Alexandra Kollontai The Love of Worker Bees in Historical Context

Soma Marik1

Evolution of Gender Politics In the 1920s, a prominent Bolshevik, Alexandra Kollontai, wrote a series of stories, collected in two volumes, the second of which was better known !his collection was entitled The Love of Worker Bees. Both then, and later, since its "n#lish translation and publication in the 19$0s, it has been the sub%ect of much controvers& An& serious understandin# of The Love of Worker Bees has to situate the book in the context of the life and the politics of its author, for even a cursor& readin# su##ests the didactic purposes at work in the text Alexandra Kollontai was a ma%or fi#ure in the 'ussian socialist movement from the turn of the centur& throu#h the revolution and civil war (er ver& birth was, as one bio#rapher sa&s, a social statement, as her mother, Alexandra, had left her husband to #o and live with an arm& captain named )omontovich, who belon#ed to the 'ussian nobilit& and #iven birth to the dau#hter before her divorce was le#all& sanctioned 1 *he brou#ht to this love match a son and two dau#hters from her previous arran#ed marria#e +e will find this incident partiall& reflected in , The Love of Three Generations -.&ubov trekh/ pokolenii0 !he &oun# Kollontai was studious, and at the same time, throu#h the examples of older women friends like 1oia *hadurskaia, she came to believe that women needed purpose in their lives, rather than, as it was usual for women of her class, to simpl& ,enter societ&/ In about 1290 she fell in love with a cousin named 3ladimir Kollontai, and married him over some ob%ections from her famil& -her mother warned her about the povert& of 3ladimir, and her father about the differences in their characters 4 she serious, immersed in the world of books, he possessin# no serious conversation0 In 1295, she #ot married But soon she was findin# marria#e and motherhood a ,ca#e/ 2 3ladimir was a factor& inspector, and he and his en#ineer friends were bored with the social and economic issues that moved
1

Reader in History, Ramakrishna Sarada Mission Vivekananda Vidyabhavan, Calcutta.

The Love of Worker Bees in Historical Context

Alexandra and her friend 1oia, who often came to visit her Kollontai be#an political work in 1296, when she was a new mother, b& teachin# evenin# classes for workers in *t 7etersbur# 8or the rest of her political career, Kollontai retained her connections with the women textile workers of *t 7etersbur# But in 1299, there was a clear rupture with her husband 3isitin# the hu#e Kronholm textile works, emplo&in# 12,000 workers, she was moved b& the livin# and workin# conditions, and an#ered b& her husband/s bland assurance about the need for minor improvements 5 In course of her educational work, she met "lena *tasova, and 3era and .iudmila :en;hinskaia, all three of whom were alread& workin# as *ocial )emocrats, and the& helped push her in the direction of the *ocial )emocrac& In 1292 she left for 1urich, be#innin# her final separation from her husband As an old woman near ei#ht&, she would write that it still hurt her to recall the sufferin# she had caused to so #ood a man as 3ladimir 6 But her desire for freedom and her feelin# that not love, but work must be the most important thin# for a woman, caused her to move awa& from him A &ear later, she was back, and workin# in the under#round Kollontai, like man& 'ussian socialists, was neutral in the Bolshevik< :enshevik split of 1905 (owever, she %oined the Bolsheviks in 1906, supported the :enshevik left win# in 1902, and re%oined the Bolsheviks when +orld +ar I broke out Kollontai believed firml& that women/s liberation was an inte#ral part of communism, and that women themselves would have to pla& a vital role At the same time, her commitment to :arxian socialism made her take an e=uall& stron# stance that there could be no liberation for workin# class women in alliance with bour#eois women *he was concerned with class independence *he applauded bour#eois feminists for their achievements, but located them in their class +hile appreciatin# their stru##le for e=ualit&, she felt that bour#eois women/s e=ualit& could not benefit the lowest class B& contrast, the proletarian women/s emancipation would involve a #reater social overturn than merel& e=ualit& within the class > )urin# the revolution of 190>, there were attempts b& various kinds of women, both bour#eois feminists and socialists, to or#anise women workers In course of these efforts, Kollontai wrote a book entitled The Social Basis of the Woman Question in 1902 !his book was never reprinted after the 'ussian revolution, and even in her 'ussian lan#ua#e selected works, onl&

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the preface is reproduced !his action, of not reproducin# other parts of the book, in fact distorts Kollontai?s actual position, which involved a simultaneous criticism of the class limitations of bour#eois feminism as well as adoptin# certain of its themes to criticise the un#endered nature of *ocial )emocratic politics. 'are amon# :arxist works on women of that period, the book also made =uestions of sexualit& a political issue, to be discussed seriousl& B& takin# up the =uestion of marria#e not merel& from a le#al point, but as a matter of male control over women?s sexualit&, she placed the discussion on women?s liberation in terms where it was no lon#er simpl& a set of demands addressed to #overnment and emplo&er, but to force the class to look inwards In 'ussian :arxism this was the first effort at challen#in# a male< biased socialist discourse !his kind of attitude marked out Kollontai, alon# with Inessa Armand, as one of the two feminists in the Bolshevik part& durin# the revolution B& 191$ women formed 65@ of the workforce !he& had to be or#anised if the revolutionar& movement was to proceed !he first weeks after 8ebruar& saw an unprecedented increase in the number of women or#anisin# themselves to make political and economic demands Bolsheviks were active amon# them !he social peace established b& the :ensheviks and *ocialist 'evolutionaries after 8ebruar& was broken for the first time b& several thousand women workers in the 7etro#rad laundries !he& fou#ht for an 2< hour workin# da&, and for minimum wa#es Bolshevik women like Aoncharska&a, Bovikondratieva and *akharova led these stru##les +hen the 8ebruar& revolution of 191$ broke out, Kollontai was in Borwa& 8or the rest of 191$, Kollontai was a constant a#itator for revolution in 'ussia as a speaker, leaflet writer and worker on the Bolshevik women?s paper Rabotnitsa. In Cune she was a 'ussian dele#ate to the 9th Don#ress of the 8innish *ocial )emocratic 7art& and reported back to the 8irst All<'ussian Don#ress of *oviets on the national =uestion and 8inland )urin# this period she %oined other women activists in pressin# the Bolsheviks and the trade unions for more attention to or#anisin# women workers, and helped lead a cit&wide laundr& workers strike in 7etro#rad Ender the influence of Kollontai, the part& press, primaril& Pravda re#ularl& reported about the strike After a month/s strike, there was a partial victor& of the strike 9

