In this ongoing podcast, Kristen Ghodsee (author of 12 books including Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism & Everyday Utopia) reads and discusses 47 selections from the works of Alexandra Kollontai (1872-1952), a socialist women’s activist who had radical ideas about the intersections of socialism and women’s emancipation.

Sounds fairly dry perhaps, but those familiar with Kollontai (or Ghodsee for that matter) will know this means they’re in for a wild ride. Portrayed as a dangerous sex-radical and then intentionally shoved into obscurity, Alexandra Kollontai was a true Red Valkyrie who warrants today’s feminists’ attention.

For more reasons to entice you to add A.K. 47 to your listen list – I wrote a full review of the podcast here.

It concludes:

A.K. 47 is one of my all-time favorite podcasts, and not just for the juicy feminist history and mind-freeing utopian vision and strategy. My final reviewer’s take – it’s just good vibes. A lot of media seems to either be entertaining or educational. We all have guilty pleasures and engage in escapism to cope, and then we might take in some news, analysis, history, or science. There is rarely something that satisfies both the desire for enjoyment and for learning as well as listening to A.K. 47 does. It is a true pleasure and a joy, leaving me refreshed and thinking long after each short episode is finished.

Against today’s rightward currents, it is essential to find ways of connecting through our most human and therefore, most common experiences. In what better realms to find and explore shared desires for liberation than in kinship, love, sex, & everyday life?

If you decide to listen to this podcast, please join Z’s community forum to share your thoughts. By widely sharing vision and strategy towards mutual aims in solidarity with each other – we will change everything.

To echo A.K. 47’s battle cry: as always, keep up the good fight!

  Alexandria