J. V. Stalin
Source : Works, Vol.
5, 1921 - 1923
Publisher : Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow,
1954
Transcription/Markup : Salil Sen for MIA, 2008
Public Domain : Marxists Internet Archive (2008).
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Convey my fraternal greetings to the First Congress of Working Women of the Highland Republic. 2 I deeply regret that I am unable to be present at the congress owing to ill health.
Comrade Highland Women, there has not been a single important movement for emancipation in the history of mankind in which women have not closely participated, for every step taken by an oppressed class along the road towards emancipation brings with it an improvement in the position of women. The movement for the emancipation of the slaves in ancient times, as well as the movement for the emancipation of the serfs in modern times, had in its ranks not only men, but also women — fighters and martyrs, who with their blood sealed their devotion to the cause of the toilers. Lastly, the present movement for the emancipation of the prole-tariat—the profoundest and mightiest of all the emancipation movements of mankind—has brought to the fore not only heroines and women martyrs, but also a mass socialist movement of millions of working women, who are fighting victoriously under the common proletarian banner.
Compared with this mighty working-women's movement, the liberal movement of the bourgeois women intellectuals is a child's game, invented as a pastime.
I am convinced that the Congress of Highland Women will conduct its proceedings under the Red Flag.
Stalin
Bulletin of the First Congress of Eastern Working Women of the Highland Soviet Socialist Republic Vladikavkaz, 1921
1. The First Congress of Working Women of the Highland Socialist Soviet Republic was held in Vladikavkaz on June 16-18, 1921. There were present 152 women delegates: Chechens, Ossetians, Tatars, Kabardinians, Balkarians, etc., who came from remote highland villages. The congress discussed the following questions: the economic and legal position of women in the East before and after the revolution; the handicraft industries and the part played in them by the Highland women; public education and women of the East; mother and child welfare, etc. J. V. Stalin's telegram was read at the congress at the evening session of June 18. The congress sent a telegram of greetings to J. V. Stalin.
2. The Autonomous Highland Socialist Soviet Republic was formed on the basis of a Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on January 20, 1921. Originally, the Highland A.S.S.R. consisted of the Chechen, Nazran, Vladi- kavkaz, Kabardinian, Balkarian and Karachayev territories. In the period 1921-24 a number of Autonomous National Regions were formed from the Highland A.S.S.R. By a Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on July 7, 1924, the Highland A.S.S.R. was dissolved.