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Konkordiya Samoilova[edit]

Konkordiia Samoilova

Konkordiya Nikolavna Samoilova (née Gromova) (1876-June 3, 1921), also spelled Konkordiia, a bolshevik, was a founding editor of the Russian newspaper, Pravda, in 1912.[1] She was a revolutionary and activist for women workers both before and after the Bolshevik Revolution.[2] She devoted her life to the cause of proletarian women.[3] Feeling strongly as a Communist, she sometimes used the name "Natasha Bolshevikova".[4] Her ability to speak to women in a non-degrading manner set Samoilova apart from others, as she became an influential activist for women.

Early years[edit]

Samoilova's father was a priest in Irkutsk, Siberia, and she had a sister, Kaleriia. Samoilova graduated with a gold medal from gymnasium in Irkutsk. She took part in her first demonstration in February 1897 while a university student, studying Bestuzhev Courses in St. Petersburg, protesting the death of a student who was a political prisoner that burned herself alive.[5] The demonstration turned violent and a women was killed.[1] While in St. Petersburg, Samoilova took interest in social issues and read the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.[1] In 1901, she took part in another demonstration protesting the hardships on the urban poor and the imprisonment of students in Kiev, at this demonstration she was arrested and spent 3 months in prison.[1] Her time in prison caused her to be expelled from the university because she was deemed "politically undesirable."[1] She returned home to Irkutsk until early 1902. While home in Irkutsk, she spent time listening to people who had been exiled to Siberia for political offenses and revolutionary thought. [6] She then received a passport and left for Paris to study Marxism at the Vol'naaia Russkaia shkola obshchestvennykh nauk (Free Russian School of Social Sciences) where the lecturers included Vladimir Lenin and Julius Martov. [6]

Career[edit]

In 1903, she joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (bolsheviks) or RSDLP(b).[7] She was arrested four times between 1902 and 1913, and spent a year in prison. In 1912, she was a founding editor, along with Praskoviia Kudelli, of the newspaper Rabotnitsa meaning "Woman worker".[8] While back in Russia, she was a propagandist often working under the pseudonym Natasha Bolshevikova pushing for revolutionary cause.[7] At the First All-Russian Women's Congress in November 1918, she sat on the podium with Inessa Armand, Alexandra Kollontai, and Klavdiia Nikolaeva.[9]

In 1917 Konkordiia Samoilova worked with Alexandra Kollontai to establish the First Conference of Women Workers in Petrograd, Russia. She then went on to help organize the First All-Russian Congress of Women's Workers in 1918.[2] This congress became a platform for women of different backgrounds to voice their complaints and debate a course of action for women workers. It also lead to decrees for the legal equality of men and women during the onset of the October Revolution.[2] Samoilova was also involved with the Zhenotdel and had a focus on working with Ukrainian women.[7]

During the years of 1920-1921 Samoilova worked on a ship, as a top party representative and head of the political department, named the Krasnaia zvezda which is translated as Red Star. This ship was tasked with propagandizing the Bolshevik ideas in cities along the Vol'ga.[10][11] It would bring skilled orators and live performances to speak to the public on social issues.[10]

International Women's Day 1913[edit]

Samoilova played a role in the organization of one of the largest International Women's Day celebrations held in St. Petersburg in 1913.[8] This event was organized by the special holiday committee established by the Petersburg Committee of the Social Democratic Party. The event gathered a large crowd of over 1,000 people with a significant police presence, it also saw many speakers present for the first time in their careers such as Alexander Grigor'eva-Alekseeva.[8] Topics spoken about included: prostitution by Anna Gurevich, and the assembly of female workers by Maria Ianchevskaia.[8] This celebration also saw speakers talk about long hours, sexual harassment, and working conditions. [5] The successful gathering served as a testament to the importance and influence of women in Russia, pressuring Bolshevik leaders to take notice of the solidarity.[5]

Time At The Rabotnitsa[edit]

1914 Publication of the Rabotnitsa

The Rabotnitsa was a Russian newspaper catered towards the woman worker. It was an umbrella for those interested in solving the "woman question" and emancipation. Konkordiia Samoilova, along with Inessa Armand, Nadezhda Krupskaya, Liudmila Stal and Klavdiya Nikolayeva, was a founder of the influential newspaper. Days before the first publication, 6 out of the 7 editors were arrested for suspicion of illegal activity. The newspaper mainly criticized working conditions and treatment of women. It was finally banned in June of 1914 after several publications. [5] In 1925, after her death she received an entire section of a publication devoted to her memory. [5]

Personal life[edit]

She met Arkadi A. Samoilov in 1906 and they married in 1913. They had two children.[11] Her husband died in 1919 of typhoid fever. While on her journeys with the Krasnaia zvezda, Samoilova searched for her husband's grave.[7] On a different journey, Konkordiia contracted cholera and died at the age of 45 in 1921 in Astrakhan.[7]

  1. ^ a b c d e Clements, Barbara Evans (1997). Bolshevik women. Cambridge University Press. pp. 24, 25, 55, 56, 206–. ISBN 978-0-521-59920-7. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  2. ^ a b c Noonan, Norma C. (2001). Encyclopedia of Russian women's movements. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 66, 67–. ISBN 978-0-313-30438-5. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  3. ^ Lincoln, W. Bruce (6 May 1999). Red victory: a history of the Russian Civil War. Da Capo Press. pp. 68–. ISBN 978-0-306-80909-5. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  4. ^ Political geography. Butterworth-Heinemann. 1998. p. 260. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  5. ^ a b c d e Vavra, Nancy G. “Rabotnitsa”, Constructing the Bolshevik Ideal: Women and the New Soviet State, University of Colorado at Boulder, Ann Arbor, 2002. ProQuest, http://access.library.miami.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/304812103?accountid=14585.
  6. ^ a b Clements, Barbara Evans, 1945- (1997). Bolshevik women. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-45403-4. OCLC 36074443.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ a b c d e Noonan, Norma C. (2001). Encyclopedia of Russian women's movements. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 66, 67–. ISBN 978-0-313-30438-5. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  8. ^ a b c d Ruthchild, Rochelle Goldberg,. Equality & revolution : women's rights in the Russian Empire, 1905-1917. Pittsburgh, Pa. ISBN 978-0-8229-7375-1. OCLC 794700634.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Clements, Barbara Evans (1997). Bolshevik women. Cambridge University Press. pp. 24, 25, 55, 56, 206–. ISBN 978-0-521-59920-7. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  10. ^ a b Space, place, and power in modern Russia : essays in the new spatial history. Bassin, Mark., Ely, Christopher David, 1963-, Stockdale, Melissa Kirschke. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press. 2010. ISBN 978-0-87580-425-5. OCLC 497574295.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  11. ^ a b Noonan, Norma C. (2001). Encyclopedia of Russian women's movements. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 66, 67–. ISBN 978-0-313-30438-5. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
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