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A.K. 47 – Selections from the Works of Alexandra Kollontai — History
A.K. 47 – Selections from the Works of Alexandra Kollontai

Kristen R. Ghodsee reads and discusses 47 selections from the works of Alexandra Kollontai (1872-1952), a socialist women’s activist who had radical ideas about the intersections of socialism and women’s emancipation. Born into aristocratic privilege, the Ukrainian-Finnish Kollontai was initially a member of the Mensheviks before she joined Lenin and the Bolsheviks and became an important revolutionary figure during the 1917 Russian Revolution. Kollontai was a socialist theorist of women’s emancipation and a strident proponent of sexual relations freed from all economic considerations. After the October Revolution, Kollontai became the Commissar of Social Welfare and helped to found the Zhenotdel (the women’s section of the Party). She oversaw a wide variety of legal reforms and public policies to help liberate working women and to create the basis of a new socialist sexual morality. But Russians were not ready for her vision of emancipation, and she was sent away to Norway to serve as the first Russian female ambassador (and only the third female ambassador in the world). In this podcast, Kristen R. Ghodsee – a professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence (Bold Type Books 2018) – selects excerpts from the essays, speeches, and fiction of Alexandra Kollontai and puts them in context. Each episode provides an introduction to the abridged reading with some relevant background on Kollontai and the historical moment in which she was writing.

Copyright: © 2021 A.K. 47 - Selections from the Works of Alexandra Kollontai

Latest Episodes:

46 - A.K. 47 - The Loves of Three Generations Part V Feb 08, 2020

Show notes

In this episode, Kristen R. Ghodsee reads the final part of Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 short story, "The Loves of Three Generations," her most controversial piece of fiction and one that caused her terrible amounts of trouble with her Bolshevik colleagues. This story is written as a letter to Kollontai from a revolutionary comrade who is having personal problems and seeks Kollontai's advice. This colleague wants to know if her own feelings of betrayal and jealousy are remnants of the bourgeois past or whether she is justified in her indignation. This story reflects Kollonta's proposal that romantic love will come second to love for work and for the collective in the new socialist society to come. Most Russian readers were horrified by this story in 1923.
The key characters are:

Maria Stepanovna - The grandmother (Olga's mother and a populist)
Olga Sergeevna - The mother (the letter writer and a Marxist)
Comrade Ryabkov (Andrei) - Olga's husband (who is 7 years younger than she) and Zhenya's stepfather
Zhenya - Olga's 20-year-old daughter (who is sleeping with her stepfather)
Narrator - Presumably Alexandra Kollontai

Send us Fan Mail

Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account and receives no funding. There are no ads and there is no monetization. If you'd like to support the work being done here, please spread the word with your networks.
Kristen R. Ghodsee is the award-winning author of twelve critically acclaimed books published in over 20 languages, and a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Russian and East European Studies. Check out Kristen Ghodsee's recent books:

Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee’s free, episodic newsletter at: https://kristenghodsee.substack.com

Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work: www.kristenghodsee.com or request to follow her on Instagram @prof_kristen

45 - A.K. 47 - The Loves of Three Generations Part IV Jan 30, 2020

Show notes

In this episode, Kristen R. Ghodsee reads the fourth part of Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 short story, "The Loves of Three Generations," her most controversial piece of fiction and one that caused her terrible amounts of trouble with her Bolshevik colleagues. This story is written as a letter to Kollontai from a revolutionary comrade who is having personal problems and seeks Kollontai's advice. This colleague wants to know if her own feelings of betrayal and jealousy are remnants of the bourgeois past or whether she is justified in her indignation. This story reflects Kollonta's proposal that romantic love will come second to love for work and for the collective in the new socialist society to come. Most Russian readers were horrified by this story in 1923.
The key characters are:

