The invention relates to a process for the production of water- and aqueous liquid-swellable, water-insoluble synthetic fibres, in which the aqueous monomer solution is converted into filament form with addition of a crosslinking agent and a filament-drawing additive before the polymerisation, and is polymerised in this state. The filament-drawing additives used are water-soluble, high-molecular-weight compounds based on aliphatic polyethers, for example polyethylene oxide or polypropylene oxide, or based on polyacrylates, for example poly(meth)acrylic acid or poly(meth)acrylamide. The invention furthermore relates to the use of these fibres as an absorption material for aqueous solutions.
