frightened by the same prospective changes. Consequently, they began to put down the uprisings severely. Thus, Roza Luxemburg and Karl Lybknekht were detained. Having been questioned in a hotel, Roza Luxemburg was convoyed under guard on the 15th of March 1919. However, the escort were instructed by the government to kill the woman: when she was being taken on board of a motor boat, they shot at her head, the body being thrown into the water.
Even in today’s Berlin, there is a memorial plaque submerging into the water with the bronze letters ROZA LUXEMBURG. Another great German revolutionary Karl Liebknecht was killed the same day another 200 meters away along the quay.
So, coming back to the main point I brought up in the very beginning – What is wrong about the two women’s behavior? Why did the priest threw a stone at the two in an offhand manner? Maybe because of their gender? I guess it must be because of this!!! At this point I would like to draw parallels with saint knyaz Vladimir. Is He saint? – Definitely, he is. And nobody should know about some unpleasant facts from His biography which have never been labeled as "TOP SECRET". Here are some of them: when His army advanced on Kiev having been ruled by His brother Yaropolk, the latter escaped from the city hoping to find a shelter in a small town. However, Vladimir killed His sibling in Yaropolk’s pregnant wife’s presence. The latter was forced to become another concubine of Vladimir. Or, another awful bloody misdeed of the grand prince was his raping a 12-year old girl in her parents’ and relatives’ presence which in turn were ordered to be killed in the girl’s presence soon after the sexual assault. But He was a pagan then. Later, on being baptized, Vladimir changed very much. He baptized Rus here, in Kiev in 988, and we have forgiven all His sins and misdeeds because due to Him we have been raised from the darkness of paganism up to the highest level of Christianity where we have got our Savior, our God, Jesus Christ.
How come? – Having committed so many bad sins Vladimir is acknowledged as a saint, whereas Clara Zetkin and Roza Luxemburg are women of questionable behavior?!! Why did the priest opposed the March 8 Festival to the Chrism carrying Women Festival? I am not against the religious feast. The boot is on the other foot: I believe the chrism carrying women: Maria Magdalene, Susanna, Martha, Maria – accompanied Jesus up to the Golgotha where our God was crucified. Maria Magdalene was the first woman to be visited by Jesus Christ after He had resurrected. This is obvious evidence of God’s appreciation of women at all. That is why I find it tactless to stick label like that on any woman including those two great German females.
That is why it is wrong to believe that the March 8 Festival should be linked with exclusively Clara Zetkin and Roza Luxemburg. Yes, I admit their contribution is hard to be underestimated: they stood up for the festival but I want to point out that the origin of the holiday can be traced down the time of the French Revolution which resulted in ?Man and Citizen Declaration being accepted. The document declared brotherhood, freedom, and equality. Women living in that period of history thought they would be bestowed with equal political and civil rights.... When the revolution was over, they were not given anything they had relied on. But in 1848, New York sheltered a conference made up by 200 female and 40 male participants who worked out The Declaration of Feelings in which they insisted on people being given equal rights, regardless of their gender. However, the document did not change the situation concerning women’s rights very much.
On the 8th of March 1857, New York saw a massive strike of female textile industry workers. The mass demonstration was against having to break their necks at sweatshops. In other words, the working conditions including a 16-hour working shift left much to be desired, not to mention their wages. They could not make ends meet. The riot was put down. In 44 years, in 1901 another protest demonstration named " The March of empty pots" involved housewives who were requiring to curb prices hike and to increase their working husbands’ wages. This is what it is like when women are up against some injustice. The Chicago Empty Pots strikers were determined to struggle for their rights as well.
Also, I would like to underscore that the female part of the Russian population of that time was far from being indifferent too. Thus, twice they took part in the 1913- and 1917-rallies requiring putting an end to World War One. Their slogan included two key ideas: Bread and Peace. I guess it is high time that women of today’s Ukraine demanded the same. That is why I am sure that Clara Zetkin and Roza Luxemburg managed to make all women’s age-old aspirations come true so that their rights were finally recognized.
Certainly, there were a few smart people realizing women’s dole being harsh. The socialist community formation implies women’s emancipation. In this connection, I would like to highlight another concept introduced by Clara Zetkin – a home slave. Here is what she wrote about it. What I am going to quote is applicable to us, modern people.
In spite of all the emancipation -related acts passed, woman keeps being taken for as a home slaves in society because women are still gripped by the necessity of doing the domestic chores. It is woman’s belonging to home which gets her down, making her life mundane and meaningless. It is housekeeping that has chained woman to the kitchen and the nursery. All this makes her labour awfully nonproductive, small-scale. In turn, that leads to her being dull, intimidated. This is what it is like to be a home slave. This brings out the importance of the role of social production which keeps woman busy with carrying out different duties and doing different types of jobs. By acting this way, woman can realize her potential, her inner talents in full swing. However, nobody has abolished woman’s most essential in-family cares, such as seeing to home, rearing offspring. These are obligatory burdens on woman’s shoulders. So, how is it possible to combine the family obligations with the inner desire to realize her gifts?
