Here are the testimonies of women’s mass struggle,
the testimonies of a generation for which there was no dilemma.
The revolution has its songs, its flag, and its blood.
“All for the front.”

“Woman Today”, number 275

Our task is to preserve and make known historical evidence about the work and activities of the Antifascist  Front of Women of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Yugoslavia, as well as about women’s participation in the People’s Liberation Struggle and in the building of Socialist Yugoslavia. The Archive aims to motivate our new struggles— on fronts that we need to identify, in numerous battles that we need to win. The revolution has taken place. Let’s start another one!

The Antifascist Front of Women was established on June 12, 1942, in Bosanski Petrovac, and (self)dismantled in September 1953 in Belgrade. The largest mass women’s movement in our region and beyond made extraordinary contributions not only to the fight against fascism and to the general equality of women but also to the freedom and emancipation of Yugoslav society as a whole. The contributions made in the People’s Liberation Struggle carved out the legitimacy of the revolution’s greatest achievement, that is, equality. The 1945 Constitution of the new Yugoslavia stated: “Women are equal to men in all areas of state, economic and socio-political life (…) Women are entitled to the same pay as men for equal work, and enjoy special protection in employment. The State especially protects the interests of mothers and children by establishing maternity hospitals, children’s homes, and child care centers, as well as the mother’s right to paid leave before and after childbirth.” After the war, the Antifascist  Front of Women engaged in reconstructing the war-torn country, especially addressing health, social, and cultural issues. Their cultural-educational work – wherein they organized mass literacy campaigns – was particularly significant, as was their engagement in raising awareness and broadening women’s inclusion in the educational, political, and economic system. The Antifascist  Front of Women eventually grew into a powerful socio-political factor in Socialist Yugoslavia. However, in 1953, the People’s Front decided to abolish it. With the dissolution of the Antifascist Front of Women, women’s emancipatory and united activities in the former Yugoslavia ceased to exist.

Association for Culture and Art CRVENA
www.afzarhiv.org

Minutes of the Consultation of the Presidents and Secretaries of the District Committees of the Women’s Antifascist Front

Compiled at the consultation of the Presidents and Secretaries of the District Committees of the  Women’s Antifascist Front (WAF), which took place in Sarajevo on January 20th, 1949

Present: Saibegović Maida and Đehva Alić from the Zenica district, Traup Lizika from Visoko, Mali Danica from Breza, Budimir Marija and Duvnjak Milica from Bugojno, Kovačević Vjeka from the Sarajevo district, Stefanović Bosa from Fojnica, Drakulać Sofija from Travnik, Mica Đunović and Spasa Kvezović from Višegrad, Akšamović Naima and Grahović Desa from Rogatica, Tutković Maca from Sokolac, Efendić Aiša from Srebrenica, Šimić Vina from Foča, Kuljuk Beda from Goražde, Mitra Čepinac and Zejna Maslo from the city of Zenica. Not present from Vareš, Vlasenica, and Breza. 

Comrade Dušanka Kovačević informs comrades about the importance of this meeting and proposes the following agenda:

1. Report on the work after the V plenary session
2. The issue of celebrating the 8th of March
3. Current questions

Moving on to item 1,  the agenda item – work report.

Srebrenica: submits a written report and informs that the comrades’ president and the secretary could not attend the consultation because they have small children.

City of Zenica: Regarding the tasks of the Fifth Plenary, they have shifted the focus of their work to ideological and political activities. Regarding the literacy courses, they are facing difficulties in including women in the programs. To date, there are 19 courses with 260 women involved, and 11 comrades are becoming literate through individual work, while 106 illiterate women have not been included in the courses. These are women from the area that was recently annexed to the city of Zenica. The comrades who were adamant about not attending the courses were summoned by the People’s Government to explain why they would not participate. It is mandated that all women will be included in the work of literacy courses or individual work on literacy. Two basic knowledge courses are being held, attended by 17 women. There are 120 reading groups on the terrain with 1,800 women, where they process congressional materials and budget debates from the assembly of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia. There are 7 ideological-political courses, which include 120 women. The representatives of the local and city councils must attend. In the month of November, women worked on the rehabilitation of the Cultural Center, at the mine, contributing 1,256 hours and unloading 495 wagons of coal. They visited residential areas and workplaces where women work, sewed in homes where they have patronages, and toured school kitchens and maternity wards.

