HEARTH AND HOME

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 42, 22 December 1911, Page 14

HEARTH AND HOME

j "Hear everything that apeaktfthe language ot your Hearth and Home."—Dickens.

Letters to Wotuen.

By DORA B. WIONTEFSCMREi

Motherhood, Ra«e Culture- 3 Economic Freedom, j£&%

LETTER 111

I left off in my la&t letter at tit© point in which I stated that all working-class mothers should belong to the future great Industrial Union, which is to help to win economic freedom for women, and to gain the wo rid for both men and women workers. My reasons for desiring to include mothers are as follows : —

The basis of what is known, as the social question is that those who at the present moment prodxico all the wealth of the world are shut out,, under capitalism, from the enjoyment of the wealth they produce, whilst an idle minority exploits and economically enslaves the real wealth-producers. Those whose vision enables them to see, as from a mountain top, this absurd and unjust exploitation of the workers and wealth-producers daily going on, and who -can trace its causes and its continuance to the economic ignorance and lack of solidarity among the workers themselves, are striving to interpret to the producers of wealth that in them, and in them only, lies tho force which can free them., and that it is they themselves who must break their own fetters and stand forth as economically free men and women.

Now, as regards this creation of wealth, Ruskin, one of the social and economic interpreters of the middle of the nineteenth century, wrote: ''The only wealth is life; and that country is the' wealthiest which has the; largest number of healthy and contented citizens." That was an arresting'statement and Ruskin. wrote it in order to attract the attention of his fellow citizens and make them paiise and reflect. iHe saw all around him the mad rush .for material wealth, the heaping \\±v of fortunes made in commercialism/ regardless of the waste of human life, heedless of the sacrifice of men,_ women, and children. His was the voice crying in the wilderness of capitalism. ■-, and of growing and developing itidus&rialisni, bidding folk pause for a moment in their insensate race, for gold, and, take counsel with themselves and inquire: "What is real wealth? Is it- gold or is it human life?"

Now I ask you women of Australasia, you women, you mothers, who are the givers, the nurtureors, and- who should be the SOCIAL MOTHERS GUARDING TEE SACRED TEMPLE OF LIFE, how has that appeal of John Ruskin's been answered by you? Are you, the politically enfranchised women, to whom are turned the eyes of the still politically enslaved women all over the world —are you behaving as if you believed that the life which you now have the privilege, not only to give, but to guard, were THE ONLY \\ r EALTH? Or are you still in the middle ages of thought, when all law was based on the sacredness of property as opposed to the sac-redness of life," and do you, in effect, still behave and act as if property v/ere> of more value than life?

There is a great outcry in these new lands for population—not, be it noted, because there is a desire that others .should share in the greater space and the greater well-being of a newer and less congested continent,, but because capitalists "want more hands for developing their enterprises, and «capitalist governments want more l>oys to train as murderers. " We constantly read in the columns of the capitalist dailies that "the best immigrant is the baby." And then we conscious and evolved mothers begin to ask how that immigrant is received, and what chance it has, if born of working-class parents, to develop into a, valuable citizen? We want to know-, we mothers, why life, which is the only wealth, is not protected and treated as a valuable asset of the community from the very Ojit-set ? And the more we ponder over the matter, the more wo feel that that remark about the "baby immigrant"'is ono of the cheap claptrap phrases with which a lying politician sets out to delude constituents. It never fails, when used, to call forth equally -cheap applause ; but to those who study the m'ogrammes and the ideals of tins two political parties struggling against one another for power, it sounds as hollow, and rings as untrue as a base and worthless coin. What do politicians, what do capitalists know or care about the lives and struggle of despair of working-class mothers under the- present capitalist methods of production? And what are they planning or arranging to help the mother who produces this wealth of LIFE —these <' ; bahy immigrants" of whom they prate—in

