‘Male supremacy
still around

Czechoslovakia

OW

pressions 1S pro
|

wives written by Elizabeth

I feel a special re
of the position of
country.
workers,
fraction or.
Of cours
beth Sky that the right to
work for women, which is in-
her jae in socialism, must have
as a logical se quence the sub-
stitution of individual house-
work drudgery by mechaniz
cd services, based on a
sion of labor. But she gener-
es what are as. yet only
beginnings in Pane: People’s De-

mocrac kle this pr@b-
lem, and doesn’t help
readers. to asp the complex-
itles of obstacles, economically
and ideologically,
that socialism in construction
has to face and overcome.
There are already tremen-
dous achievements. A lot of
women are eee and the

number is rising. A wide net-
wor x of child care centres and
x in — though by no
enough—takes
of working
those best

ated like

care he ‘ids
mothers, and
managed they are tre
he small fry reyalty.
Community services like
laundries and dry-cleaning es-

fare Czechoslovak housewive

women in Cze
And one of my stories
led to a generalization a a

one percent of Czechoslov ak
>, Lagree with Eliza-

divi-,

By GEORGE LOHR

BRNO, CZECHOSLOVAKIA

res?

workers.
blishments which in the
past, because of low incomes,
were almost never used by
werkers, are being expanded,

and already a large number
of housewives can afford to
send out at least the heavy
laundry for rough-finish.

Repair centres where you
can get clothes turned, repair-
ed and re-made. also exist to
quite an extent and, something
our stocking manufacturers
would fight tooth and nail,
there are many places where
you can get runs in your nyl-
ons-fixed.

But possibly most important
In easing housework; are the
work’s canteens where, accord-
ing to latest trade union fig-
ures, more than 1,200,000 work-
ers eat a daily meal. This is
ten percent of the total popu-
Jation and if you add to that
tne children and students who
get lunch in their institutions
number who eat one meal
regularly away from home’is

ha
the

Nasser’s policy

(Continued from page 11)

thing from $600 to $1,500 mil-
lion. It yt only irri-
gate two acres (in-

le area of
Egypt by o urd), but it
would also lay the basis for
irdustrialisation by doubling
electricity supply.

It would create a
ervoir over 400 miles

gmat southwarc

creasing
}

the

Sudan,
flood
years.

Why

he British and Ameri-
orn suddenly
their offers is not

yet clear.

The British and
governments were
tionably gu ilty of double-
crossing and one can
only conclude the at their pur-
pose was to humble the Egyp-

government, and thus to
ce a blow at the whole Arab
nation ement of which
Egypt is the heart.

It may be questioned whether

American
unques-

mov

wie iatatt ital Wd

Ry ke eit ecm the Suez Canal
the Egyptian government will
acquire the resources needed
for Aswan; just how much
benefit Egypt can get out of
the canal will depend a good
deal on the compensation paid.

But it cannot be doubted that
rationalising the canal is both
a good stroke of business and
a brilliantly successful appeal
to public opinion in Egypt and
throughout the Middle East,
where the Suez Canal is the
symbol of British domination.

The withdrawal of the 80,000
British troops from the Canal
Zone and the new Czechoslovak
armaments have made it ex-
tremely - difficult for the
British government to inter-
vene militarily, as it could
have done -easily two years
ago.

This’ change
illustrated when
Jamaica, which
courtesy visit to Alexandria,
hastened to sail out of-the
harbor. A few years back it
would have sailed in—with its
guns pointed at the town.

vividly
the cruiser
was on a

was

a ee

This attempt to give some on-the-spot im-
mpted largely by the recent series of articles on American house
Lawson (which appeared recently in the Pacific Tribune).

sponsibility in this regard since I have failed to give a proper picture
choslovak ia in other articles I have
, in which I dealt with an apartment hotel for best
way of living that so far is possible only to a

written from this

around two million.

*

As. to shopping, the trend is
now toward American-style
self-service. Right where we
live, in a new. housing devel-
opment, modern stores are part
of the setup and our neighbors,
used to the still prevalent in-
efficient old-fashioned shops
left over from the old era, in-
evitable shopping queue and
all, are very pleased.

