International Working Women's Day - Soviet Style 1951

Apologies in advance. I know that for some of you, the way I pronounce WoMAN and WoMEN interchangeably really bothers you. It really isn't that big of a deal!
Documents Mentioned
Magazine scan here: ladyizdihar.com/blogs/izdihar...
Pamphlet scan here: ladyizdihar.com/blogs/izdihar...
00:00 Intro
00:30 Soviet Woman Magazine 1951
03:21 Salaams
03:40 Into The Magazine
05:10 Dusya!
07:00 On Guard Of Peace
10:49 DPRK / North Korea
14:44 Statistics! / True Masters Of Their Land
21:20 Surprise Paul Robeson
22:00 Don't Forget to Pray!
22:33 Fashion
23:55 Supplemental Inserts
25:17 Dear Unknown Friend Pamphlet
26:46 Concluding thoughts
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Email (Serious inquiries only)
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[@missZoey5387]

I can just imagine someone saying "this is all staged" or "this is all fake people in USSR weren't like this"

[@onemoreturn]

Yeah, libs would fume over this.

[@HenriqueRLima-vz7ny]

All while conveniently forgetting that all of us media blatantly portrayed women like a man's doll during that time. EVEN IF this magazine were just lip service or staged, it still brings a more advanced discourse than even today's liberal standards of 'empowerment'.

[@paraptorkeetcreations434]

As if every image in western magazines wasn't also staged and airbrushed.

[@SinbathSparrow]

They say the same whenever I recommend the "Human Face of Russia" documentary

[@missZoey5387]

@SinbathSparrow love that documentary. I wish it showed more of the central Asian republics but ah well

[@miljantrajkovic1862]

I love that there isn't a single ad in these magazines, just pure content.

[@Barklord]

But how did they know what to want without adverts?

[@emanueledionisi9359]

​@@BarklordThey simply had their real needs and not those induced by advertising

[@whosayswhoof6381]

Because this magazine is ad itself.

[@miljantrajkovic1862]

@@whosayswhoof6381Every magazine basically is. This one just doesn't have additional consumerism on top.

[@YouCanNotVoteOutFascism]

You protect your magazines like I protect my comic books. Love it!

[@YouCanNotVoteOutFascism]

And, great info. Thank you!

[@superbeltman6197]

6:33 “✨Some girl handling sausage✨ yes! yes!” is the content we all came here for

[@LadyIzdihar]

I never know how my commentary will land, I have to cut out ... The things that will outrage 😭

[@binder946]

I regret it now. I had first edition of ninja turtules and I wrote on it with marker on FRONT PAGE 😢

[@facuuu2809]

It's not march 8 yet but happy working women's day! My university will not have classes tomorrow in solidarity with female teachers so I'm glad working class women still take this day seriously, they're definetly not at the level soviet working class women were for sure but they're still fighting so it's still worth it, if the working class women and men of the U.S.S.R succeeded no doubt the people of my country will too!

[@Victoratify]

I was born during the last 5 years of the USSR and lived in modern Russia for the last 30 years of its existence. All I heard from everywhere was that the Soviet Union was a nightmare, like hell. Meanwhile, my parents were born and lived their entire adult lives in the USSR. And they called life during the Soviet system the most beautiful part of their lives. And if sometimes they talked about a shortage of some goods, they treated it very lightly, considering it to be minor difficulties that happen in any state and in any sphere of social life.

[@oilivanwarmerdam9451]

В СССР были проблемы, как и везде, дефицит появился в последние годы и создавался искусственно. Но это не идёт ни в какое сравнение с той жизнью, что получили советские люди после распада, а точнее сказать после намеренного развала Союза. Поэтому естественно, что буржуазные власти (в том числе и на территории бывшего СССР) изо всех сил убеждают своих холопов в том, что это было ужасно и вообще никогда больше. Не стесняясь при этом врать и переписывать историю.

[@fixit9844]

For some reason I can imagine a woman sitting at the train station in Moscow reading this magazine while waiting for the train to go to work. The sights, the smells, idk. It’s so interesting and cool. c:

[@LadyIzdihar]

Reading these old magazines feels like a piece of living history!

[@GoatwithanUshanka]

I read ‘Dear Unknown Friend’ and it was so interesting to see the differences in the lives being lead by the respective women. I was especially impressed by the consistent high level of academic achievement held by the Soviet women, very inspirational!

