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Love of Worker Bees/A Great Love
An omnibus of the work of the Russian feminist. "Love of Worker Bees", was greeted in 1923 as sexually too explicit. It collected three works offering graphic portrayal of Russian life in the 1920s. Similarly, "A Great Love" offers an exploration of love and the power of sexual appetite.
386 pages, Paperback
Published August 5, 1999
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About the author
Alexandra Kollontai
115 books306 followersAlexandra 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).
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 5, 2022
— 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 —
𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Love of Worker Bees & A Great Love
𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: N/A
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫(𝐬): Aleksandra Kollontai
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Historical Fiction
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 5th August 1999
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 4/5
"Winning over women, that’s half the battle.”
Love of Worker Bees and A Great Love is an omnibus set from the Russian feminist Aleksandra Kollontai that explores love, it’s power over women, and the complexities that form when politics presides over love, or love presides over politics. Overall, it’s an insight into early 1900s Russia and the product of the era’s human nature.
Well, I did tell myself I wanted to read more feminist literature this year, and this book has helped me achieve that. It was equal parts enticing and infuriating to read about how often women are in the passenger seats of their own relationships. Love of Worker Bees was especially poignant whilst A Great Love felt more demonstrable than introspective.
Even in a culture that seems far removed from my own (Welsh British) one, the similarities of the imbalanced manner Russian women have been treated were striking. My feminine frustration is harsh and righteous at the thought of the brainwashing that occurred. To clarify, I’m not disputing that it doesn’t occur today, because it does, but that power gap has definitely lessened (lessened, not resolved).
The insight into relationships; the joy, the harm, was endearing to me. I had to keep reminding myself that this writing was based in the 1920s and a lot of what occurred were consequences of ‘what happened in those days’. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder why is it that men take both reins in a relationship, and why is it that women allow them to?
I once read that the industrial revolution was responsible for monogamy. Before this, people did as they pleased, slept with who they liked and made no qualms about it. Then the bourgeoise males decided that to accumulate wealth, their properties and assets must remain in their patriarchal blood line, and for that to be successful, paternity of male children must be known. Therefore, monogamous nuclear families were the product of this ideology.
I don’t know how true or false this is. The point is, history teaches us in schools how male ideas have shaped even how we conduct ourselves in relationships. Women got/get dismissed. And the notion of everyone being equally worthy is consistently squashed.
Meanwhile, women are practically shamed into monogamy, whilst men are typically in the drivers seat, able to dictate where the car goes, and how many passengers it has. This review has gotten really preachy, I realise, but this is just an example of how thought-provoking Kollontai's writing is.
🧚🏻♀️
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𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Love of Worker Bees & A Great Love
𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: N/A
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫(𝐬): Aleksandra Kollontai
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Historical Fiction
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 5th August 1999
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 4/5
"Winning over women, that’s half the battle.”
Love of Worker Bees and A Great Love is an omnibus set from the Russian feminist Aleksandra Kollontai that explores love, it’s power over women, and the complexities that form when politics presides over love, or love presides over politics. Overall, it’s an insight into early 1900s Russia and the product of the era’s human nature.
Well, I did tell myself I wanted to read more feminist literature this year, and this book has helped me achieve that. It was equal parts enticing and infuriating to read about how often women are in the passenger seats of their own relationships. Love of Worker Bees was especially poignant whilst A Great Love felt more demonstrable than introspective.
Even in a culture that seems far removed from my own (Welsh British) one, the similarities of the imbalanced manner Russian women have been treated were striking. My feminine frustration is harsh and righteous at the thought of the brainwashing that occurred. To clarify, I’m not disputing that it doesn’t occur today, because it does, but that power gap has definitely lessened (lessened, not resolved).
The insight into relationships; the joy, the harm, was endearing to me. I had to keep reminding myself that this writing was based in the 1920s and a lot of what occurred were consequences of ‘what happened in those days’. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder why is it that men take both reins in a relationship, and why is it that women allow them to?
I once read that the industrial revolution was responsible for monogamy. Before this, people did as they pleased, slept with who they liked and made no qualms about it. Then the bourgeoise males decided that to accumulate wealth, their properties and assets must remain in their patriarchal blood line, and for that to be successful, paternity of male children must be known. Therefore, monogamous nuclear families were the product of this ideology.
I don’t know how true or false this is. The point is, history teaches us in schools how male ideas have shaped even how we conduct ourselves in relationships. Women got/get dismissed. And the notion of everyone being equally worthy is consistently squashed.
Meanwhile, women are practically shamed into monogamy, whilst men are typically in the drivers seat, able to dictate where the car goes, and how many passengers it has. This review has gotten really preachy, I realise, but this is just an example of how thought-provoking Kollontai's writing is.
🧚🏻♀️
♡ my bookstagram • my twitter ♡
↑ follow my socials for more bookish content. ↑
January 18, 2023
Amiga date cuenta, el llibre
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews