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

Kristen Ghodsee reads a 1906 essay of Alexandra Kollontai, which is weirdly prescient of the present day, 120 years later. This is the second installment of a multipart episode with reading, commentary, and analysis of "Who are the social democrats and what do they want?”  Mentioned in this episode: Article: " No babies? Blame capitalism .” Article: " Der Kapitalismus bestraft das K...

Kristen Ghodsee reads a 1906 essay of Alexandra Kollontai, which is weirdly prescient of the present day, 120 years later. This is the first installment of a multipart episode with reading, commentary, and analysis of "Who are the social democrats and what do they want?”  Please examine the paperback of Red Valkyries out on 26 May 2026 with Verso Books, featuring none other than Alexandra Kol...

In this extended episode, Kristen Ghodsee and her daughter enjoy a wide-ranging discussion with two special guests on the music and global influence of Taylor Swift, particularly in light of her recent engagement and rumors of her upcoming wedding in New York on 4 July 2026. Given Kollontai’s own very public romantic life, how could we read Taylor Swift through a Kollontanian lens? This is a deep...

On the 154th Anniversary of Kollontai’s birth, Kristen Ghodsee reads a section from her chapter "Alexandra Kollontai (1872–1952): Communism as the Only Way Toward Women’s Liberation," written with Natalia Novikova and published in The Palgrave Handbook of Communist Women Activists around the World   in 2023. Mentioned in this episode: The Arabic translation of “The Political Economy of L...

Kristen Ghodsee reports from the streets of Berlin during the 2026 official 8 March demonstration and the march from Oranienplatz to the Rotes Rathaus.  Some links to articles about the history of International Women’s Day: NPR Morning Edition : “Women in some countries will mark International Women’s Day with protests” New York Times , “Have you wished your mother a Happy International Women’s Da...

Kristen Ghodsee reads Alexandra Kollontai’s February 1919 obituary for her murdered German comrades: Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. An uncorrected proof of Ghodsee's chapter on the Luxemburg-Liebknecht Demo from her 2017 book, Red Hangover , is linked from this page (please scroll right beyond the cover image) Send us Fan Mail Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-typ...

Kristen Ghodsee shares a conversation with her daughter in Berlin on the 7th anniversary of the podcast. This is their 17th shared episode. 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. K...

Kristen Ghodsee reads her own December 2025 essay "The Political Economy of Love in Capitalism” This text appeared as the featured essay in the Winter 2025 special issue of Jacobin.de on “Love.” Below are the links to the original essay in English, German, and Spanish. You can also watch the Jacobin Germany issue launch discussion on Youtube here “ The Political Economy of Love in Capitalism...

Kristen Ghodsee reads the final part of her biographical chapter on Alexandra Kollontai from Ghodsee's 2022 book, Red Valkyries: Feminist Lessons from Five Revolutionary Women . Mentioned in this episode are these new Jacobin articles: “ The Political Economy of Love in Capitalism ”  " Der Gebrauchswert der Liebe ” " La economía política del amor en el capitalismo ” You can also wat...

Kristen Ghodsee reads the third part of her biographical chapter on Alexandra Kollontai from Ghodsee's 2022 book, Red Valkyries: Feminist Lessons from Five Revolutionary Women . Mentioned in this episode: Event - December 2, 2025 in Berlin: Book Discussion of Everyday Utopia with the Frei Universität  Event - December 4, 2025 in Vienna: “ What has socialism done for women? ” Event - December...

A special extended, bonus episode for those of you traveling for the long weekend. Kristen Ghodsee shared a conversation with Astrid Zimmerman for the Shakespeare and Sons bookstore in Berlin, Germany on 6 November 2025.  In this less-than-perfect-phone-recording of the live event, they discuss motherhood, tradwives, socialism, and feminism among a variety of topics with a lively audience in atten...

Kristen Ghodsee reads the second part of her biographical chapter on Alexandra Kollontai from Ghodsee's 2022 book, Red Valkyries: Feminist Lessons from Five Revolutionary Women . Mentioned in this episode: " My Daughter’s Abandoned Prom Dress ” from Ms. Magazine , May 16, 2020 Click Here for a full curated list of the podcasts with Kristen Ghodsee and her daughter from February 2019 to F...

