COURAGE

connecting collections

A presentation at the seminar "Philosophy and Studies of Women," which was organized by the "Woman and Society" Section as a part of the first seminar of women's studies, "Women's Studies of Philosophy and Literature," which was held in the 1982/83 academic year. The presentation was held in the premises of the Association of University Professors at 5 p.m. on May 6, 1983, and was the basis of a later book, The Woman Question and Self-Management (Zagreb, 1987).

Despot's basic thesis, presented in this manuscript and presentation, is that a woman is "below the level of emancipation of her class" regardless of whether she belongs to the proletariat or bourgeoisie (Despot, 1983, 2). For her, the role of Marxist feminism can be seen as a struggle for more women to work on jobs that are not poorly paid and require higher or high qualifications, jobs and salaries that would enable them to support themselves (Despot, 1983, 3). Despot is of the opinion that anyone who “is not economically emancipated is not free in these abstract work exchange units either.” She also thinks that the true proletarian “must fight against those degrading influences left by the bourgeoisie, thereby criticizing the incompleteness of the Yugoslav version of socialism”(Despot, 1983, 4-5).

The diaries are presented in the form of separate notebooks which were written by Milan Jelínek over a continuous, yet not daily, period of time. Jelínek recorded his everyday impressions, commenting on current events; a large part of them are summaries and short reviews of the books he read. The diaries prove the mindset of an enthusiastic Communist transformed to a critic, and the disappointment of the social and political development following the Prague Spring. There a also very valuable and non-encrypted, "uncensored" records about the publishing of samizdat titles and the organisation of the underground university within the activities of the Jan Hus Educational Foundation. What is interesting, are also the characteristics of other people from the academic and dissident environment.

The diary was kept by Sirje Kiin during several weeks in the autumn of 1980. It was written right after collecting signatures for the letter from 40 intellectuals, in which Kiin participated as the main collector of signatures. The diary was born out of the need to reflect on the circumstances in which the letter was written, and expresses strong emotions towards the surroundings and the context in which it happened. Out of fear that her home might be searched by the KGB, Kiin travelled to her parents' house in the town of Viljandi to write, where she left the diary for safekeeping. 
Some extracts from the diary were used in the book 40 kirja lugu (The Story of the Letter of the 40 Intellectuals) by Kiin, Rein Ruutsoo and Andres Tarand in 1990.
In the autumn of 2015, Kiin offered her diary to the prestigious Estonian literary journal Looming for publication, but it was turned down by the editor-in-chief because it was too political to be published in a cultural magazine. Finally, in November 2015, the weekly newspaper Eesti Ekspress printed extracts from the diary, under the title '40 kiri hirmutab veel 35 aastat hiljemgi' (The Letter of the 40 Intellectuals still Scares after 35 Years).