Alexandra Kollontai

“Gabrille Tousignant, "St-Petersbourg workers of the textile industry," Kollontai.net”

“Helen Ward, "Alexandra Kollontai," PermanentRevolution.net”

“Christine Thomas, "For socialism and women's liberation," (Archived 2009-10-25) Socialism Today, March 2003.”

“Alexandra Kollontai Internet Archive at {{w|Marxists Internet Archive}}.”

“I stand on the threshold of new missions and life is making new demands upon me. No matter what further tasks I shall be carrying out, it is perfectly clear to me that the complete liberation of the working woman and the creation of the foundation of a new sexual morality will always remain the highest aim of my activity, and of my life.”

“My life was as crammed with strenuous work and highly interesting experiences alike.”

“The work began with great zeal and the most roseate hopes. A splendid summer and an eventful winter marked the year of 1923! The newly resumed trade relations were in full swing: Russian corn and Norwegian herring and fish, Russian wood products and Norwegian paper and cellulose.”

“In all the social relations which I had during the three years of my work in Norway, I never once experienced the least trace of aversion or mistrust against woman's {{w|capabilities}}. To be sure, the healthy, democratic spirit of the {{w|Norwegian people}} greatly contributed to this. Thus the fact is to be confirmed that my work as official Russian representative in Norway was never, and in no wise, made difficult for the reason that I belonged "to the weaker sex."”

“The Revolution was in full swing. The struggle was becoming increasingly irreconcilable and bloodier, much of what was happening did not fit in with my outlook. But after all there was still the unfinished task, women's liberation. Women, of course, had received all rights but in practice, of course, they still lived under the old yoke: without authority in family life, enslaved by a thousand menial household chores, bearing the whole burden of maternity, even the material cares, because many women now found life alone as a result of the war and other circumstances.”

“I never gave a thought to any kind of danger, being all too engrossed in matters of an utterly different character.”

“When one recalls the first months of the Workers' Government, months which were so rich in magnificent illusions, plans, ardent initiatives to improve life, to organize the world anew, months of the real romanticism of the Revolution, one would in fact like to write about all else save about one's self.”

“Then came the great days of the {{w|October Revolution}}. {{w|Smolny}} became historic. The sleepless nights, the permanent sessions. And, finally, the stirring declarations. "The Soviets take power!" "The Soviets address an appeal to the peoples of the world to put an end to the war." "The land is socialized and belongs to the peasants!"”

“The issue was to wage a struggle against the war, against coalescence with the liberal bourgeoisie, and for the power of the {{w|workers' councils}}, the Soviets.”

“Looking back one perceives only a massive operation, struggle, and action. In reality there were no heroes or leaders. It was the people, the working people, in soldiers' uniform or in civilian attire, who controlled the situation and who recorded its will indelibly in the history of the country and mankind. It was a sultry summer, a crucial summer of the revolutionary flood-tide in 1917!”

“Such is life's irony.”

“To me the war was an abomination, a madness, a crime, and from the first moment onwards–more out of impulse than reflection–I inwardly rejected it and could never reconcile myself with it up to this very moment.”

“It must be admitted that, although I possessed a certain degree of ambition, like every other active human being, I was never animated by the desire to obtain "a post." For me "what I am" was always of less importance than "what I can," that is to say, what I was in a position to accomplish. In this way I, too, had my ambition and it was especially noticeable there where I stood with my whole heart and soul in the struggle, where the issue was the abolition of the slavery of working women.”

“My Marxist outlook pointed out to me with an illuminating clarity that women's liberation could take place only as the result of the victory of a new social order and a different economic system.”

“Not a single one of the men who were close to me has ever had a direction-giving influence on my inclinations, strivings, or my world-view. On the contrary, most of the time I was the guiding spirit. I acquired my view of life, my {{w|political line}} from life itself, and in uninterrupted study from books.”

“I could not lead a happy, peaceful life when the working population was so terribly enslaved.”