The Love of Worker Bees in Historical Context

But the Bolsheviks were not alone in the field In order to counter the efforts b& pro<war bour#eois feminists, the "xecutive Dommittee of the 7etersbur# Dommittee of the Bolsheviks #ave 3era *lutska&a the task of or#anisin# work amon# the women $ But her su##estion concernin# the necessit& of settin# up a bureau of workin# women under the cit& committee was not taken seriousl&, thou#h at the meetin# of the 7etro#rad Dommittee itself, it was resolved to resume publication of Rabotnitsa 2 "ventuall& ver& few raion -rou#hl& F borou#h0 committees set up women/s bureaux, because of the part&/s hostilit& to an& kind of feminism 9 !he %ournal Rabotnitsa, ori#inall& published b& the Bolsheviks in 1915<16, was revived, and it became the centre of a#itational and or#anisational work amon# women workers !he fact that it was a paper meant it could avoid the char#e Gfeminist deviationH Rabotnitsa enabled the two t&pes of women activists 4 those like Armand and Kollontai on one hand, and those like *amoilova or others, to coexist As Kollontai wrote laterI GAs late as the sprin# of 191$ Konkordi&a Bikolaevna found superfluous the formation of an apparatus in the part& for work amon#st women Jn the other hand she warml& welcomed the rebirth of Rabotnitsa as an ideolo#ical centre K Domrade *amoilova would not tolerate an&thin# that smacked of feminism and she re#arded with #reat caution an& or#anisational scheme which in her opinion mi#ht introduce Gdivision accordin# to sexH into the proletariat H 10 Kollontai/s return put power behind the work of a#itatin# amon# women, but she too failed to #et the part& to a#ree to the creation of a special apparatus for work amon# women After prolon#ed attempts, Kollontai, *amoilova and others eventuall& #ot the part& to a#ree to a women workers? conference, held on 12th and 12th Bovember, in 7etro#rad and attended b& >00 elected dele#ates representin# over 20,000 women workers 11 !he aim of this conference was to mobilise the workin# class women for the comin# elections to the Donstituent Assembl&, and to prepare the #rounds for an all<'ussia women/s conference !his obviousl& stemmed from a feelin# amon# some of the women activists that propa#anda amon# women must be or#anised separatel& !he paper used bold lan#ua#e, as when an activist, 7rokhorova, wrote, L :an& women comrades sa& that ever&thin# will be done without us But comrades, whatever is done without us will be dan#erous for us L 12 :an& female factor& workers sent in short pieces criticisin# sexist behaviour of male collea#ues, not merel& overseers !he editors of the paper were no less committed Bolsheviks than their male counterparts But within their writin#s

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and activities it is possible to find the stirrin#s of a Bolshevik<feminist discourse that went be&ond Bolshevik orthodox&

Hopes of a Transition to Communism At the *econd All<'ussian Don#ress of *oviets, Kollontai was elected Dommissar of *ocial +elfare in the new *oviet #overnment In that capacit& she tried to brin# chan#es, e # , throu#h the 8amil& Dode *ix weeks after the revolution civil marria#e replaced the rule of the church, and before a &ear was out the marria#e code was produced !his proclaimed full e=ualit& of husband and wife, and abolished the concept of ille#itimac& b& declarin# complete e=ualit& of ille#itimate with le#itimate children 8arnsworth denies that the code established e=ualit&, but the clauses she =uotes show that instead of stoppin# at formal e=ualit&, the real ine=ualit& was addressed b& seekin# to brin# about substantive e=ualit& 15 !he 8amil& Dode broke #round in a number of wa&s B& exclusivel& reco#nisin# unions recorded in the Divil 'e#istr& Jffice, it broke the historic monopol& powers of the Dhurch to sanctif& marria#es B& invalidatin# the old code with its lan#ua#e of domination and submission, b& allowin# freedom in choosin# which surname to use, and b& forbiddin# spousal control in business, friends, correspondence and residence, in man& wa&s #ender e=ualit& was #reatl& advanced 16 Aiven the extremel& limited forms of contraception available in 'ussia at that time, a law on abortion was passed in 1920, where abortion was viewed as a ma%or birth control device 1> !his was because the Bolsheviks thou#ht that some limitation on famil& si;e was necessar&, for women/s emancipation to be meanin#ful (owever, the abortion law shows different motivations at work !he carefull& worded decree stressed that the =uestion of abortion should be decided not from the point of view of the individual but in the interests of the whole collective -societ&, race0 .e#alised abortion would ensure maximum safet& for the woman 19 !he economic foundations of the social order that tied women down had to be assailed !his phase however did not last ver& lon# Kollontai was opposed to the treat& of Brest<.itovsk, and this eventuall& led to her resi#nation from the *ovnarkom and her ouster from the Dentral committee 1$

The Love of Worker Bees in Historical Context

B& mid<1912, a civil war had be#un )urin# the civil war &ears, the emer#enc& of the civil war, the need to keep the people fed, clothed and housed at some minimum level, and the centralisation for militar& purposes, combined with #enuine emancipator& aims to produce a specific situation !he onset of civil war caused worker and peasant women to view the Bolsheviks with some suspicion 4 after all their rule had brou#ht more hun#er and renewed war Jvercomin# this alienation was necessar& Kollontai insisted that if women were to be liberated, their active participation was essential *he felt the war was a catal&st for revolutionar& chan#e In the absence of men, #one off to war, women were takin# on new responsibilities But she also knew that special measures were needed to launch the educational process that would enable women to understand the lon#<ran#e impact of the revolution !his led to the convenin# of the 8irst All<'ussia Don#ress of +orker and 7easant +omen -Bovember 19, 19120 Jver a thousand dele#ates turned up 4 wa& be&ond expectations Kollontai thou#ht that a women/s con#ress, attended b& top leaders of the Dommunist part&, who would address the dele#ates as serious revolutionar& fi#hters, could provide the women with a new self< ima#e )iscussions at the Don#ress, and Kollontai/s preoccupations after the Don#ress, involved =uestions of famil&, moralit&, and economic conditions Kollontai/s speech on the necessar& transformation of mono#amous famil& was eventuall& published as the pamphlet, The Family and the Communist State.18 A resolution at the Don#ress stressed the need to destro& the old bonda#e of the famil& A specific resolution on the famil& proclaimed that marria#e would become a free comradel& union of two e=ual, self<supportin# members of the #reat workin# famil& 19 At the same time, there had to be constant assurances, #iven to the part& leadership, that no GseparatismH was intended 20 7ublic childcare was demanded to facilitate women/s participation in public life !he private burdens were sou#ht to be transformed into public worksMthrou#h the creation of maternit& homes, nurseries, kinder#artens, schools, communal dinin# rooms, communal laundries, mendin# centres and so on In 1921, Kollontai #ave a speech, where she saidI G!he network of social education or#anisations which relieve mothers of the hard work involved in carin# for children includes, apart from the crNches and the children/s homes which cater for orphans and foundlin#s up to the a#e of three, kinder#artens for the three to seven &ear olds, children/s GhearthsH for children of school a#e, children/s clubs, and finall& children/s house

