Emancipation Through Communism: The Ideology of A. M.

Kollontai
Author(s): Barbara Evans Clements
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Slavic Review, Vol. 32, No. 2 (Jun., 1973), pp. 323-338
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BARBARA EVANS CLEMENTS

EmancipationThroughCommunism:
The Ideology of A. M. Kollontai

Traditionallyin surveysof Soviet history,if Alexandra Kollontai is men-

tionedshe is presentedbrieflyas the advocate of the "glass of water theory
of sex,"'' a womanwho practicedfreelove as freelyas she preachedit. The
lecturerthenmoves on to more serious concerns,havingignoredthe history
of a tormented,perceptivewoman intimatelyinvolved in the early Soviet
experimentin femaleemancipation.Kollontai advocatedfar more than free
love, and the role she played was far greaterthan that of mistressto Alex-
ander Shliapnikov.From 1917 untilher departurefromthe Soviet Union in
1923 she held positionsof major importancein the young governmentand
in the Bolshevikparty.Kollontai workedfirstas an agitatorin 1917, then
took the post of commissarof state welfarefromNovember1917 to March
1918, whenshe resignedin protestagainstthe Brest-LitovskTreaty.In 1921
she joined the Workers' Opposition,adding to Shliapnikov'sproposals for
trade-unionreformher own call for partyand governmentdemocratization
and givingarticulatevoice to those demandsin an often-cited pamphlet,The
Workers'Opposition.Throughoutthe revolutionary years she was recognized
as a major authorityon the problemsof womenand child care. Since Kol-
lontai did play an importantrole in the early period of Soviet history,her
personalityand ideologywarrantstudy.That studyin turnreveals a woman
who perceivedthe problemsof womanhoodwithclarityand who wroteabout
and soughta liberationbeyondthe comprehension of many of her contem-
poraries.
In 1872 Kollontai was born Alexandra MikhailovnaDomontovich,the
daughterof minornobility.Her parentsgave her a liberaleducationat home

1. In fact,this authorhas yet to read that specificphrasein Kollontai'swritings.

The nearestinstanceis a passage writtenin 1921 (quotedbelow) in whichshe said sex
of hungerand thirst."The one contemporary
shouldbe "natural. . . like the satisfying
who specificallyreferred to the "drinkof watertheory"was Lenin,in his famousinter-
view withKlara Zetkinin 1919.See Klara Zetkin,Lenin on the WomanQuestion(New
York, 1934), p. 11. Possiblyhe drewthe phrasefromthe popularized, vulgarizedversion
of Kollontai'sthoughtthencirculatingin Russia as a justification For
for promiscuity.
a discussionof sexual behaviorin the Civil War yearssee H. Kent Geiger,The Family
in Soviet Russia (Cambridge,Mass., 1968), pp. 73-75.

The authorgratefully acknowledgesthe supportof the AmericanCouncil of Learned

SocietiesandtheSocial SciencesResearchCouncil.

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324 Slavic Review

untilshe reachedadolescence, whentheyrefused to sendherto the univer-

sityforfearoftherevolutionary ideasshemight encounter.Insteadtheyhired
professors to tutorher.At sixteenAlexandrarebelled byrefusing to consider
an arranged marriage. She marriedinsteada penniless armyofficer ofwhom
her parentsdisapproved, and she borehis name,Kollontai,forthe restof
herlife.Theylivedtogether forthreeyears,buttherelationship provedtoo
confining forAlexandra. "The happyexistence ofhousewife and consortwere
like a 'cage' to me,"she wrotelater."My sympathies, my interests turned
moreand moreto the Russianworkers'revolutionary movement."2 When
Kollontaileftherhusbandin 1898forstudyin Switzerland, sheplungedher-
selffullyintotheSocialDemocratic movement. She participatedin therevo-
lutionary activitiesof 1905,fledintoexile at the end of 1908,and as a
Menshevik spentthe perioduntil1917 in exile lecturing and writing, pre-
dominantly on thewomanquestion.In 1915shejoinedtheBolsheviks largely
becauseofherantiwarsenltiments.
Yet politicalactivity
alone neverfullysatisfied her. Thoughunableto
acceptthe traditional femaleroles,she stillhad strongaffiliational needs
whichcompelled herto searchforsatisfyingheterosexual From
relationships.
herownaccount, thatsearchalwaysendedin failure.Occasionally shewould
see herselfas incapableof genuineintimacy, but moreoftenshe laid the
blameon thesocialmoreswhichtaughtmento objectify womenratherthan
lovethemas equals.Kollontaifeltsucha relationship destroyedherintegrity,
her"I." "The needofa woman,"shewrote,"is thata manlove in hernot
onlyherimpersonal femininitybutalso thathe valuein herthatwhichmakes
up the spiritualcontentof her individualI."3
The traditional whichdroveKollontaito seek men also
conditioning
taughther to wantto be dependenton them.But her desireforintegrity
madeher despisethatneed and the menwho cultivated it.4Unable to be
withthesubmissive
satisfied roleshetriedto play,Kollontaiwouldcreatea
in whichshedominated
relationship theman.Butdomination provedno more
than dependence.
satisfactory Furthermore,the whole frustratingprocess
tookher away fromworthwhile partywork.Aftermuchunhappiness she

2. Alexandra Kollontai,Autobiographie eiutersexuell emanzipiertentKommunistin,

ed. IringFetscher(Munich,1970), p. 16. EditorFetscheritalicizedall wordschangedby
Kollontaion thegalleysof theAutobiographie. To avoid confusion,
his italicswill notbe
indicatedhere.His editionhas been translatedintoEnglishas The Autobiography of a
Sexually EmancipatedCommunistWoman,ed. with an afterwordby Iring Fetscher,
trans.SalvatorAttanasio(New York, 1971).
3. Kollontai,Novaia moral' i rabochiiklass (Moscow, 1918), p. 21.
4. The themeof the femaleneed for dependenceon the male recursfrequently in
her work. See, for example,the attackon this "atavistic"tendencyin Novaia moral',
p. 13. Her fictionalheroinesalways battledsuch a need; see A Great Love, trans.
Lily Lore (New York, 1929).

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Ideologyof A. M. Kollontai 325
would realize that the psychologicalprice of the involvemnent outweighedits
yield, and she would break away-resentfulof the time wasted-to return
to work."How muchmore we could have createdand achieved,"she wrote,
energyhad not been dividedin an endless strugglewithour
"if our conmplete
own I and withthefeelingsforanother.Indeed,therewas an eternaldefensive
war againstthe encroachmnent of men on our I, a strugglerevolvingabout the
problem:workor marriageand love" (Autobiographie,p. 11). She generally
chose work.
Throughouther life Kollontai's partycareer and her ideologysatisfied
her psychologicalneeds more fully than the men she tried to love. She
retainedenough of her early conditioningto seek heterosexualrelationships
as a meansof establishingself-esteem.5 At the same timeshe set out to define
her worthin the nontraditional sphereof revolutionary activity,and here in
her ideologyshe found the means to defeatthe mores still troublesometo
her own psyche.Kollontai's ideologyoffersa perceptiveanalysisof the prob-
lems of womenin rebellionagainstthe prescriptions of society,thenpromises
resolutionin utopia.
All Bolsheviks shared certain premises-economic determinism,the
necessityof a highlyorganizedparty,the eventual realizationof utopia-
but theyvaried individuallyin the centralityof these elementsin theirbelief
systems.6For example,the faithin natural,unregulatedhuman instinctas a
forcefor good played an importantrole in Kollontai's ideology,but it was
minorin Lenin's. The centralidea-elementsdetermineboth the less central
ideologicalcommitments and the pragmaticdecisionsdrawn fromideological
evaluationof reality.In all personstheychangeslowly;in Kollontaitheyseem
to have remainedessentiallythe same fromn 1903 to 1922, withone exception.
Two contradictory elements,her stauncheconomicdeterm-inism and the belief
that a purposivechangein attitudemustcoincidewitheconomictransformna-
tion,seem to have changedpositionsover the course of the Revolution-the
latterbecomingthe more importantto her under the pressureof adminis-
trativeexperience.Nonetheless,givenher relativeideologicalconsistency, the
fundamentalidea-elementsof Kollontai's Marxism may be discussed by
drawingon pre- and post-1917writingswithoutfear of obscuringany major
development.
Her general analysis of West European bourgeois society followed
orthodoxeconomicdeterminism. She believedthetheoreticalbases of Marxism

5. For the importanceof affiliational see

need in the traditionalfemalepersonality
JudithBardwick,The Psychologyof Womnen (New York, 1970), pp. 157-58.
6. The contentsof the followingparagraphand the term"idea-element" were sug-
gestedby CliffordGeertz,"Ideologyas a CulturalSystem,"pp. 47-76,and Philip Con-
verse,"The Natureof Belief Systemsin Mass Publics,"pp. 206-61,both in David E.
Apter,ed., Ideologyand Discontent(New York, 1964).

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326 Slavtc Review

tobe thedoctrine ofhistoricalmaterialismandthelabortheory ofvalue.From

thesetwosetsofpremises camethetheory oftheclassstruggle as thedynamic
ofhistory.A productwhollyoftheeconomic classinterest
substructure, cre-
atedtheconflicting groupsofa society, whosharednothing withone another
savemutualenmity. Thusmeaningful reform ofoppressive conditions proved
theoreticallyimpossible undercapitalism, even if thatreformcame at the
urgingof theproletariat.In thepresent, however,Kollontaisaw the hope
forthefuture, forcapitalism'sgrowthwas producing a burgeoning workforce,
of production,
socialization and theassumption by government of socialser-
vices.8These phenomena combined withworkerimpoverishment "to operate
withthe force of 'naturallaw' on thepsychology of the proletariat,"produc-
ingworkerconsciousness, whichpavedthewayforrevolution.9
To thiswidelyheldinterpretation Kollontaiaddeda premise, an idea-
element, unusualamongBolsheviks. She felttheuntutored proletarian would
instinctivelyworkforthe "ideal of collectivism," because he unconsciously
knewit was to his advantage.'0 Many socialistssharedthisidealization of
theworker, including theBolsheviks, butthatlattergroupstoodideologically
committed in theirvanguardtheory of thepartyto thepremisethattheun-
guidedproletariat would only achieve"trade-union mentality." Kollontai
neveracceptedthispremise-notin 1905whenshe defended trade-union in-
dependence, notin 1915whenshe joinedLenin,and notin 1921 whenshe
again defended trade-union independence. Her commitment to naturalpro-
letariangoodness, andtherefore to theimportance ofsamodeiatel'nost' (spon-
taneity)for successfulrevolution, proveda centralidea-element in her
Marxismthroughout herlife.In a 1912book,Po rabocheiEvrope,shepre-
senteda workeras wiserthanthepartyagitatorwho attempted to deduce
unionpolicydecisionsfromdoctrine.Wavingaside consideration of class
composition, whichthe intellectual pressedon him,the factoryhand said
"I am a proletarian
patiently, myself,I drinkthiscupeveryday,and I know
thatit wasn'tagitational speechesbutlifeitselfthatdrewme ontothepath
of struggle.""UnlikemanyBolsheviks, Kollontaibuilther Marxismon a
deep,anarchistic in
faith the ability of human beings(usuallymodified to
read"workers")to organizeand runtheirlivesharmoniously if leftfreeof
institutionalinterference.The peoplewereto be trusted,and externalau-
distrusted.
tlhority

7. Kollontai,Zhizn' Finliandskikhrabochikh(St. Petersburg,1903), pp. 106, 277;

Kollontai,. .. K voprosuo klassovoibor'be (St. Petersburg,1905), p. 17.
i chego
8. K voprosuo klassovoibor'be,p. 7; Kollontai,Kto takiesotsial'-demokraty
oni khotiat(Minsk,n.d.), p. 10.
9. Zhisn' Finliandskikhrabochikh,p. 124.
10. K voprosuo klassovoibor'be,pp. 12-13.
11. Kollontai,Po rabocheiEvrope (St. Petersburg,1912), p. 16.