After the Social Revolution had taken place, women’s rights were specified and guaranteed in the RSFSR Constitution. Likewise, the Ukr. SSR Constitution secured the same rights and freedom for all its residents regardless the gender, religion, national identification, settled or nomadic mode of life; in particular, since the age of 18 a citizen enjoys the election rights: to elect and to be elected in an elective body.
This is the foundation of the relevant laws and articles adopted in the current Ukrainian Constitution, because Ukraine is the successor of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Ukraine. Nowadays it may seem weird for us that not long ago there was inequality in gender rights. But we ought to face the truth – it was exactly like this: the two genders were separated by a chasm of inequality.
Somebody may think that in the recent past women had the same rights as they do nowadays. Well, it is far from reality. Thus, in 1949 a French female writer Simona de Bouvuar published her amazing book entitled Le Deuxiиme Sexe. In her work, the author pointed out that the anti-female conditions in society were created deliberately, and those social barriers prevented from her realizing her potential. As for the Ukrainian Main Law, women’s rights are secured in Article 21 saying that all people are free and equal in their dignity and rights. Article 23 secures everybody’s entitlement for independent development of their personality. Article 24 says that citizens have the same constitutional rights and liberties, and everyone is equal under the law. A particular paragraph emphasizes the equality of men’s and women’s rights. Which way is the equality secured? Here are some ways: women an equal access to education, culture, women’s being bestowed with equal opportunities in socio-political spheres, equal opportunities in professional training, landing a job, through pension benefit guarantees and safety arrangement and precautions measures women’s health is secured too. To cut a long story short, all necessary conditions enabling women to combine their labor with maternity including paid leaves and other privileges pregnant women and mothers are subject are to be created. Alas, the current national government do violence of the rights secured by the Law. To support my view, I am going to refer to some relevant statistical findings: working as much as men do, women are usually underpaid, the wage discrepancy coming up to 20-50%. It is clear evidence of women being discriminated, of women’s rights being violated. To be more specific, pregnant women are very unlikely to be hired, or even are dismissed for the harsh employment terms. Because of these violations, our predecessors would fight selflessly for the equal rights and freedom, and that struggle gave birth to a few female political movements whose representatives made a stand for women’s rights: suffragettism, feminism. The activists of the former fought for their political rights, whereas the latter fought for the social rights. The feminists’ efforts resulted in the fruitful ideas of gender equality. But I should admit that there are some exaggerations related to these movements which put me off. By this I mean radical feminism extremes. I strongly believe that nature does not stand such extremes, because everything should be well balanced, Man and Woman must live together caring for one another. However, the fact that feminists took up the protest which eventually resulted in the amendments concerning women’s rights in constitutions of a number of Western states is irrefutable. For example, a relevant amendment in the US Constitution (#19) was made only in 1949. In France, women were given the election rights only in 1946, whereas Swiss women did not get the same rights until 1970. Another fact I am going to refer to is the state of gender affairs in Harvard where in 1970 in the art and sciences faculties, there was not a single female instructor among the staff. This is an illustrative example of gender discrimination. At this point I also would like to mention a book I took a liking to - the book THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE by Betty Friedan who headed the national female organization uniting all feminists living the country afterwards. The book came out in 1963. And the author hit Americans where it hurt. I mean the much talked-about American dream in its variation for American women. So that you understand what I mean I would like to point to what sort of ideas were drummed into American women’s heads: the greatest achievement in any American wife’s life is to marry, give birth to three children, live in a cozy estate, to be taken care of by a considerate spouse and to look after him too. Such a behavior dominant had been imposed in American society until Betty Friedman, a mother of three offspring and a qualified psychoanalyst, published her deep scientific research findings. In her work, the scientist compared the social dogma related to women’s role with a cozy concentration camp. She also showed that in the result of the implementation, women experienced their own pettiness, becoming neurotic and depressed. I would like to recite one paragraph from her book so that you realize the importance of the matter being discussed:
Giving birth to a child remains the most imperative period in the life of any woman. And this life pattern happens from century to century until someone asks himself-is this all? Is this the only thing a woman can and should do? You come into this world, grow up, give birth to a child, take care of your offspring – this is a natural order of things in all cultures: primitive and developed, well-known or known to a narrow circle of anthropologists. Is it the only reason why a woman comes into this world? The matter is not to velittle the role of a woman due to her biological function. The latter is not the subject to changes. But our attitude to the social aspect of her role is what changes because of the great amount of knowledge, experience, and potential having been accumulated by humankind throughout the history. The factors make us see not only the physiological needs in women such as famine, sexual attraction and so on, but also their intellectual potential which should be