We Soviet Wives

I finally got my hands and an the article "We Soviet Wives" written by Anna Louise Strong in 1934, talking more on the roles of women in Soviet marriages!
let's read!
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[@comradeengineer8555]

"Nooo dont k*ll yourself think of the second 5 year plan"-Soviet therapist probably circa 1934

[@LadyIzdihar]

Basically 🥲

[@Kekimus]

"Why is it hard" they simply don't want a positive light on women empowerment in USSR published or propagated

[@Salsmachev]

It's a bit more complicated than that. There isn't a moustache-twirling capitalist suppressing Soviet-friendly media. There are structural issues that make it difficult to access any archival media, and some general pro-US/anti-USSR biases that make it less likely for pro-Soviet sources to get archived. Most things go unarchived. Archiving things is expensive and often difficult. If you're maintaining a physical archive, you have to pay for space, power to maintain a climate that won't damage your materials, labour to manage the archive, and labour to conserve your materials. If you're maintaining a digital archive, you have to pay for the labour to digitise it, and then the costs of maintaining servers. For something to get archived, it needs to have a devoted group of people or an institution willing to put a lot of resources towards archiving it. The more niche something is, the less likely it is to get archived. And the reality is that a lot of pro-US materials from the 1930s are going to be left unarchived simply because nobody considers them important enough to be worth the cost. With those considerations, it's not surprising that many things go unarchived and that most archives have to charge for access. Even under socialism or social democracy, I'd expect to pay for archives indirectly through public funding and I'd expect many things to be deemed unworthy of the resources needed to archive them. Under neoliberal capitalism, privatisation and profit are the name of the game, so naturally it's much worse. Instead of paying a few dollars in taxes every year, corporations can charge subscription fees so high that the only way to get access is through a university or (if you're very lucky) a public library. But it's worth noting that this problem applies to pro-US and pro-capitalist media as well as pro-USSR and pro-socialist media. If you want to access 1930s American magazines, expect to have to go through a paywalled service. Where pro-US and pro-capitalist bias comes into the picture is in the larger structural issues. First of all, in any country, you're going to get more media about that country than about other countries. So in the US, more US media (and pro-US media specifically) will get published. That means that more US and pro-US media will survive culling and get archived. The other advantage pro-US media has is that Americans are propagandised to be thoroughly pro-US. So we tend to see pro-US media as more important. Someone in the US is more likely to care about preserving pro-US materials than they do about preserving pro-USSR materials.

[@asaturn]

Just some context, the Mercury was very worker-centered until it was sold in the 1940s. It went from dem-soc (funded by the OSS!) to ultra conservative in the 1950s. Even the GOP was more friendly to the working class in the 1930s so it's not too shocking that the NRA would be fine with this content; remember we were still "allies" with the USSR until the 1950s. Still odd though, some quick digging and it seems you have a pretty rare edition.

[@LadyIzdihar]

Thank you for the extra Info! I hadn't thought of looking more into the Mercury itself until I was actually sitting down to film. So I appreciate it!

[@endcaps1917]

NOOOOO

[@justinwatson1510]

That story about the guy who lost his family was honestly really beautiful. I hope one day Americans can be that dedicated to working for the common good.

[@MrEmbryonicjones]

five year plan story is incredible! not only hilarious but underscores the impact being able to look around at a hopeful world can have on mental health. also please feel free to read to us anytime it was delightful

[@ndvs4391]

5:32 "I hope you don't mind me reading to you" No I certainly don't mind, go ahead. And indeed that was very "interesting" (the sort of interesting that goes "DAMN" and raising your fist in an empty room while listening to a video). I can't get over how impressive Soviet mentalities were. Yes it is another time and some of this would have been normal in context, and yes regardless of context these individuals are pretty much all examples of outstanding citizens and comrades, but they sound like machines sometimes x) And this makes me love them even more actually although the awkwardness of it is really funny. The case of the suicidal teacher reminds me, in that respect, of Stalin's answer during the negotiations about the targets for the Second Five Year Plan, when he was asked to justify once again the high required growth rate of the first one (20 % per year). He simply answered that there was no issue with that target : we have achieved it, therefore it was realistic. Yes, I understand perfectly well Comrade Stalin, but if that's your argument now, what was your argument 5 years ago ? x) These people, to some extent, lived completely in the future, and viewed their present as a mere means towards it that can be and ought to be sacrificed for the common good. It is a bit tragic, and certainly ALS's words after 21:58 are right : this was a temporary and unsustainable type of ethics, and with hindsight we can see that it is unhealthy to some extent. But this doesn't change the fact that these people were impressive, as all of those who, with such dedication and self-sacrifice, have dared to navigate in uncharted waters for both themselves and their comrades (present or future).

