A.K. 47 - Selections from the Works of Alexandra Kollontai

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.

Jaksot(150)

54 - Bonus Episode - On Kollontai and Turning Fifty

54 - Bonus Episode - On Kollontai and Turning Fifty

In this episode, Kristen Ghodsee reads a passage from Cathy Porter's excellent biography of Alexandra Kollontai about the events of the year 1922 when Kollontai turned 50. Her standing in the Party was at its worst and her marriage to Dubenko was falling apart. It was during this time that she wrote her "Letters to Working Youth," trying to share her experience and advice with the younger generations. On this episode, Ghodsee discusses generational politics with her daughter and why Millennia...

26 Huhti 202026min

53 - A.K. 47 - Sisters Part III

53 - A.K. 47 - Sisters Part III

In this episode Kristen Ghodsee reads the third and final part of Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 short story, "Sisters." The "Nepmen" in the story are Soviet revolutionaries that take advantage of Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP) to get rich and return to traditional gender roles. Kollontai herself was very critical of the NEP and especially its effects on Soviet women. Send us a text Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account and receives no funding. There are ...

17 Huhti 202020min

52 - A.K. 47 - Sisters Part II

52 - A.K. 47 - Sisters Part II

In this episode Kristen Ghodsee reads the second part of Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 short story, "Sisters." The "Nepmen" in the story are Soviet revolutionaries that take advantage of Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP) to get rich and return to traditional gender roles. Kollontai herself was very critical of the NEP and especially its effects on Soviet women. Send us a text Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account and receives no funding. There are no ads an...

10 Huhti 202018min

51 - A.K. 47 - Sisters Part I

51 - A.K. 47 - Sisters Part I

In this episode Kristen Ghodsee reflects on the coronavirus and begins to read Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 short story, "Sisters." Mentioned in this episode are the $2.99 e-book sale for the entire month of April for Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence, as well as Ghodsee's April 6th appearance on the Quarantine Books Club. Send us a text Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account and receives no funding. ...

1 Huhti 202019min

50 - A.K. 47 - Bonus Episode - Post-IWD Greetings from Wellington, New Zealand

50 - A.K. 47 - Bonus Episode - Post-IWD Greetings from Wellington, New Zealand

In this episode, Kristen Ghodsee send greetings from New Zealand and shares some exciting news about various articles and interviews that were published in conjunction with International Women's Day and Women's History Month. Please find below a list of links mentioned in this podcast: three in English and two in German. There is also a link to a Spanish translation of the New York Times piece.“How the socialist behind paid child care and parental leave was erased from women's history, “ NBC ...

10 Maalis 20208min

49 - A.K. 47 - Bonus Episode - International Women's Day 2020

49 - A.K. 47 - Bonus Episode - International Women's Day 2020

In this episode, Kristen Ghodsee recounts the amazing story of how Alexandra Kollontai saved the lives of one of her colleague's parents in Sweden. After the Nazi invasion of Norway in 1940, Hans Cerf and his wife needed to immediately get out of Europe through Moscow, but the clerk in the Soviet embassy in Stockholm said that it would take six weeks to issue them visas. Enter one "beautiful bosomy lady." Send us a text Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account an...

8 Maalis 202016min

48 - A.K. 47 - The Loves of Three Generations Discussion II

48 - A.K. 47 - The Loves of Three Generations Discussion II

In this episode, Kristen Ghodsee discusses the fraught historical relationship between left movements and women's emancipation. As the case of Kollontai shows us, revolutionary men do not always remain committed to women's issues after the revolution has been accomplished. Mentioned in this essay is this article about August Bebel from Jacobin Magazine. Send us a text Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account and receives no funding. There are no ads and there i...

1 Maalis 202017min

47 - A.K. 47 - The Loves of Three Generations Discussion I

47 - A.K. 47 - The Loves of Three Generations Discussion I

In this episode, Kristen R. Ghodsee discusses 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 whet...

14 Helmi 202018min

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