THE WOMEN'S CLUB THE BELLES AND BATTLE-AXES OF COMMUNISM GATHERED LAST WEEK 
AT THE KREMLIN FOR THE WORLD WOMEN'S CONGRESS . THERE WERE 
2,000 DELEGATES FROM MORE THAN A HUNDRED LANDS . BUXOM RUSSIAN 
COMRADES IN FLOWERED PRINTS MINGLED WITH BANTUS IN STRIPED ROBES . 
CUTE YOUNG CHICKS FROM ROME AND BOLOGNA SAT NEXT TO IRON-JAWED 
VETERANS WHO HAD STUCK HATPINS IN POLICEMEN'S HORSES IN LONG-AGO STREET 
RIOTS IN BERLIN AND BUENOS AIRES, MELBOURNE AND MADRID . SOME 
SEEMED TO HAVE GENTLED WITH AGE . DOLORES IBARRURI, 68, THE 
FIREBRAND WHO WAS KNOWN AS LA PASIONARIA IN THE SPANISH CIVIL 
WAR, NOW LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE'S KIND OLD GRANDMOTHER . OTHERS HAVE 
MADE THE CHANGE, AT LEAST OUTWARDLY, FROM RED AMAZONS TO REASONABLY 
FASHIONABLE WOMEN : SLIM, TOUSLEHAIRED JEANNETTE VERMEERSCH, WIFE OF FRANCE'S RED 
BOSS MAURICE THOREZ, COULD HAVE STEPPED OUT OF THE GALERIES LAFAYETTE, 
IF NOT DIOR . ONCE-DOWDY LOTTE ULBRICHT, MARRIED TO EAST GERMANY'S 
LACKLUSTER PRESIDENT, COULD PASS AS A WELL-TO-DO PROVINCIAL HAUSFRAU, AND INDIA'S 
ARUNA ASAF ALI LOOKED STRIKING IN SILK, MAKING IT HARD TO 
BELIEVE THAT AS A DEDICATED SABOTEUR SHE ONCE MOVED THE BRITISH 
TO PUT A PRICE OF 10,000 RUPEES ON HER HEAD . 
" OUR CONGRESS IS A MANIFESTATION OF CHARMING WOMANHOOD, MOTHERLY WARMTH, 
MORAL AND PHYSICAL BEAUTY ! " GUSHED LA PASIONARIA, QUITE A 
LITTLE OFF THE MARK . ABOVE ALL, THE CONGRESS WAS A 
MANIFESTATION OF THE EVER-WIDENING SINOSOVIET SPLIT . ITALIAN FLIGHT . AS 
USUAL, THE DISPUTE WAS BETWEEN THE KHRUSHCHEV LINE, WHICH HOLDS THAT 
TO AVOID NUCLEAR DISASTER CAPITALISM MUST BE FOUGHT THROUGH PEACEFUL MEANS, 
AND THE MAO TSE-TUNG LINE, WHICH DEMANDS AN AGGRESSIVE POLICY, EVEN 
AT THE RISK OF WAR . COMING ON IN THE FIRST 
SESSION AT THE KREMLIN'S MODERN HALL OF CONGRESSES, JAPAN'S KIMONO-CLAD FUKI 
KUSHIDA DEMANDED THE WITHDRAWAL OF U.S . " AGGRESSIVE FORCES " 
FROM SOUTH VIET NAM, FORMOSA, OKINAWA, AFRICA, LATIN AMERICA AND THE 
MIDDLE EAST . IN A SIMPLER PERIOD OF COMMUNIST HISTORY, THIS 
MIGHT HAVE PASSED ALMOST UNNOTICED AS THE STANDARD LINE, EAST OR 
WEST . BUT NOW THERE WAS A SUDDEN MOVEMENT ON THE 
FLOOR, AND OUT OF THE HALL STALKED 50 OF THE FINEST, 
MOST PEACE-LOVING ITALIAN FEMALES EVER GATHERED IN ONE BUNCH AT THE 
KREMLIN . WHAT WAS BOTHERING THEM ? A TRIM ROMAN BLONDE 
EXPLAINED : " WE ARE HERE AS WOMEN TO WORK FOR 
PEACE AND NOT TO ENGAGE IN COLD WAR POLEMICS . " 
MORE TO THE POINT, JAPAN'S COMMUNIST PARTY IS ONE OF THOSE 
ALIGNED WITH RED CHINA, AND ITALY'S RED LADIES WERE UNMISTAKABLY SHOWING 
THEIR SOLIDARITY WITH COMRADE NIKITA IN THE SINO-SOVIET FIGHT . RED 
CHINA'S YANG YUN-YU RETURNED THE BALL TO THE SOVIETS BY LASHING 
THE U.S . FOR USING NUCLEAR BLACKMAIL " TO ENSLAVE THE 
WORLD, " ATTACKING JOHN KENNEDY FOR HIS CUNNING " STRATEGY " 
