The Activity of the International Secretariat of Communist Women
(15 November 1921)
From International Press Correspondence, Vol. I No. 8, 15 November
1921, p. 67.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive. Public Domain: Marxists Internet Archive (2019). You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source.
The task of the International Secretariat of Communist Women
consists of awakening the working woman from her age-long passivity,
of giving her confidence in herself, of drawing her into the
revolutionary movement and of obtaining her entra... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: The Autobiography of a Sexually Emancipated Communist Woman, Translated by Salvator Attansio, Herder and Herder, 1971; Transcribed: for marxists.org, 2001.
Prefatory Note
This is the first time that the complete autobiography which
Alexandra Kollontai wrote in 1926 has been published. The
sentences and paragraphs in italics were crossed out in the
galleyproofs and left out in her time. Variants were indicated
in footnotes which likewise were rejected and crossed out. The
reader thus will have an idea of the extent and the intensity of
corrections made by the author under the pressure of the
gradually sharpening Stalinist control.
The Aims and Worth of My Life
Nothing is more difficult than writing an autobiography.... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: The Communist, October 15, 1920; Transcribed: Sally Ryan for marxists.org, August, 2002. Note: Some words unreadable, noted by [???].
Will the family be maintained in the Communist State? Will it just be as it is today? That is the question which is tormenting the women of the working class, and which is likewise receiving attention from their comrades the men. In recent days this problem has particularly been agitating all minds among the working women, and this should not astonish us. Life is changing under our eyes; former habits and customs are gradually disappearing; the entire existence of the proletarian family is being organized in a manner that is so new, so unaccustomed, so "bizarre", as to have been impossible to fore... (From: Marxists.org.) First Published: in Komunistka, No. 2, 1920, and in English in The Worker, 1920; Source: Selected Writings of Alexandra Kollontai, Allison & Busby, 1977; Translated: by Alix Holt.
Women’s role in production: its effect upon the family
Will the family continue to exist under communism? Will the family remain in the same form? These questions are troubling many women of the working class and worrying their menfolk as well. Life is changing before our very eyes; old habits and customs are dying out, and the whole life of the proletarian family is developing in a way that is new and unfamiliar and, in the eyes of some, “bizarre”. No wonder that working women are beginning to think these questions over. Another fact that... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: "The Immorality of the Bolsheviki" (unsigned article) in The Revolutionary Age, February 22, 1919; Transcribed: Sally Ryan for marxists.org, 2001.
Two million young lives were yearly dwindling in Russia because
of the darkness of the oppressed people, because of apathy of
the class state. Two million suffering mothers were saturating
yearly the Russian earth with tears and were covering with their
blistered hands the early graves of the innocent victims of the
hideous social order. The human thought, which had for centuries
sought a path, has at last reached the bright epoch of workers'
reforms, which will safeguard the mother for the child and the
child for the mother. Bright samples capitalist moral – homes for
... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: International Socialist Review, Kerr, January 1916; Transcribed: for marxists.org, March 2002; Proofed: and corrected by Chris Clayton 2006.
SINCE the Zimmerwald Conference of
the international-spirited socialists has taken place, the patriotic-minded socialists try to make out that the revolutionary internationalist wants nothing else than to annihilate the work of the socialists for these 50 years, wants to split the working class movement.
That the officials of the parties of the belligerent countries, after having proclaimed the "civil peace" with their class governments and endorsed the war, disapprove the aims of the Zimmerwald Conference is quite apprehensible and logical. But it appears that the poison of nationa... (From: Marxists.org.) First Published: Alexandra Kollontai, From My Life and Work. Moscow 1974, pp. 336-340 Source: Alexandra Kollontai: Selected Articles and Speeches, Progress Publishers, 1984; Transcribed: Sally Ryan for marxists.org, 2000; Proofed: and corrected by Chris Clayton 2006.