utilized in society. And I should say that I feel sorry for today’s girls turning into zombies and making them believe that they are nothing but another sexual accessory, They may not have a say. And it is much worse when they begin to believe in such fakes. I still remember a relevant episode from my biography: when I was a valid deputy, I was invited to a meeting with young female Medicine college students. In the discourse of our meeting, I maintained a confidential atmosphere, we brought up different urgent topics, and then I asked them what each of them was after. I just wanted to know what they dreamt of. Standing up one of them told me that she dreamt of being sponsored by a rich man so that he covered all my expenses including high-fashion clothes. Another replied that she also wanted to marry a well-of man to live in a luxurious mansion with a swimming pool. The two girls were not the only ones to have that sort of dreams. There were a lot of others among the audience sharing the same dreams. Amazed, I exclaimed, -Stop! What about love?!! Do you really want to live through your all life without this feeling? Are you ready to sell yourselves at a reasonable price? You must have seen that TV soap, you must have been too naпve to believe in those false Cinderella stories, and because of this crap you brush off the young fellows around you, the guys who look up to you dying to be let into your lives. So what if they cannot boast of living high off the hog, but you should reach that high social status and material wealth together. You should create your own family with someone you really love but not with a sponsor, you should give birth to children whose father is not the sponsor but your sweetheart. This is what I want to protect our youth from, to keep them from selling themselves. And it is art which should distract the youth from choosing the wrong path. I guess it its primary mission. But let us face the truth: today’s art is different from the way I think it should be. I along withmy daughters happened to go to the theater on the 1st of February. The play was entitled "Dream in the Russian salad (''Dream Salad performance')" staged by Oksana Kolyadenko and Boris Filimonov. It was trash! It was just a nightmare! It was anything but not a theatrical performance. The stage directors seemed to spit at the Soviet past because of one of the characters frantically running about the stage and posing as a young pioneer. That crazy pioneer was not the only actor on the stage: there was a drunken seaman involved in some stupid sexual activity... All that filled us with disgust, and we left the theater.
Thanks God, there is another art. For instance, in four days, on the 5th of February, we enjoyed a theatrical performance of Lesya Ukrainka's play in the Bravo theatre. Namely, we watched a play "Vidma na imya Mavka"("Witch called Mavka") based on "Lisova Pisnya" (The Forest Song) by Lesya Ukrainka. Lyubov Titorenko was acting brilliantly. The whole performance can be compared with the hymn of love. It was an extraordinarily amazing performance saturated with stabbing tenderness. This is the right model our girls should be given, this is what our youth should be taught with. And of course society should take care of women. A real man is the one who protects his woman. At the same time, woman ought to stand up for her rights herself. She should be aware of being a well-adjusted person, be active in social life. It is not only my call but the UNO’s too. Thus, in 1975 the UN acknowledged the 8th of March as an International Women’s Day, and two years later, in its resolution numbered 32/142 the UN appealed to all states around the world to celebrate the day as a public holiday, as the Day of Women’s fight for their rights and peace. At this point, I would like to read out the beginning of the resolution where women’s niche and role in society are brought out.
Taking into consideration the fact that a durable peace, social progress, securing human rights require women’s active taking part in the processes and their equality as well as improvement of the social position, highly appreciating women’s contribution into the matter of consolidation of peace, anti-colonialism, racism and racial discrimination struggle, the UN appeals to all states to fix the day as a public holiday.
The number of states where the day is celebrated as a public holiday is 40. Of course, the holiday should be celebrated around the world. Of course, each woman wants to be presented with flowers, compliments, endearment, each woman wants to see and feel love and care only because she exists, for her female feat, for her being a mother, a grandmother, a fiancйe, a wife. It is extremely important. And every woman should appreciate herself and sculpture herself forging a great personality from herself.
What I am going to say about myself may sound immodest to someone but I am eager to share my own experience with you. When I was studying in the fourth grade, we decided to organize a good-will-acts group which that time was called a timur group. The thing is that we had been inspired by a story about a similar teenager group by Arkadiy Gaydar. Nobody objected to my being elected as the leader of the group. And our team did a lot of good deeds. When I became a Young Communist League member, I was elected to head the school Komsomol cell. After I had entered the Institute, I found myself in the same situation, and in the long run I was elected the deputy of the Komsomol secretary. I did well in the Institute. Later, I was elected as a deputy of the local council. In other words, the society gave me all opportunities to apply my potential entirely. I gave birth to three offsprings bringing them up without my mothers’ support, not to mention a babysitter. Despite all those difficulties, I could graduate from the Institute. That is how society should cherish women. That is what it means to utilize one’s potential. And I wish every woman to have the same support and opportunities. I wish them to be happy, successful, to be proud of herself and to possess dignity. I am congratulating you on this wonderful holiday, the first spring holiday, the International Women’s Day.
Translated by Yuriy Zelenskiy)
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