“An Unexpectedly Transgressive Subject of Twentieth-Century History”: How to Write (and Why to Read) about Communist Women Today

Mrozik, Agnieszka (1979– )

doi:2450-8462

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“An Unexpectedly Transgressive Subject of Twentieth-Century History”: How to Write (and Why to Read) about Communist Women Today Mrozik, Agnieszka (1979– )

Object structure

“An Unexpectedly Transgressive Subject of Twentieth-Century History”: How to Write (and Why to Read) about Communist Women Today

Acta Poloniae Historica T. 128 (2023), Mnemonic Wars in Poland, Review Article

Mrozik, Agnieszka (1979– )

Polska Akademia Nauk. Komitet Nauk Historycznych ; Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla ; Fundacja Instytutu Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Instytut Historii Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Warszawa

2023

p. 293-306

communist women activists ; left feminists ; thought collective ; radical imagination ; state feminism ; biographical approach

This review article discusses two newly-released publications on communist women activists: Kristen Ghodsee’s Red Valkyries: Feminist Lessons from Five Revolutionary Women and The Palgrave Handbook of Communist Women Activists around the World, edited by Francisca de Haan. It focuses on questions of narrative and the persuasive function of the reviewed works, asking how and for whom one should write about communist women today. It brings to light methodological challenges, as well as those related to access to sources on communist women. It also reflects on the place that publications which tell stories of communist women who challenged gender, class, and racial inequalities in the past occupy in the perception of contemporary readers, so often confronted in these times with experiences of inequality and violence.

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