Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 33 No. 15 1970
Program
Program
When SDS members make a political entry into a special group such as a women's liberation group, they should be armed with a program that raises the consciousness by relating specific felt needs to the broader struggle for socialism. We carry through this program by raising a series of transitional demands—that is, demands which flow from the specific struggle but which lead the struggle to a higher level of militancy and political sophistication.
We move that SDS accept the following program for struggle and agitate around the following demands.
Abolition of abortion laws; each woman must be free to make her own decisions.
Free abortions, as part of demand for free quality medical care for everybody, so poor women will have the same freedom of choice as middle-class women.
Freely available birth control devices and information.
Free full-time child-care facilities for all children, the expenses to be borne by the employer or the state Free pre-natal, maternity and post-natal care with no loss in pay for time off.
Establishment of free voluntary cafetarias in the factories and other places of work.
Divorce at the request of either partner. Abolition of alimony. Expenses for children to be paid by the state.
Lower the legal age of adulthood to 16. State stipend for schooling or training for any child who wishes to leave home. Free education for all children, with housing, food and stipend. No loco parentis. Student-teacher-worker control of all schools and colleges.
Full and equal pay for equal work.
Equal work: equal access to all job categories. Shorter work week with no loss in pay ("30 for 40") to eliminate unemployment at the capitalists expense.
An end to all forms of discrimination—legal, political, social and cultural.
SDS should seek the creation of a non-exclusionist class-conscious women's liberation organization in which SDS members can participate and struggle on the basis of the above program. Toward this end, we should direct interested SDS members to seek to initiate, along with other radical women, a nationally orientated women's liberation publication.