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[SOVIET ANTI-FEMINIST PROPAGANDA] Zhenskiye batal’ony imperializma [i.e. Women’s Battalions of Imperialism]

Gransberg, S.

Item #2745

Moscow: TSK MOPR SSSR, 1933. 16 pp. 17,2x12,8 cm. In original publisher’s printed wrappers. Wrappers slightly age-toned, but otherwise near fine.

Scarce. First edition. Text in Russian. Edited by A. Krasnykh.
An interesting piece of Soviet propaganda and a pointed “exposure of foreign women’s movements” by the Soviet publicist Sara Gransberg (ca. 1895-1980).
The book came out in 1933, as the USSR prepared for what it termed an “imperialist war.” As a result, women came to be seen as a key component of the state’s mobilization efforts, with new laws encouraging their participation in national defense. Independent feminist organizations were banned as counter-revolutionary, while women’s activities were redirected into state-controlled structures that emphasized participation in industrial labor and class struggle. They were also encouraged to join state-run athletic societies and the Red Cross, which provided physical training and basic military skills. At the same time, the state employed “pacifist” rhetoric, presenting Soviet women as peace-oriented in contrast to the “militarized bourgeoisie” of foreign countries and portraying Western women’s movements as instruments of anti-Soviet agendas.
In the book, the author discusses foreign women’s movements and newly-introduced female conscription laws in France, Italy, Poland, and the United States. Gransberg argues that the West was actively preparing for an “imperialist war” and claims that women were being systematically drawn into these war efforts through various social institutions such as the church and the Red Cross. Interestingly, the book explicitly identifies several female unions as openly fascist, including the Stahlhelm, the Queen Louise League, and the Frauenschaft in Germany; the Catholic Women’s Union, the Organization for Military Training and Rodzina Wojskowa in Poland; as well as the Daughters of the American Revolution and the National Federation of Girls’ Camps in the United States. Gransberg further claims that bourgeois feminists, Catholic groups, and Social Democratic organizations used “pacifist” rhetoric as a cover for preparations for an anti-Soviet campaign. The text also highlights women’s increased involvement in the military-industrial sphere, particularly in chemical industries and intelligence work. The book concludes by pointing to growing resistance, citing women’s strikes in China, Japan, Poland, and Germany as evidence of an intensifying global class struggle.
Overall, an extremely rare document of Soviet propaganda, interpreting the global women’s movement of the 1930s as a battlefield for imperialist interests and revolutionary mobilization.

No copies found in Worldcat.

Price: $650.00

Status: On Hold