Revolutionary Women: Paper 1

Revolutionary Women: Paper 1

Paper Prompts

1. (TRADITIONAL) Answer ONE of the following prompts with reference to at least THREE of the

memoirs in Five Sisters.

1. Why did these women become revolutionaries? You might consider some of the following: Whatfactors, experiences, and choices do they privilege in their memoirs? Do the memoirs present acoherent “story” accounting for their personal evolution? Were these factors and experiences shaped by gender?
2. Do these memoirs reveal a set of particularly female experiences or illuminate how revolutionary identity was gendered?
3. Analyze how these women recall their experiences of “going to the people” and trying to liveand/or propagandize among peasants and/or workers. What were the positive and negative aspects? What expectations did they have? How did these experiences change them and contribute to their subsequent political choices?
4. Analyze how these memoirs depict the revolutionary underground – the community of fellow activists and revolutionaries. What values do they espouse and/or practice in their everyday lives? You might want to consider familial and romantic relationships, friendships, organizational duties, gender roles, etc. How is this material relevant to broader political views and programs?

(CREATIVE) It is 1880. You are a young Russian woman who has been arrested by police and put on trial. You need to write a short life-story that uses your life experiences to explain why you became a revolutionary and to justify your subsequent choices. Please append a paragraph at the beginning in which you provide basic information about yourself and the charges against you. Remember: be historically plausible and accurate.

1. You are a member of the People’s Will and have chosen violence as a method of struggle.
2. You are a member of the Black Repartition and reject violence. (Perhaps you have been arrestedfor trying to propagandize among workers and/or peasants.)

(TRADITIONAL) Russian revolutionaries (and their lawyers and supporters) were very adept at crafting positive images and messages about their movement as well as the upstanding motives and characters of key figures in it. How did revolutionary sources (portraits, letters, legal speeches) use gendered notions of women and femininity to craft positive images of revolutionary women? You might want to consider the broader messages or purposes of these texts as well as differences and contradictions between them. You may focus on the first period (1870s-80s), the second period (early 20th century), or both.

a. You may also answer this question with a detailed focus on the case of Vera Zasulich.

You may propose a paper topic of your own devising: please come talk to me during office hours, make an appointment, or send me an email with a detailed explanation of what you would like to write about. I need to hear from you no less than one week before the deadline.