The idea of establishing a Department for the Protection of Mother and Child arose in the heat of the October battles. The basic principles underlying the work of the department, and the related statutes on social provision for mothers and expectant mothers were drafted at the first conference of women workers [1]
immediately following the October Revolution.
The conference was summoned at my suggestion as a member of the Central Committee, and we set up a lead grou... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Alexandra Kollontai: Selected Articles and Speeches, Progress Publishers, 1984; First Published: Oktyabr (October), No. 1, 1963, Moscow. pp 4-6; Transcribed: Sally Ryan for marxists.org, 2000; Proofed: and corrected by Chris Clayton 2006.
There are individuals – a mere handful in the history of mankind – who, while themselves being the product of an imminent catastrophic change, leave their mark upon an entire epoch. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin is one such giant mind, one such giant will...
However mighty such giants of history may be, the universal-general principle that they symbolize and embody dissolves all the narrowly individual. The ordinary measuring rod of the qualities, failings and passions characteristic of ... (From: Marxists.org.) COMING to my office one morning I found, among the pile of
private and business letters on my desk, a thick envelope that
immediately arrested my attention. Thinking it might contain a
newspaper article, I opened it. It was a letter, an
extraordinarily long letter. The signature....Olga
Wasselowskaya. I looked at it thoughtfully.
I knew Comrade Olga Sergejewna Wasselowskaya as an organizer holding a responsible position in the Soviet Republic. I also knew that she was not even remotely interested in the work among women in which I happened to be engaged at the time. What had prompted her to write this endless letter? Glancing at the envelope once more I noticed the words "Strictly Personal" written in large letters across the ... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Alexandra Kollontai: Selected Articles and Speeches, Progress Publishers, 1984; First Published: in A. Kollontai, On the History of the Movement of Women Workers in Russia,
Kharkov 1920, p. 311; Transcribed: Sally Ryan for marxists.org, 2000; Proofed: and corrected by Chris Clayton 2006.
What year could be said to mark the beginning of the working
women's movement in Russia? In its essential nature, the
movement of women workers is inseparably linked with the
entire proletarian movement as one indivisible whole. The
woman worker, as a member of the proletarian class, as someone
selling her labor, also rose in revolt with the workers
every time they opposed the violation of their human
rights, participated together and on... (From: Marxists.org.) Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. The following letter has been received by Comrade Dora B. Montefiore from Madame Kollontay, in reply to a letter of greeting:-
Moscow,
13th Sept., 1920.
“Dear Comrade Montefiore, – I was ever so glad to get your kind greeting. I could not answer it at once, as unfortunately I got very ill (typhus fever) at the time of the International Congress. We live in a new world where the beautiful hopes of the future real Communism are mixed up with so many remains of the old capitalistic world. It is a hard struggle to make of Russia a real Communistic state, but little by little the work goes on. If only the comrades in the rest of the world would give us more active support! One thing is achieved: ther... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Alexandra Kollontai: Selected Articles and Speeches, Progress Publishers, 1984; From: a speech delivered in Stockholm on 1 May, 1912; First Published: Social-Demokraten, 2 May, 1912;
The Russian text is a translation from the Swedish; Transcribed: Sally Ryan for marxists.org, 2000; Proofed: and corrected by Chris Clayton 2006.
Alexandra Kollontai was invited to Stockholm by the Swedish League of Socialist Youth and the left wing of the Swedish Social-Democratic Party to address a meeting held to mark May Day. The meeting was held outdoors, in a large field at Gardet, before an audience of thousands. The famous philologist, Doctor Hannes Skjold, interpreted Kollantai's speech into Swedish, and it was his interpretation that was ... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Alexandra Kollontai: Selected Articles and Speeches, Progress Publishers, 1984; First Published: International Socialist Conferences of Women Workers 1918, abridged; Transcribed: Sally Ryan for marxists.org, 2000; Proofed: and corrected by Chris Clayton 2006.
