Blackwell Reference Online

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The socialist-feminist Bolshevik revolutionary Alexandra Kollontai, nee Domontovich, who held the distinctions of being the first woman cabinet minister and the first woman ambassador in modern history, is more often remembered for raising fundamental questions about sexual intimacy, about the relationship between love and work, and about traditional sexual and social mores that challenged orthodox socialist and feminist thought and practice. Her ideas found little resonance among her socialist and feminist contemporaries, but they became a touchstone for many socialists and feminists who came of age in the 1970s and after. Born into a liberal upper-class Russian family, Alexandra Domontovich read avidly, became fluent in numerous languages, and developed a strong sense of independence and non-conformity. She spent summers at her grandfather's estate in Finland where she saw firsthand the plight of tenant farmers and farm laborers. In 1888 she passed an exam to become a teacher. She fell in love with a distant relative, Vladimir Kollontai. Her parents disapproved of the match and sent her to Europe where, much to their dismay, she became attracted to Marxism . When she returned she married Kollontai against her parents' wishes. Alexandra witnessed the harsh industrialization of St. Petersburg and became convinced of the importance of working-class revolution. In 1896 she became ... log in or subscribe to read full text