The Revolution's Women: Bolshevik Feminists and the Zhenotdel

In 1918, Alexandra Kollontai, Inessa Armand, and Nadezhda Krupskaya created the Zhenotdel—the Bolshevik Women's Department—to mobilize Russia's women for the revolution. This episode explores their utopian vision: state-funded childcare, communal kitchens, abortion legalization, and literacy campaigns that reached peasant women in remote villages. But as Stalin's grip tightened, the Zhenotdel was shut down and its leaders purged. We trace the rise and fall of early Soviet feminism, from the All-Russian Congress of Peasant Women to the crushing of women's independent organizing. Featuring debates over the 'woman question,' the veil-burning campaigns in Central Asia, and the forgotten legacy of Konkordiya Samoilova.

#Zhenotdel #AlexandraKollontai #InessaArmand #NadezhdaKrupskaya #BolshevikFeminism #WomanQuestion #SovietWomen #RussianRevolution #History #FexingoHistory #EasternEurope #KonkordiyaSamoilova #PeasantWomen #CentralAsia #Hujum #CommunalKitchens #Stalin #Purges

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