Ο έρωτας των εργατριων μελισσων

by Alexandra Kollontai

Αυτό το έργο, γραμμένο από μια από τις πιο φημισμένες και ταλαντούχους γυναίκες του αιώνα μας, είναι ένα μυθιστόρημα που αποτελεί τόσο μια συγκινητική ερωτική ιστορία όσο κι ένα γραφικό και σπάνιο πορτρέτο της Ρώσικης ζωής στη δεκαετία του 20. Η υπόθεσή του εκτυλίσσεται μετά την Οκτωβριανή Επανάσταση και στα τέλη του Εμφύλιου Πολέμου. Η ηρωίδα του έργου, η Βάσια -μια απ τις γοητευτικές μορφές της Ρώσικης λογοτεχνίας- αγωνίζεται να συμβιβάσει τη φλογερή της ανάγκη κι έρωτα για το σύζυγό της με τις απαιτήσεις του νέου κόσμου μέσα στον οποίο ζει. Η ιστορία της διαδραματίζεται με φόντο τους "συνηθισμένους" Ρώσους της εποχής - κομματικούς εργάτες, επιχειρηματίες, πόρνες, χειραγωγούς, ιδεαλιστές.
Σαν πορτρέτο μιας μεταβατικής κοινωνίας το έργο αυτό είναι μοναδικό, σαν ερωτική ιστορία, ένα γοητευτικό και υπέροχο έργο τέχνης.

Genres: Fiction, Feminism, Russia, Politics, Classics, Short Stories, Philosophy

194 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1924

About the author

Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai (Russian: Александра Михайловна Коллонтай — née Domontovich, Домонтович was a Russian Communist revolutionary, first as a member of the Mensheviks, then from 1914 on as a Bolshevik. In 1923, Kollontai was appointed Soviet Ambassador to Norway, one of the first women to hold such a post (Diana Abgar was earlier).

Reviews

[Skipper Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in hopes it would provide a model for writing revolutionary fiction. That it wasn’t. But much of the book was compelling and I read to the conclusion, even after it started telling the same story over and over.
Kollontai was required reading for Second Wave Feminists, but back in the Sixties-Seventies, I was too busy organizing to read fiction. How foolish of me. The male characters in distant Russia of 1917-1921 are so familiar. I met every one of them in radical left groups I worked with--Students for a Democratic Society, Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, International Ladies Garment Workers, Progressive Labor Party, and the Cambridge Tenants Organizing Committee. Kollontai’s fiction would have taught me to recognize behavior and attitudes that prevented women from being full partners in the revolution we believed we were creating.

The book consists of a novella and two short stories. The style does not pull today's reader into any of them. We have to wade through pages of flat narration in the novella before we see and hear the protagonist face to face. But once we do, her story is gut-wrenchingly familiar. While young women today might grow impatient with the protagonist, Vasilisa, I know exactly what she felt, how she was able to deceive herself with false hopes. Repeatedly, her husband ignored her, was dishonest with her, and adopted the values and lifestyle of the class enemy they had fought together to defeat. Repeatedly she knew their relationship as comrades was over and vowed to leave him. Yet, each time, she forgave him, blamed herself for doubting him, and believed they were as happy and close as they had been during the revolution. Then, again, he would betray their relationship.

What kind of a fool is she? a millennial might ask. What kind of a fool were we? I ask.

Women who grew up after our dreams for a new, just, and cooperative society were defeated probably cannot comprehend the pain Vasilisa felt at what today would be accepted as a friend's healthy rejection of political correctness. Vladimir, Vasilisa and millions of other Russians believed. They hoped. And they fought for a future in which all humanity could live freely to the full extent of their ability. With equal access to productive resources. And with a full and active voice in making economic and governmental decisions affecting them. They shared a passionate, collective love for the new society they were building. Vasilisa and Vladimir also shared a personal, sexual love. So when he betrayed communist ideals, he betrayed her. Someone who never experienced that passionate comradeship couldn't know her pain.

Kollontai was writing for the millions of women who did know it. She was also writing for me, and I didn’t know it.