Maria Stepanovna - The grandmother (Olga's mother and a populist)
Olga Sergeevna - The mother (the letter writer and a Marxist)
Comrade Ryabkov (Andrei) - Olga's husband (who is 7 years younger than she) and Zhenya's stepfather
Zhenya - Olga's 20-year-old daughter (who is sleeping with her stepfather)

Send us Fan Mail

Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account and receives no funding. There are no ads and there is no monetization. If you'd like to support the work being done here, please spread the word with your networks.
Kristen R. Ghodsee is the award-winning author of twelve critically acclaimed books published in over 20 languages, and a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Russian and East European Studies. Check out Kristen Ghodsee's recent books:

Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee’s free, episodic newsletter at: https://kristenghodsee.substack.com

Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work: www.kristenghodsee.com or request to follow her on Instagram @prof_kristen

44 - A.K. 47 - The Loves of Three Generations Part III Jan 24, 2020

Show notes

In this episode, Kristen R. Ghodsee reads the third part of Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 short story, "The Loves of Three Generations," her most controversial piece of fiction and one that caused her terrible amounts of trouble with her Bolshevik colleagues. This story is written as a letter to Kollontai from a revolutionary comrade who is having personal problems and seeks Kollontai's advice. This colleague wants to know if her own feelings of betrayal and jealousy are remnants of the bourgeois past or whether she is justified in her indignation. This story reflects Kollonta's proposal that romantic love will come second to love for work and for the collective in the new socialist society to come. Most Russian readers were horrified by this story in 1923.
The key characters are:

Maria Stepanovna - The grandmother (Olga's mother and a populist)
Olga Sergeevna - The mother (the letter writer and a Marxist)
Comrade Ryabkov (Andrei) - Olga's husband (who is 7 years younger than she) and Zhenya's stepfather
Zhenya - Olga's 20-year-old daughter (who is sleeping with her stepfather)

Send us Fan Mail

Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account and receives no funding. There are no ads and there is no monetization. If you'd like to support the work being done here, please spread the word with your networks.
Kristen R. Ghodsee is the award-winning author of twelve critically acclaimed books published in over 20 languages, and a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Russian and East European Studies. Check out Kristen Ghodsee's recent books:

Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee’s free, episodic newsletter at: https://kristenghodsee.substack.com

Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work: www.kristenghodsee.com or request to follow her on Instagram @prof_kristen

43 - A.K. 47 - The Loves of Three Generations Part II Jan 07, 2020

Show notes

In this episode, Kristen R. Ghodsee reads the second part of Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 short story, "The Loves of Three Generations," her most controversial piece of fiction and one that caused her terrible amounts of trouble with her Bolshevik colleagues. This story is written as a letter to Kollontai from a revolutionary comrade who is having personal problems and seeks Kollontai's advice. This colleague wants to know if her own feelings of betrayal and jealousy are remnants of the bourgeois past or whether she is justified in her indignation. This story reflects Kollonta's proposal that romantic love will come second to love for work and for the collective in the new socialist society to come. Most Russian readers were horrified by this story in 1923.

Send us Fan Mail

Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account and receives no funding. There are no ads and there is no monetization. If you'd like to support the work being done here, please spread the word with your networks.
Kristen R. Ghodsee is the award-winning author of twelve critically acclaimed books published in over 20 languages, and a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Russian and East European Studies. Check out Kristen Ghodsee's recent books:

Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee’s free, episodic newsletter at: https://kristenghodsee.substack.com

Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work: www.kristenghodsee.com or request to follow her on Instagram @prof_kristen

42 - A.K. 47 - The Loves of Three Generations Part I Dec 25, 2019

Show notes

In this episode, Kristen R. Ghodsee reads the first part of Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 short story, "The Loves of Three Generations," her most controversial piece of fiction and one that caused her terrible amounts of trouble with her Bolshevik colleagues. This story is written as a letter to Kollontai from a revolutionary comrade who is having personal problems and seeks Kollontai's advice. This colleague wants to know if her own feelings of betrayal and jealousy are remnants of the bourgeois past or whether she is justified in her indignation. This story reflects Kollonta's proposal that romantic love will come second to love for work and for the collective in the new socialist society to come. Most Russian readers were horrified by this story in 1923.