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Ideologyof A. M. Kollontai 327
In heranalysisofbourgeoissocietyKollontaiconsidered thepositionof
womenthesubjectof her"mostimportant theoretical-socialist
and economic
works."12 She drewheavilyon the writings of Marx, Engels,and August
Bebel,especiallywhendealingwiththeoriginsoffemaleoppression.'3 Women
hadlivedfreeand equaluntilthedevelopment ofprivateproperty, whenthey
becanme slaves-"parasites"shutup in the homewithno economicfunction
save thatof broodmare.14Theirstatusimproved somewhat in the Middle
Ages, wheneducatednoblewomen oftenmanagedlarge estates.Kollontai
addedsomewhat muddledpraiseof peasantrespectforthemotherfigure, a
strangecomment in lightof the Russianpeasants'brutaltreatment of their
women.'5Withthedevelopment of a moneyeconomy, womenagainbecame
thephysical and spiritual
property ofmen,as thebourgeois stresson feminine
virtuesencouraged femalestupidity and concernwithtriviality.
Althoughshe alwaysbeganher writingon women'sstatuswiththis
simplisticsketchofitsorigin,Kollontai'smainconcern lay in thepresent, and
it was to theanalysisofmoderncapitalism thatshedevotedhermajoratten-
tion.In bourgeoissocietymarriageand thefamilystructure werebased on
monetary considerations,
the economicdependence of womanon man,and
the needfora unitto rearchildren.'6 Amongthe proletariat the economic
function of marriagehad disintegrated, withthe familyfollowing it into
oblivion.Prostitution,a sociallysanctioned servedas the burial
institution,
groundofwomenmadedesperate by theseprocesses. Undersuchconditions
a healthymarriagebecameimpossible, and relationsbetweenthe sexes de-
scendedto a statemarkedby threemaincharacteristics. First,theproperty
basisofmarriage encouraged eachmember to viewtheotheras a possession,
whichhe hadtherightto knowcompletely. Kollontaidenounced thisdemand
fortotalknowledge as a denigration of thepartner's integrity.The lack of
"privacy"destroyed genuinelove.The secondcharacteristic of modernmar-
riagewas femaleinequality, whichencouraged the woman'sobjectification.
Kollontailabeledthethirdcharacteristic the "individualism" or "egocentric-
ity" producedby bourgeoissociety.She stresseda charge commonto both

12. Kollontai,"Kollontai,AleksandraMikhailovna,"Deiateli SSSR i Oktiabr'skoi

revoliutsii:Entsiklopedicheskii
slovar',supplementGranatEntsiklopediia,vol. 41, pts. 1-3
(Moscow and Leningrad,1925-29),p. 201.
13. Marx's commentson the subject are foundthroughout his works. See Jean
Freville,La femmeet le communisme:Anthologiedes grandes textes du Marxisme
(Paris, 1960). Engels's major work on the subject is, of course,The Origin of the
Family,PrivateProperty,and the State, and Bebel's is Woman UnderSocialism.
14. Kollontai,. . . Trud zhenshchiny v evoliutsiikhoziaistva(lektsii chitannyev
Universitete imeniIa. M. Sverdlova) (Moscow, 1923), p. 31.
15. Ibid.,p. 59.
16. Kollontai,"Tezisy o kommunisticheskoi moraliv oblastibrachnikhotnoshenii,"
Kommunistka, no. 12-13 (May-June1921), pp. 28-34.

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328 Slavic Review

Marxismand theRussianSlavophileevaluation of theWest,thatbourgeois

society isolatedhumanbeings:"We all liveandthinkundertheheavyburden
of . . . spiritual solitude.This 'solitude'amongthemassesof the people,of
thepressing-raging, crying-noisy cities,thissolitudein a crowdofevenclose
'friends and comrades-in-arms' forcescontemporary manwithsickgreedto
snatchat theillusionofa 'nearsoul'" (Novaia moral',p. 51). To overcome
hisloneliness mantriedto findanother person,a lovedone,to whomhe could
be close,but he did so selfishlywiththe singlegoaloffulfilling his ownneeds.
Bourgeois society nevertaughthimthathe couldnothavethe"spiritual close-
nessandunderstanding" he wantedifhe treatedhisloverlikean object.
Kollontaihad learnedaboutsolitudethrough a lonelychildhood and an
adulthood searchforintimacy. She explainedherfailureto findthelove she
soughtin socialterms;it was Marxistand humanto do so. Kollontaidid not
tryto depersonalize heranalysis;throughout sheusedthefirst-person plural.
"We individualists, coarsenedby the everlasting cult of our own 'I,' . . .
imaginethatwe can seizethegreatest happiness . . . without givingin return
thetreasure ofourownsoul"(Novaiamoral', p. 52).
Throughout herwritings Kollontai'sconflicts are inseparably linkedwith
thoseofsociety. The search(hersearch)forsomeoneto be closeto couldnot
succeedunlessone (she) couldlowerherdefenses completely. But thatvul-
nerablepositionin bourgeoissocietyriskedthe objectification of controlby
another. Kollontaicursedisolationand individuality on thesocietallevel,but
brandedanyattempt to finda genuinely closerelationship as doomedto fail-
ure. Bourgeoissocietymustdie beforethemanipulative attitudes it fostered
wouldbe overcome. Hope existedonlyin theemerging emotion ofproletarian
consciousness, or "comradely solidarity,"whichwouldallow"spiritualclose-
ness."The social conflicts
which wereKollontai'sconflicts existedinevitably
in the bourgeoisworld,but the torment of theircontradictions would be
overcome bythenewvirtuegrowing from them.
Kollontaisaw theseedsof thefuturegrowingin thepresent.Although
she datedthe women'srightsmovement fromthe Americanand French
Revolutions, shefeltitsrealincentive hadbeennineteenth-century industriali-
zation(Trudzhenshchiny, p. 98). Fromthatpointithadtakena two-pronged
course-bourgeois-feminist and proletarian. WorldWar I had providedthe
finalimpetu-s to thedevelopment offemaleconsciousness, in additionto mak-
ing the economiccontribution of womenirreplaceable (p. 108). Exploited
morethanmen,womenworkersrevealedthedrainon theirstrength in low-
eredbirthrates,highermother and infant mortality rates,and moreabortions
and stillbirths. Their economicvalue had forcedsome countriesto enact
protective legislation.Thoughinadequate, theselawswerea stepin theright
direction. They had the addedbenefit of accelerating familydisintegration,