The failure of the book, I believe, was in its failure to draw a full-color picture of the communist ideal. Nor did she give an explanation of the New Economic Policy (NEP), which, after the Civil War and the invasion of the Soviet Union by U.S. and European armies, opened a large part of the economy to private ownership. She refers repeatedly to Nepmen but gives little information about the hardships of the war economy or of how NEP re-instituted a class society and class antagonisms. If those events and policies had been in the book, women today might have at least an intellectual understanding of what Kollontai’s protagonist went through.

What appears to be a bookend to Love of Worker Bees, Svetlana Alexieivich’s Nobel Prize winning non-fiction Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets is now out as an ebook. Unfortunately, it’s published by Random House, and like all the New York publishers, Random House charges outrageous prices for ebooks. I look forward to reading it when it’s available from the library.

[Marta Cava]

Gràcies Aleksandra Kol·lontai per recordar-nos que fins i tot els homes d'esquerres et poden trencar el cor molt fortament

[Kosta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a nice book :)

Some of the prose I found a bit clunky, but as with all translations, it's hard to tell where the fault lies when certain parts don't 'flow' quite right so don't want to blame Kollontai for that. It has that descriptive social-realist feel, characteristic of pre-WWII fiction in the USSR which can feel a bit dry, but it does a great job of giving the reader a sense of the social antagonisms at play between the various characters through the effects these antagonisms have on peoples' relationships to one another. Kollontai uses this structure as a tool to examine the interconnectedness of economic, social, and sexual revolution.

The protagonist Vasilisa appears to be a thinly veiled portrayal of the author herself. Like Vasilisa, Alexandra Kollontai was a passionate communist whose determined advocacy for working women brought her into contact with centres of economic power, including the communist party itself (Kollontai was vocally opposed to Lenin's New Economic Policy, the reintroduction of capitalist ownership to boost economic growth following the devastating invasions/civil war of 1917-22). Kollontai's main concern in this text as well as several essays (i.e. fiction and non fiction) was the question of womens' liberation - sexually as well as socially.

Her understanding of the traditional Russian family structure as inextricably tied to the economic conditions of Russian society pre-revolution shapes the key question of this work; If the old economic structures that necessitated marriage are to be abolished, how will romance work in a new socialist world?

But this thematic analysis still leaves room for humanity. The beauty of some of the passages dealing with love in this book is really excellent, showing that Kollontai is a great writer with a real sense for how to communicate ideas on an emotional level as well as an accomplished theorist.

A great piece of early feminist literature from a marxist perspective. If that sounds like your thing, I highly recommend it.

[Irene Romero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro incluye varios relatos de Alexandra Kolontai, publicados en 1923. En todos ellos, las protagonistas son mujeres, obreras, viviendo la revolución rusa de 1917 y los años posteriores. Aún así, la visión de los personajes (y sus tribulaciones) son tremendamente modernas: se habla de aborto, sexualidad, amor libre, ideales políticos vs la vida de ama de casa… un descubrimiento. Por lo que leo sobre ella, estos personajes son el reflejo de sus propias inquietudes. Me ha encantado también saber más sobre la vida en aquellos tiempos: la organización política y burocracia tras la desaparición del zar y la monarquía, el reparto de tareas, etc.

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kollontai was an astounding woman – a Russian aristocrat, member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in 1917, on the left of the Party, a feminist, and later ambassador to Norway. Amid all her, often extremely good, political writing she also found time to write novels, or in this case three conceptually linked pieces, a novella and two short stories, first published in the Soviet Union in 1923, condemned as too sexually explicit and relegated to the archives. I suspect that part of this was also to do with Stalin's attempts to sideline Kollontai and her fall from grace for aligning herself with the Party's Left.

The stories are moving, beautiful, and unusually for 'socialist fiction' centred to a large degree on women and domestic life, but also of women not just caught up in the revolution but making the revolution, grappling with revolutionary commitment and emotional/love lives, with commitments to husbands and families and the revolutionary change and struggle. Kollontai's insight and abilities to tell big stories in small cases is inspiring. She remains one fo the great little-known women of the twentieth century.

