Kollontai 150: Selected Writings of Alexandra Kollontai

Alexandra Kollontai (31 March 1872–9 March 1952) was a communist revolutionary; the first woman in the world to form part of a government since the creation of modern states; an organizer of the Workers’ Opposition within the Bolshevik party; a theorist on love and sexual relations; and a diplomat. And yet, Alexandra Kollontai has had a complex legacy. Her particular political career, combining committed activism and theoretical work, has until recently seen her excluded from the training programmes of almost all communist tendencies. Even today her name remains unknown to those feminist sectors not directly linked to Marxism. Yet her texts, especially those written during the early years of the Soviet revolution, provide vital keys to understanding the relationship between gender and class and open up horizons that remain accurate, advanced and radically revealing even today. This volume, to commemorate the 150 years of Alexandra Kollontai, brings together four of her writings, as well as two introductory essays by Julia Cámara, Atiliana da Silva Vicente Brunetto and Ândrea Francine Batista that place her writings in historical perspective and assert their relevance in our times.