TO DIVIDE CHINA AND THE SOVIET UNION, AND INSISTING THAT THE 
FOREMOST PROBLEM WAS NOT PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE BUT MAINTAINING THE ACTIVE STRUGGLE 
AGAINST IMPERIALISM . " HOW, " SHE DEMANDED, " CAN THE 
OPPRESSED COEXIST WITH THEIR OPPRESSORS ? " LOTTE ULBRICHT REPLIED THAT 
MADAME YANG WAS WAY OFF BASE . NO ONE WAS DEMANDING 
THAT OPPRESSED NATIONS LIVE HAPPILY WITH THEIR OPPRESSORS, SHE SAID, AND 
ADDED THAT RUSSIA WAS, AS ALWAYS, " WHOLEHEARTEDLY BEHIND THE REVOLUTIONARY 
STRUGGLES OF COLONIAL PEOPLES . / ON THE THIRD DAY, INDIA'S 
ARUNA ASAF ALI CHARGED CHINA WITH BLOCKING ALL EFFORTS TO SETTLE 
THE HIMALAYAN WAR WITH INDIA . OUT OF THEIR SEATS BOUNCED 
TWO DIMINUTIVE CHINESE DELEGATES WHO LEGGED IT TO THE PLATFORM IN 
SLIT SKIRTS TO DEMAND TIME FOR REBUTTAL, THEIR HEATED WORDS DULY 
TRANSLATED BY AN INTERPRETER . A RUSSIAN OFFICIAL FRANTICALLY WRAPPED HER 
HANDS AROUND THE MICROPHONE ; BRITISH CHAIRMAN DR . JOAN CARRITT 
VAINLY JANGLED A BELL ; PRO-SOVIET DELEGATES ADDED TO THE UPROAR 
BY SHOUTING THAT THE CHINESE SHOULD STAND DOWN . MALE WALL 
. THE ONLY PEOPLE PAYING ATTENTION TO THE BITTER CHINESE COMPLAINTS 
WERE A GROUP OF WESTERN NEWSMEN . THE SIGHT OF OUTSIDERS 
OVERHEARING THE FAMILY QUARREL BROUGHT FIERY JEANNETTE VERMEERSCH TO HER FEET 
AND, POINTING AN ACCUSING FINGER, SHE CRIED TO THE CHINESE DELEGATES 
: " YOU ARE TALKING IN FRONT OF THE IMPERIALIST PRESS 
AND YET YOU SAY THAT YOU ARE FIGHTING IMPERIALISM ! " 
STRONG-ARMED RUSSIAN MALES FORMED A HUMAN WALL BETWEEN THE REPORTERS AND 
THE CHINESE AS THE EXASPERATED CHAIRMAN ADJOURNED THE MEETING . THE 
ROLE OF PEACEMAKER FELL TO GUINEA'S JEANNE MARTIN, PRESIDENT OF THE 
PANAFRICAN WOMEN'S CONFERENCE, WHO GOT THE CHINESE LADIES OFF THE PLATFORM 
BY PROMISING THEM A LATER CHANCE TO SPEAK . DESPITE ALL 
THOSE IDEOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES, A NON-COMMUNIST MALE WHO HAS EVER HAD ANYTHING 
TO DO WITH A WOMEN'S ORGANIZATION COULD NOT ESCAPE THE UNCOMFORTABLE 
FEELING THAT THE RED LADIES WERE ACTING SOMEWHAT LIKE ORGANIZATION WOMEN 
. AT WEEK'S END THE MOOD GREW BEYOND EVEN PREDICTABLE FEMININE 
EXCITEMENT . THE CONGRESS WENT INTO SECRET SESSION, HOPING TO HAMMER 
OUT ITS DIFFERENCES BEHIND CLOSED DOORS . THE ATTEMPT FAILED . 
WHEN THE MAJORITY AGREED ON AN APPEAL FOR PEACE AND AGAINST 
THE ARMS RACE, BUT FAILED TO DENOUNCE THE U.S . OR 
NATO, THE CHINESE DELEGATES AND THEIR ALBANIAN ALLIES VOTED AGAINST, AND 
REMAINED STUBBORNLY SEATED WHILE THE CROWD OF 5,000 JUMPED TO THEIR 
FEET, WAVED HANDKERCHIEFS AND CLAPPED RHYTHMICALLY IN A 50-MINUTE DEMONSTRATION . 
CHINA'S MADAME YANG THEN MOUNTED THE PODIUM TO EXPLAIN HER VOTE, 
BUT WAS DROWNED OUT BY ANGRY SHOUTS AND FINALLY RULED OUT 
OF ORDER . 