Not all of these women supported the October Revolution in the form in which it took place, not all of them lived to see it. But thanks to these politically active and caring women, the revolution became possible.
Russian revolutionary, Soviet state party, social and cultural activist. Since 1890 she was engaged in propaganda, was the secretary of the Iskra newspaper, and participated in the preparation of the October Revolution. After the revolution, she took up the organization of the proletarian youth movement, stood at the origins of the Socialist Union of Working Youth, the Komsomol and the pioneer organization. Since 1917 she was a member of the State Commission for Education.
Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai(March 19, 1872 - March 9, 1952)
Russian revolutionary, stateswoman and diplomat. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USSR, the first female minister in history. Alexandra Kollontai came to participate in the socialist movement in the 1890s thanks to her acquaintance with E. D. Stasova. During the execution of the demonstration on January 9, 1905, she was on the streets of St. Petersburg. During the First Russian Revolution in 1905, Kollontai initiated the creation of the "Society for Mutual Assistance to Female Workers". Being the most prominent woman in the Soviet leadership, Kollontai was the initiator of the creation and head (since 1920) of the women's department of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), the purpose of which was to fight for equal rights for women and men, combat illiteracy among the female population, inform about new working conditions and family organizations.
Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist and publicist. One of the most influential figures in the German and European revolutionary left social democracy. In 1897 she defended her dissertation, receiving a doctorate in public law. Rosa proved herself to be a talented journalist and speaker. she did not communicate with Plekhanov, Bebel, Lenin, Zhores, led a polemic with them. At the Stuttgart Congress of the Second International (1907), Luxembourg, together with Lenin, introduced amendments to August Bebel's resolution on the question of attitudes towards imperialist war and militarism. The amendments, in particular, pointed out the need to use, in the event of a war, the crisis generated by it in order to overthrow the rule of the bourgeoisie.
German politician, activist of the German and international communist movement, one of the founders of the Communist Party of Germany, an activist in the struggle for women's rights. Clara Zetkin was instrumental in founding the Second International and prepared a speech for its Founding Congress on the role of women in the revolutionary struggle. It is believed that she is the author of the idea of International Women's Day - March 8.
Activist of the Russian revolutionary movement. In 1904 she joined the RSDLP. For her active participation in the revolution of 1905-1907, the authorities sent her into exile in the north of Russia to Mezen, from where Armand fled in 1908, first to St. Translated the works of Lenin, publications of the Central Committee of the party. In 1912 she wrote the pamphlet "On the Women's Question", in which she advocated freedom from marriage. In 1914, with the outbreak of the First World War, she engaged in agitation among the French workers, urging them to give up work in favor of the Entente countries.
Activist of the Russian and international socialist movement, populist, terrorist, writer.
On February 5, 1878, Zasulich came to see Trepov (who had passed a sentence that violated the law) and shot him with a revolver, seriously injuring him. She was immediately arrested, but the jury on April 12, 1878 completely acquitted Zasulich. The next day after her release, the verdict was protested, and the police issued an order to capture Zasulich, but she managed to hide in a safe house and was soon transferred to her friends in Switzerland to avoid re-arrest.
Russian revolutionary, terrorist, member of the Executive Committee of the "Narodnaya Volya", later Socialist-Revolutionary. In September 1884, according to the “Process of 14”, Figner was sentenced to death by the St. Petersburg Military District Court. After 9 days of waiting for the execution of the sentence, the execution was replaced by indefinite hard labor. In prison, she began to write poetry. She tried to establish contact with political prisoners in the fortress, to organize collective protests against the harsh conditions of detention. Vera Figner met the February Revolution of 1917 as chairman of the Committee for Assistance to Liberated Convicts and Exiles.
Russian political activist, terrorist, one of the leaders of the Left Socialist-Revolutionary Party. On March 12, 1906, she was sentenced to death by hanging for the murder of an adviser to the Tambov governor. On March 28, she was informed about the replacement of the death penalty with indefinite hard labor, which she was serving at the Nerchinsk penal servitude. One of the first women to report rape in custody. She spent most of her life in prisons.
An activist of the Russian revolutionary movement, one of the founders and leaders of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, as well as its Combat Organization. Known as the "grandmother of the Russian revolution". She was engaged in organizational work and the dissemination of revolutionary ideas among the peasantry. She was a supporter of political and agrarian terror, considering them one of the most effective methods of struggle.
Maria Markovna Shkolnik (1885 - 1955)
Eserka, a participant in the revolutionary terror in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. Member of the Fighting Organization of the Socialist Revolutionary Party.
Eserka, leader of the revolutionary movement in Russia. In 1905, she shot Adjutant General V. V. Sakharov, who pacified agrarian unrest in the Saratov province, was sentenced to death, which was replaced with life imprisonment.
Maria Grigorievna Nikiforova (1885 - 1919)
The leader of the anarchists in Ukraine, an ally of Nestor Makhno. She joined the anarchist movement at the age of 16. Known as Marusya. During the Civil War, he became one of the most prominent and respected commanders of anarchist detachments in southern Russia. In December 1917, Marusya's Black Guard helped establish Soviet power in Kharkov, Yekaterinoslav (Dnepropetrovsk) and Aleksandrovsk (Zaporozhye). Thanks to the support of the leader of the Bolsheviks in the area, Antonov-Ovseenko, Marusya received support in the Free Fighting Squad organization. This unit actively fought against the White Guard, the German occupation troops and Ukrainian nationalists during the establishment of Soviet power in Elisavetgrad (Kirovograd).
Russian revolutionary, active participant in the Civil War in 1918-1919, the only known woman - the commander of an armored train.
Populist, one of the leaders of the "Narodnaya Volya", directly supervised the assassination of Alexander II.
"We've done a big job. Perhaps two generations will have to lie on it, but it must be done- Sofia Perovskaya.
Russian revolutionary, agent of the Executive Committee of Narodnaya Volya. One of the pioneers.
Russian revolutionary populist, member of the Executive Committee of the Narodnaya Volya party.
Member of the Russian revolutionary movement. Until 1917, while in hard labor, Kaplan met the well-known activist of the revolutionary movement Maria Spiridonova, under whose influence her views changed from anarchist to SR. August 30, 1918 made an attempt on Lenin.
Russian revolutionary, populist, member of the Narodnaya Volya party. In February 1875, she participated in the congress of populists in Moscow, where the charter of the "All-Russian Social-Revolutionary Organization" was adopted.
Russian revolutionary, representative of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, organizer of the assassination of the commander of the occupation forces in Ukraine, Field Marshal Herman von Eichhorn in 1918. After the 1917 revolution, she, together with Maria Spiridonova, took part in the creation of the Chita Committee of the AKP. She also participated in the split of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party into the left and right wings, joining the first. She became the only woman at the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets.
Russian revolutionary, populist. Sold the estate in with. Belomestny Novooskolsky district, and used the money to improve material conditions and organize the escape of political prisoners.
Nadezhda Dmitrievna Subbotina(1855 - after 1930)
Russian revolutionary, populist. In 1874, she was brought to an inquiry in the case of propaganda in the empire (the trial of the 193s) for "a suspicious lifestyle, spreading ideas among the pupils of the Oryol women's gymnasium about the need to go to the people and for bringing forbidden books from abroad."
Russian revolutionary, populist. On November 30, 1876, she was submitted to the Court of the Special Presence of the Governing Senate on charges of forming an illegal community, which had the goal of overthrowing and changing the order of state administration, and participating in it (trial of 50). Found guilty and sentenced to exile.
Evgenia Dmitrievna Subbotina(1853 - after 1930)
Russian revolutionary, populist. In 1875, she was involved in two inquests: in the case of propaganda in the empire (trial of the 193rd) and in the case of anti-government propaganda (trial of the 50s). By the Highest command on February 19, 1876, in the first case, she was released from punishment for lack of evidence, and in the second case, she was brought to the court of the Special Presence of the Governing Senate on November 30, 1876 on charges of compiling an illegal community and participating in it (trial of 50), recognized guilty and sentenced to exile.
Lydia Pavlovna Yezerskaya (1866 - 1915)
Eserka, a participant in the revolutionary movement in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century.
Rebekka Moiseevna Fialka-Rachinskaya (1888 - 1975)
socialist-revolutionary, a participant in the revolutionary movement in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1904, Violet joined the underground organization of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, on behalf of which she conducted propaganda work. At the beginning of 1905, on behalf of the party, she went to Odessa to assist in the manufacture of shells. Several times she went to Chisinau for dynamite, and brought it to a safe house in Odessa, where, in addition, forbidden literature and fonts from the disclosed secret printing house were also delivered. In the summer of 1905, Violet and her friend Alexander Lappe were arrested in a safe house in Odessa. She was sentenced to 20 years of hard labor, but as a minor they were given 13. While in exile, Violet assisted her comrades in preparing escapes, was a member of an illegal mutual benefit fund.
Russian political activist, terrorist, member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. In 1901 she joined the Socialist Revolutionary Party. Participated in the Revolution of 1905-1907. She was a member of the Flying Combat Squad of the Northern Region.
Eserka, a member of the revolutionary movement in the Russian Empire. In 1906, by order of the Combat Organization of the Social Revolutionaries, an attempt was made on the chief commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Chukhnin. The admiral was wounded in the shoulder and stomach, but survived. On his orders, the terrorist was shot by a sailor patrol without trial or investigation.
Russian revolutionary, Soviet activist of the international communist, women's, anti-war and anti-fascist movement. In 1934, she participated in the creation of the World Anti-War and Anti-Fascist Women's Committee.
Russian revolutionary, populist. Conducted anti-government propaganda among the peasants. She provided assistance to members of the All-Russian Social Revolutionary Organization after the arrest of its leaders.
Maria Arkadievna Benevskaya (1882 - 1942)
Social Revolutionary terrorist, participant of the revolutionary movement in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1905, Maria Benevskaya joined the Combat Organization of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. The recommendation for entry was given by Boris Savinkov, by that time already one of the leaders of the organization. She led the life of a professional revolutionary, worked as a technician (bomb maker) and used the party nickname "Henrietta".
Revolutionary, participant in the civil war in Russia, journalist, poetess, writer. After the October Revolution, for some time she was engaged in work related to the preservation of art monuments, she was the secretary of Lunacharsky. In 1918 she joined the RCP(b). In 1918-1919 she was Commissar of the Naval General Staff, political worker of the Volga Flotilla. In 1921 she was in Afghanistan as part of the Soviet diplomatic mission. Reisner's last major work is historical sketches-portraits dedicated to the Decembrists ("Portraits of the Decembrists", 1925).