[@LadyIzdihar]

I'm really hoping more people take a look at this pamphlet! Such a good collection of correspondences that truly brings understanding!

[@Commietaku]

The Soviet women were mostly from Moscow, while there were a lot of rural American women. Women's rights were less advanced in the US, so I don't think it would be too different if they had more urban American women, but it would have been interesting if they had featured letters from women who worked the land in the USSR. Agriculture was the source of many more people's livelihoods in those days in both countries, and it's highlighted both in the magazine and the letters.

[@ComradeConnetheus1-qu6oe]

Happy International Women's day to you, too!

[@LadyIzdihar]

Thank you! 😃

[@ComradeConnetheus1-qu6oe]

@@LadyIzdihar You're welcome

[@victorialeopoldino]

Greetings from Brazil! 👋🇧🇷👋 Your channel is so elegant without any kind of cliché. Congratulations for the very good job right here.👏👏👏 Happy International Working Women's Day! ☭♀️☭

[@LadyIzdihar]

Thank you, I really appreciate the kind words. I worry I might be embarrassing myself sometimes by sharing my excitement, but I'm so glad it's well received!

[@victorialeopoldino]

​@@LadyIzdihar☭☭❣♀️❣☭☭

[@nice_toes_xx]

@@LadyIzdiharyour excitement and obvious passion for your content is what makes it such a joy to watch (as well as being informative)

[@coelholovato]

Feliz dia das mulheres (atrasado) camarada!!!

[@Tnega74]

Great video I just watched it with my Wife!! Happy International Women's Day!!

[@chris.a_scififan4630]

As the fires of revolution settle and we begin to build our new society, I nominate Lady Izdihar for the Ministry of cultural exploration and public enlightenment. Name is still a work in progress.

[@LadyIzdihar]

💖💖💖 We'll think of something catchy!

[@alqaedaswag]

wish i was born a working soviet woman during the 1950s instead of a hoodlum in the bronx

[@真夜中の橋]

Me too 😢

[@incredible_general]

Nah, it was pretty tough with food in a decade after the war, so life the US was much better in comparison

[@真夜中の橋]

@@incredible_general source: US propaganda. Like it seriously wasn’t that bad.

[@Armored_Ariete]

Knew 2 girls from the bronx, good workers they seemed to not like it there

[@elonmusksellssnakeoil1744]

Oh man, I'm early. Can't wait to dive into the video!

[@bob-lk5et]

Eternal glory to Lady Izdihar for brining knowledge of a better world to the global proletariat Your content is possibly the greatest at actually humanizing the peoples of the east, which is just as if not even more important then traditional Marxists studies in a time of such reaction. Hearing all these stories of optimism and mutual love shared by the people makes it all the more heart breaking when reaction subverted what could've been the vanguard to global liberation. Not only did big picture movements suffer from reaction, but also what could've been potential friendships and relationships were ruined or made impossible by the reimplementation of patriarchy and capitalism. Would you possibly consider exploring when why and how patriarchy was reestablished within the ussr? I feel like its an overlooked aspect of the dissolution of the ussr which is often glossed over, but still very important (especially considering how it hurt 50% of its population).

[@sebastianpeady5850]

This makes it me feel even more devastated that the Soviet Union was dissolved 😢

[@theredmoose2084]

"Valentina assembles radio tubes fast and with irreproachable precision" Me: Good job Valentina! Lady Izdihar: Good job Valentina!

[@barabashkacash3878]

Thanks for your hard work! Workers of all countries, unite!

[@JohnAsparagus96]

I don't know how to explain it, but the USSR was actually way more socially progressive than I'd been led to believe, especially in the context of the time and place.

[@user-ez8le1rp3x]

Нравится как вы уважительно относитесь к истории.

[@ZeMalta]

Always love these showcases! It is sad, taking into account how we regressed or never achieved, but also inspiring to see how way more advanced our comrades were in comparison to their exploited sisters of other states. Wholesome to a tee, and your excitement for it is also exciting. These windows into these experiences and realities are truly inspiring to see!