[Frank Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

In some ways, this book presages later socialist realism. The main story, Vasilisa Malygina, concerns the eponymous hero, who strives to form a communal house after the Russian Revolution, and then moves in with her "red director" husband in another town, while she tries to work with the union of female seamstresses to organize for wages. Vasya (as she is known) worries whenever she is away from work, and is concerned during her illness that she is during into merely a "director's wife." All this is par for the course.

But Kollontai actually has a fine eye for the human heart at war with itself. Vasya both loves the communal house and hates how the Feodoseevs and other neighbors occupy her time with trivialities. Her heart sings at the sight of spring and bees and flowers almost to a reverence for God, only to come back at the last moment from such communist sacrilege. Vasya is torn by jealousy for her husband's new lover but tries to convince herself, unsuccessfully, that since they are only "friends" that dishonesty is the only sin of which he is guilty. Another story included here, Three Generations, views three successive generations of "progressive" Russian women, each more radical than the last, but worries that there is some coldness that comes with their increasing sexual freedom. Another story, Sisters, vacillates between love of female liberation and fear of abandonment by promiscuous husbands. In sum, these books do not contain a pat morality tale, but a true picture of a person struggling to find the truth. At both mundane and grandiloquent moments, one even gets the sense that the characters are in the midst of a new civilization being born, and a world that was exciting and new. That the world turned into one of history's greatest tyrannies does not make this early glimpse of it any less revelatory.

The backstory is that the unedited books were only released after fifty years because of the sexually explicit content. But there is little to shock modern readers, just a few succinct mentions of sex, regular discussions of abortions, and some surprising scenes involving periods. The real reason is probably that in Vasya the characters rail against the "nepmen" who have come to dominate the party after Lenin's New Economic Policy, temporarily, opened up more free trading, and also talks about how "real" workers are even more "communist than the Party itself." Kollontai's Left Communism was probably even more authoritarian than Lenin's, but here it is used to attack the hypocrisy of the new Russian elite.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

don't know quite how to rate this--as a novel or an artifact. 2 stars as novel--all dialogue about relationship problems, but 4 stars as artifact--the novel by the only woman on the bolshevik central committee during the Revolution, she was a famous Free Love advocate and joined the Workers Opposition as the Revolution soured, and by 1921 was out of the Party altogether. I dislike didactic fiction, whether it's Kollantai or Ayn Rand, the heavy-handedness is irredeemable, so I'm rating it as a novel.

[Anna Pardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,75⭐
Ai, quina decepció...
No només no m'ha agradat com estava escrit (sobretot l'últim relat, que en realitat és una novel·la curta, i on el canvi constant de temps verbal m'estava fent parar boja!) sinó que a nivell de fil argumental han resultat ser unes històries de faldilles, on com sempre els homes queden ben retratats, i on tot i que hi ha algunes reflexions sobre la relació del comunisme i l'amor, aquestes són força reduccionistes. Una llàstima!

[june · Rating 5 out of 5]

bidetik beraren borondatez apartatzeko gomendatu zion Vasiak Fedoseiev andreari. bestela ere ezin baita besteren zorionean eskua sartu. eginahalak eginda ere, zerorren buruaren gainetik joanen da hegan. eta bera, zer? ez ote dago orain ere bide erdian? ez ote da oraindik ere eskua sartu nahian ari joan badoan besteren zorionean?

irakurri!!!!!!!!!

[Caroline Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impeccable Soviet era Jerry Springer

[AM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh! The violent emotions this book inspired within me.

[Uvrón · Rating 5 out of 5]

One hundred years old and yet such a progressive look at romance, sex, and marriage, apart from being limited to hetero relationships. It is very easy to find contemporary people around me talking about being true to yourself, defying convention and propriety, loving in the manner you want to love. But a manifesto is much easier to proclaim than to enact. Kollontai’s protagonists are all capable, intelligent, politically aware, progressive women. They have a strong sense of integrity and strong feelings on what love should be. And yet they suffer and compromise and self-sabotage, because love can do that even to capable people—and when politics and economics and social milieu changes, they twist relationships apart. The protagonists must rediscover their integrity to make the life they want, and they may not always get everything they deserve. It is an excellent depiction of reality, not a fantasy of a new polyamorous or egalitarian solution that will solve gender relations forever.

