Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Nadezhda Krupskaya | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 26 February 1869 St. Petersburg, Russia |
| Died | 27 February 1939 Moscow, USSR |
Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya (Russian: Надежда Константиновна Крупская, scientific transliteration Nadežda Konstantinovna Krupskaja; 26 February 1869 [O.S. 14 February] - February 27, 1939) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary. She married Bolshevik founder Vladimir Lenin in 1898 when they were both in exile, banished by the Okhrana. Since her term of exile (5 years) started three years into Lenin's, upon his release Lenin went off to travel across Europe for 3 years, leaving her in exile, only returning upon her release.
Krupskaya's relationship with Lenin is intriguing. Her political life was active: some would put her in the same category as Alexandra Kollontai. She was a functionary of the Bolshevik faction of the RSDLP from the early days. After the October Revolution, she was appointed deputy to Anatoli Lunacharsky, the People's Commissar for Education. Her relationship with Lenin was more professional than marital - which Kollantai compared to slavery - but she remained loyal, never once considering divorce.
Krupskaya is believed to have suffered from Graves' disease, an illness affecting the thyroid gland in the neck which causes the eyes to bulge and the neck to tighten. In female sufferers it can also disrupt the menstrual cycle, which may explain why Lenin and Krupskaya never had children (and the rumours about Lenin allegedly choosing to have an affair with Inessa Armand). As a result of her disease she was codenamed 'Fish' inside the Party, and Lenin allegedly used to call her "my little herring".
Although she was highly regarded within the party, Krupskaya was unable to prevent Joseph Stalin's consolidation of power after Lenin's death. She was then politically isolated by Stalin and his supporters. She had in fact been insulted by Stalin when he referred to her as a "syphilitic whore". The result of this eventually led to a permanent break in the already fragile relationship between Lenin and Stalin. She publicly disagreed with Stalin over the preservation and public display of her husband's body, which, it is rumoured, prompted Stalin to observe "Comrade Lenin may be in need of a new widow".
Krupskaya is the author of the biography Reminisces of Lenin, which chronicles the life of her husband. However, the accuracy of this work has come into question due to her conspicuous omission of certain details about Lenin’s life: the book fails to mention the execution of Tsar Nicholas II and his family shortly after Lenin’s rise to power, and she omits any reference to the Red Terror. Her biography is the most detailed account of Lenin’s life, although it curiously ends in 1918, shortly after the Bolsheviks took power.
The asteroid 2071 Nadezhda was named in her honour.
