Women in the Stalin Era (Studies in Russian and East European History and Society)

Annotation This book brings together for the first time a collection of essays by western scholars about women in the Stalin era (1928-53). It explores both the realities of women's lived experience in the 1930s and 1940s, and the various forms in which womanhood and femininity were represented and constructed in these decades. Women in the Stalin Era challenges the scholarly neglect women's history has suffered at the hands, and pens, of Russian and western historians of the Stalin period Cover 1 Contents 6 List of Tables 8 List of Illustrations 9 Notes on the Contributors 10 Acknowledgements 12 Glossary of Russian Terms and Abbreviations 13 Introduction 16 1 ‘Born in October’: the Life and Thought of Aleksandra Vasil’evna Artyukhina, 1889–1969 24 2 Women Workers at Play: the Portrayal of Leisure in the Magazine "Rabotnitsa" in the First Two Decades of Soviet Power 44 3 Soviet Heroines and the Language of Modernity, 1930–39 64 4 Babas at the Bench: Gender Conflict in Soviet Industry in the 1930s 84 5 ‘A Mother’s Cares’: Women Workers and Popular Opinion in Stalin’s Russia, 1934–41 104 6 Traktoristka: Representations and Realities 125 7 Women in the Gulag in the 1930s 146 8 The Untold Story of the Obshchestvennitsa in the l930s 166 9 Women Writers of the 1930s: Conformity or Subversion? 188 10 The New Soviet Woman and the Leader Cult in Soviet Art 209 11 Women’s Work and Emancipation in the Soviet Union, 1941–50 231 Select Bibliography 250 Index 259 Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Introduction....Pages 1-8 ‘Born in October’: the Life and Thought of Aleksandra Vasil’evna Artyukhina, 1889–1969....Pages 9-28 Women Workers at Play: the Portrayal of Leisure in the Magazine Rabotnitsa in the First Two Decades of Soviet Power....Pages 29-48 Soviet Heroines and the Language of Modernity, 1930–39....Pages 49-68 Babas at the Bench: Gender Conflict in Soviet Industry in the 1930s....Pages 69-88 ‘A Mother’s Cares’: Women Workers and Popular Opinion in Stalin’s Russia, 1934–41....Pages 89-109 Traktoristka: Representations and Realities....Pages 110-130 Women in the Gulag in the 1930s....Pages 131-150 The Untold Story of the Obshchestvennitsa in the 1930s....Pages 151-172 Women Writers of the 1930s: Conformity or Subversion?....Pages 173-193 The New Soviet Woman and the Leader Cult in Soviet Art....Pages 194-215 Women’s Work and Emancipation in the Soviet Union, 1941–50....Pages 216-234 Back Matter....Pages 235-256 'Born in October' : the life and thought of Aleksandra Vasil'evna Artyukhina, 1889-1969 / Carmen Scheide Women workers at play : the portrayal of leisure in the magazine 'Rabotnitsa' in the first two decades of Soviet power / Lynne Attwood Soviet heroines and the language of modernity, 1930-39 / Choi Chatterjee Babas at the bench : gender conflict in Soviet industry in the 1930s / Wendy Goldman 'A mother's cares' : women workers and popular opinion in Stalin's Russia, 1934-41 / Sarah Davies Traktoristka : representations and realities / Melanie Ilič Women in the Gulag in the 1930s / Emma Mason The untold story of the Obshchestvennitsa in the 1930s / Mary Buckley Women writers of the 1930s : conformity or subversion? / Rosalind Marsh The new Soviet woman and the leader cult in Soviet art / Susan E. Reid Women's work and emancipation in the Soviet Union, 1941-50 / Susanne Conze. It was not God, but Soviet power - our party - that transformed the fate of women in Russia.