Several basic facts about The Women's Movement in Yugoslavia between the two wars
Neda Bozinovic
Even before 1918, there were women's charitable, religious, educational and professional organizations with distinct divisions on religious national basis in all countries. If some of these organizations contained some of feminist ideas, they remained in background, or were completely ignored.
Women social-democrats were active in workers' parties or associations of trade unions. They were at that time, as it was the practice in all social-democratic parties, subordinating the demands for women equality to the release of the working class, starting with the traditional understanding that women's liberation will be an automatic consequence of class liberation.
Soon after the unification of women social-democrats from Serbia and Croatia, as a part of the Socialist Workers Party (Communists) - SRPJ (k), THE SECRETARIAT OF WOMEN SOCIALISTS (Communists) was established in April 1919. According to the Statute of the Secretariat, it was considered as a part of the whole party and it acknowledged the program SRPJ (k), in which, among the rest, it was stated that the SRPJ (k) fights for the equal rights of all people, regardless of gender and origin, for the legal and political equality of all citizens, without distinction of sex, and for both active and passive voting rights of all male and female citizens over the age of 20 years. However, the Statute of the Secretariat expressly excluded imaging of separated women's organizations, and the Secretariat was considered as a "technical-executive committee of agitation and organization of women." By the end of 1920, Secretariat developed a remarkable work on organizing female Communists in certain places within the existing party organizations. It published its magazine "Equality".
At the same time, when the aforementioned Secretariat was established, the feminist, non-partisan association called SOCIETY FOR ENLIGHTENING OF A WOMAN AND PROTECTION OF HER RIGHTS was established in Belgrade in April 1919. In the autumn of the same year, the same society was founded in Sarajevo. The aim of those associations was to enlighten and to work on realization of their civic and political rights. The Society published its own magazine "Women's Movement".
In all countries, previously established female societies renewed its efforts and with initiative of their women's association of Serbian nation (founded in 1906), the first congress in Belgrade was held, where THE NATIONAL WOMEN'S ALLIANCE OF SERB, CROATIAN AND SLOVENIAN WOMEN was founded. The Alliance brought together around 200 national, educational and humanistic societies in a broad platform that included activities for development of human, ethical, cultural, feminist-social and national work. By its centralist organization and working methods, the Union was a supporter of the integral Yugoslavianism.
As it was founded, The Alliance joined The International Council of Women (ICW), in which work it actively participated and conformed to the international feminist standards from that time, so in 1922, it also established a detailed program of its activities. The program contained the following points: work on the national unity; work on the equality of women and men in private and public law, work on the protection of women in the workforce due to her motherly vocation; realization of the principles of equal work, equal vocations and equal prizes; the protection of children and youth, work for equal education of male and female children in school and at home; struggle for equal morality for men and women, as well as the fight against alcoholism and prostitution. Since 1929, the Alliance acted under the name YUGOSLAV WOMEN'S ALLIANCE, and since 1936 they published their own magazine "Journal of the Yugoslav Female Alliance".
At the second congress of the Union in 1920, female delegates of those associations that had feminist programs or were campaigning for equality of women (about 26 companies) distinguished themselves. Within the National Female Alliance, they founded a feminist section and determined its principled program for the next few months. The program consisted of themed courses, lectures and conferences devoted to the civic education of women, then weekly entertainments, reading of literary works, as well as the lectures on the hygiene of women and children.
The Association for enlightening women broadened its tasks and changed its name into WOMEN'S MOVEMENT. With Splosno female union from Ljubljana and the Association of Yugoslav women from Zagreb, the union organized assembly for feminist associations in Ljubljana in 1923. At that meeting, THE ALLIANCE OF WOMEN IN COUNTRY SHS was established, with the aim to fight for the political rights of women and to affect the changes in practices and achievement of full equality between men and women by their means of mediator between reforms and changes in the old and new laws. Therefore, the Alliance first pointed out the struggle for the right to vote, and then recognition of women - mothers and housewives for a productive call, for the economic independence of married women, for recognition of the equal parental guardianship of a father and mother over the children, to ensure the alimentation for a mother and child through the law, to change the law of inheritance in favor of women, for general insurance of a mother, for better protection of women in the workforce and for introduction of female labor inspectors in the company, for free advancement at the jobs where women work, as well as the free access to political life. The Alliance was actively collaborated in The International Alliance of Women (IAW).
The Association for Enlightening Women, the National Women's Union and the Secretariat of Women Socialists (Communists), held in 1919 and 1920 various conferences, choirs and lectures dedicated to the equality of women, and especially to the right to vote, trying to make these rights of women recognized by the new Constitution that was in preparation. Choirs for women suffrage, which were very well attended, were held in all major cities in Yugoslavia and were used to show the difficult and unequal position of women of all classes in the kingdom. During the session of the Constituent Assembly, several protest gatherings of women were organized in several cities. From the chorus of protest in Belgrade, which was attended by female delegates from many cities all over the Yugoslavia, the resolution was submitted to the Constituent Assembly, but the Assembly did not discuss it.