[@martinreid2352]

This was fascinating! I love your desire to find rare texts; they are very insightful!

[@4ester709]

Omg just found out you have KZbin channel too. As a Tatar/Ukrainian really love your content

[@gagemcphail]

The second 5 year plan possibly saving a man from "unaliving" himself is hilarious to me, but also makes SO much sense. I mean, imagine if we lived in a world where what was primary in life was the betterment of the world, and everyone was given the opportunity to contribute to that betterment in a comradery relationship with all other human beings. I think so many mental woes come from a deep feeling/belief that one is not worth enough, and that kind of communally structured and collaborative world, where the beauty of all human life is cherished and utilized, permanently puts in the past all question of whether or not any single one of us is "not worth enough" in this life.

[@AS-xu1tp]

Amazing video! Thank you!!!

[@petermiller4404]

On "why this was published in the American Mercury": I suggest you check American Mercury in Wikipedia. The Mercury was initially (at that time) an iconoclastic journal edited by H.L. Mencken, to which writers from a gamut of political perspectives contributed; this article is not out of place. It was, until later taken over by the anti-semitic right wing, a highly respected journal. As to being supported by the "NRA", that is an abbreviation for dozens of things (most of which, such as the "Naked Runners Association" are unlikely supporters of the Mercury in 1934). I doubt that, in 1934, the National Rifle Association would have funded the American Mercury.

[@memereference2545]

I am a few months late to this video, but NRA with the eagle logo (23:07) is the "National Recovery Administration", a New Deal program that existed from 1933 to 1935.

[@Merudinnn]

Have you ever considered scanning some of these articles and books you've got your hands on, particularly ones that like this book are hard to find online, onto your computer and uploading them to archive or LibGen? 🤔 Assuming there aren't legal issues involved with that, such as copyright laws. I'm sure it may be a pain in the ass, but if it was too much work you don't have time for I bet you could always find some folks willing to help with that project!

[@georgekostaras]

I appreciate all your scholarship and all your education that you provide

[@sabrinat6838]

The second 5 year plan. I'm sorry that's so hilarious, I'm struggling not to laugh in a school library.

[@ladylongsleeves3175]

Wow, this was absolutely fascinating!! I shared it in the groupchat of my ML-reading group. Edit: unleashed a little discussion, TLDR America bad.

[@nothingnessofeverything]

how would a Marxist discuss or defend Stalin in regards to the Molotov- Ribbentrop Pact? Any recommended reading on this?

[@ladylongsleeves3175]

@@nothingnessofeverything That's a great question, I'm afraid I don't have an answer right now though.

[@nothingnessofeverything]

This is what I have found so far: one can't discuss this while failing to mention several agreements between Nazis and Western countries since 1933: Four-Power Pact (1933), Anglo-German Naval Agreement (1935), Anglo-German Non-Aggression Pact (1938). Poland had its own imperial ambitions and in 1938 (the year before the pakt) they annexed part of Czechoslovakia. The Western powers mostly supported German expansion (or were neutral). USSR attempted to make pacts with France and Britain but they refused for 6 years and instead allowed Germany to remilitarize. Faced with that setback, the USSR then watched as Nazis invaded Poland, moving closer to their borders. The West remained benevolent, some ambivalent, to the Nazis. The Soviet Union crossed its Western border to protect its citizens and those in Ukraine and Belarus.

[@nothingnessofeverything]

@@ladylongsleeves3175 Lady Iz answered my questions on TikTok where she already had a video explaining it. Than you.

[@sonal8109]

​@@nothingnessofeverythingThe Soviets were the absolute last country to ever wanto deal with the Nazis. They had suggested an anti-fascist pact with the US, UK and France but the three were more busy trying to appease the Germans. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was merely a last ditch effort to buy time until a Nazi invasion.

[@das81]

Great vídeo, greetings from Argentina. PS: I understand your frustation. I once obtained a book by a spanish writer about His visit to the Soviet unión, AND how he visited Prokoptin(sic) in a house the Soviet govertment gave to him. Not the kind of info you find easily.

[@brendanmcnally9145]

I interviewed a guy who knew her in China

[@LadyIzdihar]

Amazing!

[@MasterOfBaiter]

What is interesting is that retellings in this article differ quite a bit from the ones in for example "how women had better sex under socialism" where a picture is painted of women being double burdened with work and having to do the chores on their own. Given the sources in this book date to earlier I wonder if there was resurgence of gender roles or whether the picture was just Grey as all f***

[@Salsmachev]

Copulation is pronounced with the o in hop not the o in hope.

