Sofia Smidovich

Post revolution, it became clear that Smidovich was one of the more conservative Bolshevik feminists and she openly rejected Kollontai's ideas of free love and the destruction of the family unit.^[4] She instead wanted to focus on the plight of "single motherhood".^[2] Smidovich believed the family should have a healthy relationship of equal partners, not the complete destruction of traditional romantic relationships. Smidovich would eventually oust Kollontai as head of the Zhenotdel in 1922. Smidovich was very much in line with government policy at the time, which was against radical ideas of free love. Kollontai would describe her relationship with Smidovich in her memoirs as "too painful to talk about".^[5]

Smidovich remained an outspoken critic of "loose sexual tendencies".^[2] However, like most radical feminists at the time, she disappeared in political obscurity, after the rise of Stalin. Stalin viewed many feminists as potential opposition, so Smidovich was suppressed.^[6] Smidovich would die in November 1934 in Moscow.