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A.K. 47 - Selections from the Works of Alexandra Kollontai

A.K. 47 - Selections from the Works of Alexandra Kollontai

By: Kristen R. Ghodsee
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Kristen R. Ghodsee reads and discusses 47 selections from the works of Alexandra Kollontai (1872-1952), a socialist women's activist who had radical ideas about the intersections of socialism and women's emancipation. Born into aristocratic privilege, the Ukrainian-Finnish Kollontai was initially a member of the Mensheviks before she joined Lenin and the Bolsheviks and became an important revolutionary figure during the 1917 Russian Revolution. Kollontai was a socialist theorist of women’s emancipation and a strident proponent of sexual relations freed from all economic considerations. After the October Revolution, Kollontai became the Commissar of Social Welfare and helped to found the Zhenotdel (the women's section of the Party). She oversaw a wide variety of legal reforms and public policies to help liberate working women and to create the basis of a new socialist sexual morality. But Russians were not ready for her vision of emancipation, and she was sent away to Norway to serve as the first Russian female ambassador (and only the third female ambassador in the world). In this podcast, Kristen R. Ghodsee – a professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence (Bold Type Books 2018) – selects excerpts from the essays, speeches, and fiction of Alexandra Kollontai and puts them in context. Each episode provides an introduction to the abridged reading with some relevant background on Kollontai and the historical moment in which she was writing.

© 2025 A.K. 47 - Selections from the Works of Alexandra Kollontai Political Science Politics & Government World
Episodes
  • 154 - A.K. 47 - The Communist Valkyrie - Part 2

    154 - A.K. 47 - The Communist Valkyrie - Part 2
    Nov 13 2025

    Kristen Ghodsee reads the second part of her biographical chapter on Alexandra Kollontai from Ghodsee's 2022 book, Red Valkyries: Feminist Lessons from Five Revolutionary Women.

    Mentioned in this episode: "My Daughter’s Abandoned Prom Dress” from Ms. Magazine, May 16, 2020

    Click Here for a full curated list of the podcasts with Kristen Ghodsee and her daughter from February 2019 to February 2025.

    Send us a text

    Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account and receives no funding. There are no ads and there is no monetization. If you'd like to support the work being done here, please spread the word with your networks.

    Kristen R. Ghodsee is the award-winning author of twelve books and Professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Check out Kristen Ghodsee's recent books:

    • Everyday Utopia
    • Red Valkyries
    • Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism
    • Second World, Second Sex

    Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee’s free, episodic newsletter at: https://kristenghodsee.substack.com

    Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work: www.kristenghodsee.com or request to follow her on Instagram @prof_kristen

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    26 mins
  • 153 - A.K. 47 - The Communist Valkyrie - Part 1

    153 - A.K. 47 - The Communist Valkyrie - Part 1
    Nov 5 2025

    Kristen Ghodsee reads from her own chapter on Alexandra Kollontai from her 2022 book, Red Valkyries: Feminist Lessons from Five Revolutionary Women, available now in Spanish, Italian, Slovak, Chinese, Turkish, and Korean, and also available as an audio book.

    Mentioned in this episode:

    “What we forgot about socialism: Lessons from The Red Riviera”


    Send us a text

    Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account and receives no funding. There are no ads and there is no monetization.

    If you would like to support the work being done here, please spread the word, share with your friends and networks, and consider exploring the following links.

    Check out Kristen Ghodsee's recent books:

    • Everyday Utopia
    • Red Valkyries
    • Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism
    • Second World, Second Sex


    Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee’s free, episodic newsletter at: https://kristenghodsee.substack.com

    Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work: www.kristenghodsee.com

    Kristen R. Ghodsee is the award-winning author of twelve books and Professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

    Show More Show Less
    26 mins
  • 152 - A.K. 47 - My Heart Belongs to the Finnish Poor

    152 - A.K. 47 - My Heart Belongs to the Finnish Poor
    Oct 28 2025

    Kristen Ghodsee reads the first English translation of Alexandra Kollontai’s “My Heart Belongs to the Finnish Poor,” originally published as "Suomen köyhälistölle kuuluu sydämeni" by the Finnish Trade Union Federation yearbook Työn Juhla: Suomen ammattijärjestön juhlajulkaisu in 1911. Translated from Finnish by MLH, edited and commented by Cathy Porter.

    New Spanish translation with Verso Libros: Valquirias rojas: Lecciones feministas de cinco mujeres revolucionarias

    Details for the 6 November 2025 Berlin event at Shakespeare and Sons can be found here

    Send us a text

    Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account and receives no funding. There are no ads and there is no monetization.

    If you would like to support the work being done here, please spread the word, share with your friends and networks, and consider exploring the following links.

    Check out Kristen Ghodsee's recent books:

    • Everyday Utopia
    • Red Valkyries
    • Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism
    • Second World, Second Sex


    Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee’s free, episodic newsletter at: https://kristenghodsee.substack.com

    Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work: www.kristenghodsee.com

    Kristen R. Ghodsee is the award-winning author of twelve books and Professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

    Show More Show Less
    29 mins
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