Dude, you probably know such famous women as Marilyn Monroe, Margaret Thatcher, Coco Chanel, Maya Plisetskaya - you can list for a long time. The names of these beautiful ladies always sound on their lips and harmoniously adorn the top lines of Google search. But there are heroines who are not legendary.
Today we would like to tell you about the lesser-known, but extremely talented and amazing representatives of the fair sex, who gave this world no less than their more "promoted" sisters.
1. Julie Recamier (1777 - 1849)
Beauty is a terrible force, and the excellent Madame Recamier personified her main tool in the era of post-revolutionary France. Striking the hearts of romantic Parisians right and left and inspiring famous artists, the beauty gained a certain fame, being the most "star" lady of the European scale of that time. Dukes and princes, writers and poets bowed to her beautiful legs. The name of Julie Recamier sounded from Spain to Russia. She broke the heart of Lucien Bonaparte, brother of the famous emperor, and such painters as Gerard and David immortalized her glorious portrait.
Cheerful and mysterious, naive and inaccessible - duality was her integral feature. In addition to the charm that she brought to people, Madame Recamier was obsessed with education. Her famous literary and political salon became the intellectual center of Paris, absorbing the best thoughts and knowledge of contemporaries of that time.
2. Rosa Luxemburg (1871 - 1919)
Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist and publicist rolled into one - all this is about the brilliant Rosa Luxemburg, who became one of the most influential figures in the German and European revolutionary left-wing social democracy. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin called her "an eagle, a great communist, a representative of unfalsified, revolutionary Marxism", emphasizing that her work would be a most useful lesson for educating many generations of communists around the world.
Rosa was one of the founders of the anti-war "Spartacus Union" and the Communist Party of Germany, gracefully fought against the bourgeoisie, for which she was subjected to repression, having spent a total of about 4 years in prison.
Smart woman on the verge of genius. Her insatiable desire to work, fight and create overcame any difficulties on the political and creative path.
In the center of Berlin, a square and a metro station are named after her, and there are streets named after Rosa Luxembourg in many European cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg.
And there is also a song by the Mumiy Troll group dedicated to Rosa:
3. Vera Ignatievna Mukhina (1889 - 1953)
The legendary female sculptor, who left a significant contribution to the Soviet monumental art. World-wide fame was brought to her by the grandiose monument “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” (the same one from the Mosfilm screensavers), presented not just anywhere, but at the World Exhibition of 1937 in Paris.
Vera Ignatievna created a monument for Maxim Gorky, installed at the Belorussky railway station, a sculpture "Science" near the Moscow State University building, a monument to Pyotr Tchaikovsky near the Moscow Conservatory, sculptures "Earth" and "Water" in Luzhniki.
In 1947, Mukhina became a member of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Arts. For many fruitful years of work, she received the title of People's Artist of the USSR, became a laureate of five Stalin Prizes and was repeatedly awarded orders.
4. Gabriela Mistral (1889 - 1957)
Her real name is Lusila de Maria del Perpetuo Socorro Godoy Alcayaga, but for obvious reasons, the world is more aware of her concise and beautiful nickname - Garbriela Mistral.
She worked as a teacher and later as a diplomat in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Brazil. In 1903, her first poems were published: tragic, sensual, saturated with the spirit of suffering and love; deep, problematic - about the attitudes of the Indians and the rushing souls of ordinary people. In 1945, Garbriela Mistral won the Nobel Prize in Literature "for her poetry of true feeling, which made her name a symbol of idealistic aspiration for all of Latin America."
Gabriela is also known for her fight for the rights of women, was engaged in educational activities. Her refined image of a beautiful, intelligent, intelligent lady with a big heart and a pure soul is a social ideal, surprisingly rare in our time.
5. Vera Vasilievna Kholodnaya (1893 - 1919)
A relatively short period of film career, which began just five years before her death, brought Vera Vasilyevna the fame of the most famous silent film actress of her time. She was rightly called the "queen of the screen." The tape "By the Fireplace", in which the actress played the main role, became a record for views for pre-revolutionary cinema. The film was shown continuously for 90 days in Odessa and 72 days in Kharkov.
For three years, Vera Kholodnaya took part in the filming of more than 30 films. Its popularity did not fade during the revolutionary events of 1917 and even during the Civil War.
6. Simone de Beauvoir (1908 - 1986)
One of the most prominent representatives of the literary world of that time. With her book The Second Sex, Simone made a splash in prominent circles of the intelligentsia of Europe and America. The writer's book became a real symbol of the sexual revolution of the 1960s, recognized (even by men) and the most important work on feminism of the 20th century.
Simone de Beauvoir made a significant contribution to the development of the philosophical thought of her century, became the ideologist of the feminist movement and deservedly secured the title of the most talented French writer. As Simone herself wrote: “If there is something of a genius in me, then only clarity of thought.”
I tore myself away from the safety of a secure and certain life for my love of truth—and the truth has rewarded me.
A strange paradox lies in the fact that the sensual world surrounding a man consists of softness, tenderness, friendliness - in a word, he lives in the female world, while the woman struggles in the harsh and harsh world of the man.
Psychoanalysts define a man as a human being and a woman as a female; every time a woman acts like a human being, they say she imitates a man.
