RED ‘TEASPOONS OF CHARITY’: ZHENOTDEL, RUSSIAN WOMEN AND THE COMMUNIST PARTY, 1919-1930 by Michelle Jane Patterson A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History University of Toronto © Copyright by Michelle Jane Patterson 2011 Abstract “Red ‘Teaspoons of Charity’: Zhenotdel, the Communist Party and Russian Women, 1919-1930” Doctorate of Philosophy, 2011 Michelle Jane Patterson Department of History, University of Toronto After the Bolshevik assumption of power in 1917, the arguably much more difficult task of creating a revolutionary society began. In 1919, to ensure Russian women supported the Communist party, the Zhenotdel, or women’s department, was established. Its aim was propagating the Communist party’s message through local branches attached to party committees at every level of the hierarchy. This dissertation is an analysis of the Communist party’s Zhenotdel in Petrograd/ Leningrad during the 1920s. Most Western Zhenotdel histories were written in the pre-archival era, and this is the first study to extensively utilize material in the former Leningrad party archive, TsGAIPD SPb. Both the quality and quantity of Zhenotdel fonds is superior at St.Peterburg’s TsGAIPD SPb than Moscow’s RGASPI. While most scholars have used Moscow-centric journals like Kommunistka, Krest’ianka and Rabotnitsa, this study has thoroughly utilized the Leningrad Zhenotdel journal Rabotnitsa i krest’ianka and a rich and extensive collection of Zhenotdel questionnaires. Women’s speeches from Zhenotdel conferences, as well as factory and field reports, have also been folded into the dissertation’s five chapters on: organizational issues, the unemployed, housewives and prostitutes, peasants, and workers. Fundamentally, this dissertation argues that how Zhenotdel functioned at ii the local level revealed that the organization as a whole was riven with multiple and conflicting tensions. Zhenotdel was unworkable. Zhenotdel’s broad goals were impeded because activists lacked financial and jurisdictional autonomy, faced party ambivalence and hostility, and operated largely with volunteers. Paradoxically, these volunteer delegates were “interns,” yet they were expected to model exemplary behaviour. With limited resources, delegates were also expected to fulfil an ever-expanding list of tasks. In addition, Zhenotdel’s extensive use of unpaid housewife delegates in the 1920s anticipated the wife-activist movement of voluntary social service work in the middle to late 1930s. There were competing visions for NEP society, and Zhenotdel officials were largely unable to negotiate the importance of their organization to other party and state organizations. Overall, this suggests that although the political revolution was successful in the 1920s, there were profound limits to the social and cultural revolution in this era. iii Dedication To the memory of my mum, Pamela Patterson, who fostered and modelled a commitment to learning in all her children. iv Acknowledgments Many people provided support for my research and dissertation. My committee members, Dr. Lynne Viola, Dr. Wayne Dowler and Dr. Robert Johnson, have demonstrated extraordinary patience, encouragement and valuable insights. With my British background it is difficult to express gratitude, but Dr. Lynne Viola has been an outstanding, diligent and compassionate senior supervisor. For my defense, I thank the chair, Dr. Uzo Esonwanne, and Dr. Alison Smith for her thoughtful comments. With a shared interest and enthusiasm in the topic, I thank Dr. Beatrice Farnsworth for her balanced assessment and varied questions as the external appraiser. The University of Toronto provided numerous scholarships, including a Connaught and research travel grants, to complete this dissertation. Archivists Irina Il’marovna Sazonovna and, in particular, Taissa Pavlovna Bondarevskaia, at TsGAIPD SPb proved essential in securing files but also gave me endless cups of tea, a shawl and a personal heater while in the reading room. Thanks also to the archivists at Moscow’s RGASPI and to the librarians at St.Peterburg’s Russian National (Public) Library. After meeting at Moscow’s RGASPI, Dr. Barbara Allen displayed true scholarly collegiality and sent me a valuable document on Aleksandra Kollontai. In Russia, Galya Makarova and Leonid Levitin provided vital accommodation. In Canada, many friends, family members and health care professionals have shown me considerable kindness and solicitude. My husband, Chris, has shown boundless support while teaching full time and completing his own doctorate in history. To our daughter, Miranda, who so frequently inquired, “Can I use the computer?” Rest assured, the era of panicked responses from your parents is over. v Glossary Agit-Prop the agitation and propaganda section batrachkas female agricultural wage labourers bedniak a poor peasant byt’ daily life Collegium executive-level meetings (of Zhenotdel, Agit-Prop etc…) FZU factory training schools KKOV peasants’ mutual aid society Kolkhoz any one of three forms of collective farms: toz, artel’ or kommuna Komsomol All-Russian Leninist Communist Youth League kulak a rich (exploiting) peasant kustar’ handicraftsman GSPS Provincial Council of Trade Unions GubKom provincial committee (of party, trade union etc…) Ispolkom executive committee (of soviet) Labour Exchange Commissariat of Labour’s unemployment offices Likbez Commission to Abolish Illiteracy MOPR International Aid Society of Revolutionary Fighters Narkomiust People’s Commissariat of Justice Narkompros People’s Commissariat of Enlightenment Narkomsobesa People’s Commissariat of Social Security vi Narkomtrud People’s Commissariat of Labour Narkomzdrav People’s Commissariat of Health NKVD People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs OMM Department of Maternity and Infancy Protection ONO Department of People’s Education Rabkrin Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspectorate raion district RSFSR Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic samogon illegally distilled spirits (moonshine) seredniak middle peasant sel’kory peasant newspaper or journal correspondents sel’sovet rural soviet, first link in the administrative chain, then volost’, uezd, raion, okrug, and guberniia respectively. shefstvo patronage society smychka union between town and country sluzhashchii employee, white-collar worker uezd county VTsSPS All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions volost’ township VIK volost’ (township) soviet executive committee vydvizhenie (promotion) of workers and peasants into managerial or administrative jobs Zhenotdel women’s department of the Communist party vii Table of Contents Abstract.....................................................................................................................ii Dedication................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgments..................................................................................................... v Glossary ..................................................................................................................vi Chapter Introduction............................................................................................................... 1 Delegates and Delegates’ Meetings ........................................................................... 2 Sources...................................................................................................................... 6 Historical Precedents ................................................................................................. 7 Zhenotdel’s Creation and Liquidation...................................................................... 10 Chapter Breakdown................................................................................................. 15 1. “Zhenotdel is not a women’s organization”: the Politics of Feminism and Communism......................................................... 18 Questionnaires and Personnel.................................................................................. 20 Kollontai’s Resignation Letters and Nikolaeva’s Thwarted Directorial Debut.......... 25 Liquidationism and Agit-Prop ................................................................................. 33 Feminism and the “Second” Liquidationist Wave.................................................... 40 2. “‘Dead Souls’”: the Urban Unemployed ............................................................ 56 The Commission for the Improvement and Study of Female Labour in Industry...... 64 Workplace Dismissals and Married Women ............................................................ 66 Rationalisation and the Labour Exchanges............................................................... 70 The Causes of Female Unemployment: A Gendered Battleground ........................... 72 3. “We Parted Like Sisters”: Housewives and Prostitutes......................................... 96 Housewives’ Time and Their Uneasy Relationships ................................................ 98 Reaching Housewives Through the Printed Word.................................................. 111 Prostitution Framed as an Economic Issue............................................................. 116 “Public” and “Private” Sphere............................................................................... 123 Gendered Isolationism, Disease and Commodified Pleasure.................................. 128 Discussing Prostitution