1872-1952. Russian revolutionary, politician,
and writer. In 1905 she published On the
Question of the Class Struggle, and, as
Commissar for Public Welfare, was the only
female member of the first Bolshevik
government. She campaigned for domestic
reforms such as acceptance of free love,
simplification of divorce laws, and
collective childcare. In 1896, while on a
tour of a large textile factory with her
husband, she saw the appalling conditions
endured by factory workers in Russia.
Thereafter she devoted herself to improving
conditions for working women. She was
harassed by the police for her views and in
1914 went into exile in Germany. On her
return to the Soviet Union in 1917 she joined
the Bolsheviks. She was sent abroad by
Stalin, first as trade minister, then as
ambassador to Sweden 1943. She took part in
the armistice negotiations ending the
Soviet-Finnish War 1944. She toured the USA
to argue against its involvement in World War
I and organized the first all-Russian
Congress of Working and Peasant Women 1918.
She published The Love of Worker Bees 1923.