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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:

26 - A.K. 47 - The Social Basis of the Woman Question Part IV Aug 10, 2019

Show notes

In this episode, Kristen R. Ghodsee's reads the fourth 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, although by the end of the essay she begins to display a more strident allegiance to the total transformation of society demanded by the socialists.
This is Part IV of a multi episode series, and here Ghodsee discusses the problem of "free love" under capitalism. Basically, Kollontai argues that there can be no real "free love" unless there is a fundamental transformation in the social relations of society. She discusses the sexual harassment and abuse that female employees and domestic workers often face at the hands of their bosses, and how the idea of "free love" can be used to excuse the sexual predations of men in positions of power. But perhaps the most interesting questions raised in this part of the book is whether or not you can build a collective society on the base of individualistic family relations, or whether the socialization of the family should proceed the socialization of the means of production.

The intro music is a Russian version of The Internationale
More info about the host can be found at: www.kristenghodsee.com

Also see: AlexandraKollontai.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

25 - A.K. 47 - Bonus Episode: The "Adventure" of Motherhood Jul 30, 2019

Show notes

In this episode, Kristen Ghodsee's teenage daughter returns to discuss some recent comments by a Canadian psychology professor who believes that women should embrace the "adventure of motherhood," even if it requires great sacrifice and ends in pain and suffering. This A.K. 47 episode is a relevant reflection on the ongoing reading of Alexandra Kollontai's essay, "The Social Basis of the Woman Question," because Kollontai's specific goals with the essay were to think about how the state could help emancipate women by socializing some of the work of motherhood. Professor Peterson seems to suggest that it is women's "moral obligation" to bring children into the world without any social supports, and that this is part of the adventure of motherhood. This episode was also a lot of fun to record, and includes some tangential silliness.
Mentioned in this episode are Natalie Wynn's Contrapoints videos over on Youtube.
The intro/outro music is a Russian version of The Internationale.
More info 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

24 - A.K. 47 - The Social Basis of the Woman Question: Part III Jul 08, 2019

Show notes

In this episode, Kristen R. Ghodsee's reads the third 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 argues 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 III of a multi episode series, but it marks the first time that Ghodsee discusses Kollontai's sometimes controversial views about sex work. Kollontai has often been seen as an enemy of sex work because of her condemnation of prostitution, but it is very important to understand that Kollontai condemns a society in which all women are forced to sell themselves to men, either as prostitutes or as dependent wives. She views both the prostitute and the dependent wife as victims of a capitalist society, which commodifies women's care work and sexuality. Kollontai strives to build a society where both prostitution and bourgeois monogamous marriage are both unnecessary institutions because women have the social supports to find true emancipation.

The intro music is a Russian version of The Internationale
More info about the host can be found at: www.kristenghodsee.com

Also see: AlexandraKollontai.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

23 - A.K. 47 - The Social Basis of the Woman Question: Part II Jun 29, 2019

Show notes

In this episode, Kristen R. Ghodsee's reads the second 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 II of a multi episode series. Mentioned in this episode is Nancy Fraser's 2009 essay in the New Left Review, "FEMINISM, CAPITALISM AND THE CUNNING OF HISTORY."

The intro music is a Russian version of The Internationale
More info about the host can be found at: www.kristenghodsee.com

Also see: AlexandraKollontai.com – A Website for All Things 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

22 - A.K. 47 - The Social Basis of the Woman Question: Part I Jun 22, 2019

Show notes

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 Nancy Fraser's work on the politics of redistribution versus the politics of recognition.

The intro music is a Russian version of The Internationale
More info about the host can be found at: www.kristenghodsee.com

Also see: AlexandraKollontai.com – A Website for All Things 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

21 - A.K. 47 - Marriage and Everyday Life - Part II Jun 15, 2019

Show notes

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 Internationale
More info about the host can be found at: www.kristenghodsee.com

Also see: AlexandraKollontai.com – A Website for All Things 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

20 - A.K. 47 - Bonus Episode - Report from the Global Socialist Feminist Conference Jun 08, 2019

Show notes

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, 2018
Also 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.com

Also see: AlexandraKollontai.com – A Website for All Things 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

19 - A.K. 47 - Marriage and Everyday Life - Part I Jun 01, 2019

Show notes

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
More info about the host can be found at: www.kristenghodsee.com

Also see: AlexandraKollontai.com – A Website for All Things 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

18 - A.K. 47 - Decree on Child Welfare May 25, 2019

Show notes

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, 1979
Isabel de Palencia, Alexandra Kollontaj: Ambassadress of Russia, 1947
Beatrice Farnsworth, Alexandra Kollontai: Socialism, Feminism, and the Bolshevik Revolution. Stanford University Press, 1980
Cathy 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 Policy and Social Life, 1917-1936, Cambridge University Press, 1993
Elizabeth Wood, The Baba and the Comrade: Gender and Politics in Revolutionary Russia, Indiana University Press, 1997
Kristen R. Ghodsee, Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence. Bold Type Books, 2018

Drafts of the Communist Manifesto:

Friedrich Engels: Draft of a Communist Confession of Faith (first draft)
Friedrich Engels: The Principles of Communism (second draft)
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels: The Communist Manifesto (final version)

The intro music is a Russian version of The Internationale.
More info about the host can be found at: www.kristenghodsee.com

Also see: AlexandraKollontai.com – A Website for All Things 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

17 - A.K. 47 - The Statue of Liberty May 18, 2019

Show notes

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/p03lfbqt
The intro music is a Russian version of The Internationale.
More info about the host can be found at: www.kristenghodsee.com
Also see: AlexandraKollontai.com – A Website for All Things 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

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