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p A great part in arousing the social and political awareness of the women of all continents, in the unification of their activities in the struggle for peace, national independence and democracy, in the battle for equality and for the better future for children has been played by the Women’s International Democratic Federation, which for thirty years now has stood at the head of the international women’s movement.

p The Women’s International Democratic Federation, founded after the end of the Second World War, was the first women’s mass democratic organisation in history. It evolved as a result of the efforts of the world’s women to unite in the cause of achieving a lasting peace between nations, of creating everywhere the essential conditions for guaranteeing the real equality of women, for the protection of the future of children.

p At the time the WIDF was formed there already existed a number of international women’s organisations which grew up at the end of the 19th and in the early 20th century. These 302 international organisations were not on a mass scale, and in the main they united women from the propertied classes and set themselves the limited goals of achieving equal rights with men within the existing order, and in particular, they strove to achieve electoral rights for women, increased possibilities in education, and so on, and spoke out for peace from pacifist standpoints. Some of these organisations united women on grounds of religion or common professional interests.

p The most important of these organisations were: the International Council of Women, founded in 1888 in the interests of the wellbeing of mankind, the family and the individual; the International Alliance of Women—Equal Rights—Equal Responsibilities, formed in 1904 with the aim of achieving electoral rights for the women of all countries and reforms guaranteeing the equality of women; the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations, formed in 1901 in order to promote the activities of Catholic women for the benefit of human society; the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, founded in 1915 as a pacifist women’s organisation; the International Federation of University Women, formed in 1919 and the International Federation of Business and Professional Women, which was formed in 1930, etc.

p In the thirties the appearance of fascism and its coming to power gave rise to a democratic peoples’ movement against fascism and war. The international women’s anti-fascist, anti-war congress played a great part in drawing wide circles of women into this movement. It was convened in Paris in 1934 on the initiative of the progressive women of a number of countries, including the Soviet Union.

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p The slogan of this congress was "United Front of All Women Against War and Fascism”. It did not lead to the formation of an international mass democratic women’s organisation, but objectively contributed to the creation of the conditions needed for its formation. In the following years during the Second World War millions of women joined the fight against fascism. Mass democratic women’s organisations sprang up in many countries, and when the war ended the women’s organisations of different countries began to make contact with one another. The common ambition of women, who were deeply aware of the power of international solidarity, was that an international democratic women’s organisation be formed, having a broad base and uniting millions of women of vastly differing political and religious convictions, of countries with different socio-political systems.

p The Anti-Fascist Committee of Soviet Women did much to ensure that this desire of women for unity was realised. Soviet women, convinced of the necessity of the joint action of the world’s progressive forces in achieving common aims took an active part in the work of founding an international democratic women’s organisation.

p As a result of the exchange of opinions between the representatives of women’s national organisations who were guests at the Congress of the Union of French Women (June 1945), including a delegation of the Anti-Fascist Committee of Soviet Women under the leadership of the president, N. V. Popova, it was decided to form an initiating committee on the question of calling an international women’s congress. This Congress in its turn was to discuss and decide the 304 question of creating an international democratic women’s organisation.

p This initiating committee which at iirst comprised the representatives of the USSR, France, Britain, China, Italy, Spain, Yugoslavia and Belgium, evolved the principles of the organisation and programme of the future federation. The call for the congress met with support in various countries of the world, and in the course of its preparation the number of women’s organisations which joined the committee and approved the idea of forming an international democratic women’s organisation grew steadily-

p The Congress opened on November 26, 1945, in the Mutualite hall in Paris, with 850 women delegates and guests from 40 countries of Europe, Asia, America, Africa and Australia.

p Eugenie Cotton, chairwoman of the International Initiating Committee appealed to the participants of the congress in her opening speech: "Our meeting today is an historic event, and we must stress its meaning and its novelty. Of course, this is not the first time that women have gathered at an international congress in order to work for the cause of peace and freedom.... But here, at our congress, we are making our first contact with the masses, with hundreds of millions of working women.”

p The Congress, which lasted for six days, discussed the role of women in the fight against fascism, established their tasks in the cause of bringing about democracy and lasting peace and the strengthening of women’s economic and socio-legal position, and took decisions on the problems of childhood and the bringing up of children.