3ut for the average house-
wife shopping is still a much-
time consuming ordeal and
the “ordering system” in fac-
tories that Elizabeth Lawson
speaks of is only a very par-
dial solution — for one because
it’s still rare and for another
it’s rough, lugging home heavy
packages on packed street cars.

But here you have a govern-
ern: and a Communist party
aware of the shortcomings and
tries to do something to allev-
iate them. Only recently, when
the Communist party held a
national conference, Antonin
Novotny, the first secretary,
directed attention to the gen-
eral ‘low level of technical
t:aining for women and the
lack of attention to this- prob-
lem by the trade unions. He
aiso took note of the “severe
complaints” regarding child-
care centres, community ser-
vices and other such questions
and demanded that the party
organizations work to. bring
sbout improvements.

Some of the problems are
objective, such as the fact
that socialism in construction
at this stage cannot yet pro-
vide restaurants with prices
low enough so that the aver-
age family could eat there as
a regular occurrence.

The other circumstance is in
the head.- Most men still want

their wives to prepare the
grub, and not out of cans
either.

Sweet buns in all varieties
gvace the Czech table, but the
“store boughten” ones dre not
in favor with most husbands.

In fact, many of them let
their wives work because they
like the extra money, not be-
cause they recognize it ‘as part
of woman’s emancipation, and
they don’t consider sharing the

Most men, reports George Lohr from Czechoslova
want their wives to prepare the grub — and 00!

cans, either.”

housework as their responsi-
bility. It’s the old male
supremacy, individual selfish-
ness and’ prejudice still inter-
fering with the progress of
women in particular and the
whole collective in general.

Of course, there is a gradual
change for the better, but it’s
still overwhelmingly the wo-
men who stand in the shopping
queues, who cook and wash,
end as I look across the court-
yard this lovely Sunday after-
noon into the open kitchen
windows, it’s the neighbor wo-
men, most of whom hold down
a job, who are bent over the
sink. “The force of habit of
millions and tens of millions,”
said Lenin, “is a most terrible
force.”

It’s the men, with few ex-
ceptions, who run the unions,
the factories and ministries,
and they are going to need a

Losi city

A CITY that has been lost

for about 2,000 years has
just been found and is being
dug up again.

The city is Hazor, in Israel, *
where an expedition of archae-
ologists started work last sum-
mer. It was destroyed by
Joshua in one of his wars told
about in’ the Bible.

More than 20 years ago some
English archaeologists went to
look for Hazor, and thought
they had found it.

Near the city they discover-
ed, however, there was a rath-
er mysterious, huge rectangu-
lar enclosure, 150 acres in area.
It was surrounded by an earth
wall. The expedition decided
that perhaps this space was
#n ancient parking lot for
chariots.

When an expedition spon-
sored by the Israel government
started work last summer,
however, they thought they
would examine this “parking
lot” more closely.

Somebody had figured out
treat the earth walls would have
taken 5,000 slaves five years

- August 10, 1956 —

PACIFIC TRIBUNE —

Ict of needling yet to8
old habits, as far as ne
titude towards wome? ™
cerned.

The force of old hé
yield to the forward §
sccialism, no doubt a?
and eventually the |
sweatshop is going
pear completely. But
to speed up the day; ¥
women have to push
and this means using ?
logical vacuum sw!
clean away male SUP”

This is so even im
Czechoslovakia where
nomic base for woman

xploitation has gone,
garbage can along W!
taJlism as a whole. Me
the dish washing is
final solution, but 4
Czech women workel®
cheer right now if
bands would lend a

sive if the place was
enclosure for chariot pj

So they began digg}?
and soon found” rem@
of one city, but of fiv@
top of the other, all §
signs of having bee
down and destroyed
wars of long ago W
Bible has recorded.

Hazor turns out to h#@
ts the ae gest,

it up will orovitll hi
with endless clues ae
people who lived th®
what they were like:

Already they have
sorts of pots and P¥,
heautiful carvings
of the “graven ima
prophets roared agall™
Old Testament.

But again, someone &
arithmetic has worke@®:
the present little pa
perts will have to go
cavating Hazor for
before they have
everything buried th