What Women Want: Sergei Tretaykov's 'I Want a Child!' and the New Soviet Woman

• In Event: Gender, Subversion, and Artistic Innovation in the Soviet Avant-Garde

Abstract

In the 1920s, during the early Soviet period, the “New Soviet Woman,” came into being as a tirelessly devoted worker and mother. Sergei Tretaykov explores the role of science, reason, and its place in motherhood through his avant-garde play titled “I Want a Child!” The play tells the story of Milda, a young proletariat, who desires a child without the traditional need for family and a husband. Though Tretyakov adheres to the rationality of the period, the play was heavily censored and ultimately banned from production. I approach this play through a feminist lens that is informed by the legal and social conditions of the early Soviet era, especially the laws on abortion and other aspects pertinent to motherhood. In my analysis, I consider the cultural limitations that Milda faces in her pursuit of motherhood and argue that it is ultimately Milda’s commitment to her own socialist ideals that ruins her chances for the happiness she desires. I also examine the differences between the two versions of the play, and consider how the role of state censorship impacts the discussion of women’s autonomy, motherhood, and family formation in the early 20th century

Author

• Rachael Neidinger, Harvard U