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

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

Kristen R. Ghodsee

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. 

Episodes
138 - Bonus Episode – Socialism: A Logical Introduction with Professor Scott SehonMarch 25, 2024
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137 - A.K. 47 - Bonus Episode - Claudia Jones's 8 March 1950 International Women's Day SpeechMarch 08, 2024
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136 - A.K. 47 - "Diplomat, Novelist, Leader - Versatile Mme. Kollontay"February 17, 2024
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135 - A.K. 47 - Bonus Episode - 5th Anniversary Conversation about ParenthoodJanuary 08, 2024
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134 - A.K. 47 - The Labor of Women in the Evolution of the Economy - Part 3December 31, 2023
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133 - A.K. 47 - The Labor of Women in the Evolution of the Economy - Part 2December 23, 2023
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132 - A.K. 47 - The Labor of Women in the Evolution of the Economy - Part 1November 14, 2023
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131 - A.K. 47 - Bonus Episode - The Fun ManifestoOctober 23, 2023
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130 - A.K. 47 - The Workers Opposition - Part 5October 04, 2023
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129 - A.K. 47 - The Workers Opposition - Part 4September 05, 2023
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128 - A.K. 47 - The Workers Opposition - Part 3August 22, 2023
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127 - A.K. 47 - The Workers Opposition - Part 2August 02, 2023
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126 - A.K. 47 - The Workers Opposition - Part 1 July 27, 2023
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125 - A.K. 47 - Introduction to The Workers OppositionJuly 10, 2023
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124 - A.K. 47 - Conversation PieceJune 11, 2023
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123 - A.K. 47 - A 1982 Review of Kollontai's "A Great Love" in the New York TimesMay 17, 2023
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122 - A.K. 47 - Bonus Episode - the Anti-Sexist Kollontai Vodka of ItalyApril 26, 2023
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121 - A.K. 47 - "Alexandra Kollontay: The World's One Woman Ambassador" Part 2April 18, 2023
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120 - A.K. 47 - "Alexandra Kollontay: The World's One Woman Ambassador" Part 1April 11, 2023
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119 - A.K. 47 - Bonus Episode - Clara Zetkin on the Establishment of 8 March as International Communist Women's DayMarch 08, 2023
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118 - A.K. 47 - Alexandra Kollontai in MexicoFebruary 22, 2023
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117 - A.K. 47 - The First Steps Towards the Protection of MotherhoodFebruary 15, 2023
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116 - A.K. 47 - Kollontai Seizes the Alexander Nevsky Monastery for War VeteransFebruary 05, 2023
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115 - A.K. 47 - Bonus Episode - Should we put a value on friendship?January 29, 2023
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114 - A.K. 47 - Bonus Episode - 4th Anniversary Interview: "Self care is out; community care is in"January 08, 2023
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