Work of the Communist Party was banned in 1921, and the women from the Secretariat of women switched to work mainly in the society for enlightening of women, while later the younger women worked in FEMALE ASSOCIATION OF BELGRADE UNIVERSITY, founded in 1922 with the right to work only at the Belgrade University. The aim of this society was to provide financial support to poor female students, the establishment of a dormitory for female students, encouraging the professional work as well as work on self-awareness of female students in order to achieve equality. Feminist organizations were still been founded between the two wars. Thus the organizations from Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania and Greece, following the policy of their governments, constituted THE LITTLE FEMALE ENTENTE (1923). The program of the Entente was feminist, and it was founded in order to share experiences as well as for the common occurrence in the struggle for peace in the International League for Peace and Freedom.
WOMEN'S PARTY was founded by a group of young female intellectuals in 1927, who were dissatisfied with the way of working and the slowness of the Women's Union and the Alliance. The party performed strongly and in the short period of its existence, organized more well-felled choirs for women suffrage in Serbia. Just when the party started organizing itself better, the Constitution was suspended in Yugoslavia and dictatorship C was introduced in January 1929, so this party, as well as all other political parties, had to suspend their work, which was not renewed later.
At the end of 1927, THE ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY EDUCATED WOMEN was founded, which had its sections in Belgrade, Sarajevo, Skopje, Sabac and Kragujevac. It protected the professional interests of women, stood for the progress of women in the ministry and sought changes in the civic rights. They created a valuable "Bibliography of Women Writers in Yugoslavia" (until 1936). Since 1931, special women's organization LEAGUE OF WOMEN FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM was acting in Yugoslavia. It was a member of the International League for Peace and Freedom. Dictatorship has meanwhile gradually dwindled and despite all reprisals it could not take place because the resistances in many parts of the country were intense and continuous. The assassination of King Aleksandar Karađorđevic in Marseille in 1934 accelerated the work on the reconstruction of political parties and preparation for a new Parliament which were held in 1935. The Communist Party of Yugoslavia, although still acting illegally, improved its work. Following the policies of the National's Front in the mid thirties, which was emerging in some European countries in the resistance to fascism and nazism, KPJ modified its views regarding the women's issues.
Believing that a women's issue was a issue of a class - it gave exclusivity in terms of organizing the women's program and methods of its work. Instead of working with women within the party organization, KPJ refers to its female members and sympathizers, to establish a separate women's organizations, to engage in the work of existing organizations, to establish women's sections, committees, assets and similar bodies wherever possible, which would be dealt with specific programs of work on educating and cultural elevation of women.
YOUTH SECTION OF WOMEN'S MOVEMENT, founded in 1935 in the framework of Women's movement, was a place where the female students from the Association of female students, young women of all professions, from schools, offices, factories, banks, stores, from a variety of professional and trade union organizations gathered, exchanged their experiences and gained motivation to work. Program of the Women's movement with its distinctive activity in the struggle for women's rights of all women, regardless of race, religion, nationality or political beliefs gave a sufficient basis for women to come together on a platform of struggle against fascism, so that the Youth section became a gathering place for female antifascists.
In Croatia, by the Communist Party initiative in Zagreb in 1936, the Society for the education of women was founded and brought together women of all classes. Similar societies were founded in other cities in Croatia. In Slovenia in 1939, "The International Committee of the Slovenian women's societies" was founded, and it coordinated the work of women's organizations affiliated to the female Yugoslav Federation or the "Women's Movement" and other independent women's organizations, except the clerical. All of these organizations in Yugoslavia acted in various ways: by lectures on women and the study of specific issues in the fields of economics, politics, history and the like. They organized various training courses and events. On one hand, they were connected in the women's movement and were intensively active in the implementation of programs of women's equality, and on the other hand, they encouraged the women to set up their problems in order to accept them as their own through the various social groups, professional, youth, trade unions and political parties. Thus, for example, Independent Democratic Party within the society for enlightening the villages, "Seljacko kolo" - founded the "Women's Section", which has developed a notable work in the villages of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Women were furthermore engaged in a variety of movements against fascism, and for example, in actions to help the Spanish people, to help anti-fascists who were arrested, the peace and the youth movement, in election campaigns, and at the frequent strikes and demonstrations. In this way they were linked to the anti-fascist movement, a movement for freedom and democracy and the independence of the country. A group of women, again influenced by the Communist Party, initiated an independent women's magazine. In Belgrade in 1936, they launched magazine "Woman Today" (dated to 1976). In Zagreb in 1938, they launched "Women's World", and "Our women" in Slovenia in 1940 (which replaced the feminist women's magazine that was published earlier). These sheets were delivered in all parts of Yugoslavia and played a major role in raising the awareness of women, exchange of experiences, informing on all political events in the country and the world, as well as the inclusion of women in the socio - political life.