The short story “Three Generations” goes even further and describes a woman, her daughter, and her daughter’s daughter, all of them independent and nontraditional, all of them living their version of love in defiance of scandal—and each incompatible with the other and threatening their familial bonds. This is the kind of honesty anyone with a fervor for nontraditional relationships need to face. I’ve seen too many people pretend that a label or a rulebook absolves them of the responsibility to navigate the actual challenges of an arrangement.

[Maja Svedlund · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hur hade den varit att läsa på originalspråk? Översättningen känns väldigt klumpig, och stör läsupplevelsen. 2,5

[Alfredino · Rating 1 out of 5]

Prosan är torrare än Aralsjön

[xenia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This happened to my buddy erica

[Eliza Whalen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 !! the moral of these stories is men are bad. kidding! but also not really LOL. honestly not what i was expecting from kollontai, but it was really interesting to see her approach to topics other than economics / politics / social issues, or at least her less direct approach. i was pretty entertained and intrigued by each of the characters stories, though they could be kind of frustrating at times, and not even in a fun way. very cool as a glimpse into the daily lives of revolutionaries in the early 20th century, provides neat insight into what all the people working in the background got up to, and how politics worked its way into their personal lives. defo would read more of her fiction but i think ill go for more of her theory next time i pick up her work. also this book provided me with an excellent description of the post-social-event feelings of existential dread and loneliness that i always experience

“Vasya turned at the gate and hesitated, as though waiting for someone. Then the gate slammed shut and she was overcome by feelings of anxiety and melancholy. Something suddenly made her feel wretched and angry, and she was painfully aware of how insignificant she was, how indispensable”

like wowwww, yes. have not heard this feeling described before in lit and it was really cool to have articulated so well :D

[Simon Kissam · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was pretty mediocre. Was interesting to read about the early days of the Soviet Union by someone who lived through it, but the writing wasn't great and the short novel that made up most of this book was pretty painful to read. The two short stories at the end were better; they got their idea out much faster.

[Alba Pérez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fa cent anys Aleksandra Kol·lontai ja deia que el masclisme és transversal en dretes i esquerres, avisava d'algunes 'red flags' que avui continuen sent plenament vigents i ressaltava la importància de la sororitat.

[Sara Echevarría · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Kollontai's theoretical books and not her novel is just missing out on such a complete author and feminist. This novel reflects so many crucial issues of revolutionary Russia and is able to connect those with personal struggles.
Her existence makes me happy and I wish history made peace with her.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The way Kollontai writes about love is the most sapphic shit I’ve ever heard from a supposedly heterosexual woman

[Anna Capde · Rating 3 out of 5]

És un llibre entretingut però en alguns moments se m'ha fet molt repetitiu i una mica llarg.

[Laura]

"la culpa és de tots dos" quins collons q tens, Vladímir.
M'han agradat més les dues primeres històries de no-monogàmies bolxevics. Chef's kiss 👌.

[Noah Lederman Greis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked randomly off the shelf at the library and borrowed without realizing who had written it. You shouldn’t always read political work from your own point in time, but this book feels so progressive in a modern, almost contemporary way. It’s insane that it was written more than 100 years ago, and published when and where it was. Consists of two short stories and a novella, all about the immediate aftermath of the October Revolution, written by one of Russia’s top bolsheviks — and yet, it is critical of the revolution in a way I didn’t see coming. The economic powers may have been overthrown but patriarchy still rules. The second story, “Sisters” is particularly striking. The use of the present tense as a kind of emphasis took some getting used to but is brilliant, honestly.

