A.k. 47 - Selections From The Works Of Alexandra Kollontai

In this episode, Kristen R. Ghodsee's reads the first part of her selections from Alexandra Kollontai's 1909 book, The Social Basis of the Woman Question. This manuscript was written while Alexandra Kolllontai was in exile from Tsarist Russia and affiliated with the German Social Democratic party. This is a key text in the history of socialist feminism, and is seen by many as a foundational document in distinguishing the "bourgeois feminists" from the socialists. In this essay, Kollontai is clearly a social democrat and an advocate for reformist social democratic politics. She only becomes a Bolshevik in 1914, and eventually becomes an anarchist, and finally a Stalinist. Ghodsee makes the case that contemporary leftists should also be "left fluid," or open to all leftist perspectives and willing to cooperate with those who have different visions for how we get to a most just, equitable, and sustainable future. This is Part I of a multi episode series. Mentioned in this episode is

In this episode, Kristen R. Ghodsee reads further selections from Kollontai's 1926 speech, “Marriage and Everyday Life.” By this time Vladimir Lenin was dead after introducing the New Economic Policy (NEP). Kollontai was already serving as a diplomat in Norway, but she came back to the Soviet Union to participate in the discussions surrounding the proposed Family Code which was to replace the original 1918 Family Code that Kollontai had a big hand in shaping. By 1925, Bolshevik leaders were retreating from their commitments to the socialization of the family and to sexual equality, and focused instead on building the Soviet economy. Kollontai fought hard to abolish alimony and to force the state to support women and children, but the project was too expensive and the population was exhausted from the chaos and instability that followed the initial liberalization of divorce laws. The intro music is a Russian version of The InternationaleMore info about the host can be found at: www.kristenghodsee.comAlso

In this episode, Kristen Ghodsee speaks with Julia Mead about reading and discussing Kollontai at the Global Socialist Feminism symposium at the University of Michigan from June 1-3, 2019. Discussed in this episode is Kollontai's 1909 piece, "The Social Basis of the Woman Question," which will be the subject of a future series of episodes.Mentioned in this podcast are two articles:Kristen Ghodsee and Julia Mead, “Debating Gender in State Socialist Women’s Magazines: The Cases of Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia,” History of Communism in Europe, Vol 8, 2018: 15-34 Kristen Ghodsee and Julia Mead, “What Has Socialism Ever Done for Women?” Catalyst, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2018Also discussed in this episode is the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF)The intro music is a Russian version of The Internationale More info about the host can be found at: www.kristenghodsee.comAlso see: AlexandraKollontai.com – A Website for All Things Kollontai Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patre

In this episode, Kristen R. Ghodsee reads selections from Kollontai's 1926 speech, “Marriage and Everyday Life.” By this time Vladimir Lenin was dead and Kollontai was already serving as a diplomat in Norway. She came back to the Soviet Union to participate in the discussions surrounding the proposed Family Code which was to replace the original 1918 Family Code that Kollontai had a big hand in shaping. By 1925, the Bolshevik leaders were retreating from their commitments to sexual equality and focusing instead on building the Soviet Economy. Kollontai fought hard to force the state to support women and children, but the project was too expensive and the population was exhausted from the chaos and instability that followed the initial liberalization of divorce laws. Mentioned in this episode is Wendy Goldman's excellent book: Women, the State and Revolution: Soviet Family Policy and Social Life, 1917-1936 (Cambridge University Press, 1993)The intro music is a Russian version of The Internationale Mo

In this episode, Kristen Ghodsee reads the “Decree on Social Welfare” from January 31, 1918, written by Alexandra Kollontai when she was the Commissar for Social Welfare in the first Bolshevik government. There are quite a few external sources mentioned in this episode and they are detailed below.Biographies of Kollontai in English (please note the alternative spellings of her name, which are an artifact of different traditions of the transliteration of the Cyrillic alphabet into Latin letters.)Barbara Evans Clements, Bolshevik Feminist: The Life of Aleksandra Kollontai, Indiana University Press, 1979Isabel de Palencia, Alexandra Kollontaj: Ambassadress of Russia, 1947Beatrice Farnsworth, Alexandra Kollontai: Socialism, Feminism, and the Bolshevik Revolution. Stanford University Press, 1980Cathy Porter, Alexandra Kollontai: A Biography (Updated Edition) Haymarket Books, (1980) 2014 Other books about early Soviet policies about women and the family: Wendy Goldman: Women, the State and Revolution: Soviet Family

In this episode, Kristen R. Ghodsee reads and discusses Alexandra Kollontai's 1916 essay on seeing the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor for the first time. Kollontai was invited to the United States by the Socialist Party of America in 1915 to speak against US involvement in WWI. She toured the country visiting 80 cities and towns and delivering 123 speeches in 4 languages, including English, which she spoke fluently because she was raised by an English governess. Here is a wonderful BBC Witness story about Alexandra Kollontai: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p03lfbqtThe intro music is a Russian version of The Internationale.More info about the host can be found at: www.kristenghodsee.comAlso see: AlexandraKollontai.com – A Website for All Things Kollontai Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon account and receives no funding. If you would like to support the work being done here, please spread the word and share with your friends and networks, and consider exploring the followin

