ABSTRACT
Islam could have been such a barrier against Bolshevik expansion as cannot easily be found anywhere else in Asia. The Islamic reactionaries fought against the emancipation of women, just as our Conservatives did, until they were convinced that as soon as a woman gets a vote she votes for the priest, for Hindenburg, and for Mr. Baldwin. The Soviets, on the other hand, exert all their influence to effect the emancipation of the Mussulman women. They have achieved results in this direction which are quite imposing. In Usbekestan 60 per cent of the chairmen of the rural Soviets are women. This chapter suggests that woman is only a temporary "hanger-on" of the Soviets. But for the time being it can be said of the Soviets concerning woman that "they rise by her", rather than that "they perish by her". They doff her tchadra, her veil, and they find in her a powerful ally.
