by Irene Slovak

THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE CHILD and
THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S YEAR

"The family is of divine institution and prior to the State in origin and rights. Among these rights are the parental responsibility and authority over their children." Such  a statement would never have been questioned in years gone by. However, the changing social standards of today make it sound illegal. We live in a time when Christian principles regarding families are no longer considered valid and, in reality, are despised. We have witnessed this change in all aspects of law but especially those laws affecting marriage. Divorce has become commonplace; artificial birth control is widespread; an abortion is easier to obtain than any other medical procedure.

The attack upon the family has been slow but steady and sustained for the past 200 years. We know, however, that its seed was planted in the Garden of Eden with Eve's first act of disobedience against God and her success in persuading Adam with visions of grandeur—if only he would do likewise. They, who had everything that God had to offer, opted instead for all of the empty promises and vain glories that were never to be realized. The effects of that decision remain with us today.

Now, as then, woman was the key. The appeal had to be made first to her. Karl Marx and Frederich Engels understood this and saw in woman the means by which the struggle for the destruction of the family would be won. Engels identified the family as the basic unit of capitalist society and of female oppression. He said, "The modern individual family is founded on the open or concealed domestic slavery of the wife." Marx wrote of private property as the root of women's oppression. The close alliance between feminism and socialism was forged in the nineteenth century. According to the book Socialist Women, "Socialists formulated the first political theory to encompass the rights of women and the political parties which they later founded were the first to inscribe women's rights in their programs and to open the doors of their meetings to females. In 1891, the Second International, an association that guided the international socialist movement, mandated that member parties advocate the equality of women."

Anna Kuliscioff (1854-1925), co-founder of the Italian Socialist Party and staunch advocate of women's liberation, pointed out that the final goal for women must be the radical transformation of society in which even the present family structure would disappear. She said that even the practice of having children brought up by the community would be only the slow and natural outgrowth of the already existing schools and day-care centers that aided in the education of the young. She also indicated that this could not be accomplished overnight as it was "not politic to arouse fears of the immediate destruction of the existing family structure." No, it was not good politics to let the people know what the real purpose was behind all of the propaganda called "equality."

The task before these early advocates of socialism was to convince enough women that they were oppressed and offer them the promise of "liberation" so that they could be persuaded to join the fight against their "oppressor." It would appear that the "plan" had come to fruition in the 20th Century.

Early in the beginning of the century, leading advocates of women's rights in this country were working in favor of a number of issues which they deemed important to women and they included socialism, free love, atheism, trade unions, birth control and easy divorce. Only later did they center their attention on issues like the vote. Opposition to marriage was primary as this was regarded as an institution designed for the subjugation of the female sex. It follows from this that what they regarded as the source of the "oppression" had to be Christianity and especially the Catholic Church. Elizabeth Cady Stanton (close associate of Susan B. Anthony) despised the Bible to the extent that she rewrote it calling it "The Women's Bible" which is widely used by feminists today.

Later on in the century, we encounter the feminists again—different names and faces but the propaganda is the same. This time the issue is the Equal Rights Amendment and while we cannot give it a proper explanation in this article, suffice to say it will accomplish, if it passes, what all socialists work toward—the rights of the family subjected to the dictates of the State.

On a world wide scale, in 1972 a resolution was introduced before the United Nations General Assembly by the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) to declare 1975 as International Women's Year (IWY). The UN also designated that 1975-1985 be set aside as the Decade for Women and will use this time to push the World Plan of Action which was drawn up at the World Conference in Mexico in 1975. The theme of that conference was the establishment of a "New International Economic Order." Some of the goals of the World Plan include: "international cooperation and the strengthening of international peace [disarmament]; education and training as a right; recognition of domestic work as employment; adequate social security coverage and child care facilities; ready access to health and nutrition programs; re-evaluations of the role of women in family life and marriage practices; and provisions of information and means for individual determination of numbers and spacing of offspring." All UN agencies, member governments, regional commissions and international organizations are called upon to implement these goals which will be overseen by the Economic and Social Council of the UN.

As part of the UN Decade for Women, the UN has declared 1979 as the International Year of the Child (IYC). This Year coincides with the 20th anniversary of the Declaration on the Rights of the Child adopted by the UN on November 20,1959, and to quote the UN—"to promote further its implementation." Not all countries have cooperated with the UN in adopting these resolutions which basically seek to make government responsible for the welfare, i.e. health, education, economic and social development of children. The Declaration states that the "special protection by law and other means" is in the "best interests" of the child but that is overshadowed by the fact that it never addresses the most important aspect of all—who decides what is in the "best interests" of the child? Parents get token recognition in the Declaration such as, "He shall, wherever possible, grow up in the care and under the responsibility of his parents ... a child of tender years shall not, save in exceptional circumstances, be separated from its mother." What does it mean—"wherever possible?" What are these "exceptional circumstances?" Who decides?

