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There is a crisis in Woron's Gauci ae Bo ws ever inevaagsing extant our ee is
being spert on internal conflicts.

For several months, 3 or 4 members of the YS/LSA were achive in
Women's Caucus, ard working relations betwean them and other members
of the Caucus were good. As the success of the abortion campaign be-
came clear, the YS/LSA came to see Women's Caucus as "an important
area of work" and they now form a large minority within Women's Caucus
who have their own strategy and vote as a block.

At the strategy sonference (June 20-21) the ¥S/ISA proposal that
we continue the abortion campaign as our main pricrity was defeated.
The conference decided that our priorities would be to organize women
around their situation in the work force and in the educational system.
However, since then it has become clear that they are unwilling to
accept the majority decision, and that their strategy is in basic con~
flict with the strategy adopted by Woments Caucus at the conference
and with the concent of an autonomous Women’s movement.

“WHY THIS MOWLON

a > On Thursday, June 13, at the general mceting, there was a notice
of MelaLons Proposed that members of the YS/LSA be excluded from the
Caucus, This has become necessary because it is at present impossible.
for the Caucus to operate as a group,

1. The Caucus has become a debating society where non-YS/LSA women are
forced into rigid positions in order to counter the YS/LSA position.

a. We and, most importantly, new women have always been excluded and
always will be from tue ¥S/LSA decision-making process. The YS raises
the fear that this motion is undemocratic, This would be true only if
exclusion from Women's Caucus meant exclusion from the women's libera-
tion movement. Women's Caucus is oniy one group with a specific
strategy, working towards women's liberation. There are and shoulda be
_meny other groups with different strategies within the women's libera-
tion movement. The YS/LS.A women have a strategy different from that
of Women's Caucus, and we encourage them to establish a erour and be-
gin to organize women around their strategy.

3. There exists the fear that once you start excluding one group,
others may be excludcd. We recognize the serious nature of this fear.
However, our motion is an attempt to exclude a group whose structure
is centralized and authoritarian, and whose members are not allowed to
disagree publicly (i.c., within Women{s Caucus) with YS/LSA positions;
whose membership and dccision-making meetings are closed and whose
allegiance is apparently to the YS/LSA. We do not know of any other
group with these charactcristics; in ee the YS/LSA does claim to

be uni gue.

WHAT IS THE YS/LSA

YS and LSA (Young Socialists and League for Socialist Action) are
democratic-centralist organizations, which means that all members demo-
oo geht participate in discussions and strategy decisions. But the
Ys/L are national organizations, and thcir overall stratcgy is definag