In the annals of Industrialization, the Soviet experience is unique in its whirlwind rapidity. Even more striking was the critical role of women: in no country of the world did women come to constitute such a significant part of the working class in so short a time. They composed a larger percentage of the working class, filled an unprecedented share of jobs in heavy industry, and served as the first targeted 'reserve' for Soviet labour policy and recruitment. As women undercut the strict hierarchies of skill and gender within the factories, they forced male workers to re-examine their ideas about 'masculine' and 'feminine' work, and women's role in the work place. Using new Russian archival materials, Women at the Gates is the first social history of Soviet women workers in the 1930s.

‘As the first densely researched and vividly argued social history of Soviet women workers in the 1930s, Goldman’s monograph fills a long-standing gap in the existing historiography … Her nuanced paradigm will provide new insight into the history of women under Stalinism. This volume will be of great interest to students of Russian history as well as women’s studies, and the archival references will be an invaluable starting point for future scholars.’

Source: History

‘… a specialized and highly focused study that integrates women into the history of soviet industrialization. As such it is recommended primarily to scholars interested in Soviet economic, labour, and women’s history.’

Source: Slavonic and East European Review