7. Ella Jane Fitzgerald (1917 - 1996)
Madame Ella was one of the greatest vocalists in the history of jazz music: the owner of a brilliant voice with a range of three octaves, a master of scat (this is when the performer's voice imitates a jazz instrument), a master of voice improvisation and a 13-time Grammy Award winner.
Fitzgerald has been dubbed the "First Lady of Jazz". For her amazing work, the vocalist received the Presidential Medal in the United States, became a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters in France and was showered with many other honorary awards.
During her 50-year career in jazz, Ella released about 90 albums and compilations, selling a total of over forty million of her records:
8. Rosalind Franklin (1920 - 1958)
As common sense suggests, there were not so many women biophysicists in the world. Rosalind Franklin was one of the few such scientists.
Rosalind is a modest Englishwoman whose name has never been heard. However, the actual discovery of DNA belongs to Rosalind. Let all the glory go to her colleagues, James Watson and Francis Crick, but it was precisely the most accurate laboratory experiments of a woman scientist that made it possible to obtain an X-ray image of DNA that demonstrated the tortuous structure of molecules known and familiar today.
In 1962, pundits received the Nobel Prize for their discovery. Rosalind Franklin died of cancer 4 years before this event, which could have brought her a well-deserved triumph.
Communist
COMMUNIST and, well. communiste. 1 . obsolete A member of a team of people united for a common life and work, . I have to dwell on this because when it was announced to us that for the time being the compositors would be limited to this, and it was necessary to look for premises for the commune, then I, Shimbot and Gorskaya thought about this chatter of our colleague and, fearing to ruin the just-beginning business in vain. they decided not only not to accept her as a communist, but also to invite her as little as possible. Kozlinin For half a century 39.
2. O female member of the communist party. My cordial and warm greetings to all women - communists and collectivists who have understood their equality with men and work hand in hand, comradely, honestly. Gorky "Worker and Peasant Woman". Valentina is a communist, a suitable and worthy woman from all sides. Nicholas Harvest. Your field is next to ours, Ours is more stony. Your girls are communists, Ours are more communist. Astaflyeva 1998 124. | transfer. No, dear rhetorician, you cannot convince us, No matter how excited you are in pompous words, That our mother nature is a communist: No, she also has her own choice and purification. We see unity in it, but equality in it. Such was from time immemorial and is and will be light. No matter how you level the soil with a violent shovel, Nature here and there looks like an aristocrat. Vyazemsky Star. app. book. // RA 1876 3 158. - Lex. Dal-1: commune and/ stack; Dal-3: communi/ stack.
Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language. - M.: Dictionary publishing house ETS http://www.ets.ru/pg/r/dict/gall_dict.htm. Nikolay Ivanovich Epishkin [email protected] . 2010 .
Synonyms:See what "communist" is in other dictionaries:
COMMUNIST- [to] communists. female to a communist. Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov
communist- A COMMUNIST, a, m. A member of the Communist Party. Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov
communist- noun, number of synonyms: 2 Marxist (1) Party member (4) ASIS Synonym Dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 ... Synonym dictionary
Communist
Communist- I f. unfold female to noun. communist I II f. unfold female to noun. Communist II Explanatory Dictionary of Efremova. T. F. Efremova. 2000... Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language Efremova
communist- communist, communist, communist, communist, communist, communist, communist, communist, communist, communist, communist, communist, communist (Source: “Full accentuated paradigm according to A. A. Zaliznyak”) ... Forms of words
communist- communist source, and, genus. n. pl. what to … Russian spelling dictionary
communist- see Communist ... encyclopedic Dictionary
communist- , and, well. Women's to a communist. MAC, vol. 2, 84. ◘ Call your daughter a communist. New world, 1946, No. 12, 8 ... Explanatory Dictionary of the Language of Soviet Deputies
communist- see communist; and; pl. genus. current, date weaves; and … Dictionary of many expressions
Books
- Imagine 6 girls. The Mitford Sisters: Writer. Poultry house. Fascist. Nazi. Communist. The Duchess, Thompson L. A documentary novel about the Mitford sisters, whose name was a household name in England in the middle of the last century. Six sisters have become the personification of the most diverse sides of the twentieth century. Chosen by sisters...
The article draws attention to the fact that the difficult living conditions under the Bolsheviks, especially for women, pushed for the fall of morality. And the Communists-Komsomol gladly accepted such an "offer" of the body. About the same, by the way, who was shot for this in 1937.
The LiveJournal article has already been reprinted by the Calmifier.
I did not find the first place for publishing this article - if anyone knows, write.
http://www.ateismy.net/content/spravochnik/kritika/doloi%20stid.php
Down with shame and disgrace!
About the peculiar morality of some atheists.
Sergei Glezerov
One of the forms of the post-revolutionary struggle for the "liberation of women", for the "new way of life", against the obsolete "old world" was the nudism movement. It originated at the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries in Europe, then leaked to Russia, but was perceived as a noble impulse towards a complete rapprochement with nature and an attempt to discard sanctimonious moral norms. Now nudism has been given a pronounced political character.
In the summer of 1925, the “Down with shame!” Society appeared in Moscow. Its participants decided to fight shame as a bourgeois prejudice. Groups of six to ten people marched completely naked through the streets, and on the ribbons worn across the naked body was written: "Down with shame - this is a bourgeois prejudice." The ladies were wearing nothing but shoes and bags for documents. Moreover, they went to the cinema in this form, to the canteen for workers, and even rode the tram. True, the idea did not arouse understanding in society: they say that grandmothers, seeing them, were baptized, children threw stones and rotten vegetables at them.