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Ideologyof A. M. Kollontai 329

thus speedingthe development of proletarianconsciousnessand withit sexual

equalityand "comradelysolidarity"(Novaia moral',p. 52). In a pamphlet
writtenduringWorld War I Kollontai said, "The science of nationalecon-
omy,of the historyof societyand the state,shows that such a societyshould
be and will be."17 But she certainlydid not mean that human beings must
not activelyseek the goal. The proletariatmustuse "class struggleas a fact
of life,class politicsas a tacticalprinciple"(K voprosu o klassovoi bor'be,
p. 31). In 1904 Kollontai listedthese requirements for success: unity,good
organization,farsightedness, total dedication,unsentimentality,the abilityto
sacrificepresentadvantageto futuregoals, and the willingnessto act without
fearoftheconsequences(p. 30). She did not includethe need fora centralized
Marxistparty.
For Lenin, revolutionwas impossiblewithoutthe party,the vanguard
which raised the proletariatto consciousnessof its missionand guided it to
the realizationof its goal. For manythe partybecame an infalliblereceptacle
oftruth.Kollontaidoes not seemto have feltsuch devotion,at least as regards
the Bolsheviks,but the available data are meagerand inconclusive.Beforethe
Revolutionshe wrote,"The goal of life,its substance,is the party,the idea,
agitation,work. .." . The referencehere mustbe to the Social Democratic
Party as a whole, since she had not then joined the Bolsheviks.In a post-
revolutionary shortstoryshe said, "Natascha founda new satisfactionin the
atmosphere intenseendeavorthat surroundedher. For the firsttime she
of
knew the satisfactionof being a tinycog in a powerfulmechanismbeginning
to rotatein resistlessaccomplishment" (A GreatLove, p. 48). Here she may
be describingeitherthe Revolutionor the party.In a 1923 novel,Red Love,
Kollontai told the storyof a woman whose comrade-husband had been cor-
ruptedby NEP. Aftershe lefthim she describedher feelings:"How many
monthswas I walkingabout like a somnambulist!I wasn't conscious.I didn't
live. I forgotthe Party.But now I'm well again. Everythingdelightsme now,
everything'snew to me. The old world still goes round. Vladimir may be
gone, but the Party is there."'19This passage probably does referto the
CommunistParty.
Such ambiguoussentences-typicalofherwritingson the subject-do not
give substantialclues to the level of Kollontai'sdevotionto the partyand its
role in her ideology.One must,therefore, turnto her life'swork itself.From
that evidencethe conclusionarises that althoughshe joined Menshevikand
then Bolshevikorganizations,workedwithinthem,and was willingon occa-

17. Kollontai, . . . Rabotnitsa-mat'

(Petrograd, 1917), p. 21.
18. Novaia moral',p. 9. The referenceis to the firstarticlein the book, "Novaia
reprinted
zhenshchina," here.It originallyappearedin 1913.
19. Red Love (New York,1927),p. 283.

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330 Slavic Review

sion to submitto partydiscipline,she gave her real devotionand her most

heartfelt ideologicalcommitment to theachievement of communism;her recep-
tacle of truthwas the proletariat.Before1917 this individualistwho preached
collectivismworkedand arguedwithBolsheviksand Mensheviksalike. After
1917 her oppositionistactivityearned her Lenin's disgust.In 1925 she con-
sidered leaving the Bolsheviksaltogether.20 Kollontai's repeated refusal to
change her opinionsin the face of intensepressureindicatesthat the party
nevercapturedher unquestioningloyalty.Her faithin the nativegoodnessof
the proletariatkepther fromacceptingfullythe Leninistpartydoctrine,and
herbeliefin theimminent arrivalof communism channeledmuchof her devo-
tion to the utopianvision of a new society.Antiwarfeelingbroughther to
the Bolsheviksinitially.When the Revolutioncame, she stayed with them,
because their leaders promisedthe most immediaterealizationof the new
worldKollontaiso ardentlydesired.
Althoughshe did not fullysubscribeto the vanguardtheoryof the party,
neithercould she accept Menshevikadherenceto orthodoxMarxism when
dealing withthe possibilityof Russian revolution.In a pamphletwrittenin
1906 she outlinedthecourseof Russian societyafterthe bourgeoisrevolution.
There shouldbe established"a republic,in whichall male and femalecitizens
can be equal and in whichstatepowerwill be locatedentirelyin the hands of
the people," who would exerciseit throughzemstva and otherexistinglocal
organizations.21 "The governingof the citiesand zemstva . . . shouldrest in
the hands of the workingpeople and small peasants." Reformswould include
full civil rightsfor all citizens,changes in the tax structure,confiscationof
land by organsof local government, and an eight-hourwork day. Militia and
policefunctionswould be performed by "the armingof all people."
This idea of societyafterthe bourgeoisrevolutionbears strongovertones
of Trotsky'stheoryof permanentrevolution, whichassertedthatin an agrar-
ian societylike Russia's, withits weaklydevelopedbourgeoisie,the proletariat
and peasantrywould have to lead the capitaliststage of development.The
workers,having accomplishedthat,would move on to build socialismwith
the assistance of general European revolution.Since Kollontai wrote the
articlein 1906, the year of Trotsky'sdefinitivepublicationof the theory,22
the extentof his influenceon her cannotbe establishedwith certainty.The
early date does, however,provide furtherevidence of Kollontai's lifelong
concernwith immediaterevolutionary action. When she returnedto Russia