Kristen Ghodsee reads from her own chapter on Alexandra Kollontai from her 2022 book, Red Valkyries: Feminist Lessons from Five Revolutionary Women , available now in  Spanish , Italian , Slovak , Chinese , Turkish , and Korean , and also available as an audio book . Mentioned in this episode: “ What we forgot about socialism: Lessons from The Red Riviera ” Send us Fan Mail Thanks so much for list...

Kristen Ghodsee reads the first English translation of Alexandra Kollontai’s “My Heart Belongs to the Finnish Poor,” originally published as "Suomen köyhälistölle kuuluu sydämeni" by the Finnish Trade Union Federation yearbook Työn Juhla: Suomen ammattijärjestön juhlajulkaisu in 1911. Translated from Finnish by MLH, edited and commented by Cathy Porter.  New Spanish translation with Vers...

Kristen Ghodsee reads Cathy Porter’s translation of an excerpt from Alexandra Kollontai’s autobiography. Reflecting on a visit to Narva, Estonia in March of 1896, when she was just 24-years-old, Kollontai describes the event that radicalized her forever.  Recent Writings from Kristen Ghodsee: “ Clima y Utopía ,” El País Semanal , October 17, 2025 “ Materialists skewers the dating market – but stop...

Kristen Ghodsee revisits her discussion about arguments for socialism with Bowdoin College professor of philosophy, Scott R. Sehon. This conversation focuses on the role of esteem and how it is increasingly commodified in a capitalist society.  Mentioned in this podcast: Book by Scott R. Sehon: Socialism: A Logical Introduction Article in the Wall Street Journal : " $1 Trillion of Wealth Was...

Kristen Ghodsee shares a conservation with a previous guest from March 2022, a self-described anarchist activist, about the value of feeling one’s political despair and using it to generate political creativity.  Mentioned in this episode: I Want a Better Catastrophe Also this article: " Kollontai: Leaving behind Menshevik pacifism " Send us Fan Mail Thanks so much for listening. This po...

Kristen R. Ghodsee reads a 1930 interview with Alexandra Kollontai about the new morality around love and marriage in the Soviet Union. Kollontai argues that romantic love and relationships will no longer be the most important thing in women’s lives because they will have the support of the socialist state in reducing their responsibilities for domestic work and will have a wider community of citi...

Kristen Ghodsee reads Aleksandra Kollontai’s March 8, 1947 International Women’s Day address, taken from the book: Alexandra Kollontai: The Plight, Struggle, and Liberation of Women 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, pl...

In this special bonus episode, recorded on Valentine's Day 2025 in Dublin, Kristen Ghodsee and her daughter discuss the book Intermezzo , the latest by the Irish novelist, Sally Rooney. Rooney identifies herself as a Marxist and often mixes politics and social commentary into her stories. Kollontai's ideas about "comradely-love" and of troubling the confines of the nuclear fami...

Kristen Ghodsee reads the final section of Alexandra Kollontai's 1915/1916 essay about World War I–"Who Needs the War?"–and looks for lessons applicable to the present day. This is especially salient today because the United States is on the eve of a trade war with Mexico and Canada. This translation is from a 1984 collection of Kollontai's writing published by Progress Publish...

Kristen Ghodsee reads the fifth section of Alexandra Kollontai's 1915 essay about World War I–"Who Needs the War?"–and looks for lessons applicable to the present day. This is especially salient today because of the narrow confirmation of the new U.S. Secretary of Defense under the Trump Administration, and the emergence of the reinvigorated oligarchy in the United States. This tran...

Kristen Ghodsee reads the fourth section of Alexandra Kollontai's 1915 essay about World War I–"Who Needs the War?"–and looks for lessons applicable to the present day. This translation is from a 1984 collection of Kollontai's writing published by Progress Publishers in the Soviet Union, which claims that the essay was written while Kollontai was in exile in Norway. She sent it...

Kristen Ghodsee reads the third section of Alexandra Kollontai's 1915 essay about World War I–"Who Needs the War?"–and looks for lessons applicable to the present day. This translation is from a 1984 collection of Kollontai's writing published by Progress Publishers in the Soviet Union, which claims that the essay was written while Kollontai was in exile in Norway. She sent it...

In this episode, Kristen Ghodsee discusses Alexandra Kollontai, nationalism, internationalism, and supranationalism with her daughter, just home from Ireland for fall break. Trigger warning: lots of Irish history! Mentioned in this episode: "Imagine" by John Lennon (and Yoko Ono) "Imagine there's no heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us Above us, only sky Imagine al...