[Pamilia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alexandra Kollontai was, from some reports, the only woman in Lenin's cabinet, and from others one of two. Regardless, she was one among many. She has written several works of fiction regarding the sad lives of men and women during and after the Bolshevik revolution. I found reading this book, as well as others she has written, somewhat twisted because of her mind set toward women, sex, and marriage. But then, I suppose you had to be there. She was pretty radical, for her time, speaking openly about issues that most people left in the bedroom. Worker Bees is a compilation of three different stories dealing with these same type issues. It is short and will give you some idea of the subject matter in her other books. Considering what sad times those were, I enjoyed the book, and hats off to any women who was one among many in a patriarchal society.

[Calayan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leer a Kollontai es llenarse de alegría y pena a partes iguales.

Alegría por ver que fue posible, que fue posible una novela política, con una voluntad clara de contribuir a través de la literatura a una sociedad nueva, a la vez que cuenta historias llenas de personajes entrañables y profundos. Es alegría por ver cómo, hace ya cien años, se planteaban, con absoluta lucidez, temas como el amor libre, la no monogamia o la crítica feroz a lo que se ha venido a llamar "amor romántico". Ver cómo, a través de sus personajes, pone sobre la mesa una manera de ver el mundo en la que el compromiso con la revolución está por delante de cualquier aspiración personalista, porque es la propia revolución la que permite esa libertad personal, esa manera de ver el mundo en la que el amor y la camaradería son dos caras de la misma moneda.

Es pena también por el prólogo. Misógino y horrible, con frases como "la primera víctima de su atractivo fue..." pintando a Kollontai con la machista imagen de femme fatale.

Es pena porque esta mañana escuchaba un podcast (que, reconozco, no he sido capaz de terminar) en el que se trataba de contraponer una especie de "Kollontai feminista contra el marxismo", que "estaba por el socialismo, pero también contra el hombre" o que hablaba de la Internacional de Mujeres Comunista como ¡una internacional feminista! Es horrible la tergiversación constante que se hace del legado de Kollontai, como, en contra de sus propios escritos, se contrapone comunismo a la liberación de la mujer.

Pero, en contraposición a esto, en "El amor de las abejas obreras" podemos ver cómo la realización de una libertad sexual plena va de la mano con la toma del poder político por el proletariado. Cómo la libertad de ser madre o no serlo va de la mano de garantías para poder abortar con seguridad y sin prejuicios morales asociados a esto, pero también para elegir ser madre o no, con pareja o sin ella, depende de la existencia de "guarderías". Cómo refleja tan bien esta conversación:

"- No pienso abortar. Puedo criarlo perfectamente. ¿Y para qué iba a querer un hombre a mi lado? Los padres solo sirven para presumir. Mira a Fedoseija: con tres hijos, y Fedosiev se ha largado con Dora...

Pero ¿cómo vas a apañártelas tú sola?
¿Por qué sola? Hay instituciones que sirven de ayuda. Quiero poner en marcha una guardería... Había pensado en contratarte como colaboradora. A ti te encantan los niños. Y este va a ser nuestro niño, va a ser de las dos...
¿Un niño comunista?
¡Justamente!"
La pena es también por ver cómo este libro es también una crítica a la deriva de Rusia tras la NEP, a la posibilidad de que fuera del partido hubiera, en palabras de uno de sus personajes, "más comunistas genuinos, más proletarios auténticos", o el cierre de las instituciones que la propia Kollontai contribuyó a crear " (...) con esto de la NEP les habían cerrado el club y les habían dicho que hacían falta para otra cosa. Ahora los escolares no tenían un sitio donde hacer los deberes. Les habían tirado sus colecciones. La biblioteca la habían repartido por ahí y algunos libros los habían vendido..."

Es esa tristeza que a través de Vasilisa expresa: "Ya no podía más. Lloraba de rabia. Veía que todo empezaba a desmoronarse. A todo esto, se habían promulgado nuevas medidas económicas. Había que pagarlo todo al contado: el agua, la electricidad, la contribución, las tasas. Y Vasilisa tenía que multiplicarse. ¡Todo en vano! Así era el "nuevo rumbo" de la economía: sin dinero contante y sonante no se iba a ninguna parte..."

