Abstract
The outbreak of the First World War provoked a surge of patriotism in Russia, among both men and women, and the popular press were fulsome in their praise of those who broke the law for patriotic reasons. Shortly after the beginning of the war, for example, articles appeared that recounted the stories of women who joined military troops by concealing their sex. The truth was usually revealed only after they had been wounded or captured. Among them were women from all classes: peasants, factory workers, aristocrats and students. Many of them were honoured with awards and their deeds were admired by the general public, a fact reflected in a sketch entitled ‘Then and Now’ (Figure 4) that appeared in the popular illustrated journal Ogonek (The Light).
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References
Unattributed newspaper articles
Jus Suffragii (1915) ‘Women and War’ (‘Extracts from Women’s Messenger) 4: 224.
Jus Suffragii. (1917) ‘Organizations which Support Women’s Suffrage’, 11: 134.
Jus Suffragii. (1918) ‘All Government Appointments Open to Women’, 12: 61.
Zhenshchina (Woman) (1915) Front cover illustration of Ida Rubinstein, 8: 1. Novoye Vremya (New Times) (8 J my 1917) ‘Ona poluchila prava’ (‘She has Gained Rights’), 25.
Novoye Vremya (New Times) (8 J my 1917) ‘Ona poluchila prava’ (’She has Gained Rights’), 25.
Ogonek (The Light) (1915) ‘Russian seasons in London’, 4: 6.
Rabotnitsa (The Woman Worker) (1917) ‘O respublicanskom Soyuze Zhensky Organizatsii pri Lige Ravnopraviya Zhenshschin’ (‘The Republican Union of Women’s Organizations Affiliated to the League of Women’s Equality’), 5: 10.
Zhensky Vestnik (Women’s Messenger) (1917) ‘Zhenshschini zagovorili’ (‘Women speaking’), 5–6: 3.
Archives and special collections
Russian State History Archive (RGIA)
Shabanova, A. (1915) Retch, proiznesennaya v den dvadtsatiletiya Zhenshschogo Vzaimnoblagotvoritelnogo Obshschestva 25 Octyabriya 1915 (Speech devoted to the 20th Anniversary of the Women’s Russian Mutual Aid Society, 25 October 1915). Fund 1075, Schedule 2, File 46.
Russian Archive of Photo and Cinema Documents Saint-Petersburg.
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© 2007 Olga Shnyrova
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Shnyrova, O. (2007). Feminism and Suffrage in Russia: Women, War and Revolution 1914–1917. In: Fell, A.S., Sharp, I. (eds) The Women’s Movement in Wartime. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230210790_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230210790_8
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