[@mafuyu9063]

Great video Lady Izdihar :)

[@mafuyu9063]

Watched at work last night...it's only been publicly posted for a few minutes ;)

[@l00tur]

I'm absolutely stunned there was an English translation of such a magazine. I didn't catch it at first watch, but was this printed state side, or was this translated in the USSR and found it's way during the era? Very cool trinket of history, these have to be scanned somewhere online, if not the full run.

[@LadyIzdihar]

There's a link in the description to my scan of this magazine as a searchable PDF on my site. I scan every copy I find. There's only one official archive I know that carries the magazine but it costs money to use and doesn't allow independent researchers to use the archive (or at least they refuse to allow ME to lol)

[@l00tur]

@@LadyIzdiharoh wow that’s very cool of you to take on that task. You should share the link, if the cost isn’t substantial I’d love to get access, maybe apply my eyepatch and dump the site to a free index. Really appreciate what you do, I don’t imagine it’s the easiest thing considering the vast amount of editing involved. Btw, get those loose cannons on the deprogram to invite you on again.

[@kumarprashant5624]

This is invaluable work you are doing comrade. Большое спасибо, лаал саламь из Индии.

[@aby110]

How did we go from this to fighting eachother over which flavor of imperialist we want to rule over us ?

[@austinhopkins9305]

Great video, I'd love to see more like this. Always interesting to see the things they valued in the USSR. Your videos have gotten me into collecting soviet books, banners, and pins. Thanks very much for the videos comrade! 😊

[@georgeabreu6392]

Enjoyed this informal but still educational content. Great video. And happy International Working Women's Day!

[@shhh.im.thinking3069]

I would read magazines with Lady Izdihar all day!! So interesting, gives you that hopeful/pleasant nostalgia feeling for the USSR

[@stefanpavlovic4191]

Very interesting video.. Happy International Women's Day Izdihar! ☺

[@slipknotboy555]

Good stuff ~2:40 This magazine is, ofc, from the last couple years of Comrade Stalin's life. Damn shame what transpired after his passing. But his legacy, like Lenin's, lives on. [Edit: And as much as bourgeois forces may try, they will never be able to stamp out the achievements of the women and men of the USSR. Or of the other socialist countries.] Happy IWWD!

[@gcc_ixpro8939]

I am new to your channel Izdihar, and i already love it! Keep up the good work, comrade!

[@Rocinante0489]

More storytime with izdihar pls!!!

[@gianlucamattos8684]

I hope that I will portray women and girls with such feats in any art I do, thanks for the vid

[@NotesNNotes]

I am new here and omg I know I’m going to love everything you share ❤

[@Rocinante0489]

❤️ always love your stuff. Great vid as usual!

[@sebastiangorka200]

Women's day is still like the 3rd biggest holiday in the post-soviet sphere right after new years and victory day

[@gaylordqwq]

Greetings from Germany i found you on tik tok and i love your content

[@genossewurzelkobold3141]

Rot Front, Genosse!

[@anastasia7091]

Привет немецким товарищам :)

[@Miguel-xd8dd]

I got so excited seeing this new upload! I'm having two speeches for a demonstration on this wonderful day, and you've been of so much help to understand and empathize with women in the Soviet union. Ramadan mubarak in advance, Lady Izdihar.

[@Armored_Ariete]

you gonna get a time machine :x

[@user-hb7yi9cy3w]

Thank you for all your hard work. It's always amazing to get these glimpses into the past. As a child of the cold war the differences between what we were told and what was really going are vast.

[@nolangould5669]

interesting. thank you for this content.

[@OneEyedMonkey9000]

I’ve been following you on TikTok for ages. First time the algorithm has brought me here ❤

[@Noah-ob1vp]

Great video as always comrade, I love these historical videos you do with old sources like magazines, pamthlets etc. They've really helped me get rid of the remnents of my typical dehumanising western liberal indoctrination lol. How do you manage to get these texts? Do you have any websites you'd recommend?

[@e-mail2673]

this is really wonderful. i find soviet history incredibly fascinating and i'm always eager to learn more about what it was like to live at the time

[@comradethatmetalguy]

Love the video. Happy working woman's day comrade ✊🏼

[@redhorizonsdocs]

Loved this! A great look into a lost world

[@enjoylife780]

LOVE THIS!!!!! Appreciate you, Izdihar. I hope to learn more about Soviet women and the Soviet Union through your lens as, like you said, this is a perspective that many are not exposed to. It's so incredibly enlightening to learn about Soviet women liberation and how much of a voice they were given - IN THE 1950s!