The most challenging task currently facing the organization is to expand the maternity ward, which has only 15 beds. Additionally, the temporary kindergarten needs to be expanded as it is located in small spaces, and now a steel mill will be opened in the community alongside the kindergarten and nursery. The current nursery can accommodate 20 children, while there are 1,006 women employed. The city council will also open a kindergarten and daycare, and the budget has already been approved. The Women’s Antifascist Front organization is collaborating with the union branch and the management. Women employed in the steelworks are not participating in the opening of kindergartens and nurseries, so it is necessary to form an activist group for the opening of nurseries and kindergartens, which will include women employed in the steelworks. There are 15 “Mother and child” groups, as well as groups for agitation and propaganda.

The activist group for agitation and propaganda oversees reading groups, provides information for conferences, and oversees literacy courses, among other things. At the City Committee, there is an activist group “mother and child”, organized for both agitation and propaganda as well as cultural and educational activities. The activist groups are related to the sections. There are 15 departmental boards. The leaders of activist groups facilitate the connection between the activist groups and the departmental boards. Leaders hold meetings with section leaders, and the activist groups also hold their own meetings. When there is an urgent task, all the comrades are immediately engaged, regardless of which activist group or section they belong to. The plan regarding labor actions for 1948 has been executed at 35 percent. Now they are shifting the focus to ideological and political work.

Visoko: Immediately after the 5th plenary, an agitator activist group was formed that promptly began visiting the terrains, giving lectures on health, hygiene, and similar topics. The group consisted of 22 comrades. They created a plan for the village committees for the year 1949, and it was primarily created by the district committee as a skeleton plan, which was later supplemented and corrected on the terrain according to the problems and needs of each village. For example, a village committee encompasses the following work: reading groups, distribution of printed materials, formation and maintenance of literacy courses, a census of the illiterate based on which the inclusion of women in literacy courses was planned, as well as overseeing the colonized children and their property, cleaning and painting houses, building roads, and participating in labor actions of the People’s Front and the formation of village brigades. Kakanj and Breza, in addition to the aforementioned responsibilities, also plan to hold various courses: tailoring, pedagogical, and basic knowledge courses. They have three neighborhood committees and an activist group for the cultural and educational program, as well as “Mother and child” groups within the neighborhood committees, and they are also forming occasional activist groups. In the villages, there is also a ‘Mother and child’ group whose task is to maintain cleanliness in the village and support colonized children, while the task of the cultural and educational group is to manage reading groups, literacy courses, and publishing.

In those activist groups, there are only female representatives; other women are not included in the work of those groups. The relation of the People’s Front toward the WAF organization is now proper. It has been noted that where there are People’s Front Committees, the WAF committees are good; the only place where there is no coordination between People’s Front and WAF is Kakanj. In the basic knowledge course in Visoko, there are 38 women, and one is now being established in Kakanj as well. There is also a sewing course being held in Visoko and one in Kakanj. They intend to start a household economics course, but they must first create a cultural commercial event to secure the financial resources for the course. The City District Committee of the WAF has committed to opening a nursery and kindergarten, and the SNO has approved the budget. They have two working cooperatives where the WAF committees exist, but they are not functioning well. The District Committee holds meetings of the reading groups of the members of those cooperatives. The difficulties stem from the lack of systematic work in rural committees. Women understand the organization in the right way, especially when issues concerning their village are discussed at conferences. While at work at the factories, women wear niqabs, but do not cover themselves there. Through participation in cultural events and literacy groups, they try to gather more Muslim women. So far, only 9 Muslim women have stopped wearing niqabs. In the factory, 50 women work in niqabs, while there are around 500 women employed in total. A Committee has been formed to agitate against the niqab, but it is not very effective. People’s Front started a basic education course with 30 women participants. The District Committee has its headquarters. The Secretariat meets occasionally, as the members are busy working.

