A WOMAN AMBASSADOR

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 124, 26 May 1923, Page 21

A WOMAN AMBASSADOR

RUSSIA'S REPRESENTATIVE IN NORWAY. Recently the, papers carried the news that the Soviet Government has appointed a woman for the position of Russian Minister to Norway, It is perhaps the first time in the history of diplomacy that a woman has been selected for such a position. And the person chosen for the place is Mme. Alexandra Michaelovna Kollantay.. Mmc : Kollantay is a romantic figure of the j Russian revolution, declares the "NewVYork Times." During the early stages of .the revolution she was Minister of Public" Welfare. In January, 1918, she met a courageous sailor who was. then, commissar [pf the navy, and she became Alexandra Michaelovna Kollantay Dubenco. Later her sailor friend disappeared, and she disappeared -wHb, him. In 1921 the Bolsheviks declared, themselves in favour of a new economic policy, and Alexandra Michaelovna opposed, the..n.ew. policy and formed a workers' opposition. And now.'she is oft; for Norway.

Mine... Kollantay is a little over 10 years old, and of slight build. She has bobbed brown; hair and a fine musical voice. She visited America in February, 1916, 'and' delivered a series of lectures against the attitude of the German Socialists aud the war in general. She argued, with Morris Hillquit at' the Rand School in New York against his "revisionistic" position. Later we. hear that she went to. the. Zimmerwald (Switzerland) and took part in the famous Socialist Conference with Lenin.

When, the Russian revolution came we find her on'the side of the Bolsheviks. And when :;,they later took charge of the reign of government, Koltentay was made Commissar of Public Welfare. After taking office Bhe was faced with a strike of the officials of ths department. Not only did her subordinates go on strike, but they also took with them the key of' the treasury of the department. The key disappeared and Mme. Kollantay, the charming lady, used force to locate the whereabouts of the key. She sent for Red Guards, and, backed -by armed force, the key was handed over and the department officials "listened to reason." She carried on the work of welfare for a few years, and then was replaced.

■ As Mme. Kollantay, orator, she, i» unmatched in the ranke of the Russian women communists. But administrator* work is not her strong side. The writer, who saw Mme. Kollantay in Moscow before her departure for Norway, asked her why she was in, oppose tion to the. new economic polioy. "That is a thing of the past now," she answered. "The crisis could have been overcome perhaps in another way. But something had to be done, and the majority of our parly agreed on the new economic policy. What our party must do at present? is to introduce democratic measures within its own ranks. I mean that places for officials in the Communist Party—l do not talk about the Government—which before were filled without, elections on account of the esceptional conditions prevailing in the countcy should be filled now by elections. An opposition within the party does not exist as yet. As far as. the Government is concerned, we jnust. workto eliminate as much as possible the bureaucracy, and red tape which have always been such a curse to Russia. But we are learning." It has been said in connection with Mme. Kollantay's career that she is a feminist. This, ia only partly true. Russia has not had feminists as we aro used to know them in this country or in England. The Russian feminists were generally also revolutionists. And Mme. Kollantay was never; a pure feminist. She wrote a good deal on New Movals and Women Welfare. . But she treated these •• problems f rom ' a .Socialist ppint, of view,, though always with a romantic touch.-, ..