The editorial Aroa Uharte and Erein have translated into Basque the book “The working bees” of the revolutionary, feminist and entrepreneur Russian Aleksandra Kollontai (1872-1952). Kollontai continued to work for the construction of a free and just society, actively participating in the most significant historical moments of the early twentieth century. He always gave priority to the struggle for the autonomy of women, despite the problems that this had caused him in the Communist Party. While studying and doing the great Revolutions written in capital letters, he never underestimated the importance of everyday intimate revolutions. He pioneered both the path of conciliation between Marxism and feminism and the feminist critique and research on love. Linked to the latter, the author proposed today some ideas in which he believes that the legacy that Kollontai has left us, in its broadest sense, will be suggestive and useful.

On the one hand, according to Kollontai's research, love has always acted historically in the interest of humanity, and the writer emphasizes that social and historical side of love. On the other hand, it distinguishes between true and superficial love. True love has it as a deep and almost magical gift, as a great generating force that “magnifies and enriches the soul of what it feels.” In Kollontai's view, we must reorient this natural power of love in favor of the collective. In fact, the mercantilist, individualistic and egocentric logic derived from capitalism has led society to a profound sexual crisis, and the individual is not able to really love one's neighbor because he sees it as a mere commodity to satisfy himself. The establishment of a communist society does not in itself mean overcoming this sexual crisis, but it is essential for this to result in a psychological revolution that will radically change society.

Within this psychological revolution, the most widespread conception of love, which is born according to the interests of the bourgeoisie and obliges women to be especially weak and dependent, must be radically changed. A new society demands the so-called “new woman” of Kollontai, a free woman who does not put love at the center of her life, who uses love as a “means to know her true self”. This new woman must abandon the triple burden imposed by capitalism

– worker, housewife, mother – with economic and psychological autonomy. To do this, it is necessary to collect education, domestic and care work, or to require the State to take care of them. Kollontai, while working as People's Commissioner in the Soviet Government, proposed and established concrete social policies that would enable us to approach these objectives.

However, he imagined that the model of love that is needed for a just and free society called it “comrade de amor.” This love must be based on the values present in the relations between workers, that is, it must derive from “spiritual solidarity among workers” and maintain a feeling of permanent and collective solidarity. According to this model, the members of a couple must recognize and take into account their rights, in addition to striving for understanding and mutual care. Each partner must have “strong support” for the other. That, yes, they will always have to take precedence over the interests of the community. This model of love was thought by Kollontai for a certain time, since that love that would be born in a communist society could not yet be defined, as it was going to be so strong and beautiful. Spiritual and moral cohesion, reduced to the sphere of the couple under the ideology of the bourgeoisie, would extend to all human relations and spheres, and that “spiritual collectivism” would ultimately defeat the “arrogant” individualist of capitalism.

Some of Kollontai's ideas may seem too utopian today. We have long ceased to believe that the subversive potential of love is so great. In any case, the life and works of Russian continue to be a source of inspiration. They help us, among other things, to rethink our love relationships and to analyze the links between our socio-historical situation and our feelings. The legacy of this revolutionary forces us to question many truths that we take for granted.