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communes and children/s work colonies !he social educational s&stem also includes free meals for children of pre<school and school a#e H 21 In 1925, Kollontai published a book entitled Womens La our in the !volution of the !conomy, in the latter sections of which she discussed #ender role transformation in the transition period !here too, she stressed the need for delinkin# the kitchen from the marria#e 22 At the same time, there were unstated, but powerful pre%udices a#ainst women, which had to be fou#ht b& ideolo#&, not %ust b& law *he was also to stress that a transformation of values was crucial !here was a need to fi#ht the old ideolo#& and culture, and that it was mechanical to expect that the economic transition would automaticall& brin# about a cultural transformation +omen were tied down not merel& b& economic, but e=uall& b& emotional dependence 25 (er first essa&s on this theme, after the revolution, had indeed appeared in 1912 under the title The "e# $orality and the Workin% Class . !he Bolsheviks, followin# "n#els and Bebel, ar#ued that when a marria#e was freed from economic dependence, it would be based on mutual attachment and be a superior marria#e Kollontai faced frankl& the likelihood that freed from economic concerns and famil& responsibilit&, marria#es mi#ht be less stable Kollontai was uni=ue in buildin# a theor& on this In the future societ&, a marria#e mi#ht be based on emotional affinit&, or on transient attraction, without bein# condemned in either case *he also proclaimed the merit of comradel& but short<lived relationships As for example, she said, it was proper for a bour#eois financier to withdraw mone& from business durin# a crisis period in his famil&/s interest, because the bour#eois moralit& put famil& first Dompare, she told her readers, the case of the workin# class Ima#ine a strike<breaker wantin# to work durin# a strike for his famil&/s interests (ere the stron#er the ties of the famil&, the poorer would be the outlook for workin# class solidarit& :oreover, too stron# a famil& bond would also mean weakness for women/s liberation, for women must learn to view love and the emotions within famil& relationships in the same wa& as men 4 that is, as onl& one part of their total existence, instead of the totalit& of existence or even as the most important part of the meanin# of life But this raises an important =uestion Jne can understand the ar#ument that the famil& should cease to be an economic unit, t&in# women into a subordinate and dependent position, and at the same time weakenin# class solidarit& -thou#h this latter ar#ument itself is =uestionable, for it seems to

"

The Love of Worker Bees in Historical Context

su##est that one should fi#ht the famil& not because it is patriarchal, but because the class identit& must be made so uni=uel& powerful that all other identities must be stamped out0 But wh& should the comradel& love be of short durationO Kollontai/s answer was not clear (er va#ueness su##ested that she had no clear political explanation, but a hunch onl& that the new women, in the interests of their personal liberation, must not permit themselves to be entan#led irrevocabl& in love for one man In the commune, there would not exist the heav& wei#ht of spiritual solitude which fostered the bour#eois t&pe of romance, where the chosen man was all !hus, Kollontai emphasi;ed that the new women, the women of a commune societ&, must cease to live for the marria#e, and must make work the centre of their lives, as do men At the IPth Don#ress of the part&, held in 1920, she %oined the L+orkers? Jpposition,L an opposition tendenc& in the Bolshevik 7art& opposed to what the& saw as the increasin# bureaucratisation of the *oviet state !he& were defeated at the Pth Don#ress, held in 1921, and factions were banned A number of issues had caused divisions inside the part& )urin# the first phase of the +orkers/ Jpposition, the focus was on workers/ control over production !he& followed :arx and "n#els in den&in# that nationalisation b& itself meant socialism *ocialism involved ever& worker bein# a conscious part of the production process +orkers in revolutionar& 'ussia had understood the process well enou#h !he :ensheviks had believed that since the 'ussian revolution was a bour#eois revolution, the workers should not tr& to intervene in the production process 8or the workers, it was a life and death =uestion :oreover, factor& re#ime in !sarist 'ussia had been extremel& oppressive and the workers wanted democratisation of workplace<based relations Jut of these stru##les there arose the slo#an of workers/ control of production, a slo#an approved b& the ma%orit& and stron#l& championed b& the Bolsheviks 26 (owever, the meanin# of workers/ control of production had never been absolutel& clear )urin# the civil war, there was a need to centralise production, to keep the econom& #oin# and produce enou#h to win the war !his led to a #radual elimination of direct, factor& level workers/ control 8actor& committees which had sprun# up ever&where were d&in# out, partl& due to the crisis situation, partl& because a new bureaucratic la&er was emer#in# out of a mixture of former bureaucrats, mana#ers, and skilled personnel -B"7 men0 recruited b& the new re#ime to run industr& as well as

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workers and part& members who were now concentratin# power in their hands Dollective decision makin# processes were bein# curtailed Jne<man mana#ement was replacin# collective mana#ement 2> A#ainst this, the +orkers/ Jpposition demanded the convenin# of a producers/ con#ress At the Pth 7art& Don#ress, Kollontai saidI GJur +orkers/ Jpposition stron#l& insists that it is necessar& not onl& to reor#anise the whole apparatusK, but to sa& firml& and clearl& that for all time and not onl& in a moment of respite a s&stem of broadl& developed democrac&, of faith in the masses, and of #uaranteed freedom of thou#ht for comrades is necessar& not onl& on paper but in fact H29 8or Kollontai, as for 'osa .uxembur#, democrac& was not a #ift to be handed to the workin# class at some future date, and democrac& could not sanction force in the construction of the future, thou#h it mi#ht do so in eradicatin# the forces of the past At one level the specific proposal for a workers/ con#ress was impractical, because industr& was virtuall& collapsin# and the lack of food, the chan#es in %obs, the departure of radicalised workers -into the arm&, into administration, etc0 all had combined to depoliticise a lar#e part of the remainin# workers At the same time, these demands were based on a realisation that unless the essential power of the workin# class was based in factor& level or#anisations, lar#e sections of less or#anised workers, includin# man& novice women workers who had learnt to identif& with the 7art&, would be forced off the sta#e and would then merel& dele#ate to their 7art& the immense task of buildin# a new societ& Kollontai also felt that there could be no #enuinel& revolutionar& chan#es in famil& and sexual relationships until workers/ demands were located firml& at the point of production !he second sta#e of the +orkers/ Jpposition came soon after, when the Bew "conomic 7olic& -B"70 was introduced At the end of the Divil +ar, it was reco#nised that restoration of the econom& necessitated a new polic& !his included the followin# elementsI i0 *toppin# the forced collection of #rain from the peasants, allowin# them to pa& a tax in kind -#rain etc0 and to sell their surplus #rain in the marketQ ii0 !o #o with this, implied a stron#er emphasis on one<man mana#ement in industr& !he B"7, Kollontai and *hl&apnikov felt, would mean a new exploitation of the workin# class At the end of the Divil +ar, production had to be restored !his resulted in prioritisin# the principle of profitabilit& of firms over the basic ri#hts of class democrac& And the immediate conse=uence was a #rowth in unemplo&ment, risin# from 1$>,000