[@utz2867]

Great vid

[@ajmalkhantv]

Amazing 🤩

[@LongshanMusic]

Everything you share with us is interesting and inspiring, Comrade. Happy International Working Women’s Day! ☭

[@assassinscreedguy1453]

I'm jealous of your room, so beautiful! I wonder where I could get that vintage Soviet/socialist stuff, even though I live in post eastern block country

[@ProjectMirai64]

Nice video!

[@AlienatedQc]

this was so fun

[@chimmy_jim]

Such interesting reading! The use of militaristic language and focus on women being productive is especially fascinating. So many of the struggles talked about are still going on and the parallels with NK and Pal are undeniable.

[@xernax1841]

I was reading something on the side and didn't quite listen to what was happening in the video and then suddenly noticed "A woman handling sausage" and I was like "A what?!"

[@COMMIE1949]

Phenomenal!! Comrade elder sister!!!!❤u!

[@what_is_this_my_friend2966]

That was really interesting! Amazing video! Greetings from Russia and Happy International Women's day!

[@RedHoosier]

Great video and Happy International Women's Day to all the incredible women around the world, past, present, and future. Let's continue to fight for gender equality, celebrate their achievements, and uplift one another. 👍

[@sxmvp]

I had a video from the channel Sideprojects called "What was Life Like for Women in the USSR?" in my recommendation, so I watched it out of curiosity and it + the comments were about as atrocious as you'd expect lol. Sure it wasn't perfect either, but to sit there and *only* talk shit about the USSR while they were still amazingly more progressive than countries like the US is insane.

[@OtseisRagnarok]

the exclamation point at the bottom of that painting really makes it lmao

[@bradnorthcote1301]

Happy International Women's Day!

[@pauldruhg2992]

8!

[@dizzygiggleflix257]

In your studies have you found why Russian translations to English are so very stylized (an approach to English that would be later defined as propaganda)?

[@FrogsLikeFruitSnacks]

it would be very interesting hearing you talk about life for queer people (and not just gay men, trans, lesbian, etc. people too!) in the ussr. love this video

[@user-bs4ce1qp6f]

За гомосексуализм в СССР полагалась уголовная ответственность. Так как это является продуктом капиталистической идеологии в целях переноса межклассовой борьбы пролетариата в русло бесперспективной борьбы за мнимые гендерные права. Но вы этого не понимаете. Буржуазия водит вас за нос отодвигая вас от борьбы с ними и лишения их капитала.

[@FrogsLikeFruitSnacks]

@@user-bs4ce1qp6f since when has accepting and respecting people or solidarity been something the bourgeoisie have liked?

[@user-bs4ce1qp6f]

@@FrogsLikeFruitSnacks Буржуазии проще принять идеологию гендерной борьбы ( и добавить к себе в круг представителей маргиналов), чем лишиться капитала в межклассовой борьбе . Вы боретесь с ВЕТРЯНЫМИ МЕЛЬНИЦАМИ как Дон Кихот, а надо бороться с причиной, которой является капиталистический класс.

[@FrogsLikeFruitSnacks]

@@user-bs4ce1qp6f the bourgeoisie merely pretends to care for queer people (or out right hate us, though this is rarer), it's the same as them pretending to care for the working class. the real problem is this performative action that is meant to distract from the real issues. letting people live there lives authentically does not harm the cause. in reality homophobia and trsnsphobia aides the capitalist, they use queer people (along with other minorities) as scapegoats so that people do not see the real issue, capitalism.

[@FrogsLikeFruitSnacks]

@@user-bs4ce1qp6f the bourgeoisie's action is not real acceptance of queer people, it is merely performative, they don't really care for people, queer or not. they use their fake acceptance as a distraction from the real issues of capitalism. not all of the bourgeois is like this, others use homophobia and transphbia as a distraction, using us (queer people) as a scapegoat to blame all of the workings class issues on so that the people do not see the truth, that it is their fault. accepting people as their authentic selves does not harm the cause, it does quite the opposite. the only way we can defeat capital is together, we must not divide ourselves, we must have solidarity.