The First International Conference of Socialist Women - Stuttgart. 1907
A new danger is threatening the domination of the
bourgeoisie – women workers are resolutely adopting the path of
international class organization. The downtrodden, submissive
slaves humbly bowing before the omnipotence of the modern Moloch
of capital are, under the reviving influence of socialist
doctrine, lifting their heads and raising their voices in
defense of their interests as women ... (From: Marxists.org.) First Published: Mezhdunarodnyi den’ rabotnitz, Moscow 1920; Translated: Alix Holt 1972; Transcribed: Tom Condit for marx.org, 1997; Proofed: and corrected by Chris Clayton 2006.
* * *
A Militant Celebration
Women’s Day or Working Women’s Day is a day of international
solidarity, and a day for reviewing the strength and organization
of proletarian women.
But this is not a special day for women alone. The 8th of March
is a historic and memorable day for the workers and peasants, for
all the Russian workers and for the workers of the whole world.
In 1917, on this day, the great February revolution broke out.[2]
It was the working women of Petersburg who began this revolution;
it was they who first decided to... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Alexandra Kollontai: Selected Articles and Speeches, Progress Publishers, 1984; Written: 1908; First Published: in A. Kollontai, The Social Basis of the Women's
Question, St Petersburg, 1909, pp.1-33,abridged; Transcribed: Sally Ryan for marxists.org, 2000; Proofed: and corrected by Chris Clayton 2006.
The book The Social Basis of the Women's Question (approximately 450 pages) was written shortly before the First All-Russia Women's Congress, and published in St Petersburg in 1909. In it, Alexandra Kollontai provides a detailed analysis of this issue from a Marxist point of view. After a general survey of the question in the introduction, the author, basing herself on considerable factual material, examines and proffers a solutio... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Selected Writings of Alexandra Kollontai, Allison & Busby, 1977; First Published: 1921, as a pamphlet; Translated: by Alix Holt.
In its search for new forms of economy and of living which meet the interests of the proletariat, the Soviet republic has inevitably committed a number of mistakes, and has a number of times had to alter and correct its line. But in the sphere of social upbringing and the protection of motherhood, the labor republic from the first months of its existence has marked out the right direction for developments to take. And in this sphere a deep and fundamental revolution in morals and attitudes is being achieved. In this country, where private property has been abolished and where politics is dictated by ... (From: Marxists.org.) First Published: Reminiscences of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. In 5 volumes, Vol. 2, Politizdat,
Moscow, 1969, pp. 456-459; Source: Alexandra Kollontai: Selected Articles and Speeches, Progress Publishers, 1984; Transcribed: Sally Ryan for marxists.org, 2000; Proofed: and corrected by Chris Clayton 2006.
If I were asked what was the greatest, the most memorable moment of my life, I would answer without any hesitation: it was when Soviet power was proclaimed.
Nothing could compare to the pride and joy that filled us as we heard pronounced from the tribune of the Second Congress of Soviets at Smolny the simple and impressive words of the historic resolution:
"All power has passed to the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers and Peasants' D... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Alexandra Kollontai: Selected Articles and Speeches, Progress Publishers, 1984; First Published: A. Kollontai, Reminiscences of Lenin, Politizdat. Moscow, 1971; Transcribed: Sally Ryan for marxists.org, 2000; Proofed: and corrected by Chris Clayton 2006.
Lenin's ability to think about the great and important, while not forgetting the small details of everyday life, always amazed me. I was amazed that, while engaged in creating a totally new kind of state, he never missed the opportunity to remind us, even in relation to small details, of the fact that the state, and particularly a socialist state, requires accountkeeping and order. I will cite one example.
It was December, 1917. Christmas was approaching, but at Smolny no-one... (From: Marxists.org.) SUCCESS TO OUR WORK
Letter by Comrade ALEXANDRA KOLLANTAI (People’s Commissar for Propaganda) to Comrade DORA B. M. MONTEFIORE
* * *
Sourse: Workers Dreadnought, 9 April 1921. Transcribed: by ERC.
