Yashka: My Life as Peasant Officer and Exile

by Maria Bochkareva

Maria Botchkareva proposed to Mikhail Rodzianko the creation of an all-female combat unit that she claimed would fix the Army's morale problem.

This was named “The Battalion of Death.”

Maria’s story is a fascinating account of woman’s attempt to save the country that she lived while it was in its final death throes.

She charts in fascinating detail the course of her life, from poverty-stricken serfdom, to an abusive relationship with a drunken husband, to becoming the first Russian woman to command a military unit.

Her actions caused her to be a hero for suffragettes in the west and a symbol for white Russia in her home country.

This book is a remarkable account that provides a unique view on the First World War and the Russian Revolution.

Maria Botchkareva, nicknamed Yashka, was a Russian soldier who fought in World War I and formed the Women's Battalion of Death. She passed away in 1920. Her book, My Life as Peasant Officer and Exile was first published in America in 1919.

Genres: History, Memoir, Nonfiction, Russia, Read For School

327 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 28, 2010

About the author

Maria Leontievna Bochkareva (Russian: Мари́я Лео́нтьевна Бочкарёва; née Frolkova (Фролко́ва), nicknamed Yashka; 1889–1920) was a Russian woman who fought in World War I and formed the Women's Battalion of Death.

Reviews

[John Alt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of peasant stock, beaten by her alcoholic father, working since age eight, she married at fifteen and left her husband when he began beating her and swore to kill her. She married again, followed her husband to exile in Siberia but left him when he tried to hang her. In 1914 she fought for the Czar as the only woman in the 25th Tomsk Reserve Battalion, where fellow soldiers taught her to read and write. She was wounded twice, decorated three times for bravery, fought with frost-bitten feet, bayoneted German soldiers, and pulled fallen comrades to safety.
She was hit by shrapnel next her spine and, inoperable, she lay in hospital paralyzed for months. She had to learn to walk again and returned to duty though not required. Enlisting as a private she was promoted into a commissioned rank. She and other officers were captured and waited their turn to be shot as they stood next heaps of corpses. A soldier she had once dragged wounded out of the line of fire recognized her and spared her life. In 1917 she fought against the Red Army for Kerensky, who charged her with forming and commanding the first female combat battalion, called the 1st Russian Women's Battalion of Death.

The Bolsheviks refused her a passport so, with the help of the British Consul, Maria Leontievna Bochkareva disguised herself as a veiled English lady and on an American transport locked herself in a cabin with American soldiers standing watch against Red Guard inspection until the ship got underway. From Vladivostok she arrived in San Francisco, making her way to New York and Washington, D.C, sponsored by the wealthy socialite Florence Harriman (cousin of Averell Harriman, New York governor, Commerce Secretary, and Democratic party presidential candidate.)

Maria Bochkareva met with President Woodrow Wilson on July 10, 1918 and she told him of the Czarist army losing to the Germans because troops were demoralized due to planted, covert Bolshevik agents and Bolshevik connivance with the enemy. Officers were being discharged by soldier committees and the remaining generals were powerless to enforce discipline. Describing the horrible conditions of ordinary Russians, she begged Wilson to intervene. Eyes wet, Wilson promised to do what he could, which turned out to be an expeditionary force of American troops to Siberia, forgotten to popular history.

In New York she met Isaac Don Levine, a Russian émigré, journalist, anti-Communist, and friend of Albert Einstein. Through him she dictated her memoirs, Yashka: My Life As Peasant, Exile, and Soldier. In Great Britain she was granted an audience with King George V. British suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst called her “the greatest woman of the century.”

Back in Russia and forming a women's medical unit for White Admiral Kolchak, she was eventually captured by the Bolsheviks and found guilty as a White Russian, an enemy of the people. This was ironic because as a peasant and laborer nobody could have been more proletarian. Tied to a pole, blindfolded, a white aiming patch over her bosom, she was shot by a Cheka firing squad on May 16, 1920. They shot her because her ideology had been corrupted by elitists. Simply put, she fought on the other side. More

Her book Yashka: My Life As Peasant, Exile, and Soldier can be downloaded free at Gutenberg or Google Books.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

This must be the greatest feminist memoir ever written. Yashka was an impoverished peasant girl who suffered unimaginable hardships and abuse–mostly at the hands of men–in the late years of Tsarist Russia. Misery and suffering were all she knew, and she barely made it through her youth alive. Then, with the outbreak of World War I, Yashka managed to enlist as a common soldier in the Russian Army. Her fellow soldiers–shocked and bewildered–teased, groped, and ridiculed her.

