THE IMAGE OF THE SOVIET WOMAN IN THE BOLSHEVIK’S TEXTS AND PROPAGANDA MATERIALS OF THE 1920S

The author compares images of a “new woman” in the Bolshevik’s ideological narrative. The image under consideration was a part of a social project coined the “new man”. The works by Bolshevik leaders, including women (I. Armand, N. Krupskay, A. Kollontai), which conveyed certain characteristics of the ideal of a Soviet woman, were used in the study as sources. Modification of mentality, including the female one, according to V. Lenin’s plan was significant for practical reasons. It was suggested that women had to take a part in socialist building of a new society. All mentions of the need to emancipate women in his texts related to the goal of the current moment: industrial reconstruction, electrification, elimination of illiteracy, etc. Bolshevik women considered themselves as the active participants of revolutionary struggle («Proletarian of a later call»). They supposed woman had deserved the freedom by that struggle. A distinctive feature of the time was the propagandized defamilization of women, expressed in calls for liberation from domestic slavery. However, ideological attitudes were not implemented in real life. Analyzing the materials of the Ogonyok magazine, the author shows how theoretical attitudes and demonstrated practice correlated with each other. Biographies, short stories and photos published in the magazine were intended to demonstrate the effectiveness of the policy pursued. There were examples of women who made their careers as chairpersons of village councils, gubernial executive committees, etc. There were numerous publications representing the process of emancipation of the East women (mainly in the caucasus and central Asia). The novelty of the work lies in the identification of the heterogeneity of the «new woman» concept. The author proved that the formed image was influenced by personal experience and gender of the Bolshevik government representatives, while the propaganda materials in the Soviet press rather broadcast the image of a “Soviet woman,” who was not yet a mass phenomenon.

1. Armand I. Rabotnitsy vspomnite o derevne! (Female workers remember the village!) // Armand I. F. Stat’i, rechi, pis’ma. Moscow: Politizdat, 1975. P.60 – 61. (In Russian).

2. Armand I. F. Rabotnitsy v Internatsionale (Female workers in International). Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo, 1920. 46 p. (In Russian).

3. Armand I.V. Bor’ba rabotnits za poslednie gody (Spravka k napechatannym materialam) (Struggle of female workers in recent years (Reference to printed materials) // Armand I. F. Stat’i, rechi, pis’ma. Moscow: Politizdat, 1975. P.74–81. (In Russian).

4. Armand I.V. Rabota sredin zhenshchin proletariata na mestakh (Work among female proletarians in the localities) // Armand I. F. Stat’i, rechi, pis’ma. Moscow: Politizdat, 1975. P.70 – 74. (In Russian).

5. Bulgakov M.A. Sobach’e serdtse (The dog’s heart) URL: http://www.vehi.net/mbulgakov/sobach.html (Accessed: 21.08.2021). (In Russian).

6. Viktorina – igra chitatelei «Ogon’ka». Seriya dvadtsataya – vydayushchiesya zhenshchiny revolyutsii (Quiz – the game for readers «Ogon’k». Episode twenty - outstanding women of the revolution) // Ogonek. 1927. No. 27. (In Russian).

7. Den’ kaluzhskogo predgubispolkoma (Day of the Kaluga Governorate Executive committee) // Ogonek. 1928. No. 40. (In Russian).

8. Direktiva Politbyuro TsK RKP (b) po voprosu o rabochei inspektsii // V.I. Lenin. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii (Directive of the Politburo of the central committee of the RcP (v) on the issue of workers’ inspection). Vol.40. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo politicheskoi literatury, 1974. P.64. (In Russian).

9. Zhenskie organizatsii na Vostoke (Women’s organizations in the East) // Ogonek. 1924. No. 41. (In Russian).

10. Zhenshchina – predsedatel’ sel’skogo soveta. Ot nashego poltavskogo korrespondenta (A woman is the chairman of the village council. From our Poltava correspondent) // Ogonek. 1924. No. 4. (In Russian).