[@LadyIzdihar]

🤣 again it's just one the those word I never say out loud, thank you!

[@amandamotekaityte5681]

Most of our physicians in lithuania are woman, and still are, we litteraly conditioned that being a doctor (except surgeons and anything to do with handeling corpses still many but less) is more of profession for woman than man, tho very normal for both.

[@gabe_re_uhl]

will you be making this text available? Thank you so much for all your content and work!!

[@CRABKoko]

So.......Izdihar, are you going to make a PDF of American Mercury?

[@Merudinnn]

Just to take what she said at the beginning even further, and I think lady lzdihar would agree, but ALL textbooks, academic journals, etc. need to be made easily accessible to everyone without pay. Information on history, science, etc etc is the intellectual inheritance of humanity and no one has the right to hide knowledge behind prohibitive paywalls. Anyways much love, good video 🙏 as someone who's interested in world religions and a communist myself, I was wondering if you had any recommendations for good books particularly on the relationship between Marxism, socialism, and Islam. Ive been trying to find good books that examine the revolutionary aspects of the middle east and how their faith influences their political theory. For example something like the book Hammer and Hoe, a book that examines the black Marxist groups in the south and how their belief in and knowledge of the Bible influenced and shaped their politics into its own unique form. Will take anything on the subject I can get at this point, googles been less than helpful. Only wants to spit out books by reactionary weirdos on "Islam and cultural Marxism" destroying America 🙄

[@IdesofMarx]

If championing women's liberation means an "authoritarian stalinist dictatorship" then count me a member of the NKVD.

[@someesingh2827]

NKVD was their internal affairs

[@daxxtyn_1527]

Scan it and print it!!!!

[@justinwatson1510]

I don't know how much a book copying device would cost, but you can build one yourself with a raspberry pi for less than a few hundred dollars. If you don't know how to do that or know anyone who does, I can build one and send it to your poat office box. It shouldn't be difficult to build one that can turn pages, take photographs, convert to PDF, and use OCR so that the text can be searched, selected, and copied from the PDF.

[@oswaldwasaleftist9710]

I prefer to think of where Comrade Strong died in 1970, Beijing. How proud she would be of the People's Republic of China today. And how upset she would be with the overthrow of the Soviet Union: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZnbbkGd9m9-Cprs

[@Watashiwadeus]

13:40 damn, i totally get that woman. By the official exchange rate of 1936, 80 roubles are about modern $343. That's A LOT to spend drinking

[@Watashiwadeus]

Also would be interesting to learn Strong's perspective on Soviet ban on abortion between 1936-55

[@efthimios1917]

Sends family money, family abandons him what the actual fuck. surely we are missing some context

[@LadyIzdihar]

RIGHT!!!!

[@nothingnessofeverything]

how would a Marxist discuss or defend Stalin in regards to the Molotov- Ribbentrop Pact? Please do a video on this. 🙏🏼❤

[@abdulazizelijahfanan1632]

History defends its self that pact was dome by even France, and other western powers which had a choice As for the soviet union, they didn’t have any an under industrialised country that just emerged from the rests of a feudal empire, that has begged western forced to halt, and sanction nazi Germany’s militarisation but the west completely refused as for them it was a chance to end the only socialist state at the time.

[@tymanung6382]

There are many Marxist views,. range from 1)hostile, like Lon Trotsky libertarian socialist ( not social) democracy 2) others who recognize real politik character of situation 3) pro Stalinists who see his actions not only necessary but a positive good. to understanding real

[@mezathome8162]

19:50 i believe its pronounced cop like a pig

[@noheroespublishing1907]

Are you going to try to submit the article to the Marxist Internet Archive?

[@vinnie-chan]

Go and read domostroy, red thing

[@lnastudios1778]

first

[@JuraMalopolska]

Pani Izdihar nie zdaje sobie sprawy jak kiepsko się żyło w ZSRR jak również w jego satelitach w tym moim kraju Polsce. Jestem za socjalizmem ale na pewno nie takiej podróbie jak z ZSRR!

[@LadyIzdihar]

I don't think it's perfect at all, but it's an experiment to learn from.

[@abdulazizelijahfanan1632]

She is litterrally a historian what the actual F

[@JuraMalopolska]

@@abdulazizelijahfanan1632 ok I understand you. Thanks for account.

[@masiethespiral]

@@JuraMalopolska I love how you took this conversation so politely, this is healthy left wing/socialist debate.

[@JuraMalopolska]

@@masiethespiral Ok, thanks. Socialism is the hope to build better world but is very difficult system to adopt to it! Requires very litlle egostic attitude and a much themselves trust.

[@lloyd4956]

It's a wonderful..