The Love of Worker Bees in Historical Context

in Canuar& 1922, to 92>,000 in Canuar& 1925, and 1,260,000 in Canuar& 192> *ince unskilled workers were the first to be laid off, and women were for the most part unskilled, the& were the worst hit b& unemplo&ment It was found that the principles of e=ual pa& for e=ual work and the laws protectin# female labour were not bein# observed even in the state enterprises As subsidies were cut, the communal kitchens and similar services collapsed, and women were bein# pushed back into domestic slaver& )islocation, povert&, resulted in a #rowth of abandoned children .ack of birth control measures and the renewed economic conditions of individuals tied to families meant that eas& divorce laws were turnin# into burdens for women, as men could walk out easil& In the period between 191$ and 1921, Kollontai had also been involved in or#anisin# women workers and peasants and in buildin# up the 7art&/s women/s bureau or 1henotdel In 1912, a number of women, includin# Inessa Armand, Konkordiia *amoilova, .&udmilla *tal/, and Klavdiia Bikolaeva, a#reed that a newspaper was not enou#h to mobilise women in the part& !he conference of Bovember 1912 had stressed that the emancipation of women workers and peasants depended on their own efforts, and that female emancipation was an inte#ral part of socialism But the line the& had to take, to set up a separate structure for women, was one borrowed from Dlara 1etkin and involvin# a compromise, for it was based on the ar#ument that women were backward and therefore needed special a#itatin# commissions 2$ Initiall&, Inessa Armand, more trusted b& .enin, but e=uall& a committed feminist, had been in char#e of 1henotdel Armand died durin# the civil war, and Kollontai was asked to take over char#e b& the Dentral Dommittee (er involvement with the Jpposition, however, led to her bein# moved to relativel& unimportant positions in the 1henotdel, and the more GorthodoxH *ophia *midovich replaced her as the head of 1henotdel Kollontai was re<elected to the All<'ussian executive committee of the *oviet in )ecember 1921 In 1922, Kollontai was appointed as advisor to the *oviet le#ation in Borwa&, a mild form of penal postin# as it #ot her awa& from 'ussia (er stories, as well as a series of essa&s on women in the new era, were published under these circumstances Gendering the Novyi sovetsky chelovek

1%

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In 1922<2>, Kollontai stopped writin# or speakin# openl& about the #eneral direction of the part& and the state +ith the defeat of the +orkers/ Jpposition, she turned exclusivel& to issues of women workers and women in #eneral 22 !here is a need to be cautious in passin# an& %ud#ement, for formulations based on hindsi#ht are not full& applicable (owever, the historical record is, that Kollontai, who had insisted on firml& inte#ratin# women/s liberation to socialist construction, now ceased to take part in stru##les over the meanin# and direction of socialist construction B& the end of the decade, her withdrawal would be far more complete, and she would separate women/s issues from the on#oin# debates over part& line In her autobio#raph&, written in 1929, she was even to whitewash the postin# b& sa&in# that it was a presti#ious post, a breakthrou#h in a purel& male< dominated world of the diplomats 29 (er writin#s of this period included both non<fiction and fiction, and her fiction must be evaluated primaril& in terms of the political ideas she was tr&in# to express In several articles of this period Kollontai turned to a theme she had explored in earlier &ears, that of the ps&cholo#ical emancipation of women Enlike a ma%orit& of the Bolshevik leaders, she was convinced that simple le#al e=ualit& and the ri#ht to work, or economic freedom, was not ade=uate "ven more than women workers, it was the krestianka -the peasant woman0 to whom Kollontai drew attention Isolated from urban radicalism, isolated from collective work, she had been the most backward as well as most oppressed But war, revolution and civil war had caused a chan#e Kollontai wanted to utilise the chan#es to transform the lives of rural women But for most part& members, this seemed one more area where the part& re#ime would come into conflict with the -male0 peasantr& :oreover, with B"7, part& members who had been fervent revolutionaries were fallin# victims to bour#eois culture !he& were becomin# comfort<seekin# elements, and people who developed Gbour#eoisH -we mi#ht sa& stron#l& patriarchal0 notions of famil& In order to transform women, it was necessar& to build special or#anisations for women (ere, she went be&ond the 1henotdel, which was the part&/s women/s bureau *he wrote, in an article in Pravda on 20th :arch 1925, of the need to build feminist or#anisations involvin# all kinds of women *he asserted that if feminism sou#ht liberation within a bour#eois framework, it was retro#rade, but if it meant the aspirations of women in a workers/ state, male opposition to feminism was incorrect 50 !he setbacks to women/s emplo&ment under the

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The Love of Worker Bees in Historical Context

B"7 made reachin# out to all women, includin# housewives, extremel& necessar& 7assivit& and lack of confidence in their own abilities 4 these weaknesses of women, had to be overcome throu#h Dommunist emplo&ment of frankl& feminist devices -women/s clubs and societies, etc0 In a series of articles in the %ournal $olodaia &uardiia, Kollontai expanded on the themes of women/s ps&cholo#ical independence, the future of the famil&, and so on In one of these, she praised the poet Anna Akhmatova, for her exploration of attitudes towards women *he repeatedl& wrote about men/s inabilit& to reco#nise the individualit& of the woman he loved, and about the strivin# of women to combine love with creative work :en in whom the custom of bour#eois ideolo#& were stron# seldom noticed that women, encoura#ed to live primaril& for emotions, were bein# asked to sacrifice their own worth In the essa& , ake !ay for !inged Eros, she went on to discuss the kind of erotic love that would not entrap and therefore not create the dilemma over a relationship and the need to make one<sided sacrifices for the sake of the relationship *he wrote that durin# the civil war the part& had been too bus& to deal with the =uestion of love, but now a respite had come In the crisis of war people, notabl& communists, had time onl& for Gwin#less "rosH, hast& ph&sical liaisons that satisfied sexual needs at the biolo#ical level *he condemned such relationships as lackin# in the spiritual interaction that should characterise love !he G+in#ed "rosH was eroticism with possessiveness removed Kollontai saw the development of such love as an inte#ral part of the buildin# of communism !he fiction of this period, written b& Kollontai, is simultaneousl& deepl& political and intensel& personal (er first collection of stories was Woman at the Turnin% 'oint. !he stor& G" Great LoveH, one of the stories in this collection, is often thou#ht to be a depiction of the supposed relationship between .enin and Inessa Armand, but it is actuall& a reflection on Kollontai/s own relationship with the :enshevik ideolo#ue :aslov 51 !he stor& reached the embittered conclusion that relationships with men alwa&s end in mutual recrimination, that women must pursue their own careers, and that no man will allow them to do that +ith an#er much more intense than in her essa&s, Kollontai declared that marria#e was doomed because people did not know how to love The Love of Worker Bees was the second set of short stories published b& Kollontai in 1925 52 !he heroine of the bi##est stor& is a