20. Marcel Body, "AlexandraKollontai,"Preuves (Paris), no. 14 (April 1952),

p. 19.
21. Kto takiesotsial'-dernokraty,p. 14. This pamphletis undated.Anotheredition
bears thedate 1918,but it is a reprintof the or inal articlewhichappearedin Rabochii
ezhegodnik, 1 (1906): 74-87.
22. Isaac Deutscher,The ProphetArmied(New York, 1954), pp. 148-50.

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Ideologyof A. M. Kollontai 331
in 1917 she showed very little respectfor the orthodoxMarxist historical
stages and no tendencyto yield any controlto the bourgeoisie.
This pamphletalso bears a strong resemnblance to Lenin's State and
Revolution,a work scholars label unrepresentative of his politicaltheory.23
Its anarchismmay have been foreignto Lenin's world view, but it colored
Kollontai's throughout. Distrustof bureaucracyand faithin samodeiatel'nost'
recurrepeatedlyin herwriting.In Germanyimmediately afterthe outbreakof
World War I a Social Democrattold Kollontaithat socialismcould be built
only by a bureaucraticregime offsetby a well-organizedparty. Kollontai
rejected out of hand the need for any bureaucracyat all.24Apparentlyshe
placed her hope in the abilityof local institutionsto lead the proletariat's
creationof a new society,never doubtingthat a large, illiteratenation ac-
customedforcenturiesto an oppressivelycentralizedgovernment could make
the transitionto democracyonce the corruptinginfluenceof the state had
been destroyed.
Kollontai's specificprogramfor the bourgeoisstage of Russian revolu-
tion dealt in some detailwithreformforwomenworkers.She listedas essen-
tial: (1) the prohibitionof nightwork for women and adolescents,(2) an
eight-hourday forwomenworkers,(3) no workfor childrenunder sixteen,
a half day forthose sixteento eighteen,and (4) the eliminationof working
conditionsharmfulto women'shealth.To care forworkingmothers,the state
and/or localitiesshould provide (1) factorynurseries,with time offduring
the day for nursingmothersto feed their babies, (2) maternityhospitals,
(3) homes for single or unemployedmothersfrompregnancyto weaning,
(4) free mnedicalcare, (5) kindergartens,and (6) freefoodforpregnantand
nursingmotherstoo poorto affordtheirown.25
Because Kollontaidid not openlydeclareherselfa supporterof the theory
of permanentrevolution,her vision of the Russian transitionfromthe bour-
geois stage to the dictatorshipof the proletariatcan onlybe surmised.Prob-

23. RobertV. Daniels, "The State and Revolution:A Case Study in the Genesis
and Transformation of CommunistIdeology,"AmericanSlavic and East European
Review,12,no. 1 (February1953): 22-43; Adam B. Ulam, The Bolsheviks(New York,
1965), p. 353. For a recentanalysissee RodneyBarfield,"Lenin's Utopianism:State
and Revolution,"Slavic Review,30, no. 1 (March 1971): 45-56. Even Barfieldnotes
thatthe essay is not representative of Lenin's "politicalphilosophy"
but of his "funda-
mentalphilosophy of man" (p. 56). For Kollontaithe two aspectsof her world view
could not be divorced,since the "philosophy of man" dictatedthe "politicalphilosophy"
withoutany intervening distrustof humanspontaneity.
24. Kollontai,. . . Otryvkiiz dnevnika1914 g. (Leningrad,1923), p. 78. Since it
appearedin 1923,the passage may also be an oblique criticismof the Soviet bureau-
cracy,againstwhichKollontaiprotestedopenlyin 1921.
25. The contentsof the foregoingare based on Rabotnitsa-mat', pp. 22-30, but
essentiallythe same programmay be foundin Kollontai,. . . Obshchestvo i materinstvo
(Petrograd,1916), pp. 18-20,167,and in Kto takiesotsial'-demokraty, p. 14.