The Belgian consul in Russia, Joseph Douillet, later recalled: “In 1925, under the auspices of the Soviet government, the society “Down with shame!” was formed. Members of this society pledged to give up clothing and go naked. For propaganda, some members of this eccentric society were sent on trips: to Kharkov, Rostov, Mineralnye Vody, etc. I saw them in the costume of Adam and Eve in Rostov.
According to the memoirs of the writer Varlam Shalamov, “Boys, onlookers followed in droves the adherents of this naked order. Then the Moscow police received instructions - and the naked figures of women and men disappeared from the Moscow streets.
People's Commissar of Health Semashko, on behalf of the government, condemned attempts to walk naked "through Moscow's crooked streets." At the same time, he put forward the following as the main argument: “an unsuitable climate, too low a temperature in Moscow, threatening the health of the population if it is carried away by the ideas of the “Down with Shame!” society. It was further said that the People's Commissariat of Health found out that the air of city streets is oversaturated with dust and bacteria harmful to human skin. Therefore, the People's Commissariat for Health recommended not to appear on city streets without clothes, but to look for healthy fresh air and sunlight on the outskirts of the city and on the banks of reservoirs ...
Appendix: (From the article by A. Bunge "Marriage and the Status of Woman" in the collection "The World Before the Abyss" edited by I. Ilyin (Berlin, 1931, in German). Russian translation published in Moscow in 2001. Although in the Russian edition this is not explicitly stated; all quotations from the Soviet press in the Russian edition are apparently reverse-translated from German.)
“... The well-known communist Smidovich briefly outlined the essence of sexual morality that reigned among communist youth at that time: “It seems that our youth is confident that it is called upon to resolve all issues related to love in the most rude and dirty way; otherwise it will damage the dignity of the communist. The present morality of our youth, in summary, is as follows:1. Every, even a minor, member of the Komsomol and every student of the "workers' faculty" (workers' faculty) has the right and obligation to satisfy their sexual needs. This concept has become an axiom, and abstinence is considered as a limitation inherent in bourgeois thinking.
2. If a man lusts for a young girl, whether she is a student, a worker, or even a girl of school age, then the girl must submit to this lust, otherwise she will be considered a bourgeois daughter, unworthy of being called a true communist ... ”(Pravda, March 21, 1925)
The correctness of these formulations was confirmed by the letters that came in response to her article. For example, one student writes: “Students look askance at those Komsomol members who refuse to have sexual intercourse with them. They regard them as petty-bourgeois retrogrades who cannot rid themselves of outdated prejudices. The idea prevails among students that not only abstinence, but also motherhood should be treated as a bourgeois ideology” (“Pravda”, May 7, 1925). Another student, by the name of Rubtsova, says that the communists consider love as something very soon transient, they consider long-term love boring; and the concept of "spouse" for them is a bourgeois prejudice. In response to the question: "Where does your wife work?" they laughed and asked: “What?” “One well-known communist told me: “In every city where I go for work, I have a temporary wife.” “My friend's husband,” continues Rubtsova, “offered me to spend the night with him, since his wife is sick and cannot satisfy him that night. When I refused, he called me a stupid citizen who is not able to comprehend everything. the greatness of communist doctrine» ("Pravda", May 7, 1925).
It should be noted that all these women are real communists who in no way doubt the correctness of communist views, but only complain about the terrible cynicism in the behavior of the communists and the infringement of their female dignity (See also the above-mentioned verbatim report of the plenary sessions of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, p. 155, 169). (…) The prevailing opinion among communist youth is that only sexual relations can exist between the sexes. Thus, Pravda writes (January 9, 1928): “Between a man and a woman we have only sexual relations”. And the heroine of the popular story of the famous writer Panteleimon Romanov "Without a fig leaf" says: “We do not recognize love. We know only sexual relations, because love is despised as something psychological, and with us only physiology has the right to exist. Anyone who sees in love something other than physiology is ridiculed and considered impotent and abnormal.
women rape
According to these Communist views, every woman and every girl was said to be "obliged" to satisfy the sexual instinct of a man. Of course, this does not always happen smoothly. In this case, sometimes they resort to rape. Rape became simply a disaster in the Soviet state. The courts are full of relevant lawsuits, the number of such lawsuits is constantly growing. In 1926, the Moscow Court alone considered 547 cases of rape; in 1927 this number (for Moscow) increased to 726; in 1928 to 849. In other courts, the same. This phenomenon in Soviet life received a special name - "Chubarovshchina", after the name of Chubarovsky Lane in St. Petersburg, where in 1926 two women were raped by a whole gang of young communists. Then this case caused a great resonance, since only workers and mainly members of the party and Komsomol took part in this.
This process was very characteristic of the morals of the communists and their attitude towards women. According to the testimonies of the accused and witnesses at the trial, it was established that young people in St. Petersburg have the following main opinion regarding women: « A woman is not a man, but only a female. Every woman is a girl who can be treated as she pleases. Her life is worth no more than she receives for sexual intercourse." ("Komsomolskaya Pravda", December 18, 1926). The main defendants stubbornly insisted that they were no different from the other members of the Komsomol. "All members of the Komsomol are in the same mood and live in the same way as we do." “The worst thing,” notes Komsomolskaya Pravda, “is the fact that this terrible incident does not represent any special crime in our life, nothing exceptional, it is just an ordinary, constantly repeating incident” (ibid.) .