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communist woman who chooses to put her commitment and ideolo#& before her husband *ome of the elements of the stor&, accordin# to Itkina and 8arnsworth, were thinl& dis#uised elements of her own relationship with )&benko 55 3ladimir and 3asilisa had met durin# the revolutionar& &ear of 191$, and an& courtship had been to the accompaniment of stru##les over workers/ control over production, over oustin# the Gsocial patrioticH traitors from the leadership of the *oviets, and ultimatel& over makin# the revolution +hen her husband writes a letter askin# for her help, 3asilisa leaves :oscow for the small town where he is director of a factor& .ivin# there, she discovers what bein# a privile#ed person in B"7 'ussia means +hat matters to 3asilisa is that she finds 3ladimir not merel& havin# fallen in love with someone else, but of keepin# her -3asilisa0 as a front for his Grespectabilit&H +hen 3asilisa re%ects this, 3ladimir tries to commit suicide, not, as 3asilisa initiall& thinks, out of love and a conflict of emotions, but because he was #oin# to lose face 56 Beatrice 8arnsworth thinks that the love that 3ladimir felt for 3asilisa even at this point was #enuine "ventuall& 3asilisa makes a break with 3ladimir, returns to :oscow, and writes a letter to 3ladimir/s woman friend Bina where she expresses the view that the& are better suited, and that the rupture between 3ladimir and herself was not caused b& the appearance of Bina5> Kollontai expects proletarian women, tr&in# to transform themselves and their societ&, to break free of the construct which makes of woman/s life chiefl& the purpose of pleasin# her man and findin# pleasure in that But this novel shows that this transition from sexual %ealous& to unfettered passion demandin# respect for the freedom of her own feelin#s has not been an eas& process :ore and more, she averred, the new women were sin#le women At the same time, this sin#leness was not bour#eois individualism As she had alread& written in her The "e# Woman, GBut woe to the workin# woman who believes in the power of individual personalit& existin# apart from others !he armoured car of capital will calml& crush her H 59 !he class, both males and females, had to be self<activated, as parts of the class And if the& did so, in the point of production, the& could also free themselves from the t&rann& of dependence in marria#e *elf<emancipation meant not dele#atin# to others the task of buildin# a new societ&, but doin# it oneself !his meant that contrar& to the readin#s of these stories #iven b& man& of her critics, she was not confinin# herself to a narrowl& GfeminineH writin# *he was also disclosin# how bureaucratisation was eatin# into the vials of the part& and

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The Love of Worker Bees in Historical Context

how it was ruinin# some of the best elements of the workin# class Aender was important, not in an& GseparatistH sense, but because existin# #ender imbalance meant that when bureaucratisation and the reappearance of privile#es took place, it was the male who became the chief beneficiar& 4 thou#h onl& some males, not all 3asilisa did not merel& leave 3ladimir because he was GunfaithfulH *he found her life as a )irector/s wife unacceptable, devoid of the sense of self<worth she had in :oscow, in constructin# her local communal household, in doin# part& work, etc *he put her lo&alt& to the part& ahead of her lo&alt& to 3ladimir At the same time, she pities Bina, because Bina needs that kind of a protection which 3ladimir is offerin# *heila 'owbotham finds a female bond here 5$, but this is doubtful 7it& is not a #ood basis for a bond A bond is discernible in G #istersH, as I propose to discuss below But an unresolved problem remains 3asilisa seems to be takin# the stand that if her husband/s woman friend had been a proletarian, even a prostitute who sided with the revolution, she would have had no problemI G Bow if 3ladimir had fallen in love with a woman like that Ra reference to a prostitute shot b& the +hitesS, of course 3as&a would have understoodT But Bina was a lad&, a bour#eois, a class enem&, and a ruthless woman who was leadin# 3ladimir on to suit her own purposes H 52 tells 3ladimir that she would have found it Gmuch less shameful if she RBinaS had been one of them, a #ood comrade and a communistH *o her ob%ection stemmed from Bina/s bein# a bour#eois lad& 'espondin#, moreover, to 3ladimir/s claim that Bina had been a vir#in, and that was wh& she could not marr& an&one else, 3asilisa reacts b& assertin# that purit& does not lie in one/s vir#init& !hou#h at the end 3asilisa/s letter to Bina calls Bina her sister, the condescendin# tone is evident It is as thou#h 3asilisa is tellin# BinaI G&ou, like him, are a bour#eoisified person, and &ou, unlike me, have nothin# else to live for, so I am steppin# awa&H Another stor& in the book The Love of !orker $ees was G*estr&H -*isters0 !he narrator of this stor& suffers man& of the feelin#s of slow demoralisation suffered b& 3asilisa :al&#ina (er husband succumbs to the dubious pleasures of B"7 'ussia !hen she loses her %ob due to repeated illnesses of her child !heir conflicts come to a head shortl& after the child dies, onl& a few weeks after she was sacked *he was not taken back, on the #round that her husband was an executive so she did not need the %ob (er life seems to

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revolve round a drunken husband !he husband was in an& case a patronisin# man, so when she was elected a dele#ate to a conference he expressed verbal support, but when it came to the realit& of housework, it was clear that she would have to do it !he stor& shows crNches closin# down due to lack of funds due to the B"7, and her husband asks her to leave her %ob, as he had %oined a trust and could Gsupport his famil& properl&H !heir relationship ends when he brin#s a prostitute home !alkin# to this woman she discovers how similar the two of their situations are )espite her own vulnerabilit&, she tries to help the prostitute, who also has no kin and has no %obs, b& handin# over her last pa& packet to the #irl And she -the narrator0 #ot the stren#th to leave her husband when she reco#nised that so man& women had the same a#on&I GAnd then, it suddenl& dawned on me that if I hadn/t had a husband, I would have been in the same position as her, with no %ob and nowhere to liveT K now suddenl& m& ra#e turned a#ainst m& husband (ow dare he exploit this woman/s desperationTH 59 7erhaps the stor& which brou#ht her the most notoriet& was G Love of Three GenerationsH Jl#a *er#eevna/s mother, Jl#a *er#eevna and her dau#hter 1hen&a, the women of three #enerations, saw liberation in different terms 8or Jl#a/s mother, radicalism meant populism *he, and other men and women like her, were intellectuals willin# to #ive their time for the socialists of their #eneration At the same time, she believed that women/s liberation cut across all class barriers and was the important thin# for her *he left her husband, who loved her, because she had come to love a different man And later, when he was unfaithful to her, she left him without creatin# a fuss, takin# her dau#hter with her Uet, as she had loved him, she was to remain faithful to him for the rest of her life !he different mores of the mother and her dau#hter had created differences and frictions between them Jl#a, in the under#round, had an affair with an ex<:arxist she identifies in the stor& as :, while her husband Konstantin was in exile As with most stories of Kollontai, love led to sexual involvement -as she never portra&ed love in a ver& air& wa&0 and thence to pre#nanc& 4 a tellin# commentar& on the lack of birth control measures available +hen her mother insisted she should terminate her relationship with one or the other, she refused to do so *he felt that with :, she had a passion, while Konstantin was a comrade !hou#h she wanted to maintain her relations with both, when, arrested and exiled, she started

The Love of Worker Bees in Historical Context

livin# with Konstantin, : broke off relations with her *ubse=uentl&, political differences led to her total estran#ement with both : escaped from revolutionar& 'ussia, while Konstantin, who had moved ri#ht durin# the war to a defensist position -one who calls for a defence of the fatherland thou#h the fatherland is ruled b& oppressin# classes0 ended up with the +hite Auard forces +hile livin# abroad, Jl#a became close to Domrade '&abkov, with whom she started livin# Gas man and wifeH (owever, '&abkov was several &ears &oun#er than her, and she discovered, at one point, that 1hen&a, her dau#hter, had sexual relations with '&abkov +hat was particularl& distressin# for her was 1hen&a/s admission that she had had relations with other men, and that she did not love an& of them *he believed that her sexual relationships did not impede her work as a communist, and that in the face of a #rim present, the& had the ri#ht to sei;e happiness in whatever wa& the& chose to Uouth like 1hen&a, it seemed, did not want to be tied up with stable relations in the midst of the terrible stru##les for survival bein# wa#ed b& post<revolutionar& 'ussia +hen Jl#a criticised 1hen&a, 1hen&a responded, Gdidn/t &ou conceal &our relationship with m& father from his wifeOH60 Jl#a is of the opinion that there was a bi# differenceQ a0 *he loved : as much as his wife did, if not more, and this love #ave her a ri#ht which, in the absence of love for '&abkov, 1hen&a did not haveQ b0 *he had no love for :/s wife and her silence had onl& been so that the other woman did not feel a pain Critical "ssessments %eminists from Conservative #ocialists and odern

