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

In this episode, Kristen Ghodsee reads Alexandra Kollontai's short story, "Soon (In 48 years time)," written in 1922 about her imagination of the future of the Soviet Union. This is the first piece of Kollontai's fiction to appear on this podcast and it imagines a future "fir tree festival" on the 7th of January 1970 where the young people living on Commune 10 no long...

Kristen R. Ghodsee reads and discusses part three of Alexandra Kollontai's 1921 essay, "Theses on Communist Morality in the Sphere of Marital Relations." This essay is a precursor to "Make Way for Winged Eros" where Kollontai develops her Marxist understanding of marriage and the family as being part of the ideological superstructure, which is determined by the base of eco...

Kristen R. Ghodsee reads and discusses part two of Alexandra Kollontai's 1921 essay, "Theses on Communist Morality in the Sphere of Marital Relations." This essay is a precursor to "Make Way for Winged Eros" where Kollontai develops her Marxist understanding of marriage and the family as being part of the ideological superstructure, which is determined by the base of econo...

Kristen R. Ghodsee reads and discusses part one of Alexandra Kollontai's 1921 essay, "Theses on Communist Morality in the Sphere of Marital Relations." This essay is a precursor to "Make Way for Winged Eros" where Kollontai develops her Marxist understanding of marriage and the family as being part of the ideological superstructure, which is determined by the base of econo...

In this episode, Kristen Ghodsee gives some more context to Alexandra Kollontai's life by reading from the texts of two women who knew her personally: the American Louise Bryant and the Spaniard Isabel de Palencia. Based on her personal meeting with Kollontai in the early years of the revolution, Louise Bryant wrote about Kollontai in her 1918 book, Six Red Months in Russia, and in her 1923 b...

In this episode, Kristen Ghodsee discusses the title and content of Alexandra Kollontai's 1926 book, The Autobiography of a Sexually Emancipated Communist Woman , with her 17-year-old daughter. Particularly salient is the question of trolls and haters in politics, and whether having a lot of critics actually amplifies one's message. This memoir was written as Kollontai began her diplomat...

In this seventh episode of Season Two, Kristen Ghodsee reads the final section of Alexandra Kollontai's 1926 memoir: The Autobiography of a Sexually Emancipated Communist Woman .  In this portion of the memoir, Kollontai speaks about her work during and after the Civil War and the beginning of her diplomatic career in Norway. Once again, her ideas on love and sexuality fall afoul of her party...

In this sixth episode of Season Two, Kristen Ghodsee reads Part VI of Alexandra Kollontai's 1926 memoir: The Autobiography of a Sexually Emancipated Communist Woman .  In this portion of the memoir, Kollontai speaks about her work as Commissar of Social Welfare during the early years of the Soviet regime. She again mentions the many attacks against her: the threatening letters and all of the...

In this fifth episode of Season Two, Kristen Ghodsee reads Part V of Alexandra Kollontai's 1926 memoir: The Autobiography of a Sexually Emancipated Communist Woman .  In this portion of the memoir, Kollontai speaks about her work in New York and her return to Russia in March 1917. She also discusses getting trolled by the newspapers in St. Petersburg and the many insults and indignities she s...

In this fourth episode of Season Two, Kristen Ghodsee reads Part IV of Alexandra Kollontai's 1926 memoir: The Autobiography of a Sexually Emancipated Communist Woman .  In this portion of the memoir, Kollontai speaks about her time in exile in Western Europe, going to jail in Sweden, lecturing in America, and joining the Bolsheviks in 1915. She also has a short aside on her own love life and...

In this third episode of Season Two, Kristen Ghodsee reads Part III of Alexandra Kollontai's 1926 memoir: The Autobiography of a Sexually Emancipated Communist Woman . This memoir was written as Kollontai began her diplomatic career when she was 54-years-old and a veteran of the revolution. Lenin was already dead, Stalin was seizing power, and Kollontai was reflecting on the achievements of h...

In this second episode of Season Two, Kristen Ghodsee reads Part II of Alexandra Kollontai's 1926 memoir: The Autobiography of a Sexually Emancipated Communist Woman . This memoir was written as Kollontai began her diplomatic career when she was 54-years-old and a veteran of the revolution. Lenin was already dead, Stalin was seizing power, and Kollontai was reflecting on the achievements of h...

In this first episode of Season Two, Kristen Ghodsee reads Part I of Alexandra Kollontai's 1926 memoir: The Autobiography of a Sexually Emancipated Communist Woman . This memoir was written as Kollontai began her diplomatic career when she was 54-years-old and a veteran of the revolution. Lenin was already dead, Stalin was seizing power, and Kollontai was reflecting on the achievements of her...

In this episode, Kristen R. Ghodsee's reads the fifth and final 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...

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 foundat...

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 Soci...

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 foundati...

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 foundat...

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 foundati...

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...

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:...

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 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...

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 Engl...

This is the third episode in a series of discussions that will feature Kristen R. Ghodsee with various guests reflecting on Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 essay: "Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth." In this essay, Kollontai works out her theories of how love and sexuality will be superior under socialism as compared to the bourgeois capitalist past.  She provides a Mar...