Kızıl Savaşçı Kadınlar;Beş Devrimci Kadından Dersler

by Kristen R. Ghodsee

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224 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2023

About the author

Kristen R. Ghodsee an award-winning author and ethnographer. She is professor of Russian and East European Studies and a member of the Graduate Group in Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. Her work has been translated into over twenty-five languages and has appeared in publications such as Foreign Affairs, Dissent, Jacobin, Ms. Magazine, The New Republic, Le Monde Diplomatique, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, She is the author of 12 books, and she is the host of the podcast, A.K. 47, which discusses the works of the Russian Bolshevik, Alexandra Kollontai. Her latest book is Everyday Utopia: What 2000 Years of Wild Experiments Can Teach Us About the Good Life, which appeared with Simon & Schuster in May 2023.

She loves popcorn, manual typewriters, and Bassett hounds.

Website: www.kristenghodsee.com
Podcast: ak47.buzzsprout.com

Reviews

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long before scholars such as Esther Newton and Judith Butler theorized gender performativity, Pavlichenko explained to her American readers that the traits that they considered masculine and feminine were not natural and fixed but rather situational and fluid. Pavlichenko felt that socialism in the Soviet Union allowed citizens to be first and foremost ‘individual personalities’ before they were men or women, and therefore nothing about their sex prevented them from pursuing goals that they wanted to pursue, even if those goals contradicted gender stereotypes.

Exploring the unpaid care work and unacknowledged but crucial infrastructure-building by "the second sex", this work is exactly what it promises: a series of brief but inspiring biographies.

I knew Nadezhda Krupskaya was more than simply "Lenin's wife", but being a student of library sciences (even one who's delved beyond the curriculum to the history of Library-Bibliographical Classification) it was enlightening to see just how heavily involved she was in early Soviet library development.

I came across a mention of Elena Lagadinova in a video essay, which is part of what led me to this book, but it's a harsh reminder that even someone who won international acclaim for challenging oppressive hierarchy can be too easily swept aside by dramatic reversals of conditions unless we fight back.

The life of Alexandra Kollontai is a great case study in how an advanced vanguard pushing a cultural revolution runs into systemic drag of all the ideas that "weigh like a nightmare on the brains of the living". Today especially, it can be difficult to practice the nuance that parses out the "concern trolls" from the sincere allies, but that flexibility within an organization is all the more important. We should pick our battles, but avoid the temptation to set aside the difficult conversations. This makes the obligatory instances of "yes, actually-existing socialism was imperfect" mildly frustrating, but an understandable pragmatic move. If there's an overemphasis on the negative, this doesn't mean a move for counterbalance should or can ignore the shortcomings of past 'social experiments'.

Each of these stories bring their own insights, and the conclusion offers nine helpful lessons with broader use. One that stands out is a call for tenacity:

Tenacity means showing up, controlling and rejecting cynicism and despair no matter how difficult the circumstances. It means repelling apathy within a popular cultural context that paints earnest idealism as childish and naive. Tenacity is Krupskaya getting out of prison and immediately raising funds for illegal strikes. Tenacity is Armand plotting her escape from Mezen when Vladimir's tuberculosis got worse. It is everything about Pavlichenko, both on the battlefield as well as in front of the clueless American journalists asking her about whether she could powder her nose at the front. Some call it 'staying power', others call it 'grit', but at base it means carrying on even when you do not want to. It means speaking your truth as you struggle forward whether or not you have a supportive environment around you.

[Milas · Rating 5 out of 5]

kadinlari devrimci olarak degilde kadin olarak gorup tarihte ismini gecirmeyen, unutulmasi icin ustunu orten o kadar kisi ve isin arasinda bu kitabin bize bazi devrimci kadinlari tanitmasi gercekten cok guzeldi. yazarin anlatisi ve anlatilan kisilerde guzel olunca kitap hizlica akti gitti. keske ayni kitabin turkiyeli devrimci kadinlar versiyonu olsa diye arada ah cektim.