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

  • By: Kristen R. Ghodsee
  • Podcast

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

By: Kristen R. Ghodsee
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  • Summary

  • 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.

    © 2024 A.K. 47 - Selections from the Works of Alexandra Kollontai
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Episodes
  • 143 - A.K. 47 - Who Needs the War? - Part 4

    143 - A.K. 47 - Who Needs the War? - Part 4
    Dec 3 2024

    Kristen Ghodsee reads the fourth section of Alexandra Kollontai's 1915 essay about World War I–"Who Needs the War?"–and looks for lessons applicable to the present day.

    This translation is from a 1984 collection of Kollontai's writing published by Progress Publishers in the Soviet Union, which claims that the essay was written while Kollontai was in exile in Norway. She sent it to Vladimir Lenin (then in exile in Switzerland) who also edited it before publication. The final pamphlet was first published in 1916. It went into multiple editions and was distributed widely across Europe and Russia.

    [Sorry there was a glitch in the original upload. This is the correct episode now]

    Mentioned in this episode:

    "How to do escapism in the Trump era," The New Republic

    "The Other Great Depression," Le Monde Diplomatique in English, French, Spanish, Farsi, Bulgarian, and Esperanto

    Anachoresis - withdrawal into the desert

    Send us a text

    Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon account and receives no funding. If you would like to support the work being done here, please spread the word and share with your friends and networks, and consider exploring the following links:

    Buy Kristen Ghodsee's new book now: Everyday Utopia

    Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee's (very occasional) free newsletter.

    Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work at: www.kristenghodsee.com
    Show More Show Less
    18 mins
  • 142 - A.K. 47 - Who Needs the War? Part 3 (and a special message for election eve)

    142 - A.K. 47 - Who Needs the War? Part 3 (and a special message for election eve)
    Nov 4 2024

    Kristen Ghodsee reads the third section of Alexandra Kollontai's 1915 essay about World War I–"Who Needs the War?"–and looks for lessons applicable to the present day.

    This translation is from a 1984 collection of Kollontai's writing published by Progress Publishers in the Soviet Union, which claims that the essay was written while Kollontai was in exile in Norway. She sent it to Vladimir Lenin (then in exile in Switzerland) who also edited it before publication. The final pamphlet was first published in 1916. It went into multiple editions and was distributed widely across Europe and Russia.

    Ghodsee also discusses the 2024 presidential election in the United States, and offers a message of hope in the event of a Trump victory.

    Mentioned in this episode:

    Kristen Ghodsee discusses utopia and social dreaming on "What Could Go Right?"

    Send us a text

    Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon account and receives no funding. If you would like to support the work being done here, please spread the word and share with your friends and networks, and consider exploring the following links:

    Buy Kristen Ghodsee's new book now: Everyday Utopia

    Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee's (very occasional) free newsletter.

    Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work at: www.kristenghodsee.com
    Show More Show Less
    27 mins
  • 141 - A.K. 47 - Bonus Episode - Is Internationalism possible?

    141 - A.K. 47 - Bonus Episode - Is Internationalism possible?
    Oct 24 2024

    In this episode, Kristen Ghodsee discusses Alexandra Kollontai, nationalism, internationalism, and supranationalism with her daughter, just home from Ireland for fall break. Trigger warning: lots of Irish history!

    Mentioned in this episode:

    "Imagine"

    by John Lennon (and Yoko Ono)

    "Imagine there's no heaven
    It's easy if you try
    No hell below us
    Above us, only sky

    Imagine all the people
    Livin' for today
    Ah

    Imagine there's no countries
    It isn't hard to do
    Nothing to kill or die for
    And no religion, too

    Imagine all the people
    Livin' life in peace
    You

    You may say I'm a dreamer
    But I'm not the only one
    I hope someday you'll join us
    And the world will be as one

    Imagine no possessions
    I wonder if you can
    No need for greed or hunger
    A brotherhood of man

    Imagine all the people
    Sharing all the world
    You

    You may say I'm a dreamer
    But I'm not the only one
    I hope someday you'll join us
    And the world will live as one"



    Send us a text

    Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon account and receives no funding. If you would like to support the work being done here, please spread the word and share with your friends and networks, and consider exploring the following links:

    Buy Kristen Ghodsee's new book now: Everyday Utopia

    Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee's (very occasional) free newsletter.

    Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work at: www.kristenghodsee.com
    Show More Show Less
    31 mins

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