🥉 👔 🧓🏽 "The theory of a glass of water" by Alexandra Kollontai 🤠 🎈 🚼

It is believed that the propaganda of the promiscuity of intimate relationships, polygamy, promiscuity and other types of debauchery came to us from the West along with the sexual revolution that thundered in the second half of the sixties. It is possible that the “children of flowers" played a role in shaping modern views on the family throughout the world, but it is not worth diminishing the significance of Marxism in this process. The most striking manifestation of agitation for free relations between men and women was the “Theory of a glass of water” by Alexandra Kollontai, which was very popular among the youth of the twenties, and now almost forgotten.

Background

Marx defined the family as a way of preserving inheritance rights to acquired property. She, in her bourgeois manifestation, was stigmatized and called the instrument of enslavement of women. Supporters of emancipation who had nothing to do with communism looked at marriage in much the same way. Progressive theorists of various kinds, preaching universal equality, agreed in the 19th century that soon the concepts of “husband” and “wife” would wither away as unnecessary. Under communism, property as such will disappear, therefore, there will be nothing to inherit, and fathers will not need to worry about whether their children are like them. In addition, families bring up egoists, and the new society will need people of a new type, free from obsolete views. The pedagogical function should ideally be socialized, like everything else. A woman will work on a par with a man and will in no way yield to him. The task of creating a new person received a completely concrete direction. A new woman will give birth to him, and society will raise him. Enlightened by the idea of equality, workers will not cook home dinners, eat (rather than eat) they will go to the kitchen factories, where they will be fed tasty and fully three times a day.

These are the theoretical foundations of "The theory of a glass of water." But the main thing that excites the curiosity of the layman, concerns another question. How will this happen under communism?

theory of a glass of water alexandra kollontai

Labor bees

Remarkable satirical writers Ilf and Petrov, discussing the “big and small worlds,” compared the folk achievements of the great construction projects and industrial development of the country with trifling foxtrotics, philistine claims to grace and philistine ideas about life. Among the attributes of backward thinking, they, along with dresser elephants, called the female armpits, obviously produced then, from the cork, called "Love of Labor Bees". Nevertheless, it was precisely Bolshevichka Kollontai who came up with to compare Soviet women with these working insects. “The theory of a glass of water” is directly related to the concept of “labor bees”, who were once puzzled by finding a suitable drone for mating - they are busy with business.

The bearer of the idea and its personification

Alexandra Mikhailovna Domontovich was born in St. Petersburg in 1872. She received a very good education, albeit at home, but versatile. In 1893, she, of her choice, rebelled against the will of her parents, married V. Kollontay, a poor officer, but five years later left him, leaving him with a son. Her further biography is connected with the revolutionary movement. According to the memoirs of Ivan Bunin, who knew A. Kollontai, set forth in The Cursed Days, this woman had a two-faced nature, which was expressed in a tendency to change clothes. Here she is in a working scarf at a rally, and he ended, right there - a bath, a box of chocolates and sincere conversations with a friend.

Alexandra’s romance with the Bolshevik Dybenko was stormy, and each of the partners did not bind himself with a vow of fidelity.

Bolshevichka demonstrated remarkable diplomatic talents, although not without some curious incidents. She escaped the Stalinist repressions and died safely a year before the death of the “father of nations”. "The theory of a glass of drunk water" became its most famous achievement, although there were many others.

The meaning of the theory

Now about the essence of Alexandra Mikhailovna’s views on matrimonial issues. So, the “love of labor bees” is not directly related to the high feeling that bears this name. The concept "The theory of a glass of water" fits into two words: "wanted - drank." But there is no thirst, and it is not necessary. People of the future should satisfy their intimate needs without wasting time and emotions, without interrupting production activities if possible . Of course, these views were not expressed so primitively, the syllable was more refined, and the theoretical justification was impeccable, but the essence is approximately the same. Man was not even compared to an animal, but to a winged insect, for which the instinct of reproduction served as the main stimulating factor. The reproduction of similar individuals is also a matter of social utility, necessary and even necessary. A new woman, free from prejudice and conventions, was supposed to conceive children in this way. All people are equal, therefore, the choice of a father for future offspring does not matter. The youth of the twenties in their essence differed little from the modern one. Is it any wonder that the “Glass of Water Theory” was a huge success?

Opponents

Oddly enough, many of the leaders of the Bolshevik party, including Lenin, did not share Kollontai’s views on the sexual issue. The proletarian leader himself did not deny the presence of thirst, but considered it impossible to quench it from any source currently available, for example, from a dirty puddle, and he made some demands on the cleanliness of the glass. “The theory of a glass of water” was also objected to by Lunacharsky, who even wrote a critical article “On Life ...” devoted to youth issues. The views of Kollontai were not fully recognized as Marxist, although they were not called absolutely hostile or harmful either. The brave Bolsheviks simply pointed out some difference between freedom and debauchery.

Supporters and abstentions

As already mentioned, the target social base of Alexandra Mikhailovna’s views was mainly immature youth. It was somehow embarrassing for the Komsomol members to refuse their male comrades in intimacy, which they willingly used. But not only among the young members of the Communist International of Youth enjoyed the fame "The theory of a glass of water." Mayakovsky, the great proletarian futuristic poet, for example, lived a difficult life. And although he called in the windows of GROWTH “not to imitate the bourgeois” and to the theater to take his wife “his own, not another's”, he allowed himself some liberties. Other Soviet artists, sometimes elderly, did not lag behind the poet.

The use of theory by enemies of Soviet power

The overwhelming majority of the population of the former Russian Empire was not ready to accept the idea that seemed to Clara Zetkin and Alexandra Kollontai so progressive and attractive. “The theory of a glass of water”, of course, found its adherents, but their enthusiasm for it was selective. Supporters of "quenching thirst", going "to the left," usually did not grant their wives and husbands the right to use it, philistinely observing the purity of their own family nest. Opponents of Bolshevism have repeatedly used this psychological feature of the Russian people, attributing to the Communists even vices that they did not possess. For example, a certain Uvarov, being a member of the nationalist Union of the Russian People, published a decree composed by him, allegedly issued by the Saratov Provincial Council of People's Commissars, which declared the general socialization of women and the right to use them to anyone. The same document was used for anti-communist propaganda by the Germans during the Great Patriotic War.