13 / 50 · Work & collective action

Alexandra Kollontai

Russia / Soviet Union · 1872–1952

Kollontai wrote about women’s labour, care, sexuality and economic independence within a revolutionary socialist framework. She served in the early Soviet government and later became a diplomat.

Her proposals treated domestic life as political: childcare and material security shaped the possibilities of freedom. Her career also raises questions about the relationship between emancipatory ideals and state power.

“The greater the number of conscious fighters, the greater the chances of success.”

Women’s Day (1913), translated excerpt.