The idea to proclaim a Year of the Child was first proposed, according to the UN, by Non-Governmental Organizations at the UNICEF Executive Board meeting in 1974. These NGOs were busy planning projects for IYC as early as 1975, a year before the UN even passed the resolution making it official. It was passed on the recommendation of the Economics and Social Council of the UN, and UNICEF is in charge of its implementation.

On October 2, 1977, in Prague, Czechoslovakia, the first International Seminar in preparation for IYC was held and was sponsored by the International Committee for the United Nations Decade for Women. The president of this committee is Freda Brown. Ms. Brown is also the president of the WIDF which we have spoken of before and will again. Attending this conference were representatives from 84 international organizations, from 47 countries, and various representatives from the UN and member organizations. They were all there to report on their activities in connection with the IYC and to plan for a World Conference for IYC. The theme of this conference, they decided, would be "For a Peaceful and Secure Future for All Children."

Ms. Brown gave a report at this October conference in Prague in which she said that the highest priority for children was a world at peace. She said, "There must be an end to the arms race so that war budgets can be reduced and eventually abolished and money diverted to improve the conditions for all children." The examples she used of children deprived of their human rights were those living in South Africa, Chile, Palestine, Australia, and West Germany. She also quoted unemployment figures in the United States. She made her point very clear by her following statement, "In marked contrast, in the socialist countries all children have a free education, free health care, and a secure future."

"The intellectual and political
forces more or less impregnated with
atheism are set to destroy Christian civilization."

We meet Freda Brown again in June of 1978. This time she is writing in the World Marxist Review on the topic "Our Duty to the Children." A few of her statements from that article include: "In socialist countries children's rights are broadly implemented . . . in socialist countries the principles of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child are really being carried out ... in socialist countries exploitation and oppression have been abolished and peoples are in control of their own destiny." From this it is obvious the "duty to the children" she is talking about doesn't apply to socialist countries since, according to her, they already have accomplished it. Therefore, it must apply to non-socialist countries and, of course, that's exactly where it is being directed. According to Ms. Brown, "The fate of children and their future are inseparably bound up with the fate of the world . . . despite detente, the military-industrial circles in many capitalist countries are becoming more active and militarist and pro-fascist sentiments are spreading." Her answer to this is that "IYC must become the pivot . . . for peace and disarmament."

Returning to the WIDF of which Freda Brown is president, it is important to know the background of this organization which is so involved in IWY and IYC. The WIDF, headquartered in East Germany, is listed in the Committee on Un-American Activities, US House of Rep. Report, Dec. 1, 1961, which says, "Cited as a Communist front 'which was founded and supported at all times by the International Communist movement.' Also cited as an 'organization which frankly stated that it intended to follow the lead of the Soviet Union, the only country truly working for peace,' and which joined in issuing the call for the World Peace Congress held in April 1949."

Some clarification is also needed by way of explanation of the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's) simply because they will play a large part in the implementation of the goals for IWY and IYC. These organizations are affiliated with the UN by choice because they accept the principles of the UN and then apply for NGO status. Some of them even have offices in the UN building; a complete list of NGO's is available from the UN Office of Public Information. A few of them are the ACLU, National Organization for Women (N.O.W.), NAACP, League of Women Voters, YMCA, YWCA, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, International Federation of Business and Professional Women, Planned Parenthood, ADA, and Gray Panthers. It isn't too difficult to understand how the ideas and plans of the IWY and IYC reach even the smallest communities.

It is unfortunate that Catholic organizations have lent their names and support as members of the National Advisory Council for IYC. One would expect to find such groups as Planned Parenthood (which heads up the IYC Committee on Responsible Parenthood), or the National Center for Child Advocacy, or the Alan Guttmacher Institute (zero-population). But to see Catholic groups such as the National Council of Catholic Women, the National Conference of Catholic Charities, or The Society for the Propagation of the Faith, is very disheartening. Obviously, sympathy for and willingness to help little children is their motivation. But the wise words of Pope Pius XII speaking to the International Union of Catholic Women's Leagues on Sept. 11, 1947, reminds us that "it is not enough to be good, generous; one must also be wise and strong . . . in the social order, a similar sentimentality blinds the mind and leads it to hold monstrous theories and to extol immoral and fatal practices." He calls it "false pity" and says what one has to fear are the "subtle illusions." Today the world is full of "subtle illusions" which lay waiting to engulf us until it is too late to recover from our foolishness.

We have been warned by Popes; we have only to read their writings. We have first-hand accounts such as those by Cardinal Mindszenty. Therefore, we cannot plead ignorance to what is happening around us. It will only be successful if we, as a nation, lose our faith in God, our morality, and will to fight and, therefore, do not offer resistance to such ideas.

Surely the battle will be hard, especially the rights
of the family, the dignity of woman, the child
and the school.... but you have on your side...
above all, God. Bear witness then to the thought
of St. Paul: 'Your Faith has made
of you heroes in the fight.' (The words of Pope Pius XII.)

For additional information concerning the International Year of the Child and the International Women's Year, write to the Pro-Family Forum, Post Office Box 14701, Fort Worth, Texas 76117.