!he critics tended to ar#ue that Kollontai identified with 1hen&a !he book, and particularl& this short stor&, was to be used to claim that Kollontai was a promoter of promiscuit&, or the so<called #lass of water theor& !his was a supposed defence of promiscuit& on the #rounds that one should satisf& the sex drive as simpl& as one satisfies thirst But one can associate Kollontai with this Gtheor&H onl& if one assumes that Kollontai takes a stand in favour of propa#atin# 1hen&a/s standpoint, and if one reduces the writin#s of Kollontai for this period to &The Love of Three Generations B& settin# this stor& side b& side with the essa& & ake !ay for !inged Eros, one can see a didactic purpose bein# worked out 1hen&a/s life is that of a ,win#less "ros/ But onl& after much stru##les could a new world of communist harmon& come

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into bein# Kollontai does not offer read&<made solutions, but nor does she offer 1hen&a as a role model for &outh 'ather, 1hen&a is one possibilit& in the present *oviet societ& experienced various forms of relationships in the earl& 1920s,<<< in the times of turmoil C .okaneeta ar#ues that Kollontai was puttin# forward the concept of a new moralit& as a response to this crisis !housands of women were sa&in# that revolution meant sexual freedom !here were reports comin# in to the part& that &oun# Bolsheviks were pressurin# each other into bed b& accusin# an&one who resisted of pett&<bour#eois moralit& !he end result was that man& women found themselves trapped in unwanted pre#nanc& and then abandoned b& their once ardent comrades !hat is wh& Dath& 7orter wonders whether 1hen&a s&mbolises a sexual revolution or whether the chaos of post<revolutionar& 'ussia had created a new #eneration incapable of enterin# into deeper commitments at the personal level 61 (elen )eutsch offers an explanation, accordin# to which the stor& should be seen as a cultural and historical document It shows how women in the first period of the revolution, especiall& in the fluid situations, viewed their emotional relations, explored new patterns of sexualit&, and how the& prioritised work over passion 62 !he contemporar& conservative *oviet professor Aron 1alkind took a hostile stance (e termed 1hen&a/s outlook on life a disease, not a class idea 65 1alkind himself had an extremel& reactionar& view, praisin# abstinence and sublimation of sexual drive, thou#h the editors of Molodaia Gvardiia showed that the& a#reed with 1alkind rather than with Kollontai (er article was printed on a speciall& coloured paper with =uestion marks to denote the controversial nature of what she wrote, while 1alkind/s article in the same issue was printed without an& such editorial intervention 66 At the same time, there is another side to 1hen&a !he ke&note of the stor& is once more female bondin# 1hen&a feels nothin# for '&abkov, but she loves her mother *he tells the narrator of the stor&, to whom Jl#a has brou#ht the problem, that she loves her mother more than an&one else in the world *he asks the narrator to explain to Jl#a that '&abkov is as important to her life as is a table, so Jl#a can have him full& And in 1hen&a/s life, love for an& male is far less important than her work as a communist Kollontai is not promotin# Gpromiscuit&H *he is simpl& pointin# out that the revolution has broken down the old moralit&, and it is useless to condemn the new #eneration on the basis of the principles of that old moralit& +hile pointin# out this, she refrains from imposin# her blueprint of an ideal moralit&, su##estin# that the new moralit& will emer#e onl& throu#h the experientialVexistential realities of the new #eneration 7erhaps the most unacceptable treatment is that of 8arnsworth, who

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The Love of Worker Bees in Historical Context

treats all the stories as attempts b& Kollontai to relive her own life In 1hen&a she sees Kollontai tr&in# to rebuild her life without )&benko 6> An additional point is worth mentionin# Dritics in modern times have sometimes char#ed Kollontai with promotin# the cult of the motherhood 69 1hen&a has no interest in motherhood, she has had an abortion, and Kollontai takes no condemnator& stance concernin# that .okaneeta claims that Kollontai/s notion of maternit& has no concept of choice !his is based on her claim that Kollontai does not talk about contraception, and that she talks about population and labour power 6$ !his is to conflate the later Kollontai, who submitted to *talinist norms about buildin# *oviet citi;ens 62, with the Kollontai of 1925 3asilisa/s decision to have the child, and 1hen&a/s abortion, are both based on personal choices In the absence of an& better birth control measures than abortion, Kollontai talked so little about these because the& did not exist much in the E**' at that date :ore radical women hated this, as an exchan#e between *midovich and two &oun# women summarised b& 8arnsworth shows 69 In the case of Kollontai, what we can see is confusion, rather than a clear<cut #lorification of motherhood *he wanted women to have a choice, but she also believed that the& should accept, voluntaril&, that motherhood was an essential part of their existence *he wanted to remove the burden of carin# for the famil& from individual women, but she was of the opinion that an& state sponsored communit& kitchens etc should be voluntar& in nature At the same time, she seems to have visualised onl& women takin# over those particular public duties -lookin# after children, cookin#, and so on0 >0 !he articles and the stories led to a sharp howl bein# raised 7olina 3ino#radskaia, one of Kollontai/s former collea#ues, was to write a number of critical essa&s on Kollontai and !rotsk&, because both were supposedl& wastin# time writin# about culture and ideolo#& instead of about better communal facilities >1 In a subse=uent essa& 3ino#radskaia attacked Kollontai/s articles in $olodaia &vardiia for bein# non<:arxist and metaph&sical Kollontai was accused of i#norin# the practical problems of ever&da& life, of havin# a Gsolid dose of feminist trashH, and her stories were said to have reeked of porno#raph& and the #utter Apart from the slanderous aspects of the articles, there was a real dispute involved 3ino#radskaia took

