For International Women's Day, communist parties in Europe have issued a statement, saluting the working women's struggle all over the world. The statement signed by the European Communist Initiative (ECI) Secretariat is as follows:
"The ECI wishes to all women good health, and strength in the struggles.
8 March is the day of working women, of all those who do not accept exploitation and domination of capitalism and resist it. This day we remember the heroic fight of working women for better life in recent centuries.
Capitalist forces wanted to take away the International Women’s Day or to turn it into a classless event. We wanted to defend it and we have defended this day as the legacy of struggles for equality and emancipation of working women.
Today capitalism is in deep crisis. Capitalists want to put all burdens of the crisis on the shoulders of working masses. Working women are among the ones that suffer in capitalism. They get less salary than men for the same work. Thousands are fired and lose their jobs. They have to deal with the acute problems in health, welfare, poverty, in general economic and social problems that have escalated with the pandemic.
The covid-19 has multiplied the burdens of working families. Mothers should stay at home with their children because most of the schools went on online-education. The lockdown measure lead to an increase in domestic violence.
The covid-19 has demonstrated the terrible condition of the commercialized health care system in most of the capitalist countries.
We are living in capitalism where profit means everything, and the protection of human life, health and rights are counted as "costs". All of our problems, wars, immigration, poverty, unemployment, inequality, reactionism, use of cheap labour are caused by the exploitative system, capitalism.
We condemn the attempts of the forces of the European Union to solve the capitalist crisis by demanding more sacrifices of working people.
We condemn social discrimination in the EU member states.
We condemn the capitalist policy of the so-called "gender equality", "equal treatment", "equal opportunities", "balancing professional and personal life", worsening the position of working women.
We call all working women to oppose the all-rounded attack of the capital with harsh measures against women of the working class, salaried scientists, self-employed, farmers, pensioners.
We cannot expect gifts from capitalist parties and governments. We cannot hope that millionaires would change our life. We have learned by our own experience that in capitalism we can rely only upon the strength of the workers' popular movement, in the struggle for our contemporary needs.
If we want to save our rights and improve our life we should fight against capitalism. If we want to change our life, we should change the world.
Women will be liberated from all social inequality under socialism.
The ECI Secretariat"
