Alexandra Kollontai

Alexandra Kollontai was the world's first woman ambassador. She served as the Soviet Union's minister to Norway (1923–1925, 1927–1930), Mexico (1925–1927), and Sweden (1930–1945). She was also the Soviet Union's first People's Commissar of Social Welfare; her closest U.S. counterpart would be the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. In this capacity she effected the passage of laws making it easier for women to obtain divorces, granting equal treatment to illegitimate children and their mothers, and involving women more completely in the arenas of society and government. As a result of her efforts and those of like-minded women, Soviet women were afforded opportunities to enter professions and to play active roles in government.

Kollontai outraged many Russians, including a number of her fellow communists, by advocating sexual relations between consenting adults outside of marriage, the raising of children by the state rather...