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a ver& mechanical materialist position accordin# to which moralit& was a simple concomitant of social chan#e Kollontai, b& contrast, consistentl& believed in the role of moralit& as a tool in the process of social chan#e >2 3ino#radskaia asserted that :arxism and sex were mutuall& incompatible *exual love for an& reason other than for the birth of children was to be denounced (ow humans therefore differed from animals, for which too, sex is merel& a reproductive function, was not made clear b& 3ino#radskaia (er :arxist love therefore looks ver& similar to a Dhristian reli#ious view of love B& 1952, The Love of Worker Bees had pro#ressed from bein# merel& Gobsessed with sexH to bein# the acme of Gpett& bour#eois debaucher&H >5 Apart from sli#ht contributions b& !rotsk& and 7reobra;henskii, Kollontai/s works stand alone as left<win# Bolshevik contributions to the =uestion of women and moralit&, thou#h it would soon be drowned b& a returnin# conservative patriarchal moralit& dinned out b& Iaroslavskii, 1alkind and their followers, who in the 1950s would win the battle thorou#hl&, till, in the words of Kate :illet, ,!he initial radical freedoms in marria#e, divorce, abortion, childcare, and the famil& were lar#el& abrid#ed and the reaction #ained so that, b& 1965, even coeducation was abolished in the *oviet Enion !he sexual revolution was over, the counterrevolution triumphant In the followin# decades conservative opinion elsewhere re%oiced in pointin# to the *oviet as an ob%ect lesson in the foll& of chan#e />6 !he stories, as we have discussed, need to be seen alon# with her contemporar& articles And here, at one point, Kollontai displa&s a weakness that needs to be considered *he made it clear that the #ender division of labour meant a potential, if not actual discrimination a#ainst women But she did not, from this point, move on to su##estin# the need to overcome the #ender division of labour from the earliest sta#e of socialist construction 7ossibl& this was due to a trace of economic determinism, accordin# to which, socialism would inevitabl& mean the expansion of production and the conse=uent #rowth in women/s emplo&ment and the transformation of the hitherto private domain into a public one, even if women continued to cook, clean and run crNches in those public spaces !he over<reliance on productive forces to solve all problems allowed Kollontai to suppose that b& brin#in# women into the area of social production to perform the tasks the& had hitherto fulfilled privatel&, their domestic burdens could be relieved It should however be mentioned that at least on one occasion, durin# the

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discussions on the proposed 8amil& Dode of 1929, she su##ested that Ghousework also counts for somethin#H, and that women/s domestic labour should be taken into account and valued >> In the same wa&, one cannot accept the criticism made b& 8oucauldian interpretations like that of Irina Aristarkhova in &!omen and government in $olshevik 'ussia Accordin# to herI G:arxist stru##le is, as such, a contest over the truth for the ri#ht to be the truth In the post<'evolutionar& &ears this truth of :arxism<.eninism had to be and was sustained, not so much b& concrete transformations but rather b& a constant evocation throu#h representational and rhetorical articulations of the ,truth/ of :arxism<.eninism After the revolution, the Bolsheviks proclaimedI we promised &ou the revolution, we #ave &ou the 'evolution In the conclusion, she ar#uesI GEnlike those who ar#ue that there was an emancipation of women in the 1920s that was reversed in the 1950s, I have shown that there was a continuit& in Bolshevik polic& in relation to women, which at no time sou#ht the emancipation of women (owever, unlike those who ar#ue that the Bolsheviks followed conservative policies which merel& reinforced traditional sex roles, I have shown that Bolshevik polic& was indeed revolutionar&, in tr&in# to destro& the identification of women with the church and traditional famil& and to transfer their alle#iance to the socialist state throu#h the twin themes of work and motherhood !his revolution represented the full penetration of the state into the re#ulation of ,private/ life and the subordination of sexualit& and #ender relations to the purposes of state power H>9 !his is a total misreadin#, not onl& of Kollontai, but also of .enin, !rotsk& and the left<win# Bolsheviks #enerall& 8irst of all, the& did have a #enuine commitment to workin# class self<emancipation Aristarkhova makes snide remarks about !rotsk&, etc, of havin# expressed their an#er after fallin# from power !his misses the point that the left win# GfellH from power because the& fou#ht for workin# class socialism, rather than a bureaucratic Gsocialism from aboveH, and that *talinism ultimatel& ripped throu#h the entire Bolshevik Jld Auard !hen onl& could the bureaucratic state rest content, havin# atomised the workin# class and its van#uard !he fact that individuals like Kollontai #ave up the battle at a certain sta#e does not mean that the battle had not been wa#ed b& them, nor that the& and *talinism were one and the same

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*econdl&, left<win# :arxists, includin# .enin, had been committed to the pro#ressive d&in# awa& of the state *o the transfer of famil& responsibilities to the societ& or the communit& did not mean statisation in theor& Jn the contrar&, it was a bold theoretical vision of #ettin# rid of those functions which make the famil& oppressive !his still left open the =uestion of whether at all there would be a famil&, but an&one examinin# Kollontai/s writin#s would find that she expected its eventual demise !his was in line with "n#els on the linked rise of famil& and state +here she went ahead too far was in proposin# too swift a socialisation of domestic work (er plan was to oppose the #enuine oppressiveness of B"7 b& an idealised commune culture, one which was derived from an idealisation of +ar Dommunism In the lon# run it was impossible Industrialisation and democratic plannin#, which would be the proposal of the left win# in the mid 1920s, owed its ori#ins to various sectors Kollontai and her comrades of the +orkers/ Jpposition contributed b& fi#htin#, from an earl& sta#e, for democrac&