11. Zhenshchiny Vostoka po stopam russkoi rabotnitsy (Women of the East in the footsteps of a Russian worker) // Ogonek. 1924. No. 51. (In Russian).

12. Zdravomyslova E. A., Temkina A. A. Gosudarstvennoe konstruirovanie gendera v sovetskom obshchestve (State construction of gender in Soviet society) // Zhurnal issledovanii sotsial’noi politiki. 2003. №3-4. P.299 – 321. (In Russian).

13. Kollontai A. M. Lyubov’ i novaya moral’ (Love and new morality) // Novaya moral’ i rabochii klass. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo Vserossiiskogo Tsentral’nogo ispolnitel’nogo Komiteta Sovetov R., K. i K. Deputatov, 1919. P.36- 47. (In Russian).

14. Kollontai A. M. Novaya zhenshchina (A new woman) // Novaya moral’ i rabochii klass. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo Vserossiiskogo Tsentral’nogo ispolnitel’nogo Komiteta Sovetov R., K. i K. Deputatov, 1919. P.3 – 35. (In Russian).

15. Kollontai A. M. Otnosheniya mezhdu polami i klassovaya bor’ba (Relations between the sexes and class struggle) // Novaya moral’ i rabochii klass. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo Vserossiiskogo Tsentral’nogo ispolnitel’nogo Komiteta Sovetov R., K. i K. Deputatov, 1919. P.48 – 61. (In Russian).

16. Krupskaya N. K. Ko vserossiiskomu soveshchaniyu guborganizatorov po rabote sredi zhenshchin (To the All-Russian meeting of the provincial organizers for work among women) // Krupskaya N.K. O rabote sredi zhenshchin. Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo, 1926. P.15 – 17. (In Russian).

17. Lenin V. I. Velikii pochin (O geroizme rabochikh v tylu. Po povodu kommunisticheskikh subbotnikov) (Great initiative (On the heroism of the workers in the rear. Regarding the communist subbotniks) // V.I. Lenin. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii. Vol.39. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo politicheskoi literatury, 1970. P.1 – 29. (In Russian).

18. Lenin V. I. Zadachi Soyuzov Molodezhi (Rech’ na 3-m Vserossiiskom s»ezde RKSM. 4 oktyabrya 1920 g.) (Tasks of the Youth Unions (Speech at the All-Russian with «RKSM ride. October 4, 1920) // V.I. Lenin (Ul’yanov). Sobranie sochinenii. Vol.27. Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo, 1925. P.313 – 329. (In Russian).

19. Lenin V. I. O zadachakh zhenskogo rabochego dvizheniya v sovetskoi respublike rech’ na IV moskovskoi obshchegorodskoi bespartiinoi konferentsii rabotnits 23 sentyabrya 1919 g. (On the tasks of the women’s labor movement in the Soviet republic, speech at the IV Moscow city-wide non-party conference of female workers on September 23, 1919) // V.I. Lenin. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii. Vol.39. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo politicheskoi literatury, 1970. P.198 – 205. (In Russian).

20. Lenin V. I. Proekt programmy nashei partii (Draft program of our party) // Lenin V.I. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii. Vol. 4. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo politicheskoi literatury, 1967. P. 374. (In Russian).

21. Lenin V. I. Proekt programmy RKP (Draft program of RKP) // V.I. Lenin. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii. Vol.38. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo politicheskoi literatury, 1969. P.81 – 124. (In Russian).

22. Lunacharskii A. V. My vplotnuyu podoshli k voprosam byta (We came close to the issues of everyday life) URL: http://lunacharsky.newgod.su/articles/o-byte/ (Accessed: 21.08.2021). (In Russian).

23. Lunacharskii A. V. Novyi russkii chelovek (New Russian man) URL: http://lunacharsky.newgod.su/lib/ss-tom-7/novyjrusskij-celovek/ (Accessed: 21.08.2021). (In Russian).