Pena por ser conscientes de las limitaciones de la Revolución Rusa como revolución no completa, como expresa este fragmento:

"(...) que la habían echado del trabajo hace tres meses, que se había visto obligada a vender todo lo que tenía, que había pasado hambre, que se había quedado sin casa, que lo había pasado fatal, que había tenido que dejar de mandarle dinero a su anciana madre y que esta le había escrito diciendo que se estaba muriendo de hambre. Dos semanas antes había decidido hacer la calle (...)

Dejo aquí algunas de las frases que no quiero olvidar. A falta de volver a leer este libro, algo que, sin duda, haré.

"Nuestra principal discrepancia venía dada por su insistencia en que tenía que inclinarme por uno de los dos, mientras que yo, íntimamente, deseaba conservar tanto a M. como a Konstantín. Y esa salida me parecía más justa, más humana y más en consonancia con el auténtico fondo de la cuestión."

"¡Un bebé! ¡Qué bien! Pensaba enseñar a otras mujeres cómo criar un bebé al estilo comunista. No le había faltado ninguna familia, ni una cocina, ni andar acumulando trastos... Había que organizar una buena guardería... (...)

"El jefe provincial debería aglutinar a todos, ser una especie de "padre", una figura imparcial... Y este lo único que hace es ahuyentar a la gente."

"Y en ese caso, ¿a quién quiere usted si se puede saber?

¿A quién? Ante todo y sobre todo, a mi madre (...) Pero es que, además, ahora mismo hay gente a la que quiero, y mucho... Y no solo a mi madre. También a otras personas. Lenin, por ejemplo... No se sonría. Lo digo muy en serio. Lo quiero mucho más que a esos hombres que me han gustado y con los que me he acostado. Cuando sé que lo voy a poder escuchar, que lo voy a ver, estoy algunos días alterada. Por él también estaría dispuesta a dar mi vida. ¿O el camarada Guerasín? ¿Lo conoce? El secretario de nuestro distrito. Ese mismo... Pues a él también lo quiero. Pero de verdad, siempre acato lo que me dice, aunque a veces no tenga razón, porque sé que sus intenciones son correctas."
"He leído suficientes novelas para saber que para enamorarse hay que gastar mucho tiempo y mucha energía. Y no tengo tiempo. En estos momentos estamos desbordados por el trabajo en el distrito. Siempre andamos con prisa, siempre hay otras cosas en qué pensar... Por supuesto, también hay momentos en que una está algo más relajada... Y es entonces cuando te das cuenta de que hay alguien que te gusta. Pero, como usted comprenderá, para lo que no hay tiempo es para enamorarse... Apenas has empezado a encariñarte con alguien, lo envían al frente o lo trasladan a otra ciudad. O tú misma estás tan ocupada que te olvidas de esa persona..."

[Simon B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feminist classic. Socialist classic. Romantic classic. A reread of one of my most-loved books after about 20 years. I've still not read any other work of fiction quite like it. The book contains a short novel and two short stories. It's the Russian Revolution's great contribution to the romance genre: an anti-romance which upends the genre's most staid conventions. (All the same, pick me Vasya!) As it is suggestive of some of the Kollontai's own political criticisms of the bureaucratisation of the early 1920s Soviet Union, it's also interesting to read this in light of the later brutal victory of the bureaucratic caste under Stalin. Vladimir becomes more than just a self-centred, backsliding Nepman - instead he's a metaphor for the tragic course of the revolution.

[Ricado · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love of Worker Bees is set in Russia after the revolution of October 1917. Kollontai graphically depicts the contradictions of everyday life and the sexual relations between men and women during this period. It questions notions of bourgeois morality and how this have become part of revolutionary Russia in the 1920's. In three separate stories Kollontai ahead of her time wrestle with the question of a new morality and the sexual emancipation of women in Russia through the lives of three women in the stories Vasilisa Malygnia, Three Generations and Sisters.