* * *
Moscow Jan 26, 1921
Dearest Comrade and Friend, – It was quite a treat to hear at last from you dear Comrade Montefiore. How happy I should be if I could show you all the revolutionary and really constructive work that has been done in these last few years! Sometimes it seems as if centuries have passed, the change all around is so great. Not only in the institutions, but especially in the psychology. For instance: In the bourgeois Capitalist States one regards a commercial man, a merchant as “a decent citizen&rdquo... (From: Marxists.org.) Published: 1911. Translation: in a pamphlet compiling Sexual Relations and the Class Struggle and Love and the New Morality (pages 15-26). Translation by Alix Holt. Published by the Falling Wall Press, 1972. Transcription: Jonathan Hinckley, 2021. Markup: Micah Muer, 2021. In the period from 1910-1911 onward there was less talk in Russia about the problems of sex. But in Germany a psycho-sociological study of the sexual crisis was written by Grete Meisel-Hess. The book wasn't a success with the general public. Whereas the novel, Karin Michaelis, published not long before and not daring to say anything more than is proper in writing of ‘good taste’, created a great stir (although it is of little artistic value). The main critici... (From: Marxists.org.) First published: in Molodoya Gvardiya (Young Guard) magazine #3 in 1923, by Komsomol (All-Union Leninist Young Communist League). Translated: by Alix Holt' Transcribed: by Joey Ostos.
Love as a socio-psychological factor
You ask me, my young friend, what place proletarian ideology gives to love? You are concerned by the fact that at the present time young workers are occupied more with love and related questions than with the tremendous tasks of construction which face the workers’ republic. It is difficult for me to judge events from a distance, but let us try to find an explanation for this situation, and then it will be easier to answer the first question about the place of love in proletarian ideology.
There can be no doubt t... (From: Marxists.org.) Part One
What – the new woman? Does she really exist? Is
she not the product of the creative fancy of modern writers of fiction,
in search of sensational novelties? Look around you, look sharply,
reflect, and you will convince yourself: the new woman is certainly
there – she exists.
You already know her, you are already accustomed to meeting her
in life, and indeed on all rungs of the social ladder, from the
woman worker up to the young women adepts of the sciences, from the
modest woman clerk to the most famous representative of the liberal
arts. What is most amazing about all this is that although you meet
the new woman in life with ever increasing frequency, it is only
in most recent years that you have had an... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Alexandra Kollontai: Selected Articles and Speeches, Progress Publishers, 1984; First Published: Pravda, 6 (23) March, 1917. Petrograd; Transcribed: Sally Ryan for marxists.org, 2000
There are memorable days in the life of mankind which run like a golden thread of popular celebration down the centuries. There are days which are equal to centuries in the history of humanity, and which proclaim that, however cruelly the people may be oppressed by violence and arbitrary rule, the hour will come when a mighty, triumphant, indestructible force, the spirit of the fraternal unity of the workers in close alliance with the revolutionary will of the deprived masses – will overthrow the old, outworn order through a powerful upsurge... (From: Marxists.org.) First Published: in Rabotnitsa (Woman Worker), Petrograd, 1917, No. 1-2, pp 3-4; Source: Alexandra Kollontai: Selected Articles and Speeches, Progress Publishers, 1984; Transcribed: Sally Ryan for marxists.org, 2000; Proofed: and corrected by Chris Clayton 2006.
A serious task of great responsibility now faces the working men and women of our country. We must build the new Russia, a Russia in which the working people, office workers, servants, day workers, needlewomen and those who are simply the wives of working men, will have a better and brighter life than they had during the accursed reign of bloody Nicholas.