The routine of this court case is also vividly characterized by the testimony of one Komsomol member who saw violence being committed, but calmly passed by. The question of the prosecutor why he did not call for help, he simply could not understand ... It seemed that it was quite enough for him that he himself did not participate in the case. One of the defendants even claimed that there was no rape at all: the case took place only without the consent of the woman ... The pages of the communist press are full of materials about such cases, eloquently testifying to the incredible cynicism of the Bolshevik views towards women.
"The Liberation of a Woman"
... The position of a woman liberated and equalized in everything with a man in the Soviet state is indeed difficult and humiliating. General impoverishment, unemployment and the most difficult working conditions led to the emergence in the country of a new phenomenon - the complete dependence of a woman on her superiors and, as a result of this dependence, a “bribe in kind”, or, as they call it, “women's tips”. We often find in the Soviet press descriptions of such demands and the sad consequences of refusing to satisfy such ambitions (see the section "Communism as the Rule of Officials" in Part I of this book). The Communist leaders try to make full use of the economic dependence of women and the theory of the free gratification of the sexual instinct. The Supreme Court decides in April 1929 to initiate criminal proceedings against those men who require women "out of gratitude" to have sexual relations with them. According to this decision, a criminal case was initiated against the chairman of the executive committee in Derbent on 14 lawsuits for coercion into cohabitation of women who turned to him for work (Izvestia, July 6, 1929). One director of the hospital, the communist Gulbatov, under threat of dismissal, demanded that women, his subordinates, have sexual relations with him (ibid.).
The position of teachers is especially difficult here. “It is necessary to put an end to the “Chubarovshchina” in the field of public education. Employees of the commissariat of education often forget about their responsibility, their position and their authority, and without any shame attack young teachers. At first they try to persuade, then they demand under the threat of dismissal; and if all this does not help, they resort to violence. Everyone does this, from young Komsomol members to gray-haired party members. Every young teacher is considered a harlot: this is part of her duties. The Communist Party is silent on this matter, and some of its members participate in these matters and demand from young teachers the unquestioning fulfillment of this natural duty” (“Trud”, December 23, 1928). Another one, Rabochaya Gazeta, reports that many female teachers have been suddenly fired in Siberia. Eighteen of them managed to prove that their dismissal followed only because of their disobedience to the harassment of their superiors; after this, they were again hired (Rabochaya Gazeta, September 12, 1929). “We kept silent, because we lived in need and did not want to lose our piece of bread. Since I know what my companions have to endure in misfortune, in order to prevent new victims, I decided to openly write about everything., - writes the teacher Tarasova, the head of an elementary school in the Ryazan province (Izvestia, June 6, 1929).
Slightly better is the position of working women, women belonging to a class of people who are given special preference in the Soviet state. At the factory "Coil" in the Smolensk province, a number of craftsmen and workers, as well as the chairman of the trade union, all communists, were charged with abuse of office. They demanded that women have sexual relations with them, and fired those who were rebellious (Trud, May 22, 1928). Women attending the labor exchange to get a job must consent to the sexual harassment of the chairman (Labor, June 15, 1928). The Communists are even trying to introduce here and there the feudal right of the "first night." The main communist newspaper tells how the director of one of the factories in Turkestan, the communist Petrovsky, demanded that the factory janitor, an Uzbek who was about to get married, provide him with a bride on the first night after the wedding. Since he warned that he would not forgive or forget the refusal, the groom, after a short resistance, agreed. It was more difficult, Pravda writes, to get the consent of the bride, but in the end they succeeded (Pravda, April 25, 1928).
Prostitution
Communists like to point out that the result of free sexual relations in the Soviet state was the complete disappearance of the completely shameful social phenomenon of prostitution. This statement is naively repeated by foreigners. However, the official data of the Soviets completely refute this assertion. Yes, studies carried out by the Institute of Venereal Diseases, unfortunately, without giving exact figures, that prostitution is steadily increasing; this is easy to explain given the extremely difficult situation in the USSR in general and women in particular. When asked what, in fact, prompted them to go out on the street, 95% of these women gave the same answer: hopeless need as a result of long-term unemployment, layoffs, divorce, the plight of relatives, etc. Among the prostitutes - up to 40% of the daughters of the former aristocracy, merchants and officials. At the same time, up to 27% here are the daughters of workers (data from the Research Institute of Venereal Diseases, see also Zalkind: New sexual morality, Moscow, 1927).
Summary
This is how the results of the liberation of women and the communist struggle against the family look like. The Communists themselves are compelled to admit these results. So, for example, the central newspaper, among other things, writes: “There are people who claim that we are the ones who caused these outcomes through our promotion of free sexual relations. These people are saying, “You are reaping exactly what you have sown! Here is your youth! Look at your young communists.” Following this, the newspaper concludes embarrassedly: “It must be admitted that in a healthy proletarian atmosphere such phenomena are unacceptable.”("Izvestia", June 6, 1928)".
======
In this light, the nostalgia of the surviving and aged "first Komsomol members" becomes understandable when they recalled their youth in the seventies: "Oh, it was a fun time, romantic ... Not like now ..."