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B 8arnsworth, Aleksandra Kollontai: Socialism, Feminism and the Bolshevik Revolution , *tanford, Dalifornia 1920, p5 Alexandra Kollontai, The Autobiogra h! o" a Se#uall! $manci ated %oman, .ondon, 19$2, pp 2<9 2 B 8arnsworth, Aleksandra Kollontai: Socialism, Feminism and the Bolshevik Revolution, p 2 3 &' moei 'hi'ni & rabot!, ed I : )a;hina, :oscow, 19$6, pp $9<20 4 A : Itkina, Revoliutsioner, Tribun, (i lomat: Stranitsi 'hi'ni Aleksandr! Mikhailovn! Kollontai, ) nd ed*, Mosco+, ,-./ , p29 Introduction to The Social Basis o" the %oman 0uestion , in A : Kollontai, &'brann!e stat1i i rechi, :oscow, 19$2, pp 91<21 ! *ee : )onald, ,Bolshevik Activit& Amon#st the +orkin# +omen of 7etro#rad in 191$/, &nternational Revie+ o" Social 2istor!, vol PP3II, 1922 *ee also Pravda, $ :a& 191$ and 51 :a& 191$ " Perv!i legaln!i komitet Bolshevikov v ,-,.g, :oscow, 192$, p 55 # Ibid , p 60 $ .&udmilla *tal, a prominent Bolshevik woman, made this point later in her memoirs of 191$ *ee : )onald, ,Bolshevik Activit& Amon#st the +orkin# +omen of 7etro#rad in 191$/, p 15$ 1% Ibid , p 159 11 *ee Pravda, 29 11 191$ 12 Rabotnitsa, 50 :a& 191$ 13 B 8arnsworth, Aleksandra Kollontai, pp 1>$<2 8or the text of the 8amil& Dode of 1912, see Sobranie 3'akonenii i ras oria'henii rabochego i krest1ianskogo ravitel1stva* Sbornik dekretov ,-,.4,5 gg , :oscow, 1920, no $9<$$, art 212, pp 9>5<>9 14 8or a more critical view of the code, see ' *tites, The %omen1s 6iberation Movement in Russia I Feminism 7ihilism, and Bolshevism ,58/4,-9/, 7rinceton, Bew Cerse&, 19$2, pp 595<99 1 B 8arnsworth, Aleksandra Kollontai, p 1>9 1! B "vans Dlements, Bolshevik Feminist: The 6i"e o" Aleksandra Kollontai, Bloomin#ton and .ondon, 19$9, pp 192<9 has a discussion 1" The Autobiogra h! o" a Se#uall! $manci ated %oman, p 60 8or the .eft Dommunists, see ' 3 )aniels, The :onscience o" the Revolution, Dambrid#e, :ass , 1990 8or the inner<part& debate over the treat& of Brest<.itovsk, and the nature of the Aerman aims, see C + +heeler<Bennet, Brest 6itovsk, The Forgotten Peace, .ondon, 1952 A conse=uence of Kollontai/s persistent opposition to .enin/s line, which won in the end, was her bein# dropped from some of the leadin# positions 1# 8or a translation, see :ommunism and the Famil!, Dalcutta, 1992 1$ 8or reports see Pravda, 1$ Bovember, 19 Bovember, 21 Bovember 1912 2% B "vans Dlements, Bolshevik Feminist, p 1>> 21 Alexandra Kollontai, ,!he .abour of +omen in the "volution of the "conom&/, in httpIVVwww marxists or#VarchiveVkollontaVworksV1921Vevolution htm !his is probabl& part of the set of her speeches published in 1925 and mentioned in the next footnote 22 A : Kollontai, Trud ;henschin! v $vol!utsii Kho'!aistva, :oscow and 7etro#rad, 1925 23 B 8arnsworth, Aleksandra Kollontai: Socialism, Feminism and the Bolshevik Revolution, p199 24 * A *mith, Red Petrograd, Dambrid#e, 1925, * :arik, ,!he !heor& of +orkers/ )emocrac& and the Bolshevik practiceQ 126$<1921/ unpublished 7h ) !hesis, Cadavpur Eniversit&, 199> 2 !his process has been traced in detail in * :arik, ,!he !heor& of +orkers/ )emocrac& and the Bolshevik practiceQ 126$<1921/, chapter 3II 2! Dited in B "vans Dlements, Bolshevik Feminist, p 199 2" 8or 1etkin, see * :arik, ,Aerman *ocialism and +omen/s .iberation/, in A Dhanda, : *arkar and K Dhattopadh&a&, eds, %omen in 2istor!, Dalcutta, 2005 2# Ibid, pp 22><9 2$ The Autobiogra h! o" a Se#uall! $manci ated %oman, pp 66<69 3% B 8arnsworth, Aleksandra Kollontai, pp515<16 31 ' D "lwood, &nessa Armand, Dambrid#e, 1992, stron#l& =uestions the usual version of an illicit .enin<Armand relationship, thou#h he does show that there existed a ver& close relationship between the El&anov famil& -includin# Krupska&a0 and the Armands (e also discusses A Great 6ove, showin# that it was about Kollontai and :aslov *ee also B "vans Dlements, Bolshevik Feminist, p 229Q ' *tites, ,Kollontai, Inessa and KrupskaiaI A 'eview of 'ecent .iterature/, :anadian4American Slavic Studies, vol IP, no I, *prin# 19$>, p 29 32 8or this essa&, I have used Alexandra Kollontai, 6ove o" %orker Bees, translated and introduced b& Dath& 7orter, ,Afterword/ b& *heila 'owbotham, Bomba&, n d !his is an Indian reprint of the ori#inal edition published b& 3ira#o, .ondon, 19$$ !he Indian edition, however, omitted the lon#est stor& 4 ,3asilisa :al&#ina/, which has been cited from the British edition 33 B 8arnsworth, Aleksandra Kollontai, pp 52><529 34 Alexandra Kollontai, 6ove o" %orker Bees , .ondon, 19$$, p 16> 3 Ibid, pp 1$9<$

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Alexandra Kollontai, ,Bew +oman/ from The 7e+ Moralit! and the %orking :lass , httpIVVwww marxists or#VarchiveVkollontaVworksVnew htm 3" * 'owbotham, ,Afterword/, in A Kollontai, 6ove o" %orker Bees, Bomba&, p 99 3# Alexandra Kollontai, 6ove o" %orker Bees , .ondon, p 166 (er acceptance of the relationship also seems to occur when she feels her husband has become a t&pical B"7<era bureaucrat, cut off from ordinar& workers and en%o&in# a luxurious life 3$ A Kollontai, 6ove o" %orker Bees, Bomba&, p 92 4% Ibid, p 6> 41 C .okaneeta, ,Alexandra Kollontai and :arxist 8eminism/, $conomic and Political %eekl!, April 22, 2001, p 1611, B "vans Dlements, Bolshevik Feminist, p 25>, Dath& 7orter in 6ove o" %orker Bees, p 16 42 (elen )eutsch, The Ps!cholog! o" %omen, BU 1966, vol1, p 5>2 43 8or 1alkind see B 8arnsworth, Aleksandra Kollontai, p 552 44 A (olt, ed with an introduction and commentaries, Selected %ritings o" Ale#andra Kollontai , +estport, Donn , 19$$, p 202 4 B 8arnsworth, Aleksandra Kollontai, pp 552<5 4! B 8arnsworth, Aleksandra Kollontai, pp 299, 5>9<90, however, shows that it was the GorthodoxH people like *midovich who should be accused of thisQ b& contrast, see C .okaneeta, ,Alexandra Kollontai and :arxist 8eminism/, p 1610 4" C .okaneeta, ,Alexandra Kollontai and :arxist 8eminism/, pp 1609, 1610 4# In 1969, she would writeI G8rom the ver& be#innin#, *oviet law reco#ni;ed that motherhood is not a private matter, but the social dut& of the active and e=ual woman citi;en H In the same essa& she also applauded the bestowal of the title ,:other<(eroine/ to millions of women *ee ,!he *oviet +oman 4 a 8ull and "=ual Diti;en of (er Dountr&/, in Alexandra Kollontai, Selected Articles and S eeches, :oscow, 19$2, pp 125, 126 4$ B 8arnsworth, Aleksandra Kollontai, pp 5>><590 Duriousl&, in a footnote, 8arnsworth also su##ests that Kollontai saw motherhood as a socialist responsibilit& !his is actuall& a position she would accept, or ac=uiesce in, onl& after her surrender to *talinism % Ibid,pp 169<$ 1 7olina 3ino#radskaia, ,3opros& b&ta/, Pravda, 29 Cul& 1925 2 8or 3ino#radskaia, see further, B "vans Dlements, Bolshevik Feminist, pp 252<6, A (olt, Selected %ritings o" Ale#andra Kollontai, p 20> 3 A (olt, Selected %ritings o" Ale#andra Kollontai, p 206, D 7orter, ,Introduction/, 6ove o" %orker Bees, p 11 4 K :illet, Se#ual Politics, Bew Uork, 19$1, p 259 B "vans Dlements, Bolshevik Feminist, p 252 ! Irina Aristarkhova, %omen and Government in Bolshevik Russia, +J'KIBA 7A7"'*, Dentre for Domparative .abour *tudies, )epartment of *ociolo#&, Eniversit& of +arwick, Bo 6, Au#ust 199>, httpIVVwww csv warwick ac ukVfacVsocVcomplabstudsVrussiaVirawp doc