The Resilience of Russian Women in Revolutionary Russia
Abstract
During a small window after the Bolshevik Revolution, from 1917 to the mid 1920’s, women in Russia experienced greater freedoms and gender equality than many other women in the Western World. This essay explores the variety of female roles in Russia leading up to the Revolution and throughout the interwar period to evaluate what influences they had over their newfound freedoms. It also highlights the achievements of Alexandra Kollontai, the Marxist theoretician who worked with Vladimir Lenin to improve legislation for female autonomy in domestic, social, and political life. I argue that women – particularly working-class women – were instrumental in the revolution, but that women’s rights and advocacy differed along class lines.
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