Alexandra Mikhailovna "Shura" Kollontai (March 31 1872 - March 9, 1952) was a Russian Communist revolutionary, first as a member of the Mensheviks, then from 1914 on as a Bolshevik. In 1919 she became the first female government minister in Europe. In 1923, she was appointed Soviet Ambassador to Norway, becoming the world's first female ambassador.

Alexandra Mikhailovna "Shura" Kollontai (March 31 1872 - March 9, 1952) was a Russian Communist revolutionary, first as a member of the Mensheviks, then from 1914 on as a Bolshevik. In 1919 she became the first female government minister in Europe. In 1923, she was appointed Soviet Ambassador to Norway, becoming the world's first female ambassador.

A manifesto of the Workers Opposition, a group within the USSR's Communist Party that rejected Leninist centralization and Stalinist dictatorship, and argued for direct worker control of the industries, democratic socialism, the rights of labor unions, the right of free criticism of Party leaders and programs, the end of Party repression, and a return to the original worker-organized Council-based state structure. Most of the Workers Opposition died in Stalin's jails.

Alexandra Kollontai the only woman member of the Bolshevik central committee and the USSR s first Minister of Social Welfare is known today as a historic contributor to the international women s movement, and as one of the first Bolshevik leaders to oppose the growth of the bureaucracy in the young socialist state. Her Selected Writings discuss the social democratic movement before the First World War, the history of the Russian women s movement, and the debate between feminist and socialist women; the effects of the war on European socialism; the revolutions; the part played by women in the revolutionary events; the early manifestations of bureaucracy and Kollontai s role as spokeswoman for the workers opposition; and morality, sexual politics, the family, and prostitution. It also includes writings from her later life as a Soviet official. Each section is introduced by a commentary in which Alix Holt explains the background and critically sets Kollontai s unique lifework in its historical and biographical contexts, demonstrating both its necessary limitations and its extraordinary range."