Dialog Büro. Dialogue Office for Civil Society Cooperation (Web)
Time: Thursdays, 18:00 | 08.01.2026-26.02.2026
Venue: virtual space
Programme: Next Lectures
15.01.2026: CARE: Inventing civic welfare through the Society of Cheap Lodgings (1859–1914)
22.01.2026: LEARN: the fight for education and credentials (1859–1868)
05.02.2026: BRAND: the Women’s Publishing Cooperative and paid intellectual labour (1863–1879)
12.02.2026: LOBBY: the first mass petition campaign for women’s education (1868–1872)
19.02.2026: FLEE: Zurich, blacklists, and the criminalization of educated women (1870–1874)
26.02.2026: MAKE THE REVOLUTION HAPPEN: from „going to the people“ to political trials and terror (1874–1881)
Language: English | Admission: free, please, register via the link
Previous event
08.01.2026: EMERGE: from „the woman question“ to women’s movement (1855–1863)
About This series tells the story of how women in the Russian Empire moved from near-invisibility in public life to visible, consequential agency in just a few decades. We follow the activists who built charities, publishing ventures, schools, petition campaigns, and finally underground networks. Along the way we trace how a women-led civic sphere confronted both patriarchy and autocracy, often under censorship and police surveillance.
The course is grounded in fresh archival research and a clear conceptual frame: Nancy Fraser’s idea of counterpublics and Ulrich Beck’s account of metamorphosis help explain how power grows in constrained spaces and then changes the rules of the game.
Why now? A fact-based narrative of effective resistance is urgently needed in an era of right-wing backlash and democratic fatigue. The project this course draws on was conceived as exactly that: a readable, evidence-rich account that restores women to the centre of Russian modern history. It also speaks to the present. Today’s Feminist Anti-War Resistance, operating under anonymity and threat of long prison terms, mirrors the survival strategies of nineteenth-century women who wrote without bylines and organized in the shadows. Remembering earlier victories and mistakes is a civic resource, not a luxury.
Vienna is a fitting place to host this conversation. In the Habsburg capital, a Women’s Employment Association formed in 1866, part of a synchronous European surge that included St. Petersburg’s Women’s Publishing Cooperative in 1863 and London’s Society for Promoting the Employment of Women. Our meetings will make these cross-border echoes audible.
Lector: Dr. Masha Bratishcheva, historian, author and podcast show-runner (Web)
Source: Gender History of Central and Eastern Europe’s Facebookpage