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p The Congress condemned colonialism and called on the women of the world to demand respect for the principles of equality of nations and for their right to determine their own destiny.

p One of the Congress’s most striking documents is the Oath, which was taken unanimously. The participants of the Congress vowed to defend the economic, political, civil and social rights of women, to fight for creation of the conditions indispensable to the harmonious and happy development of our children and future generations, to struggle tirelessly so that fascism in all its forms shall be forever wiped off the earth and so that there will be established throughout the whole world a true democracy, to struggle ceaselessly to assure a lasting peace to the world.

p The decisions of the women’s international congress formed the foundations of the programme of action of the Women’s International Democratic Federation, which was formed on December 1, 1945. The concluding session of the Congress adopted the Charter of the WIDF and elected its executive bodies.

p Eugenie Cotton, outstanding French public figure, eminent physicLst and Resistance member, was elected the Federation’s first president. She held this post until the end of her life.

p From June 1969 to March 1974 the Federation was headed by Hertta Kuusinen, outstanding Finnish public and political figure.

p The Women’s International Democratic Federation was a women’s organisation of a new kind. Its nature was determined, to a large measure, by the fact that its formation was initiated by progressive women’s organisations which had emerged in the process of the anti-fascist struggle and were closely connected with the broad masses 306 of women and expressed their vital interests. In contrast to the already existing international organisations, whose activity was frequently of a feminist nature, the W1DF always regarded the problems of the status of women in close relation to political and social problems. This was expressed in the WIDF’s Charter and Programme, the former stating that the Federation unites women "regardless of race, nationality, religion and political opinion, so that they may work together to win and defend their rights as citizens, mothers, and workers, to protect children and to ensure peace, democracy and national independence".

p The WIDF united women’s organisations from countries which belonged to different sociopolitical systems. This enabled the Federation to rely on the experience of women’s organisations in socialist, capitalist, colonial and developing countries, to embrace the problems of the women’s movement of today in all their variety and determine their interconnection and interdependence, and promoted the education of the masses of women who took part in its work in the spirit of genuine international solidarity.

p The WIDF aspires to set up cooperation with other international and national organisations and with wide groups of women who do not belong to any women’s organisation. As distinct from the charters of other international organisations, which strictly define the rights and obligations of members and set certain conditions on the membership and participation in the organisation, the WIDF Charter invites any women’s organisations, groups or individuals who wish to collaborate with the Federation, if only on one point of its programme, to participate in 307 ihe Federation’s work, irrespective of their membership in other organisations.

p The Federation’s consistent line on the development of cooperation with the broad masses of women is expressed in the fact that the Federation has often initiated the holding of large international meetings with the participation of different international and national women’s organisations on the basis of a wide programme of common demands. Many such meetings have been held with great success and have helped to achieve real results in the struggle to improve the situation of women and children.

p Many new members have joined the ranks of the WIDF since its formation. At present the Federation unites 117 national organisations from 101 countries.

p According to the current Charter the WIDF’s highest organ is the Congress which is to be called once every four years. The Congress elects the WIDF President and the Council staff. Between Congresses the ruling body of the WIDF is the Council, which meets, as a rule, once a year. All the organisations in the WIDF are represented in the Council, with the organisation from each country having an equal number of seats in the Council. The Council elects the WIDF Vice-Presidents, the General Secretary, the Bureau, the Auditing Committee and the Secretariat.

p The WIDF Bureau runs the Federation’s business in between Council sessions on the basis of the decisions made either by the Council or the Congress. Responsibility for the day-today execution of the ruling bodies’ decisions is borne by the WIDF Secretariat, composed of the General Secretary and Secretaries. The 308 Secretariat operates in the Federation’s Headquarters, which since 1951 has been in Berlin, capital of the GDR.(Between 1945 and 1951 the W1DF Headquarters was in Paris.)

Over its 30 years of existence the WIDF has been consistently implementing its programme, which contains four basic demands: equality for women, the wellbeing of children, peace and national independence. Taking as a premise the conviction that peace, national independence and democracy are essential conditions which must be fulfilled before women can make use of their rights, the Federation considers it its duty to pay great attention to international problems. At the same time, being aware that the achievement of equality and the increased role of women in society allow them to have greater influence in the solution of national and international problems, the Federation constantly concerns itself with the specific problems of the status of women, while striving to maintain a balance between the four main spheres of its activities, coupling the solution of general political problems (agitation for peace, national independence and democracy) to questions which are inherent to the WIDF as a women’s organisation.