In the comments I found a link to a satirical story from 1927 about the pioneers: one pioneer was caught walking with a pioneer girl and being scolded at a court meeting.
Panteleimon Romanov.
The answer to the women's question, which was proposed by the "sexually emancipated communist" A. Kollontai, is more radical not only in comparison with the feminist project, but, above all, in comparison with what was in the theoretical reserve of Marxism, of which she was an unconditional supporter.
What was pro-feminist (feminist) by the beginning of the 20th century. the Marxists? A very old - Platonic, through French socialism reached scientific communism - the idea of abolishing the family ("community of wives"?) as one of the main institutions of the oppression of women. It fit in well with the more solid idea of the proletariat's class struggle for socialism through a socialist revolution, automatically abolishing all the social foundations of women's oppression (Engels, Bebel, Lafargue, Zetkin, Lenin, Krupskaya). In the Bolshevik version of Marxism, the fate of the women's issue was clearly defined: it was decided with the victory of the socialist revolution. A. Kollontai proposed a more detailed project, the radical nature of which was that the socialist revolution is only a (necessary) condition for further revolutionary transformations in society. While agreeing that socialism creates favorable conditions for women's liberation, Kollontai at the same time believed that the new (socialist) form of organization of production would not in itself lead to gender equality. What still needs to be done is to create new "social relations".
Back in The Social Foundations of the Women's Question, she wrote that before any idealistic ideas of free love can be realized, fundamental reforms of all social relations between people are needed. In this reformist process after the victory of the revolution, it was men who had to learn to live in a new way, and the leading force in this process would be organized women using state-party mechanisms to achieve feminist goals ("state feminism"?). Maybe that's why Kollontai fought for the women's departments, which could have at their disposal certain levers of the state emancipation policy. A very radical project: to get rid of outdated bourgeois structures through a revolution (based on force) that support not only class and national inequality, but also sexual inequality, and at the same time - with the direct and active participation (leadership?) of women themselves - to create new social foundations for the collective life of emancipated women and men. Although Kollontai herself did not think so (she did not write, did not speak), many of her texts “say” that her project united Marxism and feminism (in the 70s of the 20th century, Hartman wrote on this topic). Marxist discourse is replenished with the concepts of "love", "friendship", "female psychology", "free union of the sexes".
Speaking about the family, she emphasizes the need for men to learn to be attentive to the feelings of others, to appreciate the personality of a woman. "Women have always learned this, and men have not had a need; and until they develop in themselves the ability for a collective life that requires these qualities, there can be no good socialist marriage." True, Kollontai's concept of the "new woman" implies that women also have a lot of work to do to change themselves. A. Kollontai was the author of rather original ideas about the possibilities and obstacles of women's liberation, related to the peculiarities of the cultural ideas of society in general and women in particular about the nature of "feminine."
So, for example, according to Kollontai, the real difficulty of implementing a cultural revolution in relation to women was not limited only to the need to overcome their higher level of illiteracy, but was also associated with a complex and contradictory process of changing their ideas about themselves, their capabilities and responsibilities. According to Kollontai, women in the Cultural Revolution had a special qualitative task that could only be realized as a result of their own activity, which was not actually mentioned in the speeches of the male revolutionaries.
She wrote, for example: Emotionality was one of the typical properties of a woman of the past, she served both as an adornment and a disadvantage of a woman .... In order to defend her still unconquered rights from life, a woman has to do much more educational work on herself than a man (Kollontai, 1919, p. 17) “Emotionality” here turns out to be something close to the idealistic constructions of philosophers, a quality that immerses a woman experiences and impeding the practical realization of her desires, an obstacle for a woman to master her rights. Women's emotionality cannot disappear as a result of the transformation of all women who come from the working class into workers; to overcome it, a lot of internal work is needed, which is possible only in the process of real participation of women in the implementation of political management. (Recognition of the psychological complexities of “introducing” women's equality, which may threaten the very possibility of the existence of this equality, significantly distinguishes Kollontai's theory of women's liberation from the general theoretical constructions of the Bolshevik leaders.
However, even in the case of Kollontai, we are faced with the fact that the main direction of changes in the "feminine" was primarily to abandon the qualities that were traditionally considered "female" and replace them with "male"). From the point of view of A. Kollontai, in the state created by the socialist revolution, many of the traits of men acquired by them in the historical conditions of the domination of private property cannot automatically disappear - jealousy, confidence in the right of ownership of the soul and body of a woman, male egoism, inability to take care of others , without which it is impossible to live in a team ("Sexual morality and social struggle"). Changes in the social structure are not enough; there must be personal changes in both women and men. In this work of self-change, A. Kollontai sees the leading role of state women's organizations - women's departments.
In fact, she revives the idea of Clara Zetkin and achieves the legalization of organized women's activities: through the women's departments, women will learn socialist ways to solve the problems of childcare, work, housekeeping, and sexual relations. Kollontai makes these and other "women's" questions significant for socialism, worthy of socialist theory. It was also important for her that changes in social relations should occur "from below", thanks to the civic activity of the masses (women), and not with the help of bureaucratic orders "from above". Feminism, which A. Kollontai carried in herself, manifested itself when there were no feminist organizations left. A. Kollontai goes far beyond the official Marxist view of the women's question as a question subordinate to the tasks of the proletarian struggle for socialism. She tries to reveal what socialism means (for her) in terms of the participation of both sexes in it, to combine a class approach to the women's issue with a gender approach to socialist politics (?)