Send us Fan Mail

Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account and receives no funding. There are no ads and there is no monetization. If you'd like to support the work being done here, please spread the word with your networks.
Kristen R. Ghodsee is the award-winning author of twelve critically acclaimed books published in over 20 languages, and a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Russian and East European Studies. Check out Kristen Ghodsee's recent books:

Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee’s free, episodic newsletter at: https://kristenghodsee.substack.com

Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work: www.kristenghodsee.com or request to follow her on Instagram @prof_kristen

41 - A.K. 47 - Bonus Episode - A Conversation about Kollontai with Angelina Eimannsberger Dec 13, 2019

Show notes

In this bonus episode, Kristen Ghodsee speaks once again with Angelina Eimannsberger, a doctoral student in Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania, about Alexandra Kollontai and the usefulness of her theories today, particularly with regard to popular culture. Mentioned in this episode are Reese Witherspoon's production company, Hello Sunshine, and the political economy of feminist media today. Also discussed is Kollontai's hierarchy of life priorities for what she calls the "New Woman." First should come some form of meaningful work for the collective progress of society. Second should come friendships, and only third should come love and romance. Kollontai believes that too many women put love and romance in the first place and this undermines them as individual personalities. Eimannsberger also discusses Kollontai's critical review of fiction with strong female characters, and notes that most of the writer's who crafted these characters in Kollontai's time were male. Finally, Ghodsee and Eimannsberger consider the role of capitalist exploitation in radicalizing women to seek their own empowerment through socialism.

Send us Fan Mail

Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account and receives no funding. There are no ads and there is no monetization. If you'd like to support the work being done here, please spread the word with your networks.
Kristen R. Ghodsee is the award-winning author of twelve critically acclaimed books published in over 20 languages, and a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Russian and East European Studies. Check out Kristen Ghodsee's recent books:

Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee’s free, episodic newsletter at: https://kristenghodsee.substack.com

Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work: www.kristenghodsee.com or request to follow her on Instagram @prof_kristen

40 - A.K. 47 - Soon (In 48 Years Time) Nov 29, 2019

Show notes

In this episode, Kristen Ghodsee reads Alexandra Kollontai's short story, "Soon (In 48 years time)," written in 1922 about her imagination of the future of the Soviet Union. This is the first piece of Kollontai's fiction to appear on this podcast and it imagines a future "fir tree festival" on the 7th of January 1970 where the young people living on Commune 10 no longer know the words for "rich" and "poor." The story features a "Red Grandmother" who tells stories of the "Great Years" of the revolution and the long forgotten system called "capitalism."
What is so interesting about this short story is the implicit hint that the future communards of the Soviet Union are committed environmentalists. They have special guardians of the plant kingdom and they now use reflected light rays instead of electricity. Kollontai also gives the reader a glimpse of what life on a commune is like in 1970, with everybody responsible for only two hours of work a day in order to meet their basic needs. The world is now a confederation of self-sufficient communes with no war and no hunger and no money. This is obviously a piece of utopian science fiction, but it shows a dreamier side to Kollontai who probably used this story as an opportunity to justify the brutal realities of her 1922 present as a necessary stepping stone to a bright communist future that her grand children and great grand children would enjoy.