But all that changed when the brave woman distinguished herself in the mortal combat of trench warfare. Her heroics on the battlefield would be hard to overstate. She bayoneted Germans in hand-to-hand combat, blew them up with grenades, shot them, sneaked up on them, and captured them. When her comrades lay wounded in No Man’s Land, Yashka led recovery and first-aid efforts that saved hundreds of lives; her humanitarian and caregiver efforts equaled her daring combat deeds. She sustained bullet and shrapnel wounds that would’ve retired most soldiers, but Yashka returned to the front lines after every injury. Her comrades loved and revered her, and she became a heavily-decorated legend in her own time, commiserating with historical figures Aleksandr Kerensky, Lavr Kornilov, Lenin, Trotsky, Woodrow Wilson, and Isaac Don Levine, who co-authored this book.

After the February Revolution, Yashka grew alarmed with the advantages gained by the Germans, and disheartened with the decline in morale and motivation that infected the Russian troops. “I knew that the Germans worked all day while our boys talked, and in war I always understood it was action that counted…”

What did she decide to do? “…to organize three hundred women like me to serve as an example to the army and lead the men into battle.”

Now if that isn’t about the baddest-ass thing a stone-cold warrior woman could do, I’m not sure what is.

The Bolsheviks, now rising to challenge the February Revolution, sabotaged Yashka’s women’s brigade, and violently attacked Yashka as she led the brigade on a parade in support of the post-tsarist government. But Yashka salvaged the brigade, and led her women into battle.

After the Bolsheviks seized power in the October Revolution, Lenin and Trotsky attempted to recruit Yashka to the Communist cause: “They talked simply, smoothly, and very beautifully. It was for the common people, the slaving masses, the under-dog, that they were fighting. They wanted justice for all. Wasn’t I of the laboring class myself? Yes, I was. Wouldn’t I join them and cooperate with their party in bringing happiness to the oppressed peasant and workman? They wanted peasant women like myself. They were learned and worldly. They had written books and travelled in foreign lands. And who was I? An illiterate Russian peasant woman. My lecture amused them undoubtedly. They smiled condescendingly…”

After Yashka refused Lenin and Trotsky’s efforts to recruit her to the Communist cause, she became a pariah, and her suffering at the hands of the Bolsheviks exceeded what she had experienced in battle against the Germans.

Like “10 Days that Shook the World,” this book is an eyewitness account of the Bolshevik Revolution as it unfolded, and it offers an invaluable counter-perspective – that of a genuine Russian peasant – to the wealthy, elitist, American perspective of John Reed. Thanks to Isaac Don Levine, this book is also a literary masterpiece compared to the purple prose and incessant exclamation marks of Reed’s far more famous book.

I doubt if this book about a peasant warrior woman who overcame domestic violence to become a leader of men in a men’s domain is taught in a single feminist or gender studies class at any American University. Here’s why: Yashka embodied many of the things the Communists promoted: peasantry, feminism, self-sacrifice in service of the state…But Yashka was not a Communist, and she found herself at odds with the goals of the Bolsheviks. Yashka became persona-non-grata not just to the Communists of her time, but to those who inherited their predecessor’s ideology and aims. Censorship of this book began with Lenin and Trotsky themselves, and has been passed down through the generations to the Marxist professors of today, who continue to shield college-educated women (and men) from what by all objective measures should be an essential feminist tome. The English translation that made a splash in the 1920’s has been all but erased from the canon. As a God-fearing Christian with nationalistic and anti-Marxist values, Yashka is the wrong kind of feminist. I think it’s safe to say that if Yashka had embraced Communism and joined the Red Army instead of the White Army, her amazing story would be required reading alongside Simone De Bouvier and Gloria Steinem. Her cinematic story would also have been made into a blockbuster film like Robert Redford’s take on “10 Days That Shook the World," “Reds”. But like academia, Hollywood tows the party line.

I read the 1919 edition, which leaves one wondering what became of Yashka. The internet confirmed my suspicions: They murdered her, of course. After returning to Russia from the United States, where she had escaped to in an effort to rally the allied powers to aid Russia’s war effort and oppose the Communists, Yashka–a toiling peasant and common soldier–was recaptured by the Bolsheviks, interrogated and tortured for four months, and executed by a Cheka firing squad as an "enemy of the working class.”

