Description
Book SynopsisThis Handbook addresses the role of women in communism as a global, social and political movement for the first time, exploring their lives, forms of activism, political strategies and transnational networks. Comprising twenty-five chapters, based on new and primary research, the book presents the lives of self-identified communist women from a truly international perspective and outlines their struggles against fascism and colonialism, and for women’s emancipation and national liberation. By using the lens of transnational political biography, the chapters capture the broader picture of these women’s lives, unpacking the links between the so-called public and private, the power structures and inequalities of their societies, the formal networks and politics in which they were involved, and the informal connections and friendships that supported their activism both at the national and international level. Challenging androcentric and Eurocentric narratives about communism, this Handbook reveals the active and significant roles of women in nineteenth- and twentieth-century communist movements and regimes, and highlights the importance of communist women in shaping the agenda for women’s rights worldwide.
Table of Contents1. Introduction: Towards a Global History of Communist Women
Francisca de Haan
Part 1: Global Foremothers
2. Clara Zetkin (1857–1933): A Rebel Building the Socialist and Communist International Women's Movements
Florence Hervé
3. Alexandra Kollontai (1872–1952): Communism as the Only Way Towards Women’s Liberation
Appendix: Brief Reflections on Archival Sources, Scholarly Biographies, and Kollontai Fan Fiction
Natalia Novikova and Kristen Ghodsee
4. A Right to be Radical: Claudia Jones (1915–1964) and the “Super-Exploitation of the Black Woman"
Carole Boyce Davies
Part 2: Europe
5. Helen Crawfurd (1877–1954): Scottish Suffragette and International Communist
Kiera Wilkins
6. Ana Pauker (1893–1960): The Infamous Romanian Woman Communist Leader
Stefan Bosomitu and Luciana Jinga
7. Dolores Ibárruri, Pasionaria (1895–1989): Communist Woman of Steel, Global Icon
Mercedes Yusta Rodrigo
8. Teresa Noce (1900–1980): A Communist “Professional Revolutionary” in Twentieth-Century Italy
Eloisa Betti and Debora Migliucci
9. Edwarda Orłowska (1906–1977): A Story of Communist Activism in Poland Told in Words and Silences
Katarzyna Stańczak-Wiślicz
10. Nina Vasilievna Popova (1908–1994): “Woman in the Land of Socialism”
Alexandra Talaver
Part 3: Asia
11. Deng Yingchao (1904–1992): A Feminist Leader in the Chinese Communist Party
Wang Zheng
12. Pak Chŏng-ae: From Red Labor Unions to the Korean Democratic Women’s Union
Suzy Kim
13. Iijima Aiko (1932–2005): A Feminist’s Fight Against Discrimination in Japan
Akiko Takenaka
14. Nguyễn Thị Bình (b. 1927): “The Flower and Fire of the Revolution”
An Thuy Nguyen
15. Umi Sardjono (1923–2011) and the Quest to Build a New Society for Indonesian Women
Katharine McGregor and Ruth Indiah Rahayu
16. Behice Boran (1910–1987): A Committed Communist Woman in Cold War Turkey
Sercan Çınar
Part 4: Africa and the Middle East
17. Naziha al-Dulaimi (1923–2007) and the Anticolonial Struggle in Iraq
Noga Efrati
18. “Not Only the Country’s Independence, Mine Too!” Arlette Bourgel, an Algerian Jewish Communist (b. 1928)
Pierre-Jean Le Foll-Luciani
19. Aoua Keita (1912–1980): Anti-Colonial Activist, Nationalist Politician, and Feminist in Mali (West Africa)
Pascale Barthélémy and Ophélie Rillon
Part 5: Oceania
20. “A Key Person Internationally”: Freda Brown (1919–2009), Australian Activist
Lisa Milner
21. Dancing for the Revolution: Rona Bailey, New Zealand Artist Activist (1914–2005)
Cybèle Locke
Part 6: The Americas
22. Jeanne Corbin (1906–1944): A Canadian Communist Militant in a Man’s World
Andrée Lévesque
23. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (1890–1964): Mortal Enemy of Capitalism
Lara Vapnek
24. Gachita Amador (1891–1961), Between Two Loves: Communist Action and Guignol Theater
Verónica Oikión Solano
25. Vilma Espín (1930–2007): Forging a New Woman Within the Cuban Revolution
Ailynn Torres Santana and Michelle Chase
26. “When My Life Goes Out ...” Biography of the Argentinian Communist Activist Fanny Edelman (1911–2011)
Adriana Valobra and Natalia Casola
