File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1997/97-01-31.063, message 29


Date: Wed, 29 Jan 1997 21:22:42 -0500 (EST)
From: Justin Schwartz <jschwart-AT-freenet.columbus.oh.us>
Subject: Re: M-I: Foucault on USSR


On Wed, 29 Jan 1997, Kevin Cabral wrote:

> On Wed, 29 Jan 1997, Doug Henwood wrote:
> 
> 	No, I don't think Foucault is even close on this one. My
> understanding is that women were always in much better shape in regards to
> their equality with men economically and politically in the USSR than with
> their respective counterparts in the United States. The same goes for the
> accessibility of higher and continuous education, and healthcare. I know
> nothing about homosexuals in the USSR, though I'm skeptical as to their
> treatment given the record of Cuba on that matter. 		
> 
> 	I would appreciate, though, if someone could tell me if I'm
> correct on education; as I'm not sure how accessible it was outside of
> Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. 

Sorry, Foucault is closer than you on this. There was greater material
equality, but the position of women in Soviet (and Russian) society was
and is degraded. There was better access to higher education, but in terms
of opportunities afterwards, forget it. As to healthcare, you are talking
about a society without contradptives. ABortion was the usual means of
birth control. This is not a woman-friendly society.

As to gays and lesbians. The Bolsheviks legalized homosexuality. Stalin
recriminalized it. Soviet and Russian society was and is pathologically
homophobic.

--jks




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