However, the task of winning and consolidating state power for the proletariat and the small peasant, of introducing a... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Alexandra Kollontai:
Selected Articles and Speeches, Progress Publishers, 1984; First Published: Society and Motherhood, Petrograd, 1916, pp. 3-18, abridged; Transcribed: Sally Ryan for marxists.org, 2000; Proofed: and corrected by Chris Clayton 2006.
Kollontai began work on her book Society and Motherhood long before the outbreak of the First World War, after the Social-Democratic faction in the Third State Duma requested her to write a section on maternity insurance to be included in draft legislation on labor insurance. By the beginning of 1914 the work was completed and given to the St Petersburg publishing house Zhizn i Znaniye (Life and Knowledge), run by the Bolshevik historian and writer, Vladimir Dmitriyevich Bonch-Bruy... (From: Marxists.org.) Speech by Alexandra Kollontai to the third all-Russian conference of heads of the Regional Women’s Departments, 1921.
Prostitution and ways of fighting it
Source: Selected Writings of Alexandra Kollontai, Allison & Busby, 1977; Translated: by Alix Holt.
Comrades, the question of prostitution is a difficult and thorny subject that has received too little attention in Soviet Russia. This sinister legacy of our bourgeois capitalist past continues to poison the atmosphere of the workers’ republic and affects the physical and moral health of the working people of Soviet Russia. It is true that in the three years of the revolution the nature of prostitution has, under the pressure of the changing economic and social condition... (From: Marxists.org.) Lisa had hardly left for work in the morning when the door opened and Marya Semyonovna appeared, a black lace shawl wrapped about her head, She was gasping for breath. It was hot – midsummer.
“Good morning, Vassilissa Dementyevna. I’m bringing you a letter from your
husband. He wanted me to take a cab, to get here faster. But where can one be
found nowadays? I’m all out of breath.” As Vasya tore open the envelope
bearing the address of the office, her fingers seemed petrified. “Vasya!
What does this mean? What are you doing to me? Why do you torture me so
unmercifully? Do you want a scandal throughout the district to give my
enemies new material to ruin me? You’ve often said you were my f... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Alexandra Kollontai, Selected Writings, Allison & Busby, 1977; Translated: by Alix Holt, 1972; Written: 1921;
Among the many problems that demand the consideration and attention of contemporary mankind, sexual problems are undoubtedly some of the most crucial. There isn’t a country or a nation. apart from the legendary “islands”, where the question of sexual relationships isn’t becoming an urgent and burning issue. Mankind today is living through an acute sexual crisis which is far more unhealthy and harmful for being long and drawn-out. Throughout the long journey of human history, you probably won’t find a time when the problems of sex have occupied such a central place in the life of society; w... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: abstract from Selected Writings of Alexandra Kollontai, Allison & Busby, 1977; First Published: 1909, as a pamphlet; Translated and Edited: by Alix Holt; Transcribed: Andy Blunden for marxists.org; Proofed: and corrected by Chris Clayton 2006.
Leaving it to the bourgeois scholars to absorb themselves in discussion of the question of the superiority of one sex over the other, or in the weighing of brains and the comparing of the psychological structure of men and women, the followers of historical materialism fully accept the natural specificities of each sex and demand only that each person, whether man or woman, has a real opportunity for the fullest and freest self-determination, and the widest scope for the development and ... (From: Marxists.org.) Written: 1922; Source: Alexandra Kollontai Selected Writings, Lawerence Hill & Co. 1977. Translated: by Alex Holt; Transcribed: by Marc Luzietti.
7 January 1970. It’s warm and bright, and there is a lively and festive atmosphere in the “House of Rest” where the veterans of the “Great Years” of the world revolution spend their days.
The veterans decided that on the day that had once been Christmas Day they would recall their childhood and youth by decorating a tree. A real fir tree just like in the years before the world upheavals. The young children and the older girls and boys were enthusiastic about the idea. Especially when they heard that “red grandmother” was going to tell stories abou... (From: Marxists.org.)