Zenica district: the organizational situation is poor. There are village committees that have not met since the elections. Committees of the People’s Front, in that regard, did not provide any assistance. So now they have a plan: to hold a meeting with the presidents and secretaries, and then to hold meetings with the village committees, where specific tasks will be assigned. There are reading groups that take place immediately after the completion of the course, where the budget debate is processed. All cultural and educational work takes place through reading groups, literacy courses, and the distribution of printed materials. They have no activist groups. The activities are done, but there are no records. Nothing has been done regarding the niqabs. The activists themselves still wear the niqabs. In the organization, the partners of our activists and leaders do not work.

Travnik: The District Committee took on the task of reviving the sections and reorganizing the City District Committee. After the reorganization, the work moved forward. There are 86 village committees, and 14 villages have no committees. Activist groups have been created in the villages, namely a “Mother and child” group and an agricultural activist group. The Mother and child activist group takes care of colonized children and children under guardianship. A survey of pregnant women was conducted in the villages, and then maternity wards were popularized, which are now too few. Muslim women have difficulty attending literacy courses. Reading groups are good. Regular consultations are held with the leaders of reading groups. Articles in the field of health and child care are processed at these courses. Women prefer to be told about it rather than read about it. About 50 women in the city have taken off their niqabs. Older women who are employed wear a niqab, but work unveiled. About 300 women work in the factory, and 80 are covered with niqabs. Well-positioned comrades also want their comrades wearing them, and that is where the obstacle lies. Two comrades who had previously removed their niqabs when their husbands were in prison have put them back on. In most cases, women want to take it off, but their husbands do not allow them to. In the city, there are nurseries and kindergartens, and they are all in one building; there is also a combined kindergarten and nursery at the Factory of Matches. Even though there is a kindergarten in the Factory, women still leave their children at home. It is necessary to separate nurseries from kindergartens. As for the political situation, it is better in some areas and weaker in others. During the collection of signatures in one village, the women did not want to sign the resolution, saying: “Let the stronger one take the lead.” There is no systematic work. Through the work of our organization, women rise up and immediately seek employment, and then they stop working in the organization. The village committees address the District Committee with various purely material questions, such as the issue of shoes for students, soap, textiles, and similar matters, and they also signal the District Committee about certain irregularities in the cooperatives. Previously, the committees of the People’s Government and the People’s Front assigned women purely technical tasks, but this issue is now being sorted out.

Rogatica: The WAF organization was nearly inactive due to the lack of support from the People’s Front, so they held a plenary meeting, elected a new secretary, and organized the District Committee of the WAF as well as its sections. There are 81 committees. There is not enough staff for field visits. They also formed a team of instructors, with one comrade from each local committee. All the village committees are not functioning because the chosen members are overwhelmed. In the hospital itself, a maternity ward has been planned. A considerable number of women are included in literacy courses. There is a shortage of kerosene. In the basic knowledge course, there are only three women. It is necessary to hold a seminar for the councilwomen so that they can become familiar with their tasks. The cultural and educational section is not functioning well because the comrades in it are overwhelmed with other tasks, while the other sections are doing quite well. There are no reading groups in all the committees because there are no good leaders.

Sokolac: The work of the current female councilors is weak. Women are preoccupied and do not want to work. The People’s Front does not pay attention to the organization of women. In 1948, women worked at 7 cooperatives as well as on building 2 roads and 2 schools. There are 65 committees of the WAF in the field that are not well established, and this is aimed at including women in forestry work and sawmills. 250 women are permanently employed, while 150 are employed occasionally. The local Committee is very weak. 96 percent of women are enrolled in literacy courses, and they also learn separately. Reading groups are held every Saturday, where articles from “New Woman” are processed. After the fifth plenary session, they examined pregnant women. The “Mothers and children” section is not strong. During the action of removing the niqab, there were mistakes, both on the part of the women’s organization and the Front, so the women put it back on again. In two villages, they do not hide at all, but they wear the niqab. Reading groups are held with the workers, but that work has now declined. They have committed to opening a nursery and kindergarten in the factory.

Goražde: The organization is without a secretary, and the president has a job and has two children. They don’t have a professional person, and the other comrades are employed. Overall, the work among women is very weak. The District Committee, as well as the Front, are assisting our organization in its work. There are only seven reading groups in the city, with about 30 women. In labor actions, women participate, but at the invitation of the People’s Front. For New Year, the women visited the children’s home in Čajniče and gifted them various presents.

