I. The woman question. The Bolsheviks and the genealogy of the woman question -- II. Gender in the context of state-making and civil war. Sharp eyes and tender hearts: passing new legislation and fighting the civil war ; Identity and organization: creating the women's sections of the Communist Party ; War communism at its height: lobbying on behalf of women workers -- III. The new threat to the social contract. The liquidation crisis in Zhenotdel politics ; The crisis in economics: the social contract endangered ; The new threat: Zhenotdel criticisms of the social costs of NEP ; Daily life and gender transformation
Summary
"How could the baba--traditionally, the 'backward' Russian woman--be mobilized as a 'comrade' in the construction of a new state and society? Drawing on recently opened archives, [the author] explains why the Bolsheviks proved unable and ultimately unwilling to realize their ideological notions of a gender-neutral society. Focusing on the creation and activities of the zhenotdel, a special women's section within the Russian Communist Party, [she] reconstructs how notions of gender sameness and difference both facilitated and complicated Bolshevik efforts at state-building during the Civil War and the New Economic Policy"--Page 4 of cover
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-309) and index
