A fascinating account of the central role of women in the Russian Revolution

The Women’s Revolution, Judy Cox, Counterfire 2017

The dominant view of the Russian Revolution of 1917 is of an all-male affair. Despite the demonstrations of female workers for ‘bread and herrings’ which sparked the February Revolution, in the historical accounts of this momentous period, women are too often relegated to the footnotes.

Judy Cox argues that, in fact, women were central to the success of the revolution and to the development of the Bolshevik Party. With biographical sketches of famous female revolutionaries like Alexandra Kollontai and less well-known figures like Elena Stasova and Larissa Reisner, The Women’s Revolution tells the inspiring story of how Russian women threw off centuries of oppression to strike, organise and fight for their liberation.