Foča: The District Committee is weak, a professional in charge is in training, and the president is pregnant. In the Committee, the majority are women with children. At the District Committee, a section called “Mother and child” has been established, as well as organizational, cultural-educational, and agitational-propagandistic sections. Women are going to the village with members of the People’s Front. The “Mother and child” section takes care of war orphans, maternity hospitals, and so on. Since the Fifth Plenary, the focus has been primarily on cultural and educational work. Reading groups meet twice a week. There are 18 all-female literacy courses and 217 mixed courses, in which women are predominantly present. There are 13 female leaders. The high school boarding school is very weak, as both the staff and the operations at the boarding school are lacking. Our organization helped prepare winter supplies for the boarding school. Male comrades are not paying attention to the issue of opening nurseries and kindergartens, and there is a felt need for them. There is no success regarding the niqab issue. The wives of officers, as well as leaders, do not work in the organization.

Višegrad: From the 5th Plenary to today, one meeting of the secretariat and two meetings of the executive board have been held. The District Committee of the WAF has no office, nor any professionals. In the city, there are two reading groups, but not a single one in the district. The wives of Party members refuse to take off their niqabs, and the wives of officers refuse to work.

Bugojno: In the area of the district, there are 27 all-female courses with 362 women. The total number of participants is 4,300, of which 2,000 are women. 8 women are course leaders. There has been a decline in the courses because some women have dropped out, and they were not subsequently invited by the local People’s Committees. The coordination between the WAF and the People’s Committee is good. In addition to the literacy courses, there are reading groups. They read our folk songs and brochures there. They held an event in Bugojno and Vakuf. In the economy, 350 women are involved, specifically in a sawmill, a textile company, a mine, and a brick factory. A committee was formed to detect the disease, which held two conferences and three lectures. Younger women do not wear a niqab, while older women refuse to take it off. There are also three cooperatives that include 67 women. They do not have any professionals. The secretariat meeting is held every week. The terrain is poorly monitored.

Fojnica: The District board has not met since the Plenary. In the Sreski board, there is neither a president, nor a secretary, nor a professional.

Sarajevo: Also a bad situation.

Dušanka Kovačević: Thru the report from our comrades, it was evident that no new problem had emerged, but rather just a lack of effort. The 5th plenary session clarified the weaknesses in the Main Committee, but those are not the only weaknesses, as there are also issues on the terrain. The Main Committee discussed in its meetings whether the line of work and the content of the work were such that women would accept it and that women would accept the organization on these issues. Our organization, in terms of its work content, does not exist; it has become the Executive Body of the People’s Front and the People’s government because women did what they were ordered to do. Comrade Tomšić Vida says: “The WAF is an organizational form of the work of the People’s Front.” Not all the tasks of the People’s Front are our tasks, because we have our specific tasks – to educate women in socialism, to fight for the inclusion of women in building socialism, and to advocate for women’s equality. The report shows that we only dragged women into the construction of cooperative homes, roads, and so on, but let us ask ourselves what we have given to women, what benefits have women seen from our organization? We include women in the economy, but we haven’t created the conditions for that; we don’t consider that she is also a mother, that every child has the right to a mother and to joy. Our organization should be a voice for women. There is no equality without addressing its issues, namely, the issues of nurseries and kindergartens. The content of the work needs to be changed, transforming into an organization that cares for women, as this is part of socialist construction, since socialism represents a higher standard of living. We will fight for better working conditions. What does it really mean to fight for women? To know that the organization exists for women. We are here to make women literate and to work with them. The reports have little to do with the 5th Plenum. Comrades mostly live in cities, and we have not found the way, form, and content of our work, which is why it happens that we form an activist group and Committee later in the process. In the village, a battle for socialism is being fought. We have not succeeded in economically and politically uplifting the village, which is why we are faced with many questions about how to create an organization and work in the village. It is necessary to shift the focus of work to specific tasks in agriculture and poultry farming.  To create groups to promote poultry farming, rabbit farming, and vegetable growing. The village, and even individuals, should be given obligations on how many chickens, geese, rabbits, and other livestock to produce, as well as vegetables. Explain to them the benefits and significance of these activist groups, both for themselves and for the community as a whole – for every adult animal, there is one young one. What does liquidation mean, rather than the improvement of livestock farming, and then creating a production segment within cooperatives where dairy farming will develop? When forming an activist group, it is important to know what that group will do, to create a plan, and to assign a specific task. To create one group for a specific problem.

