ABSTRACT
The goal of this paper is to evaluate the extent to
which Stalin has used the ideology of communism to promote feminism in Soviet Union in the 1930s and early 1940s. In
order to do so, this paper focuses on one of the central notions of Stalin’s
domestic policies, the “New Soviet Woman.” This concept stresses on two major
elements, industrial productivity and
reproductivity at home, and praises women’s roles as workers and mothers. After
a series of study on the propaganda Stalin has used and the legislations he has
enabled to fulfill these two goals, I come to a conclusion that Stalin uses the
emancipation of women as a pretense to mobilize women mainly for economic development
and military preparation. To prove that Stalin has failed to promote feminism,
the paper is structured as followed. First, there is a specific definition of
feminism, which is constituted of two parts: equality and freedom. For each of them, the paper lists out
some of Stalin’s policies that are evidence of positive but limited feminist
progress to explain the definition and also to qualify the main argument. Then,
there are two major sections, which correspond to the two focuses of the “New
Soviet Woman.” Within each part, there are two subparts that discuss how
Stalin’s policies have violated the two fundamental
principles of feminism, equality and
freedom, respectively. With this paper, I distinguish opportunities from
equality, prove that public expectations restrict freedom, and thus challenge
the conventional view of the absolutely positive relationship between a
communist regime and the growth of feminism under it.