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The Woman Worker
The Woman Worker was originally published and circulated in 1901 before being banned following suppression of the 1905 revolution. It was republished in 1925 with a new preface by the author (included in this translation).
Its significance stems from being the first Marxist work on the situation of women in Russia. The author analyses in some depth the causes of women’s lack of rights under tsarism. She calls on women to join the ranks of fighters for a better life, as equals and alongside men workers. “The woman worker is a member of the working class” she writes “and all her interests are closely tied to the interests of that class.”
Krupskaya vividly describes the plight of peasant women in the family, their powerlessness and wholesale dependence on the husband. “The woman is ‘brought into the house’” she writes. “That is why the person of the woman is rated so low, and why according to peasant custom the woman is seen as property, which is valued in the main only for her capacity for work.”
The Woman Worker continued to be published in Soviet times, in the first volume of Krupskaya’s complete works published in 1957 by the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist
Republic and republished in 1964.
In other words, The Woman Worker though never lost, was neglected and has not been published separately since 1925, but solely as part of anthologies of Krupskaya’s writing. While short extracts have been translated in English in the context of debates (on prostitution, for example), the whole pamphlet has never before been translated into English (in common with many other works by Russian revolutionaries).
Its significance stems from being the first Marxist work on the situation of women in Russia. The author analyses in some depth the causes of women’s lack of rights under tsarism. She calls on women to join the ranks of fighters for a better life, as equals and alongside men workers. “The woman worker is a member of the working class” she writes “and all her interests are closely tied to the interests of that class.”
Krupskaya vividly describes the plight of peasant women in the family, their powerlessness and wholesale dependence on the husband. “The woman is ‘brought into the house’” she writes. “That is why the person of the woman is rated so low, and why according to peasant custom the woman is seen as property, which is valued in the main only for her capacity for work.”
The Woman Worker continued to be published in Soviet times, in the first volume of Krupskaya’s complete works published in 1957 by the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist
Republic and republished in 1964.
In other words, The Woman Worker though never lost, was neglected and has not been published separately since 1925, but solely as part of anthologies of Krupskaya’s writing. While short extracts have been translated in English in the context of debates (on prostitution, for example), the whole pamphlet has never before been translated into English (in common with many other works by Russian revolutionaries).
31 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 1901
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About the author
Надежда Крупская
11 books6 followersNadezhda Konstantinovna "Nadya" Krupskaya (Russian: Наде́жда Константи́новна Кру́пская, scientific transliteration Nadežda Konstantinovna Krupskaja) was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary. She was the daughter of a military officer. She married the Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin in 1898.
She was a functionary of the bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party from 1903. After the October Revolution, she was appointed deputy to Anatoliy Lunacharskiy, the People's Commissar for Education, where she took charge of Vneshkol'nyi Otdel the Adult Education Division. She was also fundamental in the development of Soviet librarianship. Her relationship with Lenin was more professional than marital, but she remained loyal, never once considering divorce.
She was a functionary of the bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party from 1903. After the October Revolution, she was appointed deputy to Anatoliy Lunacharskiy, the People's Commissar for Education, where she took charge of Vneshkol'nyi Otdel the Adult Education Division. She was also fundamental in the development of Soviet librarianship. Her relationship with Lenin was more professional than marital, but she remained loyal, never once considering divorce.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 19, 2025
Krupskaya was incredibly ahead of her time; her views and opinions are still being debated by the general public so many years after she wrote this. I can’t help but wonder what she would think of the present feminist movement, which is driven by ‘choice’ and denies the material realities of women.
November 5, 2021
For it's time, it's a master piece on patriarchy in society. Reading from a current perspective it can seem a little condicending at times but if you glaze past that it can really open your eyes to how marxist thought can change the morality of society.
July 24, 2022
Sums up socialist feminist points very well! Depressing that so many issues mentioned are still thriving today
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews