Feminist Histories of (Post)Socialism

Feminist histories have been written, rewritten, and unwritten based on universalized liberal frameworks, privileging Western feminist paradigms over sociopolitical realities on the ground. This article seeks to trouble the dominant account of feminism’s development in (post)-socialist Lithuania by, first, reflecting on the prevalence of Western liberal frameworks in constructing (Lithuanian) feminism and, second, critically examining how socialist feminism has been erased from contemporary accounts of Soviet history. This article challenges the prevailing depictions that position Soviet women as passive subjects with no agency. By moving away from a Western-centric account of what is deemed “feminist,” the article calls for a rethinking of agency and emancipatory practices within the specific constraints and possibilities of different sociopolitical and ideological superstructures, whether it be state socialism or neoliberal capitalism. The article proposes embedding socialist feminism as a legitimate historical development with its own logic and ongoing legacy. Such rethinking allows for an account of feminism that is rooted in Lithuania’s specific sociopolitical context, repositioning the (post)-socialist space as a producer rather than merely a recipient of feminist knowledge.