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332 Slavic Revietv

ably she saw the workersas growingin education and ability until they
became capable of beginningthe buildingof socialism. Certainlyshe saw
the participationof womenin the revolutionas vital to its success,not only
because of their numbersbut also because their femininementalitycould
complementcreativelythe masculineperspectives.6When consciousnesshad
developed sufficiently, the new societywould abolish private propertyand
institutecollectivizedlabor-replacing productionforsale withproductionfor
demand.27Concurrentwith economicreorganizationwould come change in
the familystructureand sexual relations.To this area of the dictatorshipof
the proletariatKollontaidevotedmostof her attention.Laws fullyprotecting
womenand childrenwouldbe enactediftheyhad notbeen already.Communal
housing,kitchens,laundries,and repair shops would take over all domestic
functions, therebyensuringa great increasein femalelabor productivity and
a healthygenerationfor futuresociety.28Marital reformwould abolish all
economic bases of the institution,and parents would teach their children
loyaltyto the collective.These new people would thenhave no need to marry
in orderto findrefugefromisolation.Assessingmarriagefromthe point of
view of the "healthof the workingpopulation"and the advancementof "col-
lectivesolidarity,"the dictatorshipof the proletariatwould base marriageon
"mutualattraction, or passion" ("Tezisy," pp. 31-34). The
love, infatuation,
familywould witheraway,forit would now be "not onlyuseless but harmful"
in its divisivenessand its wastefulexpenditureof fundsand labor,particularly
femalelabor.
Once the requiredlaws were enactedthe dictatorshipof the proletariat
wouldhave to use extensiveagitation,forit could onlychangesexual relations
and the familystructurethrough"re-educationof our psychology"(Novaia
moral',p. 57). Rather than evolve passively,a new moralitywould emerge
only as a productof the struggleof the new order with the dyingold one.
Respondingto theargumentthatsexual morality, a partof the superstructure,
must change only after the economic subsftructure was rebuilt,Kollontai
wrote: "As if the ideologyof whateverclass took shape when the break with
the socioeconomicrelationsprovidingthemasteryof a givenclass had already
been accomplished!Every lesson of historyteachesus thatthe elaborationof
the ideologyof a social group, and consequentlyof the sexual morality,is
accomplishedin theveryprocessof the highlydifficult struggleof given social
groupswithhostilesocialforces"(p. 60).

26. Kollontai,"Pis'ma k trudiasheiiamolodezhi; pis'mo 3; o 'drakone' i 'beloi

ptitse,"'Molodaia gvardiia,1923,no. 2, p. 163.
p. 6.
27. Kto takiesotsial'-demokraty,
28. Kollontai,"ExcerptsfromtheWorksof A. M. Kollontay,"in RudolfSchlesinger,
ed., ChangingAttitudesin Soviet Russia: The Familyin the U.S.S.R. (London, 1949),
p. 52.

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Ideologyof A. M. Kollontai 333
Not only did the proletarianideologyof which sexual mores formeda
partdevelopduringclass struggle,it was necessaryforit to do so ifthatstrug-
gle was to be won. Here Kollontaimoved away fromthe simplematerialism
to which she elsewhereclung so tenaciously.Admittedlywhen she studied
the changein social relations,she could findlittleconcretein the writingsof
Marx or Engels fromwhichto deduceher argument.Perhaps the uncompro-
misingdeterminism she displayedelsewherewas an effortto conformto the
partyline. For whateverreason,threeyears afterwritingthe passage quoted
above she seemedto returnto orthodoxy:"Communism,organizingproduc-
tion on new principlesof universallabor, will solve the woman question at
thesametime" (Trud zhenshchiny, p. 128).
Which of thesestatementsrepresentsher genuineconviction?Essentially
Kollontai seems to have feltthateconomicchangehad to be accompaniedby
equally strongattemptsto create new attitudesand new "social relations."
Economic change alone would not assure the achievementof a communist
society.Her main writingon the questionis the 1918 work Novaia moral' i
rabochiiklass,composedafterher stintas commissar.Perhaps the difficulties
she encounteredin that post weakenedher beliefin simple determinism, but
sinceshe had firstbegunworkingwithwomenin 1905 she had feltthatefforts
to change attitudesmust be as purposefully organized as economicreform.
In Obshchestvoi materinstvo, a lengthyprewar study of the conditionsof
women workers,she had writtenthat the problemof the sexes would be
facilitated,but not resolvedautomatically,
by the Revolution (pp. 570-71).
In her never-ending campaignsto gain partyacceptancefor her projectsshe
borewitnessto thatconviction.But thepressureofconforming to the orthodox
line, and her own theoreticalshortcomings,preventedher from resolvingthe
ideologicalcontradiction.
With the dictatorshipof theproletariataccomplished,societywould move
on to history'sfinalstage-socialism-communism. The aspects of contempo-
rary life to which Kollontai devotedgreatestattentionwere characteristics
thatwere also mosttroublesomein her own personality.Her vision of society
under commmunism stressed resolutionof the same problems.Communism
existedforKollontainot in a never-to-be-seen promisedland but in the near
if
future-achievable earnestlysought. During the revolutionaryyears she
repeatedlysacrificeda realisticanalysis of the presentto her beliefin the
possibilityof an immediatetransitionto communism.This stronggoal orien-
tation,combinedwithher premisethatchangein attitudescould not wait for
the buildingof the substructure,oftenled her into opposition.But her beliefs
generatedpowerfulmotivation."I love to look ahead," she is quotedas saying,
"at thepassingroad ofmankindthatrunsahead to thatmagic,splendidfuture,
wheremankindwill live, stretching his wings,saying,'Happiness, happiness

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334 Slavic Review

for all."'29 Society would have become "a big, friendlyfamily"which had
solvedall hunman problemsto yield"heavenon earth."30
Could anyonetrulybelievein the immediaterealizationof utopia,or are
Kollontai's grand phrases the stuffof whichagitationis made? They seem
to have been genuine,and the floweryprose in which she expressedthem
heartfelt.Her specificdiscussionsof communistsocietyspeak very littleto
economicstructures, beyondnmentioning the need forheavy industryand sci-
entificresearch.31 Again, since her major interestlay in change in social or-
ganizationand personality, she directedher attentionto those problems.
Under communism,societywould be a collectivebuilt on principlesof
"comradelysolidarity,"the "consciousnessof a conmmunity of interests,"and
the "emotionaland spiritualties establishedbetweenthe nmembers of a . . .
collective."32All individualismwould die in the miiergerof the "wills and
souls" of the participants("Tezisy," p. 32). "The single will is lost, disap-
pears,in the collectiveeffort," Kollontaiwrote (Novaia moral',p. 32). Each
person in the group linked to every otherby "innumerablepsychologicaland
emotionalbonds" would possess "delicacy,sensitivity, and the desire to be
usefulto another"(La juventud,pp. 29, 28). Preciselyhow the societywould
governitselfKollontaidid not specify,but she probablyput her faithin innate
humangoodness.Privatepropertywouldbe gone,and withit classes and class
oppression.Kollontai's much-valuedlabor would cease to be a commodity to
be boughtand sold. Since workwas the mostimportantmeans of humanself-
definition, an individualno longer alienatedfromthe productof his labor
could no longerbe alienatedfromhimnself. Under comnmunism all people could
live in "harmony"withtheiressentialnatures,and the root of discordwould
havedied (ibid.,p. 50).
As usual, when she discussedher particularinterests,Kollontai became
more specific.She held as fundamentalthe premise that every memberof
societyhad a rightto expect societyto take care of him (Rabotnitsa-mat',
p. 30). All bourgeoisinstitutions designedfor that purpose,particularlythe
family,would be replaced by the collective.Kollontai never specifiedwhat
would constitutea collective; presumablyit would be composed of people
who workedtogether.Domestic duties,fromlaundryand cookingto child-

