Alexandra Kollontai Writings From The Struggle

Never-before translated writings of one of Russia's most important leaders in the struggle for women's liberation.

Alexandra Kollontai was a major figure in the Russian revolutionary movement, an activist from the 1890s, a pioneer of women's liberation and one of the founders of International Women's Day. This new collection is a wide-ranging selection of her writings from the revolutionary struggle, from her first discovery of Marx in her twenties, to her place in the first Bolshevik government, and her fight to defend Soviet power. Edited and translated by Cathy Porter, this collection includes articles translated for the first time into English.

Revisiting the ideas of a Russian revolutionary and feminist on such topics as sexual politics, free love, and motherhood. Alexandra Kollontai was a prominent Russian revolutionary, a commissar of Social Welfare after the October revolution in 1917, and a long-term Soviet ambassador to Sweden. As a cofounder of the Zhenotdel, the “Women's Department” in the communist party, she introduced abortion rights, secularized marriage, and provided paid maternity leave. Kollontai considered “comradely love” to be an important political force, elemental in shaping social bonds beyond the limitations of property relations. Red Love stems from a yearlong research by CuratorLab at Konstfack University together with Tensta konsthall, that led up to Dora García's exhibition Red Love and its related public programing. A number of artists and thinkers revisit Kollontai's ideas on the politics of love and their relation to current political, social, and feminist struggles. The publication also includes the biographical play Kollontai from 1977 by distinguished Swedish writer Agneta Pleijel. Part critical analysis and part artist book Red Love seeks to address the ongoing relevance of Kollontai's thought, and the increasingly complex sphere of love relations in advanced capitalism. Is there a place for Kollontai's vision of comradely love today and how could it be formed?

Alexandra Kollontai was a revolutionary socialist who devoted her life to the fight for women's liberation and human freedom. This short introduction to Kollontai's life argues that her revolutionary ideas and activism contain vital lessons for the struggle for socialism and women's liberation today.