Alexandra Kollontai: A Biography

Alexandra Kollontai inspired generations of socialists in Russia with her pioneering views on sex and the family. A revolutionary activist and writer, she was the only woman in the first Bolshevik government in 1917. This second edition of Cathy Porter’s biography draws on newly-published memoirs, diaries and letters to offer fresh insights into Kollontai’s stormy political life. It tells of her fight for workers’ democracy and women’s rights, her love affairs, her disagreements with the Bolshevik party, and her last years ‘in exile’ as a Soviet diplomat in Norway, Mexico and Sweden.