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

This must be the greatest feminist memoir ever written. Yashka was an impoverished peasant girl who suffered unimaginable hardships and abuse–mostly at the hands of men–in the late years of Tsarist Russia. Misery and suffering were all she knew, and she barely made it through her youth alive. Then, with the outbreak of World War I, Yashka managed to enlist as a common soldier in the Russian Army. Her fellow soldiers–shocked and bewildered–teased, groped, and ridiculed her.

But all that changed when the brave woman distinguished herself in the mortal combat of trench warfare. Her heroics on the battlefield would be hard to overstate. She bayoneted Germans in hand-to-hand combat, blew them up with grenades, shot them, sneaked up on them, and captured them. When her comrades lay wounded in No Man’s Land, Yashka led recovery and first-aid efforts that saved hundreds of lives; her humanitarian and caregiver efforts equaled her daring combat deeds. She sustained bullet and shrapnel wounds that would’ve retired most soldiers, but Yashka returned to the front lines after every injury. Her comrades loved and revered her, and she became a heavily-decorated legend in her own time, commiserating with historical figures Aleksandr Kerensky, Lavr Kornilov, Lenin, Trotsky, Woodrow Wilson, and Isaac Don Levine, who co-authored this book.

After the February Revolution, Yashka grew alarmed with the advantages gained by the Germans, and disheartened with the decline in morale and motivation that infected the Russian troops. “I knew that the Germans worked all day while our boys talked, and in war I always understood it was action that counted…”

What did she decide to do? “…to organize three hundred women like me to serve as an example to the army and lead the men into battle.”

Now if that isn’t about the baddest-ass thing a stone-cold warrior woman could do, I’m not sure what is.

The Bolsheviks, now rising to challenge the February Revolution, sabotaged Yashka’s women’s brigade, and violently attacked Yashka as she led the brigade on a parade in support of the post-tsarist government. But Yashka salvaged the brigade, and led her women into battle.

After the Bolsheviks seized power in the October Revolution, Lenin and Trotsky attempted to recruit Yashka to the Communist cause: “They talked simply, smoothly, and very beautifully. It was for the common people, the slaving masses, the under-dog, that they were fighting. They wanted justice for all. Wasn’t I of the laboring class myself? Yes, I was. Wouldn’t I join them and cooperate with their party in bringing happiness to the oppressed peasant and workman? They wanted peasant women like myself. They were learned and worldly. They had written books and travelled in foreign lands. And who was I? An illiterate Russian peasant woman. My lecture amused them undoubtedly. They smiled condescendingly…”

After Yashka refused Lenin and Trotsky’s efforts to recruit her to the Communist cause, she became a pariah, and her suffering at the hands of the Bolsheviks exceeded what she had experienced in battle against the Germans.

Like “10 Days that Shook the World,” this book is an eyewitness account of the Bolshevik Revolution as it unfolded, and it offers an invaluable counter-perspective – that of a genuine Russian a peasant – to the wealthy, elitist, American perspective of John Reed. Thanks to Isaac Don Levine, this book is also a literary masterpiece compared to the purple prose and incessant exclamation marks of Reed’s far more famous book.

I doubt if this book about a peasant warrior woman who overcame domestic violence to become a leader of men in a men’s domain is taught in a single feminist or gender studies class at any American University. Here’s why: Yashka embodied many of the things the Communists promoted: peasantry, feminism, self-sacrifice in service of the state…But Yashka was not a Communist, and she found herself at odds with the goals of the Bolsheviks. Yashka became persona-non-grata not just to the Communists of her time, but to those who inherited their predecessor’s ideology and aims. Censorship of this book began with Lenin and Trotsky themselves, and has been passed down through the generations to the Marxist professors of today, who continue to shield college-educated women (and men) from what by all objective measures should be an essential feminist tome. The English translation that made a splash in the 1920’s has been all but erased from the canon. As a God-fearing Christian with nationalistic and anti-Marxist values, Yashka is the wrong kind of feminist. I think it’s safe to say that if Yashka had embraced Communism and joined the Red Army instead of the White Army, her amazing story would be required reading alongside Simone De Bouvier and Gloria Steinem. Her cinematic story would also have been made into a blockbuster film like Robert Redford’s take on “10 Days That Shook the World," “Reds”. But like academia, Hollywood tows the party line.