This is the third episode in a series of discussions that will feature Kristen R. Ghodsee with various guests reflecting on Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 essay: "Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth." In this essay, Kollontai works out her theories of how love and sexuality will be superior under socialism as compared to the bourgeois capitalist past.  She provides a Marxist history of love and sex as ideals that change depending on how the ruling class uses them to promote their own economic interests. It is an essential essay in terms of thinking about the intersections of sexuality and political economy, and it was an important inspiration for Ghodsee's 2018 book: Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence.  In this episode, Kristen Ghodsee speaks with Angelina Eimannsberger, a Ph.D. student in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory at the University of Pennsylvania. Angelina hosts a bookstagram account, @indulgencezine, wher

This is the second episode in a series of discussions that will feature Kristen R. Ghodsee with various guests reflecting on Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 essay: "Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth." Kristen Ghodsee's guest this week is her 17-year-old daughter who reflects on the relevance of Kollontai to high school life in 2019. In this essay, Kollontai works out her theories of how love and sexuality will be superior under socialism as compared to the bourgeois capitalist past.  She provides a Marxist history of love and sex as ideals that change depending on how the ruling class uses them to promote their own economic interests. It is an essential essay in terms of thinking about the intersections of sexuality and political economy, and it was an important inspiration for Ghodsee's 2018 book: Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence. In this episode, Ghodsee and her daughter discuss the idea that having a large friend

This is the first episode in a series of discussions that will feature Kristen R. Ghodsee with various guests reflecting on Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 essay: "Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth." Kristen Ghodsee's guest this week is the artist and Penn School of Design grad student, Elisheva Levy.In this essay, Kollontai works out her theories of how love and sexuality will be superior under socialism as compared to the bourgeois capitalist past.  She provides a Marxist history of love and sex as ideals that change depending on how the ruling class uses them to promote their own economic interests. It is an essential essay in terms of thinking about the intersections of sexuality and political economy, and it was an important inspiration for Ghodsee's 2018 book: Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence. In this episode, Elisheva Levy discusses her research project, "Beyond Monogamous Architecture" in relation t

This is the fifth episode in a series of episodes that will feature Kristen R. Ghodsee's reading and discussion of Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 essay: "Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth." In this essay, Kollontai works out her theories of how love and sexuality will be superior under socialism as compared to the bourgeois capitalist past.  She provides a Marxist history of love and sex as ideals that change depending on how the ruling class uses them to promote their own economic interests. It is an essential essay in terms of thinking about the intersections of sexuality and political economy, and it was an important inspiration for Ghodsee's 2018 book: Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence.Many thanks to the folks over at Revolutionary Left Radio for linking to this podcast in the program notes of their March 8, 2019 interview with Kristen Ghodsee.FYI - the intro music is a Russian version of The Internationale. www.

This is the fourth episode in a series of episodes that will feature Kristen R. Ghodsee's reading and discussion of Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 essay: "Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth." In this essay, Kollontai works out her theories of how love and sexuality will be superior under socialism as compared to the bourgeois capitalist past.  She provides a Marxist history of love and sex as ideals that change depending on how the ruling class uses them to promote their own economic interests. It is an essential essay in terms of thinking about the intersections of sexuality and political economy, and it was an important inspiration for Ghodsee's 2018 book: Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence.Many thanks to the folks over at Revolutionary Left Radio for linking to this podcast in the program notes of their March 8, 2019 interview with Kristen Ghodsee.FYI - the intro music is a Russian version of The Internationale. www

This is the third episode in a series of episodes that will feature Kristen R. Ghodsee's reading and discussion of Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 essay: "Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth." In this essay, Kollontai works out her theories of how love and sexuality will be superior under socialism as compared to the bourgeois capitalist past.  She provides a Marxist history of love and sex as ideals that change depending on how the ruling class uses them to promote their own economic interests. It is an essential essay in terms of thinking about the intersections of sexuality and political economy, and it was an important inspiration for Ghodsee's 2018 book: Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence.Many thanks to the folks over at Revolutionary Left Radio for linking to this podcast in the program notes of their March 8, 2019 interview with Kristen Ghodsee.FYI - the intro music is a Russian version of The Internationale.More

This is the second episode in a series of episodes that will feature Kristen R. Ghodsee's reading and discussion of Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 essay: "Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth." In this essay, Kollontai works out her theories of how love and sexuality will be superior under socialism as compared to the bourgeois capitalist past.  She provides an essential Marxist history of love and sex as ideals that change depending on how the ruling class uses them to promote their own economic interests. It is an essential essay in terms of thinking about the intersections of sexuality and political economy, and it was an important inspiration for Ghodsee's 2018 book: Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence.Many thanks to the folks over at Revolutionary Left Radio for linking to this podcast in the program notes of their March 8, 2019 interview with Kristen Ghodsee.FYI - the intro music is a Russian version of The Internat