Kollontai draws attention to the differences between female and male characters and gives preference to female leadership on the path to socialism. Especially in later works, she returns to the image of the "new" (lonely) woman leading the process of socialist construction). In the early 20s. Alexandra Kollontai has written several interesting articles and essays (perhaps the most interesting and "feminist" of all she has written) on women's emancipation, family problems and sexual relations. Among these works: Theses on communist morality in the field of marriage, On the "dragon" and "white bird", The road to the winged Eros. Today, the ideas reflected in these articles are perceived as quite moderate, but in those years - the years of the NEP - it was clearly radical feminism. Not the integration of women's demands into the new government policy, which she did not accept, but the radical liberation of women against the backdrop of a victorious world revolution.
Liberation from what? First of all, from the family-household "bourgeois" inheritance, from attachment to a man (in the lecture "The Revolution of Life" this is especially clearly shown); from bourgeois morality, which limits a woman to maternal functions. A. Kollontai, one of the first feminist theorists, began to write about the psychology of women's emancipation. A. Kollontai was convinced that full women's equality requires a radical break in family relations, which will give women economic independence and participation in production. Kollontai saw the task of the Soviet government in putting a woman in such conditions when her labor would not be spent on non-productive work at home and caring for children, but would be used to create new benefits, for the state, for the labor collective. (“We must save the strength of women from unproductive expenses for the family in order to use them wisely for the collective”). The revolution of everyday life was one of the main conditions for the emancipation of women. Domestic work, according to the People's Commissar, was to be replaced by a public service, and the state should take care of the children. “Kitchens that enslaved a woman,” writes Kollontai, “cease to be a necessary condition for the existence of a family.” The only duty of a woman was to give birth to healthy children and feed them to the nursery.
With the direct participation of Kollontai in Russia in 1917, the most revolutionary laws in the world at that time on the family were adopted: “On the abolition of marriage”, “On civil marriage, on children and on entering into acts of civil status”, which established the equalization of the rights of spouses , recognition of all children as legitimate, the opportunity for a woman to leave her last name after marriage. However, the real process of transformation of family and marriage relations in Russia in the 1920s turned out to be completely different from what Kollontai imagined it to be. Women could not exercise their rights due to illiteracy, they did not want to dissolve their marriages, give their children to the state. In "Theses on communist morality in society", A. Kollontai recognizes "the separation of a married couple into a separate cell" - a family. Her "Theses on Communist Morality in the Field of Marriage" was published in 1921 in the journal Kommunistka, and in the same year she gave a series of public lectures on women's problems in the economy and in the family at the Sverdlov University in Moscow.
At the very beginning of the 1920s, there was no official rebuff to the "liberation" ideas of A. Kollontai (in 1920 she headed the Zhenotdel in the party), but already in late 1922 - early 1923, after the publication of "Letters to labor youth" on the pages of the same very popular magazine and on the pages of the women's magazine "Kommunistka" the first signs of official resistance to Kollontai's pro-feminist ideas appear. Thus, the publication of the article "The Way to the Winged Eros" in the section "Questions of Life" is accompanied by huge question marks, and the publication of the article "About the "dragon" and the" white "bird" is accompanied by an editorial note that the article is published in a discussion order, that "a number of places in article by Comrade Kollontai" is considered controversial. In No. 4 of the magazine "Young Guard" for 1923, two answers to both articles by A. Kollontai are published at once. In the article "Citizen Akhmatova and comrade. Kollontai" by a certain B. Arvatov criticizes A. Kollontai's theory of sexuality, opposes Kollontai's approval of Akhmatova's work, accuses Kollontai of feminism, which he sees in the emphasis on the psychological development of the female personality.
There is also another critical publication - "Eros from the Rogozhno-Simonovsky District" (thinking aloud about Comrade Kollontai's article "The Way for Winged Eros"). But the most striking example of criticism of the ideas of A. Kollontai is the article "Issues of morality, gender, life and comrade Kollontai", written by Polina Vinogradskaya, A. Kollontai's young colleague at work in the Zhenotdel. She accuses Kollontai of being anarchist, petty-bourgeois, "Georgian" and defines her as a communist woman "with a solid dose of feminist rubbish".
Thus, A. Kollontai not only "saw" the discrepancy between the Marxist theory and feminist goals, but made an attempt to "expand" the class socialist theory by including in it the categories "gender", etc., on an equal footing, at the expense of the theory of sexual revolution. But her feminist and labor opposition, relying on the initiative of the masses, on the organization of women and their leadership in the process of forming new social relations (including gender relations), posing questions that were not traditional for Marxism (women's psychology, changes in male attitudes, sexual morality) DO NOT RESPOND TO THE POSSIBILITIES OF SOCIETY (wars, revolutions, devastation - the "terrible" Kollontai, taking babies away from their mothers; distracting social work from the usual household chores); DID NOT MEET THE NEEDS of the new, but the old patriarchal state, which quickly realized the material benefits from the implementation of the concept of Kollontai "new woman" ("working woman mother"). For that time, it was too radical a project, interesting and understandable only to Kollontai herself.
How radical and interesting is it today?