I read the 1919 edition, which leaves one wondering what became of Yashka. The internet confirmed my suspicions: They murdered her, of course. After returning to Russia from the United States, where she had escaped to in an effort to rally the allied powers to aid Russia’s war effort and oppose the Communists, Yashka–a toiling peasant and common soldier–was recaptured by the Bolsheviks, interrogated and tortured for four months, and executed by a Cheka firing squad as an "enemy of the working class.”

[Olesya Gilmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most feminist, daring, and impressive memoirs that I’ve ever read, about a Russian peasant woman turned soldier in World War I, then a fierce opponent of the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution. Breathtaking, fast-paced, incredible story about an incredible woman, a Joan of Arc of the 20th century.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

This must be the greatest feminist memoir ever written. Yashka was an impoverished peasant girl who suffered unimaginable hardships and abuse–mostly at the hands of men–in the late years of Tsarist Russia. Misery and suffering were all she knew, and she barely made it through her youth alive. Then, with the outbreak of World War I, Yashka managed to enlist as a common soldier in the Russian Army. Her fellow soldiers–shocked and bewildered–teased, groped, and ridiculed her.

But all that changed when the brave woman distinguished herself in the mortal combat of trench warfare. Her heroics on the battlefield would be hard to overstate. She bayoneted Germans in hand-to-hand combat, blew them up with grenades, shot them, sneaked up on them, and captured them. When her comrades lay wounded in No Man’s Land, Yashka led recovery and first-aid efforts that saved hundreds of lives; her humanitarian and caregiver efforts equaled her daring combat deeds. She sustained bullet and shrapnel wounds that would’ve retired most soldiers, but Yashka returned to the front lines after every injury. Her comrades loved and revered her, and she became a heavily-decorated legend in her own time, commiserating with historical figures Aleksandr Kerensky, Lavr Kornilov, Lenin, Trotsky, Woodrow Wilson, and Isaac Don Levine, who co-authored this book.

After the February Revolution, Yashka grew alarmed with the advantages gained by the Germans, and disheartened with the decline in morale and motivation that infected the Russian troops. “I knew that the Germans worked all day while our boys talked, and in war I always understood it was action that counted…”

What did she decide to do? “…to organize three hundred women like me to serve as an example to the army and lead the men into battle.”

Now if that isn’t about the baddest-ass thing a stone-cold warrior woman could do, I’m not sure what is.

The Bolsheviks, now rising to challenge the February Revolution, sabotaged Yashka’s women’s brigade, and violently attacked Yashka as she led the brigade on a parade in support of the post-tsarist government. But Yashka salvaged the brigade, and led her women into battle.

After the Bolsheviks seized power in the October Revolution, Lenin and Trotsky attempted to recruit Yashka to the Communist cause: “They talked simply, smoothly, and very beautifully. It was for the common people, the slaving masses, the under-dog, that they were fighting. They wanted justice for all. Wasn’t I of the laboring class myself? Yes, I was. Wouldn’t I join them and cooperate with their party in bringing happiness to the oppressed peasant and workman? They wanted peasant women like myself. They were learned and worldly. They had written books and travelled in foreign lands. And who was I? An illiterate Russian peasant woman. My lecture amused them undoubtedly. They smiled condescendingly…”

After Yashka refused Lenin and Trotsky’s efforts to recruit her to the Communist cause, she became a pariah, and her suffering at the hands of the Bolsheviks exceeded what she had experienced in battle against the Germans.

Like “10 Days that Shook the World,” this book is an eyewitness account of the Bolshevik Revolution as it unfolded, and it offers an invaluable counter-perspective – that of a genuine Russian a peasant – to the wealthy, elitist, American perspective of John Reed. Thanks to Isaac Don Levine, this book is also a literary masterpiece compared to the purple prose and incessant exclamation marks of Reed’s far more famous book.