Happy Spring!This is the first episode in a series of episodes that will feature Kristen R. Ghodsee's reading and discussion of Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 essay: "Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth." In this essay, Kollontai works out her theories of how love and sexuality will be superior under socialism as compared to the bourgeois capitalist past.  She provides an essential Marxist history of love and sex as ideals that change depending on how the ruling class uses them to promote their own economic interests. It is an essential essay in terms of thinking about the intersections of sexuality and political economy, and it was an important inspiration for Ghodsee's 2018 book: Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence.Many thanks to the folks over at Revolutionary Left Radio for linking to this podcast in the program notes of their March 8, 2019 interview with Kristen Ghodsee.FYI - the intro music is a Russian version of

Happy International Women's Day! This episode features an actual audio clip of Alexandra Kollontai speaking "to the workers." This undated audio clip was downloaded from the www.marxists.org website, and Alina Yakubova provided the translation from Russian to English. In the first part of the episode, Ghodsee reads the English translation between segments of Kollontai's speech. A bit of commentary is then followed by the entirety of Kollontai's speech without interruptions.  The rough translation of the speech by Alina Yakubova is here:Comrade [female] workers!For long centuries, a woman had been oppressed and without rights. For long centuries, she had been a man’s appendix and his shadow. The husband fed the wife, and for that, the wife submitted to his will and humbly bore her lack of rights, and her domestic and family slavery. The October Revolution has liberated the woman. Now, a female peasant has the same rights as the male peasant, a female worker has the same rights as the m

On the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution in 1927, Alexandra Kollontai published an essay titled, "What Has the October Revolution Done for Women in the West?" In this episode, Kristen Ghodsee reads selections of this essay and reflects on the claim that the Soviet attention to women's emancipation acted as a catalyst for Western countries to grant their own women greater rights and privileges. Mentioned in this episode is Ghodsee's new book, Second World, Second Sex: Socialist Women's Activism and Global Solidarity during the Cold War, 1968-1990, which is just out with Duke University Press. More information about Kristen R. Ghodsee can be found at www.kristenghodsee.comThanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon account and receives no funding. If you would like to support the work being done here, please spread the word and share with your friends and networks, and consider exploring the following links:Buy Kristen Ghodsee's new book now: Everyday UtopiaS

In 1920, the Soviet Union became the first country in the world to legalize abortion.  In this episode, Kristen Ghodsee reads a few paragraphs from Alexandra Kollontai's 1921 essay: "The Labour of Women in the Evolution of the Economy," and then has a discussion with the feminist poet, Annie Finch (www.anniefinch.com), who is working on a literary anthology of writing about abortion, tentatively titled: A Womb of One's Own.More information about Kristen R. Ghodsee can be found at www.kristenghodsee.comThanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon account and receives no funding. If you would like to support the work being done here, please spread the word and share with your friends and networks, and consider exploring the following links:Buy Kristen Ghodsee's new book now: Everyday UtopiaSubscribe to Kristen Ghodsee's (very occasional) free newsletter. Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work at: www.kristenghodsee.com

In this episode, Kristen R. Ghodsee reads selections from Alexandra Kollontai's 1921 essay, "Sexual Relations and the Class Struggle." Here, Kollontai describes the loneliness people feel when they think of sexual and romantic partners as forms of property to be owned and jealously protected. More information about Kristen R. Ghodsee can be found at www.kristenghodsee.comThanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon account and receives no funding. If you would like to support the work being done here, please spread the word and share with your friends and networks, and consider exploring the following links:Buy Kristen Ghodsee's new book now: Everyday UtopiaSubscribe to Kristen Ghodsee's (very occasional) free newsletter. Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work at: www.kristenghodsee.com

In this episode, Kristen Ghodsee discusses the contemporary relevance of Alexandra Kollontai with her 17-year-old daughter. What does a socialist theorist writing over a century ago have to tell young people today?More information about Kristen R. Ghodsee can be found at www.kristenghodsee.comThanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon account and receives no funding. If you would like to support the work being done here, please spread the word and share with your friends and networks, and consider exploring the following links:Buy Kristen Ghodsee's new book now: Everyday UtopiaSubscribe to Kristen Ghodsee's (very occasional) free newsletter. Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work at: www.kristenghodsee.com

In this second episode, Kristen Ghodsee takes a moment to introduce herself and to give some background on Alexandra Kollontai. Ghodsee then reads the first section of Kollontai's report from the First International Socialist Women's Conference held in Stuttgart, Germany in 1907. This was an historic meeting of socialist women from across Europe. It was attended by 58 delegates from 14 countries, and Kollontai represented Russia.  The congress of socialist women convened to discuss the issue of universal suffrage for the working class, including women, and the need for a special international movement to agitate among women. Kollontai argued that as long as the working class was divided by sex, the bourgeois owners of the means of production would rest easy because any strike by male workers could easily be broken by calling up the "army" of "submissive" female workers to replace them. But once women workers joined with their male comrades, the bourgeois would have no choice but