24. Minaeva O. D. «Mozhet li baba spravit’ muzhich’yu rabotu». Osobennosti proizvodstvennoi propagandy v sovetskikh zhurnalakh dlya zhenshchin 1920-kh gg. («can a woman do a man’s work.» Features of production propaganda in Soviet magazines for women in the 1920s) // Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya. 10. Zhurnalistika. 2014. No.5. P.112 –129. (In Russian).

25. Minaeva O. D. Zhurnaly «Rabotnitsa» i «Krest’yanka» v reshenii «zhenskogo voprosa» v SSSR v 1920–1930-e gg.: model’ propagandistskogo obespecheniya sotsial’nykh reform (The magazines «Rabotnitsa» and «Krestyanka» in solving the «women’s question» in the USSR in the 1920s – 1930s: a model of propaganda support of social reforms). Moscow: MediaMir, 2015. 232 c. (In Russian).

26. Osipovich T. Kommunizm, feminizm, osvobozhdenie zhenshchiny i Aleksandra Kollontai (communism, feminism, liberation of women and Alexandra Kollontai) // ONS: Obshchestv. nauki i sovremennost’. 1993. No.1. P.174 – 186. (In Russian).

27. Pavlovich N. Iz poemy «Zhenshchina» (From the poem «Woman») // Ogonek. 1928. No.28. (In Russian).

28. Porshneva O. S. Realizatsiya bol’shevistskogo proekta «novaya zhenshchina» v 1923–1928 gg.: protivorechiya i problem (Implementation of the Bolshevik project «new woman» in 1923-1928: contradictions and problems) // Lichnost’, obshchestvo i vlast’ v istorii Rossii. Sbornik nauchnykh statei, posvyashchennyi 70-letiyu d-ra istoricheskikh nauk, prof. V. I. Shishkina. Novosibirsk: Izdatel’stvo Sibirskogo otdeleniya RAN, 2018. P.383 – 397. (In Russian).

29. Pushkareva N. L. «Blizitsya revolyutsiya, sozvuchnaya proletarskoi». Revolyutsiya do i posle 1917-go goda kak poligon konstruirovaniya novoi seksual’noi kul’tury («A revolution is approaching, consonant with the proletarian». The revolution before and after 1917 as a testing ground for the construction of a new sexual culture) // Revue des études slaves. 2019. Xc 1-2. P.125 – 139. (In Russian).

30. Pushkareva N. L. Gendernaya sistema Sovetskoi Rossii i sud’by rossiyanok (The gender system of Soviet Russia and the fate of Russian women) // Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie. 2012 URL: https://www.nlobooks.ru/magazines/novoe_literaturnoe_obozrenie/117_nlo_5_2012/article/18922/(Accessed: 21.08.2021). (In Russian).

31. Pyatiletie zhenotdelov (Five years of women’s departments) // Ogonek. 1923. No.36. (In Russian).

32. Romanov P. V., Yarskaya-Smirnova E. R. Ritorika i praktika modernizatsii: sovetskaya sotsial’naya politika, 1917 – 1930-e gg. (Rhetoric and Practice of Modernization: Soviet Social Policy, 1917 - 1930s.) // Sotsial’naya istoriya. Ezhegodnik, 2009. St. Petersburg: Aleteiya, 2009. P.275 – 295. (In Russian).

33. Smagina S. A. «Novaya zhenshchina» kak ideologicheskii kontsept sovetskogo kinematografa 20-kh gg. («New Woman» as an Ideological concept of Soviet cinematography of the 1920s.) // Artikul’t. 2018. No. 32(4). P. 174-181. DOI: 10.28995/2227-6165-2018-4-174-181. (In Russian).

34. Shaginyan M. Flirt (Flirt) // Ogonek. 1923. No. 36. (In Russian).