In 1870, Julia Ward Howe issued her Mother’s Day Proclamation calling for disarmament and “To promote the alliance of the different nationalities, / the amicable settlement of international questions, / the great and general interests of peace.”  Today, as we celebrate Mother’s Day, the United States is a long way from Howe‘s vision.  The US is engaged in wars in four countries.  The US continues to rain bombs on women and children through the use of predator drones, making being a mother in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Libya increasingly difficult.  The violence of the US attacks on these countries have left many women widowed, and children orphaned.

Back home in the United States, it is also becoming increasingly difficult to be a mother.  In addition to the Mothers such as “Peace Mom” Cindy Sheehan, who have lost children in the seemingly unending wars, there has been a relentless attack on motherhood.  The cuts to Planned Parenthood could potentially deny working-class and poor women access to the pre-natal care necessary for giving birth to healthy babies, cuts to the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) programs proposed by the Obama Administration will deny children access to healthy food once they are born, and cuts to education prevent children from receiving the high quality of education they deserve.  All of this is compounded by cuts to libraries, after school programs, and other programs that can provide women peace of mind that their children are safe and taken care of.

The austerity budgets being enacted at the federal, state, and local budgets are being carried out while billions are being spent to destroy the lives of women and children in other countries.  The policies of the United States, both foreign and domestic, constitute an attack on women, particularly working-class and poor women.  Without the services necessary to provide for their children, the work of mothers in the US is made increasingly difficult and the quality of life of children is severely decreased.

So, for this Mother’s Day we can issue the call “Mother’s of the world unite!”  Our commonality as mothers transcend national borders and can unite us in making a call for a world of peaceful co-existence where the full development of human beings is the primary concern of our society.

As Socialists, we recognize and celebrate the work of Motherhood and we recognize the importance of supporting that work.  As such, we call for the immediate withdrawl of all troops and an end to all US military operations overseas.  We propose to use the money that would be saved by doing so for universal childcare, free access to pre-natal care, access to high quality nutrition, free, high quality public education for all children, and an abundance of public services such as libraries, summer camps, and after school programs to provide children safe and enriching environments.