Women's Issue in the Worldview of the Russian Right-wingers the Late Imperial Period

Abstract

The paper addresses and analyzes the attitude towards woman and the question of women’s rights of the Russian right-wing politicians in the early 20th century. The paper demonstrates the visions of the right-wingers of the place of women in the Russian society, their attitude toward feminism and fight for women’ rights, place and role of women in the right monarchical movement. The paper introduces in scientific discourse some new sources which allow for refining conventional viewpoints on the attitude of rightists toward the question of women’s rights and enhance our insight into the place of this question in ideology and practice of the pre-revolutionary Russian conservatism. Stemming from church and patriarchal convictions, the right-wingers largely limited women’s activities by family life, but their views on the issue of women's rights did not rule out progress in this area. Right-wingers were not foes to extension of women’s participation in labor activity although with significant reservations. Being foes to feminism and emancipation of women, the right-wingers tried to position a negative image of women’s rights activists. They linked this fight with the revolutionary assault on traditional social foundations and statehood. At the same time, the right-wingers were utterly alien to misogyny, they praised an ideal of womanhood corresponding to their conservative worldview. The right-wingers willingly admitted women into the folds of their unions, but wished to perceive them not as party activists and leaders, but as a force that would quell political tension inside the monarchical movement and primarily deal with issues of culture, philanthropy, education, and other “womanish” matters.

Keywords:

women’s question, feminism, gender history, Russian right, Black Hundreds, nationalists, right-wing parties, conservatism, Russian Empire