her increasing struggle against existing social and economic conditions? Bo intense and s© grievous is the position of motherhood at the present moment that capitalist has well njgh wiped oullia|i i-his ;g<sfl,exation .voluntary conJViaong the workers! I have "the livea ;, <£ tliev workers in tfhe Old GmmiM{ In the United States, and and evolving Common/wea!tk||F' Tlijik what this means. Motherhood, under normal, natural conditions, is tlie supreme function, the supreme overmastering instinct and desire of womanhood. And capital, with its worship of profits and of dividends, with its exploitation and corruption of men, women and children, Ms so perverted and destroyed this supreme instinctive function that women of the workingclass too often refuse motherhood, because of a, sub-conscious feeling that the environment into which the future child is to be born is unsuitable to its chances of survival and development. It" is true that in all great industrial centres the submerged slum population (necessary to the development of ea,pibalism) breeds freely under the malign influence of alcohol, but a high birth rate among these fortunates connotes a high infant mortality, and the majority of the children who survive form a swarm of degenerates and defectives, who fall easily into the ranks of Weary Willies, prostitutes and unemployables. what you enfranchised mothers have to ask the politicians of this Commonwealth who prate of "baby immigrants" is: "What do you propose doing for the mothers of the babies, to enable them to bring forth and nurture under reasonable conditions the future citizens—THE FUTURE WEALTH of the State ? And I would ask you workingclass mothers: "Are you using your votes to force these prating hypocrites to .honor and endow motherhood as it should be honored and endowed? Are you realising that unity is strength, and that your motherhood vote must be organised, so that you can insist on deeds rather than wo>rds ? Are you demanding that a substantial sum shall appear on the estimates every year for the ENDOWMENT OF MOTHERHOOD, for the training of State maternity nurses and helps, whose services any mother can claim free of cost for a fortnight at least after the birth of her child, besides the setting aside of much larger sums than is done at present for the educational endowment of children, whose intellectual capacity allows them to pass on to secondary and university education?

Further, tlie politically emancipated motherhood of Australasia should demaud -that, if the politicians really believe that the "bahy immigrant" is such an important asset in the wealth of the country, they SHOULD ENDOW SCHOOLS FOll MOTHERHOOD. This idea of preparation for motherhood is no new idea. Herbert Spencer, in writing of the five divisions of education, urged that one division should be "Education of potential parents," And in another passage he writes: "The necessity o£ im-reaßing tho amount of science is urged for like reasons. But though some, care is taken to fit youth of both sexes i'nr society and citizenship, no care whatever is taken to fit them for the position of parents." Dv. Elsie Parsons* in her work on "The Family," writes :"Tiie time will undoubtedly come when a child-study course will be part of everybody's education. . . . There Are signs already of the spread of the idea -that the individual is bound %& consider the effects upon society of his or her marriage. Individuals tainted by epilepsy., insanity, inse&riety, deaf-mutism,, venereal disease, etc., are thought by many to be morally guilty if they marry. There is a growing realisation of the cost to the- State of reproduction by its diseased or viekras subjects., and at the same time a growing inclination to prevent these classes from reproducing themselves, by segregation, castration, etc." And Dr. Saleeby, the wellknown writer on eugenics, states in Iris book, "Par-enthoad and Race Culture" : "The eugenic classification of mankind cuts right across the ordinary social classification. The- parasite and the parent of parasites must be branded, whether he be at the top or bottom of the social sea The quality of the germ-plasm which men and woman carry is the supremely important think"

These quotations prove tne supreme importance attached by scientific men to improve knowledge and methods of race culture, which should imply a real instead of -a sliain respect for the function of motherhood. It is only whwi Vvomen are economically free (fre>e first as producers as well as consumers of social values, and free during childbearing and suckling inasmuch as they are then .recipients of a State endowment in recognition of the service they are rendering to the State) that they

will .be socially free- to choose the fatfhcrs of th e » r children. This, then, is the- reason why I <?aJj on all workingclass mothers to join a great Industrial Tluion, and vote solidly against the present sygtoni of society. Ypur vote by itself is of little value compared with aii organised vote, which understands the evils of the ; present system, and is east with the definite object of upsetting it and founding a co-operative commonwealth, in which every adult wqtii-d have economic free-doni. You workingclass mothers know the misery of your own lot, and you would fain aspire to better condition n .far your children. You make heroic sacrifices with that end in view, but you do not realise the eooiwmiic forces which are fighting against you, and until the workers and producers can organise to take possession of the land,' .and implements and tools of production . and distribution, they can have no assured economic position. I read in the Sydney <f Worker" of November 9 how a woman who nurses among bush women, tells that, in too many cases, it is "the husband who has been the one to instigate both abortion and suppression." An-d she instances the case of women she has known "whose lives are made a hell upon earth because they dared to have more children than their husbands care 4 for. One- poor thing went about in fear and trembling, dreading the day when her husband would have to be told. Was it any wonder she made a wreck of herself taking drugs?"

