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

In this episode, Kristen R. Ghodsee reads and discusses Alexandra Kollontai's 1916 essay on seeing the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor for the first time. Kollontai was invited to the United States by the Socialist Party of America in 1915 to speak against US involvement in WWI. She toured the country visiting 80 cities and towns and delivering 123 speeches in 4 languages, including English, which she spoke fluently because she was raised by an English governess.

Here is a wonderful BBC Witness story about Alexandra Kollontai: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p03lfbqt

The intro music is a Russian version of The Internationale.

More info about the host can be found at: www.kristenghodsee.com

Also see: AlexandraKollontai.com – A Website for All Things Kollontai 

Send us Fan Mail

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 critically acclaimed books published in over 20 languages, and a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Russian and East European Studies. 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 

This is the third episode in a series of discussions that will feature Kristen R. Ghodsee with various guests reflecting on Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 essay: "Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth." In this essay, Kollontai works out her theories of how love and sexuality will be superior under socialism as compared to the bourgeois capitalist past.  She provides a Marxist history of love and sex as ideals that change depending on how the ruling class uses them to promote their own economic interests. It is an essential essay in terms of thinking about the intersections of sexuality and political economy, and it was an important inspiration for Ghodsee's 2018 book: Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence. 

 In this episode, Kristen Ghodsee speaks with Angelina Eimannsberger, a Ph.D. student in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory at the University of Pennsylvania. Angelina hosts a bookstagram account, @indulgencezine, where she discusses novels and memoirs by contemporary women writers. Also mentioned in this episode are the books Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, The Matchmaker’s List, and Bastards of Utopia. Bastards of Utopia is also a documentary film, as is Knock down the house.  

The intro and outro music is a Russian version of The Internationale.

More info about the host can be found at: www.kristenghodsee.com

You can follow Angelina Eimannsberger on Instagram at: @indulgencezine

Also see: AlexandraKollontai.com – A Website for All Things Kollontai 

Send us Fan Mail

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 critically acclaimed books published in over 20 languages, and a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Russian and East European Studies. 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 

This is the second episode in a series of discussions that will feature Kristen R. Ghodsee with various guests reflecting on Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 essay: "Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth."

Kristen Ghodsee's guest this week is her 17-year-old daughter who reflects on the relevance of Kollontai to high school life in 2019.

In this essay, Kollontai works out her theories of how love and sexuality will be superior under socialism as compared to the bourgeois capitalist past.  She provides a Marxist history of love and sex as ideals that change depending on how the ruling class uses them to promote their own economic interests. It is an essential essay in terms of thinking about the intersections of sexuality and political economy, and it was an important inspiration for Ghodsee's 2018 book: Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence. In this episode, Ghodsee and her daughter discuss the idea that having a large friend group, or a robust social life, takes pressure off of people to find everything they need – intellectually, emotionally, and physically – in just one person for the rest of their lives.

The intro music is a Russian version of The Internationale.

More info about the host can be found at: www.kristenghodsee.com

Also see: AlexandraKollontai.com – A Website for All Things Kollontai 

Send us Fan Mail

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 critically acclaimed books published in over 20 languages, and a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Russian and East European Studies. 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 

This is the first episode in a series of discussions that will feature Kristen R. Ghodsee with various guests reflecting on Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 essay: "Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth."

Kristen Ghodsee's guest this week is the artist and Penn School of Design grad student, Elisheva Levy.

In this essay, Kollontai works out her theories of how love and sexuality will be superior under socialism as compared to the bourgeois capitalist past.  She provides a Marxist history of love and sex as ideals that change depending on how the ruling class uses them to promote their own economic interests. It is an essential essay in terms of thinking about the intersections of sexuality and political economy, and it was an important inspiration for Ghodsee's 2018 book: Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence. In this episode, Elisheva Levy discusses her research project, "Beyond Monogamous Architecture" in relation to Kollontai's essay.

FYI - the intro music is a Russian version of The Internationale.

www.kristenghodsee.com

Send us Fan Mail

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 critically acclaimed books published in over 20 languages, and a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Russian and East European Studies. 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 

This is the fifth episode in a series of episodes that will feature Kristen R. Ghodsee's reading and discussion of Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 essay: "Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth." In this essay, Kollontai works out her theories of how love and sexuality will be superior under socialism as compared to the bourgeois capitalist past.  She provides a Marxist history of love and sex as ideals that change depending on how the ruling class uses them to promote their own economic interests. It is an essential essay in terms of thinking about the intersections of sexuality and political economy, and it was an important inspiration for Ghodsee's 2018 book: Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence.

Many thanks to the folks over at Revolutionary Left Radio for linking to this podcast in the program notes of their March 8, 2019 interview with Kristen Ghodsee.

FYI - the intro music is a Russian version of The Internationale.

www.kristenghodsee.com

Send us Fan Mail

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 critically acclaimed books published in over 20 languages, and a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Russian and East European Studies. 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 

This is the fourth episode in a series of episodes that will feature Kristen R. Ghodsee's reading and discussion of Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 essay: "Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth." In this essay, Kollontai works out her theories of how love and sexuality will be superior under socialism as compared to the bourgeois capitalist past.  She provides a Marxist history of love and sex as ideals that change depending on how the ruling class uses them to promote their own economic interests. It is an essential essay in terms of thinking about the intersections of sexuality and political economy, and it was an important inspiration for Ghodsee's 2018 book: Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence.

