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.

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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

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”

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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.

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

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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.

Kristen Ghodsee reads Cathy Porter’s translation of an excerpt from Alexandra Kollontai’s autobiography. Reflecting on a visit to Narva, Estonia in March of 1896, when she was just 24-years-old, Kollontai describes the event that radicalized her forever.

Recent Writings from Kristen Ghodsee:

“Clima y Utopía,” El País Semanal, October 17, 2025

“Materialists skewers the dating market – but stops too short,” Jacobin Magazine, July 12, 2025

“From Democracy to ‘Safety’,” Los Angeles Review of Books, July 3, 2025

Recent Interviews with Kristen Ghodsee:

Meagan Day, “How Manosphere Content Placates Disenfranchised Men,” Jacobin Magazine, May 1, 2025 (Also in Spanish, French, and German)

“Der Sozialismus behandelte Frauen besser,” Konkret Magazin, May 2025: 52-52

Meagan Day, “Tradwives are a Harbinger of Systemic Breakdown,” Jacobin Magazine, April 27, 2025 (Also in Spanish)

Recent writings about Kollontai:

Cathy Porter, Alexandra Kollontai: Writings from the Struggle

Maria Wiesner, Radikal selbstbestimmt – Ihrer Zeit weit voraus. Was wir von Alexandra Kollontai lernen können

Mridula Manglam, “Across Struggles and Time: If I Could Speak to Alexandra Kollontai.”

If you can stomach social media, please request to follow @prof_kristen

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.

Kristen Ghodsee revisits her discussion about arguments for socialism with Bowdoin College professor of philosophy, Scott R. Sehon. This conversation focuses on the role of esteem and how it is increasingly commodified in a capitalist society.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• Book by Scott R. Sehon: Socialism: A Logical Introduction
• Article in the Wall Street Journal: "$1 Trillion of Wealth Was Created for the 19 Richest U.S. Households Last Year"
• Interview in Jacobin Magazine:, Part 1: "Tradwives are the harbinger of systemic breakdown"
• Interview in Jacobin Magazine:, Part 2: "How Manosphere Content Placates Disenfranchised Men"
• Kristen Ghodsee's "Birthday Mediations" newsletter, April 26, 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 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 at: www.kristenghodsee.com

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

Kristen Ghodsee shares a conservation with a previous guest from March 2022, a self-described anarchist activist, about the value of feeling one’s political despair and using it to generate political creativity.

Mentioned in this episode: I Want a Better Catastrophe

Also this article: "Kollontai: Leaving behind Menshevik pacifism"

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 at: www.kristenghodsee.com

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

Kristen R. Ghodsee reads a 1930 interview with Alexandra Kollontai about the new morality around love and marriage in the Soviet Union. Kollontai argues that romantic love and relationships will no longer be the most important thing in women’s lives because they will have the support of the socialist state in reducing their responsibilities for domestic work and will have a wider community of citizens helping them to raise up the next generation.

One version and the archival references for this text can be found here.

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Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account and receives no funding. 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:

Buy Kristen Ghodsee's most recent book: Everyday Utopia

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

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

Kristen Ghodsee reads Aleksandra Kollontai’s March 8, 1947 International Women’s Day address, taken from the book: Alexandra Kollontai: The Plight, Struggle, and Liberation of Women

Send us a text

Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account and receives no funding. 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:

Buy Kristen Ghodsee's most recent book: Everyday Utopia

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

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