It should be encouraging for workingmen
to see women enter their ranks and,
shoulder to shoulder, fight for economic freedom.
-Sophie Beldner Vasilio
Hellraisers Journal, Monday April 27, 1908
A Letter from a San Francisco Woman to the I. U. B.
Women in the I. W. W.
To the Editor of THE BULLETIN:
1. Is a married women of the working class a chattel slave or a wage slave?
2. Has she the right to belong to a mixed local of the I. W. W.?
I ask these questions because objection has been raised by some member of the Denver local to the effect that a married woman, a housekeeper, has no right to belong to a workingmen’s organization.
I wish to be made clear as to the attitude of the general organization on this matter.
As far as I know, the purpose of a mixed local is to educate and organize branches of different industries when there are enough members to form a local. Does a woman, that keeps house for her husband, interfere with the progress of the organization by being a member of a mixed local?
Some assert that we have no grievance against the capitalist class, therefore we have no place in the union. Our grievance is against our husbands, if we are dissatisfied with our condition.
I believe the married woman of the working class is no parasite nor exploiter. She is a social producer. In order to sustain herself, she has to sell her labor power, either in the factory, directly to the capitalist, or at home, indirectly, by serving the wage slave, her husband, thus keeping him in working condition through cooking, washing and general housekeeping.
Her being a mother and a housekeepers are two different functions. One is her maternal, and the other is her industrial function in society. And as an industrial factor in society. I believe the wage slave’s wife has got a right to belong to a mixed local. I think it should be encouraging for workingmen to see women enter their ranks and, shoulder to shoulder, fight for economic freedom.