Send us Fan Mail

Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account and receives no funding. There are no ads and there is no monetization. If you'd like to support the work being done here, please spread the word with your networks.
Kristen R. Ghodsee is the award-winning author of twelve critically acclaimed books published in over 20 languages, and a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Russian and East European Studies. Check out Kristen Ghodsee's recent books:

Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee’s free, episodic newsletter at: https://kristenghodsee.substack.com

Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work: www.kristenghodsee.com or request to follow her on Instagram @prof_kristen

39 - A.K. 47 - Theses on Communist Morality in the Sphere of Marital Relations III Nov 18, 2019

Show notes

Kristen R. Ghodsee reads and discusses part three of Alexandra Kollontai's 1921 essay, "Theses on Communist Morality in the Sphere of Marital Relations." This essay is a precursor to "Make Way for Winged Eros" where Kollontai develops her Marxist understanding of marriage and the family as being part of the ideological superstructure, which is determined by the base of economic relations. Kollontai argues that the demise of capitalism will usher forth new definitions of the family. She argues that the end of capitalist economic relations will mean an end to the present definition of the family, but will produce a new definition of family more suitable to a collective and more cooperative society.
In this episode, Ghodsee also discusses Kollontai's problematic views on sex work and eugenics, and the challenges of reading Kollontai's 1921 essay from the vantage of 2019. In particular, Kollontai's eugenicist views must be rejected even as contemporary readers grapple with the continuing value of her theories of love.
Information about the host can be found at: www.kristenghodsee.com

Send us Fan Mail

Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account and receives no funding. There are no ads and there is no monetization. If you'd like to support the work being done here, please spread the word with your networks.
Kristen R. Ghodsee is the award-winning author of twelve critically acclaimed books published in over 20 languages, and a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Russian and East European Studies. Check out Kristen Ghodsee's recent books:

Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee’s free, episodic newsletter at: https://kristenghodsee.substack.com

Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work: www.kristenghodsee.com or request to follow her on Instagram @prof_kristen

38 - A.K. 47 - Theses on Communist Morality in the Sphere of Marital Relations II Nov 09, 2019

Show notes

Kristen R. Ghodsee reads and discusses part two of Alexandra Kollontai's 1921 essay, "Theses on Communist Morality in the Sphere of Marital Relations." This essay is a precursor to "Make Way for Winged Eros" where Kollontai develops her Marxist understanding of marriage and the family as being part of the ideological superstructure, which is determined by the base of economic relations. Kollontai argues that the demise of capitalism will usher forth new definitions of the family. She argues that the end of capitalist economic relations will mean an end to the present definition of the family, but will produce a new definition of family more suitable to a collective and more cooperative society.
Information about the host can be found at: www.kristenghodsee.com

Send us Fan Mail

Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account and receives no funding. There are no ads and there is no monetization. If you'd like to support the work being done here, please spread the word with your networks.
Kristen R. Ghodsee is the award-winning author of twelve critically acclaimed books published in over 20 languages, and a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Russian and East European Studies. Check out Kristen Ghodsee's recent books:

Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee’s free, episodic newsletter at: https://kristenghodsee.substack.com

Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work: www.kristenghodsee.com or request to follow her on Instagram @prof_kristen

37 - A.K. 47 - Theses on Communist Morality in the Sphere of Marital Relations I Oct 31, 2019

Show notes

Kristen R. Ghodsee reads and discusses part one of Alexandra Kollontai's 1921 essay, "Theses on Communist Morality in the Sphere of Marital Relations." This essay is a precursor to "Make Way for Winged Eros" where Kollontai develops her Marxist understanding of marriage and the family as being part of the ideological superstructure, which is determined by the base of economic relations. Kollontai argues that the demise of capitalism will usher forth new definitions of the family. She argues that the end of capitalist economic relations will mean an end to the present definition of the family, but will produce a new definition of family more suitable to a collective and more cooperative society.

Send us Fan Mail

Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account and receives no funding. There are no ads and there is no monetization. If you'd like to support the work being done here, please spread the word with your networks.
Kristen R. Ghodsee is the award-winning author of twelve critically acclaimed books published in over 20 languages, and a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Russian and East European Studies. Check out Kristen Ghodsee's recent books:

Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee’s free, episodic newsletter at: https://kristenghodsee.substack.com

Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work: www.kristenghodsee.com or request to follow her on Instagram @prof_kristen

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