Hi folks,

Today we’ll be discussing:

Make Way for Winged Eros - Alexandra Kollontai

Today’s discussion is:

  • 1/25 - Make Way for Winged Eros - Alexandra Kollontai

I’m reading the copy from Marxists.org:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/kollonta/1923/winged-eros.htm

Discussion Prompts

These are some ideas to address while considering this work. None of them are essential, and any of your own thoughts are very much welcome! I’ll be adding my own thoughts later today.

  • What seems to be the main point of this work? What question is Kollontai trying to answer?

  • What has she missed? Is she wrong about anything?

  • Did anything surprise you?

  • Is this work applicable outside of the conditions of the early USSR?

  • Is this really a “nonessential” or would it be good for any communist to read it?

Next Discussion

The next book will be:

  • 2/1 - The Red Deal - Red Media. - discussion 1.
  • 2/8 - The Red Deal - Red Media - discussion 2.

I haven’t gotten my copy yet, so those discussions may change once I see how long it is.

I’d appreciate a line on a free e-copy if you’ve got one. I’ll probably purchase it here: https://www.commonnotions.org/red-media

Next Title

If you would like to suggest the next title please put in a separate comment with the words “submission suggestion”. I think the highest voted title should win.

Books should be:

  • not suggested for beginners.
  • not overly technical or philosophical (I’m just not smart enough to lead those discussions).
  • relatively short (so as not to lose too much momentum).
  • regionally or subject specific (like Che’s Guerilla Warfare is topically specific, or Decolonization is Not a Metaphor is regionally specific?).
  • readily available.

Thanks for your time! :)

  • @redtea
    7•1 year ago

    Great comments!

    The lack of sources is frustrating.

    The references to the classics also made me wonder… If she were a twenty-first century reactionary, I’d challenge her on the following quote:

    The ancient world considered friendship and “loyalty until the grave” to be civic virtues. Love in the modern sense of the word had no place, and hardly attracted the attention either of poets or of writers.

    If we see all those Greek and Roman pots as evidence of ‘love’, Kolontai could be read as rejecting evidence of homosexuality and calling it ‘friendship’ to avoid having to discuss it. As it is, she does not seem to be saying that homosexual love did not exist but that this kind of love, even heterosexual, was less important than friendship. I’m unsure what to think about this.

    And speaking of friendship, that material could be expanded. It would be nice to see some more analysis of how friendship is treated in capitalism. I think you’re right. This message gets a bit lost in the political rhetoric about revolutionaries being the ones with solidarity, etc.

    • diegeticscream[all]🔻OP
      4•1 year ago

      If we see all those Greek and Roman pots as evidence of ‘love’, Kolontai could be read as rejecting evidence of homosexuality and calling it ‘friendship’ to avoid having to discuss it.

      I thought the same!

      • @redtea
        4•1 year ago

        I’m glad you prompted me to read it, still. But there are parts that Kolontai would (I hope) write differently if she were writing today.