The Influence of Russian Communism on Women

Stalin’s early promises compromised of socialism and a life free from exploitation in regards to his social policies. However, he soon realised his error and reverted to a more conservative form of rule, whereby the interest of the state was given priority. Many describe his soviet social policy during the 1930s as a ‘Great Retreat’, it was named this as his policies saw a return to earlier social policies under the Tsar and former leaders. It is debatable as to how far his actions were a retraction of previous decisions…and the areas impacted were women, family, and education. A common theme of the great retreat was the gender role in society.

To begin with, this book educated the reader about the past. Everyone in the Soviet Union looked up to the leader, Stalin, even though he wasn’t a good leader at all. He caused many problems for the citizens including uncomfortable living conditions. This book educates the reader by showing that back then even when people were treated badly, they still had to look up to their leader even though he was the cause of all

Slavenka Drakulic, a highly respected journalist and commentator on culture in Croatia, published the book How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed in 1991, which was a collection of essays that comprised of the stories of many women’s lives throughout Eastern Europe that lived in a communist society. Drakulic wanted to capture women’s stories and share them with others, because these were women who suffered from carried the biggest burden of life, living at the bottom tier of their society. As Drakulic states in the book’s introduction, Trivial is Political: “It was the relationships between political authority and the trivia of daily living, this view from below interested me most. And who should I find down there, most removed from the seats of political power, but women. Even if they fully participated in revolutionary events, they were less active and less visible in the aftermath of those events” (xv). I feel Slavenka Drakulic also wanted to express to others through these women’s stories just how impenetrable and distressing attempting to adapt to living in a non-communism society is when you have known nothing but communism. This struggle could be applicable to any society changing from one political ideology to another, and Slavenka Drakulic’s ability to communicate these women’s stories can inflict a large sense of empathy for these women who fought so hard every day against the political ideas ingrained in their minds, so that they may have a chance at

USSR win the war in a lot of different ways. In my paper I am going to show how Soviet women

In a study of Feminism in Russia by Rochelle Ruthchild, Ruthchild presents a case study in which Russian law established family roles and gender roles within the family. The male was to play, “the bread-winner and domestic authority,” while the females were to play the ,”obedient wife and mother.” Initially, Tsars of Russia supported female empowerment to establish a sense of leadership in largely peasant societies, but as time progressed, “tsarist officials convinced that women’s education produced women revolutionaries.”

What would the History of the world have be if the United States never landed on the moon, but instead the Soviet Union was successful at sending cosmonauts to the moon and were the first humans to ever step foot on a celestial body? This is what I wanted to explore in my research, this is all subjective we cannot go back in time to see what the outcome would have been if it never happened the way it did. The idea has been talked about even with the sceptics who think the whole moon landing in 1969 was a hoax to give the United States the title and make the Soviets stop pursuing the moon landing. In this paper I want to give a little history of actual events and then examine ideas of alternative events.

Ayn Rand's life in Russia. Ayn grew up in Russia in a collectivist society, when she

Although the USSR and the United States were both part of the Allied Powers during WWII, it became immediately obvious when the war ended that these two nations would be enemies moving forward. These two superpowers had worked together to defeat the Nazi Regime, but had conflicting ideas of a superior government. Joseph Stalin, the tyrannical and bloodthirsty dictator who led the Soviet Union, wanted to spread Communist rule through Eastern Europe, China, and Korea, which the United States opposed. The world split between democratic countries backed by America and Communist countries supported by the Soviet Union, and birthed a conflict called the “Cold War,” because, as opposed to a “hot” war, there were no direct military confrontations

Communism in Eastern Europe was an ideology that took hold of the region for more than forty years. Each state fell into the Soviet sphere of influence after the end of World War II, and from then on until 1989, communism was the absolute norm for all of Eastern Europe. Though communism was the only form of government found in the region, each state was unique in how it carried out its policies as some were more lenient than others. As time progressed through the Communist Era, there were changes seen within the Soviet Union and these changes were reflected in its satellite states. Hungary is one such example of where communism took complete control of the country, and like the rest of Eastern Europe, went through different phases. Within

We all are a part of a certain society. Each society has its own beliefs, views, values and principles, traditions and customs and it turns into something that people cannot live without. These common principles are reflected everywhere – public communication, work, school, mass media, leisure activities, art and etc. These traditions are given from generation to generation through education. This phenomenon is called ideology. Personally, when I hear the word ideology, the Soviet Union period comes to my mind and it has a reason. According to Schlesinger (1964), the Soviet rules of a strict totalitarian regime were seen in every aspects of life. The streets were full of banners, posters with the images of heroic workers with the tools in their hands as a call for optimism. The Marxism ideology was taught not only at schools and home but everywhere outside a child is constantly taught the same ideology as it was aimed at making everybody in particular, children to fit in a Communist society.

experience (within local communities) “made very good radio program directors” . There were also women in the radio, “who worked as broadcast engineers at the radio stations, maintaining and repairing microphones, amplifiers and other technological equipment” . Women also found jobs as radio announcers, reading the weather, interviewing guests, or introducing a performer.

The Stalinist era was a period in Russian history when “normal life became a luxury”. Stalin seized control of the Soviet Union during a time of great opposition and chaos. The manifestation of Communism forced the people to suffer through continuous upheavals.The state became the monopolistic producer and distributor of goods and as a result had full authority over the manufacturing and marketing of necessities such as basic foods, apartments, and even documents. Everyday Stalinism is an account of the “little men” living in the Soviet Union during the 1930’s. Written by Sheila Fitzpatrick, it describes the daily lives and struggles of the citizens throughout the revolution. All of society was reconstructed as an attempt to established a

During the 1860’s and 1870’s Russia had a growing underground movement of young, intelligent people growing discontent with the social and political disadvantages that the country was going through. Many in the government, especially the Tsar Alexander II was trying to curve revolutionary sentiment by reforming the government and introducing new measures to improve Russian society. To many young Russians that grew disaffected they saw the reforms as being to little too late and that further radical action was needed. The writings of the Nihilist Girl show a profound disillusionment in young people during the reign of Alexander II and his reforms that also affected high class society.

Liberation is not a mental act. It is based on historical events and brought about by changes in industry, agriculture and changing social and cultural perspective as well. The phenomenon of women liberty is not known. It has become a crucial issue even in the developed countries of the world. Today, a large number of ladies even in the boosted capitalist majority rule governments persevere through dreadful and brutish existences of unhappiness and toil. In the United States, to name only two examples of hostile to lady bias, fetus removal rights are under expanding assault and quality childcare is unusual and too unbelievable for most working women.

Socialist feminists associate the domination of women to socialist and Marxist theory philosophies regarding misuse, abuse and the work of women. Socialist activists think unequal statuses in both the work environment and the household circle is what suppresses women (why social feminism 2016). Socialist feminists see prostitution, housework, childcare and marriage as courses in which women are abused by a patriarchal framework that degrades women and the considerable work they do. Socialist activists center their energies on wide change throughout society, as opposed to focusing on an individual premise, in contrast to the liberal feminism theory. Socialist feminism sees the need to work close by men, not just in the work place but in different