The question of political work arises: the almost nonexistent work, and no proper explanation and agitation exists. The issue of removing the niqab should be given attention. Abolish the Committees for removing the niqabs, focus on working in the economy, and then use them as agitators, while primarily addressing their issues. During the existence of the former Yugoslavia, there was a revolutionary slogan: “to protect mother and child.” That issue of protection is not just a problem for factories and unions, but also for our organization. A similar issue arises in worker cooperatives. Our organization is not an executor of the People’s government. To shift the focus of work to specific tasks, while assisting with the other tasks, because no one can order us around; we can only come to an agreement. Immediately present the plan to the Committee of the People’s Front and ask for their assistance. Our organization needs to fight for its authority and for the love of women. I pose questions of responsibility and discipline in front of all my female comrades, because it was the Party that placed us in these positions.

We move on to the second item on the agenda.

Dušanka Kovačević: We know that our organization is seriously ill, so we cannot set a general work program; instead, we must limit ourselves and set deadlines. We have tied the first phase of recovery to the celebration of the 8th of March. The preparations for the celebration will involve daily tasks that we need to complete. In the preparations for the celebration of the 8th of March, there will be daily tasks that we need to complete. In preparing for the celebration, we should be guided by three things: first, to explain the political events in the world and in our country through conferences, where we need to showcase to women the results of the revolution and the outcomes after the war. We will find the material to explain these matters in the speeches of Tito, Kardelj, and Kidrič, as well as in the speeches from the Bosnian-Herzegovinian assembly. Second, to explain the building of socialism, especially this year’s plan and how to implement it, and third, the international situation, including the issue of foreign policy and the position of our country. Here, it should be emphasized that the main issue is the struggle for world peace, led by the USSR. Women need to know the position of our country, because there is a campaign against our country that is supported by the USSR itself, which complicates the building of socialism, but in no way prevents it. They have now shifted from the method of slander to the method of sabotaging contracts, with the aim of preventing the building of socialism, as they are aware that if we achieve the implementation of the Five-Year Plan, there will be no room for that slander. We must openly say that what is being done to us is not allowed in the international labor movement. When we participate in all actions and consistently fight for peace, it means we have not joined the imperialist side.

Accusations that we trade with bourgeois countries cannot exist, as all other democratic countries also engage in trade. When it comes to sabotaging the agreements, we are forced to push ourselves even harder and to incorporate into our plan what we did not foresee in 1949. We did everything at the Danube Conference and in Paris to expose global imperialism and to support the international labor movement. When it comes to the struggle for peace, we need to explain to women the 2 opposite sides during our preparations for March 8th. Specifically, we need to talk to women about how women are fighting for peace thru the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF) and that women from 56 countries are adopting this program. In this regard, we should discuss the WIDF Congress and familiarize women with the Congress. Emphasize that our stance is for peace and that we will contribute to the successful work of the WIDF. When it comes to the 8th of March, we will not adorn ourselves with WIDF, but our slogan will be “struggle for peace”.  Start preparations immediately. To ensure that no woman is left out by some work. It is essential to have a district committee, sections, and to form a team of instructors who will teach the village committees how to operate. Failures arise from the fact that we know little about the WAF. Keep the instructors’ activist group constantly by your side, teach them, and explain the problems to them. The paper by Vida Tomšić serves as a theoretical foundation for the work, and therefore it is necessary to revise it at the district committees, sections, and the instructors’groups. Then it should be revised with the organizations.