[@GatekeeperOfTruth]

So how do you reconcile all this with the calamities of the Hujoom?

[@chungus816]

Where do you get these magazines??

[@chaostrottel_hdaufdutube8144]

In a recent video (which now seems to be deleted) u used a Lenin quote (something like „beauty is whatever furthers the cause of the working class...") I can't find the video anymore nor can I find the quote. Please help, I want to use the quote for my graduation year book

[@theangrysocialist6884]

you mean the video vintage fashion radical values

[@espressosoup]

There sure are a lot of ads on these videos...

[@haycjones]

Thank you for mentioning Palestine

[@angelobarros3499]

I love these magazines from socialist countries

[@Armored_Ariete]

how many of the authors or photogrophers are women?

[@nyasputin]

To add to my bernadette banner collection, we have acquired the radical commie bb >:3

[@Stephen64138]

As a traditionnalist and conservative catholic man, I am speechless at how the *&$? the algorithm brought me here... Heh, makes me smile nonetheless. I'll subscribe, why not.. ^^

[@geekyradical4985]

Is it true that Joseph Stalin had a sexual relationship with Lidia Perepygina when she was only fourteen years old? This is something I keep hearing about.

[@bugsby4663]

Most photos had to be staged because of how cumbersome equipment then was.

[@ama-gii]

i also love to analyze with enthusiasm US magazines from 1951 : the good ol' days when everyone is working and consuming with a smile and letting the big responsible oligarchic politicians do the politics (because it would be too difficult and anarchic to let the proletariat decide and selfmanage collectively..). thats socialism

[@smokeyt2467]

Yet woman still practiced woman roles and took care of the house and cooking.. and children.. and apparently real work

[@korana6308]

Communists of the 21 century: Stalin's interview ❌ Some girl handling sausage ✅

[@LadyIzdihar]

My goal is to get people interested in looking at the magazine and reading it themselves. Not reciting every page 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@nani2155]

As a person from Post Soviet country, I like that our story is being represented. But March 8 was not celebrated, like it is represented in magazines. March 8 did not celebrate working women and women's rights. Women are simply gifted flowers and celebrated for their femininity, motherly qualities and beauty. Basically it celebrates patriarchy

[@abobapenis]

It was in the late USSR, when there was less and less socialism

[@nani2155]

@abobapenis nope, it started during the Stalin reign, which can only be classified as early USSR.

[@feargripper]

Source?

[@Person_Lizard]

LARP science 😂 Like, cool and interesting stuff and all but ... The whole vibe is just 'trying to rationalise nostalgia, romanticism and fetish for this aesthetics'. Imagine someone in 70 years sifting through brochures of the Democratic Party of the US and being like "Look at all those achievements women and queer people made back then! Golden times!".

[@anastasia7091]

To compare a US bourgeois party with the first socialist state in history is a bit strange. We have this experience, an attempt to build a new society, so why wouldn't we study it and admire its achievements?

[@Noah-ob1vp]

​@@anastasia7091Well said comrade. It's not about having a "fetish for the aesthetics" and the "better times" like the other commenter said lol. This sort of historical social research is important to see wtf is wrong with our society and economic system and what we should do to change it.

[@Person_Lizard]

​@@anastasia7091 Study and research then! The magazines in the video were actually quite interesting but her remarks were mostly shallow. "The Soviets were no evil monsters and even did achieve some things!" seems so mindblowing to americans or other people raised with anti-communist propaganda that this message alone can pass as content.

[@Person_Lizard]

@@Noah-ob1vp wtf is wrong with our society and economic system and what should we do to change it then? I don't expect to get these questions answered in a youtube comment section. But I want to argue that the video doesn't really contribute to answering them either. That's why I called it 'rationalising': shallow discussion of historical or political contexts to justify indulging in this niche retro aesthetics.

[@KingSizzle21]

@@Person_Lizard Discussing the positive things of alternate systems DOES make people want an alternative.

[@jojosip1917]

Happy International Working Women's day! Long live the Great October Socialist Revolution!

[@hallowhyena]

you like vintage styles, history (among other awesome things) and you're a communist? hell yeah!! makes me feel better that there's others like me out there as i go into studying history 🫡

[@MarinaInChains]

watch her video on "vintage style, radical values", sounds right up your alley

[@Andrearuch97]

U re awsome