SAMIZDAT MAGAZINES OF THE SOVIET DISSIDENT WOMEN’S GROUPS, 1979-1982: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS By Alexandra Talaver Submitted to Central European University Department of Gender Studies In partial fulfillment of the degree of Master of Arts in Gender Studies. Supervisor: Associate Professor Éva Fodor CEU eTD Collection Budapest, Hungary 2017 Abstract The current research aims to re-write, or at least reconsider, the history of feminism in the USSR during the late Brezhnev years. My starting point is the group which is often called ‘the first Soviet feminists,’ or considered to be the first reincarnation of feminist ideas in the Soviet Union since 1920s, namely, the dissident women’s group, which appeared in 1979 with samizdat publication of the almanac Woman and Russia and existed till 1982. My research question is: Was the Woman and Russia group the only feminists in the SU in 1970s, and what are implications of that label in light of the Cold War competition? The dissident women's group started its activity at the time of intense international debates on women’s rights after the International Women’s Year of the United Nations (1975) and during the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979). Thus, it was a time when women's rights became an important battlefield of the Cold War confrontation. Therefore, regarding the group I will not only reconstruct the history of this group, and do a content analysis of their almanacs, but also situate their activity within the broader political context. My key argument is that the exclusive attachment of the label 'feminist' to the dissident women's group both in media and scholarship is determined by the Cold War paradigm and serves to erase the history of activism of communist women or those who acted within the state system. The key assumption of the research is that women in state women’s organizations had certain agency and opportunities to promote a feminist agenda, therefore they should not be ignored. This paradigm was developed by such scholars as Francisca de Haan, Krassimira Daskalova, Raluca Maria Popa, Kristen Ghodsee, Zheng Wang. Therefore, I analyze the activity of the state-owned magazine Rabotnitsa as well, from the perspective of its institutional ability to act as an agent, affecting state gender politics. I also compare issues raised by dissident women with ones discussed in the official media and show their similarity. My sources are printed copies of the samizdat dissident almanacs Woman and Russia (№1, 1979) and Maria (№1-3, 1980-1982); issues of Rabotnitsa (monthly, 1975-1980); the CEU eTD Collection electronic archive of the USSR News Brief, the human rights bulletin, which existed from 1978 till 1991; the testimonies of the members of the dissident groups (both published and unpublished); and materials from the personal archive of Tat’yana Mamonova, founder of Woman and Russia. i Declaration of Original Research and the Word Count I hereby declare that this thesis is the result of original research; it contains no materials accepted for any other degree in any other institution and no materials previously written and/or published by another person, except where appropriate acknowledgment is made in the form of bibliographical reference. I further declare that the following word count for this thesis are accurate: Body of thesis (all chapters excluding notes, references, appendices, etc.): 20 772 words Entire manuscript: 27 589 words Signed ________________________ (Alexandra Talaver) CEU eTD Collection ii Acknowledgment I can not believe this is happening, but my thesis is written and the best academic year of my life is close to its end. I am very thankful to everyone, who was with me and around during this challenging time. Our Department of Gender Studies for an incredibly inspiring intellectual atmosphere, which woke up my poor brain. My supervisor, Associate Professor Éva Fodor, for very supportive and comfortable working environment, I was enjoying. Thank you for your advice, trust and encouragement. My second reader, Professor Francisca de Haan, who means much more than this for me. Thank you for being an inspirational example of teaching, scholarship and consistency. It’s difficult to express how meaningful your presence was for me during this year and how much your courses and our conversations helped me to write this thesis and frame my inner searches (both academic and personal). I am indebted to Dmitry Kozlov and Elena Smirnova for their generosity in sharing materials on my topic. Ella Rossman and Elena Strukova for discovery of the groups. Finally, Tat’yana Mamonova for our insightful conversations. I am grateful to those wonderful people, who saved me from feeling lonely during the year. First of all, thanks to our Food Heating Eating Team: maganda Rosallia Domingo, dear Didem Şalgam, my lost twin Asha Lata Devi and the greatest vegan cook Alenka Mrakovcic. My friends, who visited me and made Budapest feel like home: Sasha Milyakina, Masha Sarycheva, Arthur Yakubov, Ann Chernysh, and my mother. My comrade in many struggles Viktorija Kolbesnikova. Dorogoy Dmitry Dorogov for your help during the application process, as well as during studying and living here. Dear Abigail Bratcher for our exceptional friendship, though I wish we met in Moscow. Finally, my best friend in Budapest Jūratė Juškaitė for things, which are too numerous and too important, to list them here. CEU eTD Collection iii Table of contents ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................ I DECLARATION OF ORIGINAL RESEARCH AND THE WORD COUNT .............................. II ACKNOWLEDGMENT ..................................................................................................................... III INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 1. DEBATES ON FEMINISM IN THE USSR: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ...................................................................................................... 5 1.1. HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE SOVIET GENDER POLITICS: A PROBLEM OF NOT KNOWING ......... 5 1.2. DEBATES ON AGENCY: COMMUNISM AND FEMINISM ............................................................... 7 1.3. HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE W&R AND MARIA: A PROBLEM OF EXCEPTIONALISM ............... 11 CHAPTER 2. GENDER POLITICS IN THE USSR DURING THE LATE BREZHNEV YEARS (1975-1980): A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE RABOTNITSA MAGAZINE........................... 18 2.1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 18 2.2. GENDER POLITICS DURING THE BREZHNEV YEARS ................................................................ 22 2.3. GENDER POLITICS IN RABOTNITSA MAGAZINE ....................................................................... 24 2.4. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 33 CHAPTER 3. SAMIZDAT ALMANAC ZHENSCHINA I ROSSIA (WOMAN AND RUSSIA) (1979): THE FIRST SOVIET FEMINISTS? .................................................................................... 34 3.1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 34 3.2. A CHRONICLE OF THE W&R .................................................................................................... 35 3.3. THE W&R AS THE ONLY FEMINIST PLATFORM: COMPARISON WITH THE RABOTNITSA MAGAZINE ........................................................................................................................................ 41 3.4. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 46 CHAPTER 4. SOVIET DISSIDENT WOMEN’S GROUP ‘MARIA’ (1980-1982): RE- WRITING THE HISTORY OF THE FEMINISM IN THE LATE USSR .................................... 47 4.1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 47 4.2. A CHRONICLE OF THE ‘MARIA’ CLUB ..................................................................................... 51 4.3. KEY IDEAS OF THE GROUP ....................................................................................................... 54 4.4. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 61 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................... 64 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................... 71 CEU eTD Collection iv Introduction This thesis aims to contribute to a re-thinking history of feminism under state socialism, in particular, in the USSR during the late Brezhnev years. Therefore, my starting point is the group, which is considered in historiography to be ‘the first soviet feminists’ since 1920s, namely, the editorial board of the dissident samizdat almanac1 Zhenschina i Rossiya (Woman and Russia, further—W&R). The group appeared in September 1979 in Leningrad, and it is also called Leningradsky feminism in Russian historiography.