Jelica Erceg: She presents the plan for the 8th of March competition that is set for the entire organization. The competition is set to begin on the 8th of February, and it should also mark the beginning of the work that needs to continue. 1. Immediately revise the speech by Vida Tomšič. 2. Create an activist group for vegetable growing in every village, promote it, and open nursery gardens, 3. Create initiatives for poultry farming and immediately start developing plans for how much poultry and rabbits each village will produce. Engage every woman and explain to her that this is the easiest way to address the nutrition issue. To reach as many women as possible by March 8th. To include as many women as possible in literacy courses by March 8th, 5. that the WAF organization prepares for the opening of children’s playgrounds, 6. to establish control over the colonized children. Visit all the colonized children, 7. to ensure that, in collaboration with the school administration and the Pioneer organization, our mothers take care of the regular attendance of children in school. Which organization will better organize March 8th and gather a larger number of women for these tasks? These obligations were set by the Main Board of the Women’s Antifascist Front, and individual organizations can introduce other tasks, such as kindergartens and nurseries, but not physical labor. The Committees should form competition juries and submit reports, results, and so on. The competition lasts until the 8th of March and on the 15th of March, please send the complete results. The best districts and exceptionally good village committees will be rewarded by the Main Board of the WAF. With this plan, we will present it to the District Committee and familiarize them with it, then at the conference, where the agricultural advisor and other comrades who can assist in the development of this plan should also attend. The cell secretaries should also assist with this competition. City organizations should instead include ideological-political work and the issue of mother and child.

Dušanka Ćumura: She talks about the forms that should be used in preparations for March 8th. This celebration should not be perceived by the committees as a campaign, but rather as the beginning of systematic work. This 8th  of March should leave a deep impression on women. The success of the celebration will be measured by how many passive women are involved in the preparations. First of all, it is planned to hold a seminar that will be organized by the Main Board. A group of instructors from the Main Board will visit the districts and hold seminars with the activists, who will then visit all the villages. The material for the seminar is a notebook that will be issued by the Central Committee of the Women’s Antifascist Front. Furthermore, in the preparations starting from March 1st, we should begin holding conferences and meetings to familiarize women with all these issues. All reading groups should also be used for this purpose. It would be propaganda for March 8th. The main Committee has planned the popularization of March 8th until February 15th. thru the press and radio, and for that, we need to have correspondence and ten-day reports. On the very day of March 8th, a program needs to be prepared in the district centers, to which 2-3 women from the village should be invited. Immediately start creating the program. The main board has taken on the obligation to issue a manual for our organization, which is set to be released by February 20th. Immediately inform what each factory will prepare. The ceremonial academy, which will be held in Sarajevo, will be attended by 200 mothers of fallen fighters, and therefore, by February 1st, please provide the names and addresses of these mothers. The Central Committee of the WAF  issues an illustration, and it is necessary for the Main Committee to know how many copies each district can sell, as well as to send 10 addresses of the best comrades among peasant women, workers, etc. to whom the Main Board will send the illustration for free and congratulate the 8th of March. In factories, also organize a celebration in the community with other workers. In villages, it is preferable to also organize events, especially in those where women are sidelined. On the very day of March 8th, in the district center, arrange the displays with work results, pictures, data, etc. Also visit the graves of fallen fighters. The sale of the stamps for March 8th should be organized in solidarity. From the total amount of sold stamps, the districts can keep 20 percent and all contributions. The money from the stamps will be used by the Central Committee for the membership fees of WIDF and propaganda, by the Main Committee for propaganda and courses, and by the district for courses, seminars, and similar activities. Create special committees for the celebration, both at the district committee and in the villages. Also, hold a lecture on the significance of March 8th in all schools, so connect with the school administrations and the Pioneer organization. In factories, organize competitions regarding the opening of nurseries, kindergartens, cafeterias, and so on. The academy will be held only in Zenica, Banja Luka, Tuzla, and Mostar.

We move on to the third item on the agenda.

The question of professionals arises in the following municipalities: Višegrad, Goražde, Fojnica, Srebrenica, and Bugojno.

Zenica city: Announces competitions in all cities of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Visoko: Also announces competitions in all districts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Dušanka Kovačević: The comrades from Zenica and Visoko need to come here on January 28th with a detailed plan to be reviewed and then published in print. Other districts should send their plans by February 1st and specify what they accept from the competitions. The Ministry of Social Welfare is launching a survey to register mothers with five or more children who will receive permanent financial assistance. The data will be recorded on special forms that will be submitted to the ministry. Now, this census will be conducted only by the cities of Zenica and Mostar and the districts of Bijeljina and Stolac, and later by all of Bosnia and Herzegovina, so promote it. Inform the Main Committee about the more difficult issues and problems you encounter, and also submit proposals to the District People’s Committee. I emphasize once again the responsibility of the comrades and the need to change the attitude toward women.

Archive of Bosnia and Herzegovina

January 20th, 1949.

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