Chasing Dreams and Breaking Promises

The revolution made many steps in promoting women’s rights up to this point despite civil war, economic depression, and conflicting revolutionary ideas. However, under Stalin, the women’s liberation movement began to take steps backwards. Laws were enacted to distinguish illegitimate children, the right for a woman to have an abortion was abolished, divorce became as difficult as ever, and coeducation was no longer offered. Stalin glorified motherhood in an effort to restore traditional household roles. He even portrayed it as their duty as Soviet citizens by saying, “The Soviet woman has the same rights as the man, but that does not free her from a great and honorable duty which nature has given her: she is a mother, she gives life.” The Soviets looked out for the needs of the state, asking women to work in industry and collective agriculture for lower wages while at the same time raising children to keep the birth rate from declining. Because of the need for their services, women were able to pursue a wide variety of careers in industry and manufacturing, but this came at the cost of living a double life between work and the household.

By 1936, the Soviet Union declared “the woman question” answered by proclaiming women’s equality in the new Constitution. Although political participation had increased, the liberation movement ceased to exist. Movements determined to transform society had been made nonexistent thanks to the purges, and the party felt no need to intervene because of the official status of women’s equality.

During this extended time of political and social change, women in Russia and the Soviet Union put worth an unprecedented effort to follow their dreams. Under the old Tsarist regime, women were forced into de facto slavery positions under their husbands. They had no social mobility and no opportunity to participate in politics. This oppression, combined with enlightenment thought supported by the intelligentsia, motivated women to work toward a more satisfying existence. Many women found the means to do this through revolutionary socialism and revolutionists were more than willing to have women to join their cause. Soon, the Tsarist government saw that the people wanted change, but by this time the revolutionaries had gained too much momentum and they inevitably took power. Once the Bolsheviks took office, they had to answer for all the promises they made to the women who supported them.

While they made many reforms, Lenin’s government had to deal with the more pressing economic and oppositional problems they faced. Women were often treated as equals, allowing them to serve the state as well as any man, but the government put little effort into changing the public opinion of women, or ensuring that they would receive fair treatment from employers. This caused many prominent female party members to criticize the government which led to them leaving the party of else serving in lower level positions. When Stalin took power, he rolled back many reforms that allowed women to thrive outside the household. He encouraged women to fulfill their duties as wives and mothers while at the same time contributing to the work force. The Constitution of 1936 officially ended the struggle for women’s liberation on a large scale in Russia, despite the fact that there were still disparities in the way that women and men were treated in society. These problems were left to be fixed through generations of progress instead of being done through political and social revolution.