29. GeorgiiPetrov,"Posol' revoliutsii(A. M. Kollontai)," in Zhenshchiny russkoi

revoliutsii:Ocherki(Moscow, 1968), p. 197.
30. Rabotnitsa-mat',p. 20; Isabel de Palencia,Alexandra Kollontai,Ambassadress
fromRussia (New York, 1947),p. 142; Kollontai,Communism and theFamily (London,
[1918]), p. 22.
31. Kto takiesotsial'-demokraty,p. 6. Kendall E. Bailes notesthatKollontaiseemed
unconcerned aboutproblemsof "materialproduction" afterthe abolitionof privateprop-
erty.See Kendall E. Bailes, "AlexandraKollontaiet la nouvellemorale,"Cahiers du
monderusse et sovietique,4 (October-December 1965): 477.
32. Kollontai,La juventudcommznunista y la moralsexual (Madrid, [1933]), p. 20.

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Ideologyof A. M. Kollontai 335
rearing,would becomepublic concernsin the dictatorshipof the proletariat,
enabling women to participatein societyon a fullyequal basis, with the
exceptionthat they would be protectedfromconditionshazardous to their
child-bearingability.Collectiveswould "mold" the childrenfrombirth,rear-
ing all babies in common.This process would have the dual advantages of
freeingwomenfor activitybeneficialto the entirecollectiveand encouraging
them to share their maternalinstinctin concern for everyone'sprogeny.
"Why," she said, "shouldthis instinctbe confinedexclusivelyto narrowlove
and care forone's own baby?Why notletthisinstinct, so preciousforworking
humanity, branchout and rise to its highestlevel-that of caringabout other
children,equally helpless thoughnot one's own, and of devotinglove and
attentionto otherbabies" ("Excerpts," p. 55). Motherhoodwould be recog-
nized as a social function,and a childwould belongnot to his parentsbut to
the collectiveas a whole. In a passage which seems to deny the maternal
instinctshe elsewherevalued, Kollontai wrote: "Motherhooddoes not by
any means necessarilyconsist in changingnapkins,washing the baby, and
being chained to the cradle. The social obligationof motherhoodconsists
primarilyin producinga healthyand fit-for-life child.To make this possible
the workingsocietymust providethe most suitableconditionsfor pregnant
women: whilethewomanherselfmustobserveall the requirements of hygiene
duringthe period of pregnancy,renmembering that duringthese monthsshe
does not belongto herself,that she is workingfor the collective,that from
her own fleshand blood she is 'producing'a new unitof labor,a new member
of the Workers Republic. Her second obligation,fromthe point of view of
the mother'ssocial task, is to feed the baby at her own breast. Only after
having done this has the woman,as memberof the workingcollective,the
rightto say thather social obligationtowardthe childis fulfilled.
The remain-
ing cares for the growinggenerationcan be passed on to the collective"
(pp. 54-55).
The unfortunate phrasingof such passages conjures up images of test-
tube babies, dim, gray, sterile,and anonymousnurseries,and total social
regimentation. If she ever had such fears,whichis doubtful,Kollontai would
have dismissedthem,for her dream was not a 1984 nightmare.That result
was inconceivableboth because her dreamtook shape beforethe totalitarian
nightmarecame true and because her collectivistsocietywould have replaced
humanevil withbrotherhood and transformed the individualistic
familyintoa
familyembracingall mankind.Althoughshe seemedto dismissparentallove
morecasuallythanmanywomencould,it was not love itselfthatshe rejected
buttheinstitutional formsofbourgeoissociety.
Kollontaialways believedhumanbeingsrequiredlove to be content(see,
forexample,Novaia moral',p. 45). Like Marx, Engels,and Bebel she did not

