Alexandra Kollontaï: Stato comunista e liberazione femminile

Abstract

In this article one of the most important yet least examined protagonists of the October revolution, Alexandra Kollontaï, will be introduced. She was the only woman in Lenin’s government and her reforms modified structures of female subordination, dating back thousands of years, within the young Soviet Republic. Alexandra Kollontaï’s reflections on female emancipation will thus be illustrated, as well as her initial project for women’s economic freedom, more specifically her developments regarding work, family and the state. To do this, her text “La famille et l’État communiste” will be analysed. The historical period taken into consideration corresponds to the first years of the young Soviet Republic, from the regime’s consolidation until Stalinisation. The first paragraph will discuss paid work as an instrument of female emancipation; the second will focus on housework and on the idea of a new family and state structure; at the end the difficulties observed by Kollontaï and the problem of Kollontaï’s legacy will be analyzed