Many thanks to the folks over at Revolutionary Left Radio for linking to this podcast in the program notes of their March 8, 2019 interview with Kristen Ghodsee.

FYI - the intro music is a Russian version of The Internationale.

www.kristenghodsee.com

Send us Fan Mail

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 critically acclaimed books published in over 20 languages, and a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Russian and East European Studies. 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 

This is the third episode in a series of episodes that will feature Kristen R. Ghodsee's reading and discussion of Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 essay: "Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth." In this essay, Kollontai works out her theories of how love and sexuality will be superior under socialism as compared to the bourgeois capitalist past.  She provides a Marxist history of love and sex as ideals that change depending on how the ruling class uses them to promote their own economic interests. It is an essential essay in terms of thinking about the intersections of sexuality and political economy, and it was an important inspiration for Ghodsee's 2018 book: Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence.

Many thanks to the folks over at Revolutionary Left Radio for linking to this podcast in the program notes of their March 8, 2019 interview with Kristen Ghodsee.

FYI - the intro music is a Russian version of The Internationale.

More information about Kristen R. Ghodsee can be found at www.kristenghodsee.com

Send us Fan Mail

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 critically acclaimed books published in over 20 languages, and a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Russian and East European Studies. 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 

This is the second episode in a series of episodes that will feature Kristen R. Ghodsee's reading and discussion of Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 essay: "Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth." In this essay, Kollontai works out her theories of how love and sexuality will be superior under socialism as compared to the bourgeois capitalist past.  She provides an essential Marxist history of love and sex as ideals that change depending on how the ruling class uses them to promote their own economic interests. It is an essential essay in terms of thinking about the intersections of sexuality and political economy, and it was an important inspiration for Ghodsee's 2018 book: Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence.

Many thanks to the folks over at Revolutionary Left Radio for linking to this podcast in the program notes of their March 8, 2019 interview with Kristen Ghodsee.

FYI - the intro music is a Russian version of The Internationale.

Send us Fan Mail

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 critically acclaimed books published in over 20 languages, and a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Russian and East European Studies. 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 

Happy Spring!

This is the first episode in a series of episodes that will feature Kristen R. Ghodsee's reading and discussion of Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 essay: "Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth." In this essay, Kollontai works out her theories of how love and sexuality will be superior under socialism as compared to the bourgeois capitalist past.  She provides an essential Marxist history of love and sex as ideals that change depending on how the ruling class uses them to promote their own economic interests. It is an essential essay in terms of thinking about the intersections of sexuality and political economy, and it was an important inspiration for Ghodsee's 2018 book: Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence.

Many thanks to the folks over at Revolutionary Left Radio for linking to this podcast in the program notes of their March 8, 2019 interview with Kristen Ghodsee.

FYI - the intro music is a Russian version of The Internationale.

More information about Kristen R. Ghodsee can be found at www.kristenghodsee.com

Send us Fan Mail

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 critically acclaimed books published in over 20 languages, and a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Russian and East European Studies. 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 

Happy International Women's Day! This episode features an actual audio clip of Alexandra Kollontai speaking "to the workers." This undated audio clip was downloaded from the www.marxists.org website, and Alina Yakubova provided the translation from Russian to English. In the first part of the episode, Ghodsee reads the English translation between segments of Kollontai's speech. A bit of commentary is then followed by the entirety of Kollontai's speech without interruptions. 

The rough translation of the speech by Alina Yakubova is here:

Comrade [female] workers!

For long centuries, a woman had been oppressed and without rights. For long centuries, she had been a man’s appendix and his shadow. The husband fed the wife, and for that, the wife submitted to his will and humbly bore her lack of rights, and her domestic and family slavery. The October Revolution has liberated the woman. Now, a female peasant has the same rights as the male peasant, a female worker has the same rights as the male worker. A woman can make choices everywhere: she can be a member of a council and a Komissar, even a people’s Komissar. But if, according to the law, a woman is equal in rights, life has yet to free the woman. A female worker, a female peasant are still in the vice grip of household labor, she is still a slave in her own family. The task of a female worker is to make life such that the burden of childcare is taken off the woman’s shoulders, to lighten the domestic work’s grip on the female worker and a female peasant.  

The working class is interested in freeing a woman in those areas, a worker has to understand that a woman is the same kind of member of the proletarian family as he is, because the woman works equally with the man. One third of all riches on Earth have been created by women’s hands. In Europe and America, female workers are 70 million, and in the communist society, a woman and a man must be equal in rights. Without women’s equality, there is no communism. 

So to work, comrade [female] workers, start freeing yourselves, build daycares, mother’s homes, help with your advice to streamline public cafeterias, help the Communist Party to build a new, bright life. Your place is among those who fight to liberate the workers, to bring equality, freedom, and happiness to your children. Your place, female workers and peasants, is under the red revolutionary flag of the global victorious communism.

More information about Kristen R. Ghodsee can be found at www.kristenghodsee.com

Send us Fan Mail

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 critically acclaimed books published in over 20 languages, and a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Russian and East European Studies. 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