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336 Slavic Review

advocatepromiscuity aftershe rejectedbourgeoismarriage.Labeling physical

gratificationwithoutlove the "Wingless Eros," Kollontai condemnedit as
"the brutalinstinctof reproduction, the simpleattractionof the sexes which
is born and disappears with the same speed withoutcreatingemotionalor
spiritualties" (La juventud,p. 5). The "Wingless Eros" sapped physical
energy,blockedthe developmentof "sensationsof sympathyand psychological
bonds betweenhumanbeings," and was based on femaledependenceon the
male (p. 27). Once again, however,Kollontai'sviews on a controversialissue
are cloudedby ambiguity,here in her attitudetowardsexual intercourse.She
seemed to contradicther condemnationof the "Wingless Eros" when she
wrote: "The sex act shouldbe recognizedas an act neithershamefulnor sinful,
but naturaland legitimate,like everyothermanifestation of a healthyorgan-
ism,like the satisfying of hungerand thirst.In the phenomenaof naturethere
is no moralityor immorality. The satisfactionof a healthyand naturalinstinct
only ceases to be normalwhen it crosses boundariesestablishedby hygiene"
("Tezisy," p. 31).
This passage harksback to Bebel's attemptto eliminatevalue judgments
fromdiscussionsof sex.3 But Kollontaicould not consistently hold thatview,
forshe harboredthebeliefthatsex withoutlove was wrongin some ill-defined
moral sense. Like her phrase "the brutal instinctof reproduction,"all of
Kollontai'swritingwas influenced by the complementary beliefsin the bestial-
ityof sexual intercoursewithoutlove and the inferiority of the purelyphysical
relativeto the "spiritual."Sex withoutlove lacked the refinement of feeling
properto a communist.Kollontai developedthese attitudesinto a theorythat
sex began as an animal functionof reproduction, then developedinto an ex-
pressionof complex,multifaceted emotions.With human growthunder com-
munismthe"Wingless Eros" would die. "The greaterthe supplyof spiritually
and emotionallydevelopedcharacteristics in men,the smallerwill be the place
for naked physicalnessand the strongerthe experienceof love," Kollontai
wrote ("Tezisy," p. 35). The collectivewould possess a new proletarian
moralitybased on (1) male-femaleequality, (2) "mutual and reciprocal
recognition"of one another'srightswithouttryingto possess each other,and
(3) sensitivityto the needs of the other.A certainamountof bitternesscrept
in as Kollontai added, "Bourgeois civilizationonly requiresthat the woman
possessthissensitivity in love" (La juventud,p. 31).
Such would be the "Winged Eros," the new love. In the collectiveit
would "occupya place ofhonoras an emotioncapable ofenrichinghumanhap-
piness,"servingas a cementto hold the new societytogetherby strengthening
"the bonds of the spiritand the heart" (pp. 29, 25). Kollontai acknowledged

33. August Bebel, Woman Under Socialism,trans. Daniel De Leon (New York,
1904), pp. 79, 86.

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Ideologyof A. M. Kollontai 337
as componentsof love sexual attraction("passion"), friendship,"spiritual
harmony,"and the love of a cause,butthe "Winged Eros" was neitherfriend-
ship nor "spiritualharmony"alone. Althoughit containedthem,it mustalso
contain sexual desire (p. 27). ApparentlyKollontai wanted the platonic
emotionsappropriateto love to exist betweenall membersof the collective.
With the additionof sexual attraction,the "Winged Eros" would be born.
It would not be destructiveof group harmony,because the spirituallove of
each forall would remainunchanged.
Again,thoughKollontaiwas not necessarilydescribingthe lifelongunion
of a couple,neitherwas she advocatinggroup marriageor promiscuity. Al-
thoughshe wrote that the collectiveshould not regulatemarriageexcept to
protectits own health,and she believedthat the strongerthe collectivethe
less "the need" to seek refugefromspiritualsolitude in marriage,she was
stillthinkingin termsof monogamy("Tezisy," p. 34). She wrote,"Marriage
is henceforthto be transformedintoa sublimeunionof two souls in love with
each other,each having faithin the other" (Communismand the Family,
p. 19). This ideal marriagewould be based on "a healthyinstinctfor repro-
cluction,""infatuation,""passion," and "spiritual harmony,"which would
generatemutualrespect,concern,and support;the "spiritualharmony"would
includededicationto and participationin the realizationof the "commoncre-
ation," the furtherbuilding of communism.84The bourgeois sexual mores
withinwhichshe foundherselfentrappedwould yield to equality.
In summary, a communistsocietywouldbe a networkof communalorga-
nizationsof people who workedand lived together,unifiedby platonicand
eroticlove for one anotherand theircause. Kollontai saw it as attainablein
her lifetime.Its achievementjustifiedeverysacrifice,for it would resolveall
conflicts,includingthose in her own soul. The communistutopia played a
centralrole in her ideology.In understanding its importanceone begins to
understandKollontai's ideologicalsearchforemancipation.But how can one
understandthe functionof this vision of a futurefervently desiredand earn-
estlysought?FollowingGeorges Sorel, GustaveLe Bon, and J. F. Wolpert,
one may approachit as a part of the revolutionary myth,whose rationalcon-
tentdied in the fervorof the emotional,ideologicalzeal withwhichthe ideas
were impregnated. Utopia ceased to be an empiricalformulation and became
insteada goad to action,a sustainerin the battle,an interpreter of events,
a sanctifier.35
The mythis imnportant not forthe contoursof its visionbut for
its power to bear the believerup. With Kollontai,whose dedicationto the

34. Kollontai,. . . Prostitutsiiai merybor'bys nei (Moscow, 1921), p. 22; La

juventud,pp. 28, 32.
35. David E. Apter,"Ideologyand Discontent," in Apter,Ideologyand Discontent,
p. 19; J.F. Wolpert,"Mythof Revolution," Ethics,58 (1948): 249.

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338 Slavic Review

futureplayed so stronga role in her motivation,the mythinterpretation of

herideology'sfunction seemsvalid.
Valid but not complete.For one mlay1novebeyondthe mythand see the
visionofutopiaas a dream,and then,withFreud,unmaskit to findthe hidden
wish behindthe silentshout.If one looks at Kollontai'sutopia as her dream,
the one she dreamedfor a lifetime,waking and sleeping,one sees in it the
wishesof a lifetime-foran escape fromisolationintoa "family"(her word),
forthe findingwithinthatfamilyof the one or several,withwhom she could
have sexual love withoutsacrificeof self,forthe deathin thatfamilyof urban
solitudeand the thousandwrongsof a societytoo far fromthe Garden. As
those social sins died,an end would come to the lonelinessof a woman com-
pelledto battlesocietyand herselfin her searchforemancipation.Kollontai's
ideologyas a whole was a responseto a world in whichshe feltconfined.It
explained the source of her anguish while promisinga salvationwhose in-
evitablecoming she could hasten. Her dream was a lifelongwish for the
destruction oftheinternaland externalchainsthatboundher soul in bourgeois
society.

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