Now all this misery and degradation of motherhood is caused by the economic question. When mothers are economically free, they will own their -own bodies, and will bear their children or refrain from bearing according to tlieir own desires, and not at the bidding of either governments or private individuals. No man would ever consent to live as a parasite or an economic dependent on another man, and it is not right that women, either in marriage or out of marriage, should be forced into an economic position which a man considers dishonorable. The husband of whom this bush nurse writes had no doubt saved and struggled to buy a small faxm, and get together the necessary- tools and implements for farming the land. It wae the unpaid labor of his wife which enabled him to make a profit, and he resented anything that prevented her from giving him that labor. The writer of the article I have already quoted says further: "I have known a woman out helping her husband on the haystack, and her baby only three days old. He had made such a song about having no man that she got out of bed to help him." Yes, my women friends, you are all, men, women and children, under the lash of economic necessity, which lash is being used by the present capitalist system, because you, ■the workers and wealth producers, cannot yet believe that wealth should be produced for use and not. for profiti The farmer is economically flogged to make him produce profit from his farm ; lie in his turn flogs economically his child-bearing wife, who eithe-r despairingly gives up bearing children, or has to watcih with dumb anguish how, from tlv© moment of tlieir birth, her children .are also economically flogged. A PREGNANT OR NURSING WIFE AND MOTHER MUST HAVE NO TOIL INFLICTED ON HER IF HER CHILD IS TO BE BORN UNDER THE BEST PHYSICAL AND PSYCHICAL CONDITIONS. Light suitable t work (as opposed to toil) with open air life are what she needs. But slum life, monotonous indoor factory work, lifting of heavy loads such as laundry baskets, toiling on haystacks or in fields are all inimical to the mucli-talked-of "baby immigrant" ; and when women are- economically enlightened they will see to it that State pensions to pregnant and nursing mothers make it unnecessary for them to compete at such times with the ordinary toiler.

Listen, you mothers, to the gosoel of motherhood's economic freedom. Every time you give birth to a "baby immigrant" you are fuifilling a State function, for you are producing wealth, and, forasmuch as during these periods yoTi cannot work at other forms of wealth production, you are entitled to an endowment or pension from the State. This is what you will have to organise for, what you will have to agTtate for, and the only political party u-I'ieh will er-er listen to your organised demand is the Socialist party, because Socialism stands for production for use

and not for profit. THE LABOR PARTY STANDS I'OR MAKING PROFITS, AMD THEY STILL PUT THE SACREDNESS. OV PROPERTY BEFORE THE SACREDNESS OF LIFE. They are interested in elaborate schemes for making State bricks at a profit, and producing iron at a profit, and they five bonuses for the production of iron, ut they don't give bonuses for tho pro l ductioai of "baby immigrants. ' Why? Because they are too shortsighted, and too imbued with their ideal of tbe eaere-dness of property as opposed to the sacredness of life. With a "Labor" party in power children α-re sweated in. rural industries, and mothers, w£u* should be producing life, which, ie wealth, are neglected, exploited, degraded and unrecognised as standing in need of economic independence. Wit«h a "Labor" party in power the art of scientific killing of th© working-class of other cpuntriea is being fostered, white the science of race culture, of race permanence, if being neglected or despised. With a ■*'Labor" party in power womerr are forbidden to sit on. municipal councils or in parliament, although there are special interests of mothers and of their children which, require special representation. Nations are made, not of provinces, not of property, BUT OF PEOPLE. It is useless, however, to explain this to the parasitic womeii, who are content to be the dressed-up emblems of the exploiting capacities df their men folk. My appeal is, therefore, to the working women, who©c lives touch tfoe great realities of life; and I bid them prove themselves worthy of the responsibilities that kave been placed in their hands. I summon fh-em to organise wifch the object, mot of reforming or palliating the pr-etfumt system of society, but wit3i the ©bject of overthrowing the system with all ite in3ustioes asnd horrors. Eeonomio equality and equal pay for ecpial work most be the watchwords of the modern working woman, and women will oonqu-er their economic independence with men just as soon as they are inwardly freed from the feeling of inequality or sex dependence, AND NOT ONE HOUR EARLIER. In this struggle the women of Australia have tJhis advantage over the women of other countries : tha* they can speak through the political vote, but they have yet to realise that where questions regarding motherhood and race culture are concerned, they must send mothers to parliament. and motlhers to municipal councils. Ihese will be the two points treated in my, last letter, when I shall call upon enfranchised women to realise once for all that power without responsibility 18/Sfr grading, and that the future organised And co-operative state of society oeckons to all women, as well as to all men, to take their share in the reconstruction of a just and eqmtaM© raoeiherAage, the aoeompli&hment of .which wiU, in the words of the historian "dem-and work far arduous than any we have yet acoamplished, and m which we shall be encountered by ditnctlties, the removal f™ h^™l l *% quira every sort of help, and every variety of "power."