[Mehmet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Politik olan ile bireysel olan arasında gidip gelen bir kitap. Toplumsal cinsiyet ve cinsiyet rolleri konusunda yeni birşey söylemiyor. Kitap bir çok noktada "bireysel olan politiktir" savrulmasına doğru yelken açıyor, tabii ki Kollontai gibi bir bolşeviğin limitleri dahilinde. Toplumcu bir roman olduğu söylenemez. Küçük burjuva aydını romanı ki Kollontai'nin kökeni ve mücadelesi ile denk düşen bir tanım.

[Jakob Green Werkmäster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Härligt med utopier och försök till skildring av alternativ.

[Thomas Kane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Russian revolutionary Alexandra Kollontai’s Love of Worker Bees features a novella and several short stories about life in the Soviet Union of the 1920s. Anyone expecting a dry book dense with political theory will be pleasantly surprised. Kollontai’s stories are fun, fast-moving and focused on the characters’ personal experiences. Translator Cathy Porter has made them highly readable in English.

Kollontai’s stories begin as romances, and explore their protagonists’ changing feelings as their relationships develop. Feisty Vasya marries her roguish lover, but will life in his country mansion fulfill her? Aloof Zhenya enjoys casual encounters, but what memories will this stir, and how will her lifestyle affect her relationship with her beloved mother? These characters confide in friends, receive advice (whether they want it or not) from strong older women, speak out against injustice and emerge from their dilemmas more independent than ever. Kollontai lightens these stories with details of everyday life, humorous observations about people and lovely descriptions of the Russian countryside.

These stories touch on serious themes. Vasya’s husband is charming, but he is also manipulative and unfaithful. A minor character in the short story “Sisters” loses her job and must perform sex work to eat. Nevertheless, the stories are mostly optimistic. Twenty-first century Western will find Kollontai’s depiction of Soviet life familiar and often even cozy.

Kollontai’s tales end before the purges of the 1930s began. If they had gone on a little longer, and if the author had kept them realistic, they would have had a different tone. Kollontai’s protagonists are politically outspoken; they would not have escaped notice. Friends, mothers and daughters would have betrayed each other to the NKVD. The honorable but unemployed nineteen-year-old prostitute would have been arrested as a social parasite and likely worked to death in a camp north of the Arctic Circle. Kollontai’s plucky and intelligent main characters would have been shot, or starved, or had their skulls crushed in clamps.

Perhaps unintentionally, Love of Worker Bees foreshadows these things. Even as its characters brew tea in samovars and muse upon their relationships, they think and act in ways that enable persecution. Vasya seems proud of the fact that her husband playfully rounded up an assortment of political pariahs and humiliated them by forcing them to shovel snow from the streets. In another scene, the two of them talk about improving people’s lives after the revolution and casually add that they will not, of course, provide any benefits to classified as “bourgeois.”

These otherwise sympathetic characters—and one must suspect, the author—accept the idea that the political movement they support will designate certain sectors of the population as non-persons. The process of assigning people to these sectors is going on in the background of Kollontai’s stories. Kollontai criticized certain Soviet policies in real life, and her characters do the same. However, she also presents protagonist’s decisions to abandon politically problematic loved ones as signs of character growth. From here, it is only a few additional steps to systematic murder. Those seeking a factual account of how it all turned out might consult Alexander N. Yakolev’s A Century of Violence in Soviet Russia. Those seeking a fictional sequel might try Arthur Koestler’s Darkness at Noon.

Love of Worker Bees remains relevant, the book’s introduction tells us, “because women need to understand the countless ways they have been conditioned by centuries of oppression.” (p. 20) Kollontai was a feminist, and this collection of stories do explore feminist issues. However, Love of Worker Bees also explores how a society becomes totalitarian. It explores how intelligent and well-meaning people of all genders come to participate in the process. These themes have a certain contemporary relevance as well.

Note. The copy of this book shown on Goodreads appears to be a different edition. I read Alexandra Kollontai, Love of Worker Bees. Translated by Cathy Porter (Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishers), 1978.