The Hardening of Cement : Russian Women and Modernization

The following paper analyzes changes in Soviet gender politics of the 1920s and 1930s. It starts with a general discussion of the relationship between Marxism and feminism, emphasizing issues especially relevant in the Soviet context. The second focus of the article is Fedor Gladkov's Cement, a novel originally written between 1922 and 1924 but reworked several times during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, as the official policy on women was changing. By sketching out the differences between the first and later version of Cement, the author shows how Stalinism emerged also as a response to the 1920s inability to deal with undermined traditional gender relations (and not just as a result of Stalin's consolidation of power). Consequently, it seems, all projects that aim to construct a "better society" must start with an analysis of sexual difference and desire.