A.K. 47 - Selections from the Works of Alexandra Kollontai
Kristen R. Ghodsee
Kristen R. Ghodsee reads and discusses 47 selections from the works of Alexandra Kollontai (1872-1952), a socialist women's activist who had radical ideas about...
Kristen Ghodsee reads the fourth section of Alexandra Kollontai's 1915 essay about World War Iâ"Who Needs the War?"âand looks for lessons applicable to the present day. This translation is from a 1984 collection of Kollontai's writing published by Progress Publishers in the Soviet Union, which claims that the essay was written while Kollontai was in exile in Norway. She sent it to Vladimir Lenin (then in exile in Switzerland) who also edited it before publication. The final pamphlet was first published in 1916. It went into multiple editions and was distributed widely across Europe and Russia.[Sorry there was a glitch in the original upload. This is the correct episode now]Mentioned in this episode:"How to do escapism in the Trump era," The New Republic"The Other Great Depression," Le Monde Diplomatique in English, French, Spanish, Farsi, Bulgarian, and EsperantoAnachoresis - withdrawal into the desertSend us a textThanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon account and receives no funding. If you would like to support the work being done here, please spread the word and share with your friends and networks, and consider exploring the following links:Buy Kristen Ghodsee's new book now: Everyday UtopiaSubscribe to Kristen Ghodsee's (very occasional) free newsletter. Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work at: www.kristenghodsee.com
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142 - A.K. 47 - Who Needs the War? - Part 3 (and a special message for election eve)
Kristen Ghodsee reads the third section of Alexandra Kollontai's 1915 essay about World War Iâ"Who Needs the War?"âand looks for lessons applicable to the present day. This translation is from a 1984 collection of Kollontai's writing published by Progress Publishers in the Soviet Union, which claims that the essay was written while Kollontai was in exile in Norway. She sent it to Vladimir Lenin (then in exile in Switzerland) who also edited it before publication. The final pamphlet was first published in 1916. It went into multiple editions and was distributed widely across Europe and Russia. Ghodsee also discusses the 2024 presidential election in the United States, and offers a message of hope in the event of a Trump victory. Mentioned in this episode:Kristen Ghodsee discusses utopia and social dreaming on "What Could Go Right?"Â Send us a textThanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon account and receives no funding. If you would like to support the work being done here, please spread the word and share with your friends and networks, and consider exploring the following links:Buy Kristen Ghodsee's new book now: Everyday UtopiaSubscribe to Kristen Ghodsee's (very occasional) free newsletter. Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work at: www.kristenghodsee.com
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26:37
141 - A.K. 47 - Bonus Episode - Is Internationalism possible?
In this episode, Kristen Ghodsee discusses Alexandra Kollontai, nationalism, internationalism, and supranationalism with her daughter, just home from Ireland for fall break. Trigger warning: lots of Irish history!Mentioned in this episode:"Imagine"by John Lennon (and Yoko Ono)"Imagine there's no heavenIt's easy if you tryNo hell below usAbove us, only skyImagine all the peopleLivin' for todayAhImagine there's no countriesIt isn't hard to doNothing to kill or die forAnd no religion, tooImagine all the peopleLivin' life in peaceYouYou may say I'm a dreamerBut I'm not the only oneI hope someday you'll join usAnd the world will be as oneImagine no possessionsI wonder if you canNo need for greed or hungerA brotherhood of manImagine all the peopleSharing all the worldYouYou may say I'm a dreamerBut I'm not the only oneI hope someday you'll join usAnd the world will live as one"Send us a textThanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon account and receives no funding. If you would like to support the work being done here, please spread the word and share with your friends and networks, and consider exploring the following links:Buy Kristen Ghodsee's new book now: Everyday UtopiaSubscribe to Kristen Ghodsee's (very occasional) free newsletter. Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work at: www.kristenghodsee.com
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31:00
140 - A.K. 47 - Who Needs the War? - Part 2
Kristen Ghodsee reads Alexandra Kollontai's 1915 essay about World War Iâ"Who Needs the War?"âand looks for lessons applicable to the present day. This translation is from a 1984 collection of Kollontai's writing published by Progress Publishers in the Soviet Union, which claims that the essay was written while Kollontai was in exile in Norway. She sent it to Vladimir Lenin (then in exile in Switzerland) who also edited it before publication. The final pamphlet was first published in 2016. It went into multiple editions and was distributed widely across Europe and Russia. Ghodsee also discusses the 2024 presidential election in the United States. Mentioned in this episode:Elon Musk reveals cybercabs, robovans, and the Optimus robot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu-eK72ioDkIf you are an American citizen, especially in a swing state, please register to vote here: https://voterizer.org/Send us a textThanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon account and receives no funding. If you would like to support the work being done here, please spread the word and share with your friends and networks, and consider exploring the following links:Buy Kristen Ghodsee's new book now: Everyday UtopiaSubscribe to Kristen Ghodsee's (very occasional) free newsletter. Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work at: www.kristenghodsee.com
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21:46
139 - A.K. 47 - Who Needs the War? - Part 1
Kristen Ghodsee reads Alexandra Kollontai's 1915 essay about World War Iâ"Who Needs the War?"âand looks for lessons applicable to the present day. This translation is from a 1984 collection of Kollontai's writing published by Progress Publishers in the Soviet Union, which claims that the essay was written while Kollontai was in exile in Norway. She sent it to Vladimir Lenin (then in exile in Switzerland) who also edited it before publication. The final pamphlet went into multiple editions and was distributed widely across Europe and Russia. Send us a textThanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon account and receives no funding. If you would like to support the work being done here, please spread the word and share with your friends and networks, and consider exploring the following links:Buy Kristen Ghodsee's new book now: Everyday UtopiaSubscribe to Kristen Ghodsee's (very occasional) free newsletter. Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work at: www.kristenghodsee.com
About A.K. 47 - Selections from the Works of Alexandra Kollontai
Kristen R. Ghodsee reads and discusses 47 selections from the works of Alexandra Kollontai (1872-1952), a socialist women's activist who had radical ideas about the intersections of socialism and women's emancipation. Born into aristocratic privilege, the Ukrainian-Finnish Kollontai was initially a member of the Mensheviks before she joined Lenin and the Bolsheviks and became an important revolutionary figure during the 1917 Russian Revolution. Kollontai was a socialist theorist of womenâs emancipation and a strident proponent of sexual relations freed from all economic considerations. After the October Revolution, Kollontai became the Commissar of Social Welfare and helped to found the Zhenotdel (the women's section of the Party). She oversaw a wide variety of legal reforms and public policies to help liberate working women and to create the basis of a new socialist sexual morality. But Russians were not ready for her vision of emancipation, and she was sent away to Norway to serve as the first Russian female ambassador (and only the third female ambassador in the world).In this podcast, Kristen R. Ghodsee â a professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence (Bold Type Books 2018) â selects excerpts from the essays, speeches, and fiction of Alexandra Kollontai and puts them in context. Each episode provides an introduction to the abridged reading with some relevant background on Kollontai and the historical moment in which she was writing.Â
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