Alexandra Kollontai belongs to the political record as a figure whose decisions outlasted the moment that produced them.
The record lists Alexandra Kollontai as Soviet diplomat (1872-1952).
Alexandra Kollontai was born at Saint Petersburg in 1872. Her recorded nationality is Russia. She was educated at University of Zurich.
Around the turn of the twentieth century, mass movements, total war and the collapse of empires reshaped what a political career could be.
The record of office reads: Member of the Russian Constituent Assembly (1918–1918), ambassador (1943–1945) and minister (1917–1918).
Her political affiliation is recorded as Russian Social Democratic Labour Party and Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Her name is attached above all to to the October Revolution and the fall of Alexander Kerensky's Provisional Government. Political reputations are settled slowly, and rarely by the people who made them.
Recognition followed: Order of Lenin (1933), Order of the Red Banner of Labour, Order of St. Olav and Order of the Aztec Eagle (1944).
That the career was made in Russia is not incidental: the institutions available, the franchise, and the constraints of the moment all shaped what could be attempted.
Alexandra Kollontai died in 1952, aged 80. The assessment continues, as it does for anyone who held power - which is the ordinary fate of a political life.
Achievements
- Member of the Russian Constituent Assembly (1918–1918)
- ambassador (1943–1945)
- minister (1917–1918)
- chargé d'affaires (1924–1924)
- Order of Lenin — 1933
- Order of the Red Banner of Labour
- Order of St. Olav
- Order of the Aztec Eagle — 1944
- Educated at University of Zurich