I doubt if this book about a peasant warrior woman who overcame domestic violence to become a leader of men in a men’s domain is taught in a single feminist or gender studies class at any American University. Here’s why: Yashka embodied many of the things the Communists promoted: peasantry, feminism, self-sacrifice in service of the state…But Yashka was not a Communist, and she found herself at odds with the goals of the Bolsheviks. Yashka became persona-non-grata not just to the Communists of her time, but to those who inherited their predecessor’s ideology and aims. Censorship of this book began with Lenin and Trotsky themselves, and has been passed down through the generations to the Marxist professors of today, who continue to shield college-educated women (and men) from what by all objective measures should be an essential feminist tome. The English translation that made a splash in the 1920’s has been all but erased from the canon. As a God-fearing Christian with nationalistic and anti-Marxist values, Yashka is the wrong kind of feminist. I think it’s safe to say that if Yashka had embraced Communism and joined the Red Army instead of the White Army, her amazing story would be required reading alongside Simone De Bouvier and Gloria Steinem. Her cinematic story would also have been made into a blockbuster film like Robert Redford’s take on “10 Days That Shook the World," “Reds”. But like academia, Hollywood tows the party line.

I read the 1919 edition, which leaves one wondering what became of Yashka. The internet confirmed my suspicions: They murdered her, of course. After returning to Russia from the United States, where she had escaped to in an effort to rally the allied powers to aid Russia’s war effort and oppose the Communists, Yashka–a toiling peasant and common soldier–was recaptured by the Bolsheviks, interrogated and tortured for four months, and executed by a Cheka firing squad as an "enemy of the working class.”

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

This must be the greatest feminist memoir ever written. Yashka was an impoverished peasant girl who suffered unimaginable hardships and abuse–mostly at the hands of men–in the late years of Tsarist Russia. Misery and suffering were all she knew, and she barely made it through her youth alive. Then, with the outbreak of World War I, Yashka managed to enlist as a common soldier in the Russian Army. Her fellow soldiers–shocked and bewildered–teased, groped, and ridiculed her.

But all that changed when the brave woman distinguished herself in the mortal combat of trench warfare. Her heroics on the battlefield would be hard to overstate. She bayoneted Germans in hand-to-hand combat, blew them up with grenades, shot them, sneaked up on them, and captured them. When her comrades lay wounded in No Man’s Land, Yashka led recovery and first-aid efforts that saved hundreds of lives; her humanitarian and caregiver efforts equaled her daring combat deeds. She sustained bullet and shrapnel wounds that would’ve retired most soldiers, but Yashka returned to the front lines after every injury. Her comrades loved and revered her, and she became a heavily-decorated legend in her own time, commiserating with historical figures Aleksandr Kerensky, Lavr Kornilov, Lenin, Trotsky, Woodrow Wilson, and Isaac Don Levine, who co-authored this book.

After the February Revolution, Yashka grew alarmed with the advantages gained by the Germans, and disheartened with the decline in morale and motivation that infected the Russian troops. “I knew that the Germans worked all day while our boys talked, and in war I always understood it was action that counted…”

What did she decide to do? “…to organize three hundred women like me to serve as an example to the army and lead the men into battle.”

Now if that isn’t about the baddest-ass thing a stone-cold warrior woman could do, I’m not sure what is.

The Bolsheviks, now rising to challenge the February Revolution, sabotaged Yashka’s women’s brigade, and violently attacked Yashka as she led the brigade on a parade in support of the post-tsarist government. But Yashka salvaged the brigade, and led her women into battle.

After the Bolsheviks seized power in the October Revolution, Lenin and Trotsky attempted to recruit Yashka to the Communist cause: “They talked simply, smoothly, and very beautifully. It was for the common people, the slaving masses, the under-dog, that they were fighting. They wanted justice for all. Wasn’t I of the laboring class myself? Yes, I was. Wouldn’t I join them and cooperate with their party in bringing happiness to the oppressed peasant and workman? They wanted peasant women like myself. They were learned and worldly. They had written books and travelled in foreign lands. And who was I? An illiterate Russian peasant woman. My lecture amused them undoubtedly. They smiled condescendingly…”

After Yashka refused Lenin and Trotsky’s efforts to recruit her to the Communist cause, she became a pariah, and her suffering at the hands of the Bolsheviks exceeded what she had experienced in battle against the Germans.

Like “10 Days that Shook the World,” this book is an eyewitness account of the Bolshevik Revolution as it unfolded, and it offers an invaluable counter-perspective – that of a genuine Russian a peasant – to the wealthy, elitist, American perspective of John Reed. Thanks to Isaac Don Levine, this book is also a literary masterpiece compared to the purple prose and incessant exclamation marks of Reed’s far more famous book.

