NOW pledges renewed women's rights fight

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The National Organization for Women (NOW), going into its 20th year, held its national convention in Denver, Colo., on June 13-15. It was an upbeat convention with 1500 registered participants expressing the renewed militancy of NOW on the issues of abortion, child care, equal pay for equal work, and affirmative action.

On June 14, NOW organized a march to the State Capitol of over 2500 pro-choice supporters and members. Eleanor Smeal, who was reelected to the NOW presidency at the organization's last national con -vention, replacing Judy Goldsmith, reaffirmed her commitment toward militant action in the streets.

Smeal stressed in her address to the delegates that the women's movement must remain independent of the two major poli -tical parties. "We know something we maybe didn't know a few years ago," she said.

During the last years of the fight for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), NOW shifted its focus from mass action to elect -ing Democrats. Thousands of activists for the ERA were urged to ring doorbells to elect " good Democrats."

Nevada was an excellent example of the futility of this policy. NOW sent women into Nevada by the hundreds to campaign for 10 "pro-ERA" state representatives. All 10 were elected and all 10 voted against the ERA amendment as soon as it came up on the floor of the state legislature.

This tragic farce was repeated in state after state. It was no wonder that NOW began to lose members and dues. Even worse, the issue of abortion rights was placed on the back burner because NOW spokespersons said it was an "embar -rassment" to those who supported the ERA.

In her keynote address to the delegates, NOW President Smeal noted serious problems, internal and external, confronting the feminist group. But while noting that "some powers-that-be want us to go out of business," she ridiculed their judgment that the country was in a "post-feminist era."

Drawing the lessons of NOW'S ERA setback, Smeal declared, "We're going to have to depend on ourselves... we don't want to be an arm of anybody."

The convention approved a strong resolution on abortion rights, calling for legal and mass action against "terrorist activities" at clinics. The resolution called for the creation of a strike force to "systematically track activities of the anti-abortion extremists."

The resolution also called for further demonstrations and conferences to mobilize for abortion rights. NOW voted to fight abortion-related referendums, slated to be on the ballot this year, which restrict "a woman's right to choose."

The convention reaffirmed NOW's support of a number of important women's rights. Resolutions called for "full public funding" for child-care programs, for con -tinued commitment to ending wage discrimination based on sex and race, and for defending the rights of women in marital disputes.