The Soviet Union’s Forgotten Feminist Revolution

The Indypendent ^ | 2017 | Ann Schneider

[CondoleezzaProtege]

“Down with autocracy” and “Down with war” read the banners of the March 8 (Feb. 17 in the Julian calendar) Women’s Day march in St. Petersberg, Russia that began the 1917 Revolution…

Leon Trotsky would later reflect, “The February revolution was begun from below… the initiative being taken by the women textile workers of their own accord, demanding bread for the children.”

Besides the desperation of the times, Russia had strong currents of feminism, going back to Catherine the Great who ruled the empire from 1762 to 1796…

The Russian Revolution was the first in history to seek women’s emancipation as one of its central goals. The revolutionary Alexandra Kollontai, together with Vladimir Lenin’s advisor and mistress Inessa Armand, founded the Communist Party’s Zhenotdel or Women’s Department, and helped institute the right to free abortion on demand in 1919…

The Bolsheviks delinked marriage from the church, legalized divorce and homosexuality and gave equal rights to children born out of wedlock. Social insurance for all women, in and out of the workforce, became a guarantee of the state.

The Zhenotdel also aimed to free women from the drudgery of housework through creation of collective laundries, public cafes, communal kitchens, nurseries, kindergartens and children’s colonies. The revolutionaries knew that as long as a woman is chained to housework, her chances of participation in social and political life are slim.

“The capitalists are aware that the family of old, with the wife a slave and the man responsible for the support and well-being of the family, is the best weapon to stifle the proletarian effort toward liberty,” Kollontai argued.

Kollontai was a “free love” advocate…

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TOPICS: History; Society
KEYWORDS: communism; concerntroll; concerntrolling; feminism; russia; russianrevolution; sovietunion; ussr

[CondoleezzaProtege]

[AZJeep]

demanding bread for the children.
______________________

There were shortages of food in Russia during WWI.
People protested and communists won by promising to take care about that.
As a results, there were two massive starvation waves, in 1920ies and 1930ies, when millions died of starvation and cannibalism was widespread!
That in Russia, which was world major producer and exporter of foodstuff.
Be careful what are you asking for!

[marktwain]

“The fevered dedication to women’s liberation of the Soviets was radically altered by the security state that emerged amid Russia’s civil war — a conflict funded by Western powers in an effort to restore the rule of private property — and the subsequent rise of Stalinism.”

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Typical excuse of Maxist-Leninists - The Capitalists made me do it.

The same “security state” has been part of Communism in every country where communism has been implemented.

[Angelino97]

Russia had strong currents of feminism, going back to Catherine the Great who ruled the empire from 1762 to 1796

I don't think one strong female monarch proves anything. England had Elizabeth I, but I wouldn't tie that to today's English feminism. (They also had Queen Anne, but she wasn't all that powerful.)

[AZJeep]

Women demanded equality.
As a results, they got on top of traditional home chores a full time job to take care off. Plus standing in lines for food overnight.
Men mostly quit doing anything, so Soviet economy pretty much relied on women to do most of the work.

[Angelino97]

Men mostly quit doing anything,

The Alphas ran things.

The Betas served in the military, police, and intelligence.

The Losers became criminals.

And the Total Losers became drunks.

[nicollo]

Bolsheviks ... legalized ... homosexuality

And then they didn't under Stalin. The author is just projecting herself upon the past.

[Orosius]

Women were equal in the Gulag, too. They had the same brutal production quotas and starvation rations as the men.

[Secret Agent Man]

Socialism makes women even more miserable, faster.