I doubt if this book about a peasant warrior woman who overcame domestic violence to become a leader of men in a men’s domain is taught in a single feminist or gender studies class at any American University. Here’s why: Yashka embodied many of the things the Communists promoted: peasantry, feminism, self-sacrifice in service of the state…But Yashka was not a Communist, and she found herself at odds with the goals of the Bolsheviks. Yashka became persona-non-grata not just to the Communists of her time, but to those who inherited their predecessor’s ideology and aims. Censorship of this book began with Lenin and Trotsky themselves, and has been passed down through the generations to the Marxist professors of today, who continue to shield college-educated women (and men) from what by all objective measures should be an essential feminist tome. The English translation that made a splash in the 1920’s has been all but erased from the canon. As a God-fearing Christian with nationalistic and anti-Marxist values, Yashka is the wrong kind of feminist. I think it’s safe to say that if Yashka had embraced Communism and joined the Red Army instead of the White Army, her amazing story would be required reading alongside Simone De Bouvier and Gloria Steinem. Her cinematic story would also have been made into a blockbuster film like Robert Redford’s take on “10 Days That Shook the World," “Reds”. But like academia, Hollywood tows the party line.

I read the 1919 edition, which leaves one wondering what became of Yashka. The internet confirmed my suspicions: They murdered her, of course. After returning to Russia from the United States, where she had escaped to in an effort to rally the allied powers to aid Russia’s war effort and oppose the Communists, Yashka–a toiling peasant and common soldier–was recaptured by the Bolsheviks, interrogated and tortured for four months, and executed by a Cheka firing squad as an "enemy of the working class.”

[Alexa Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had to read for class & was shocked at how much Botchkareva went through as both a woman and a soldier- very impressed with her determination despite all her struggles!

[alexa koe · Rating 4 out of 5]

yashka is a girlboss. russian men are evil. love her first-person experiences but the war politics at the end are boring. solid memoir!!

[Courtney B]

An interesting little piece of counter-propaganda to communist narratives of the Bolshevik Revolution. Final two chapters are most usable for class.

[Andi Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three cheers and four stars for primary sources

[Richard Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provided a nice contrast with The Cavalry Maiden, which is the story of a noblewoman who posed as a man and fought for the Russians as a cavalry officer in the Napoleonic wars. There were key differences because, in addition to being 100 years earlier, the Cavalry Maiden was a noblewoman whereas Yashka was a peasant who served openly as a woman. The Cavalry Maiden hid her true identity from her comrades, but both she and Yashka joined the army with the blessing of the tsar, and in both cases we get the story of a person of great courage and resourcefulness, braver than nearly all of the men and compassionate while at the same time being completely willing to kill.

I have read many other accounts of Russian history at the time of the First World War, the October Revolution and Civil War from John Reed to Trotsky to the White General Deniken. But the perspective in this book of a peasant woman who also served as a common soldier was unique. It made me see the era in a different way. She kept getting wounded recovering and going back, always with full dedication, even as more than half of her comrades died around her and everyone else became disillusioned. She accomplished amazing things in battle, never fleeing in fear, never losing her cool and saving many lives, but as a woman she never got the recognition that she deserved. When the October Revolution came, she was Anti-Bolshevik, but mainly because she blamed the Bolsheviks for making the army ineffective and abandoning the war against the Germans. She never held high rank or commanded a large force, but because of her unusual position, she was prominent, so she met and interacted with all of the leading figures of the era from Kerensky to Kornilov to Lenin and Trotsky. She was an amazing person with an unusual story who should be remembered more than she is.

[Yooperprof · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating, but problematic.

The story that we are presented with is that the nearly illiterate Maria Bochkareva gave 100 hours of interview time (in Russian) to a Russian immigrant/American journalist, Isaac Don Levine, who subsequently arranged/translated/shaped the material into the book - which was published in 1919 in English, under the title "Yaska: My Life as Peasant, Exile, and Soldier." This was at a time when the American and British Governments were soliciting support for their intervention in the Russian Civil War.

Further, in the Preface we are told that late in his life, Levine "ghost-wrote the memoir of a Soviet defector, "In Stalin's Secret Service," and played a key role in Whittaker Chamber's unmasking of spies in the Roosevelt administration, including Alger Hiss."

So it's impossible to tell how much of the story is Bochkareva's, and how much is Levine's. Certainly the account which was published contains a story which is compelling but often improbable. Much of it reads like a religious narrative, meant to be understood as metaphorically but not literally true.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing memoir. Noteworthy for its detailing of ww1, the Russian revolution but also as a piece of historical feminism. How it’s not a film already I don’t know!