In general, socialist women followed the predominant socialist attitudes to political developments in Europe. The Russian revolution was greeted as “a glimpse of light.” Admiration for the Soviet Union and abhorrence of the Nazi and fascist regimes was partly explained by the fate of women under the latter. Alexandra Kollontai, among the most prominent Bolsheviks — commissar for social policies after 1917, Soviet ambassador to Norway in 1927 and to Sweden in the 1930s — was viewed as the symbol of the important possibilities offered to women in the Soviet Union. Many of the articles on the U.S.S.R. in Working Class Woman stressed positive changes for women. True, there were difficulties in building a socialist society, but improvements were considered more important: better wages, better employment opportunities, and better education. Even the Soviet restrictions on abortion adopted in 1936 were defended on the grounds that assistance to pregnant women and mothers was now sufficient and that day care centers were being built at an astonishing rate. Although there still was room for improvement, dire want and poverty no longer required abortion as an option. Restrictions on abortion were also seen as a protection of women against sexual exploitation. Professional Online essay editing by trusted editors: online editing of high quality only! A number of articles in 1938 and 1939 praised the wonderful conditions for children, the marvelous school system, and other improvements of importance especially to women. Working Class Woman offered no criticism of the Soviet Union before 1939.
But admiration for the “first socialist state” was brought to an abrupt end with the Finnish-Soviet war of 1939. All sympathy now was directed towards the Finnish working class. Immediate action was taken to send assistance in the form of doctors, nurses, medicine, clothes, all provided by extremely successful fund-raising campaigns in which labor women participated.
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