Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya ( rus, links=no, Надежда Константиновна Крупская, p=nɐˈdʲeʐdə kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvnə ˈkrupskəjə; – 27 February 1939) was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. She was a leader of the

Bolshevik party The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

and was married to

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

. Krupskaya was born in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

to an aristocratic family that had descended into

poverty Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...

, and she developed strong views about improving the lives of the poor. She embraced

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

and met Lenin at a Marxist discussion group in 1894. Both were arrested in 1896 for revolutionary activities and after Lenin was exiled to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

, Krupskaya was allowed to join him in 1898 on the condition that they marry. The two settled in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and then

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

after their exile, before briefly returning to Russia to take part in the

Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, t ...

. Following the 1917 Revolution, Krupskaya was at the forefront of the political scene, becoming a member of the Communist Party's Central Committee in 1924. She was deputy education commissar from 1929 to 1939, with strong influence over the Soviet educational system, including development of Soviet librarianship. Krupskaya died in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in 1939, a day after her seventieth birthday. The circumstances of her death and personal tensions with

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

have prompted several claims, some of which derived from Stalin's inner circle, that she was poisoned. Yuri Felshtinsky and Vladimir Pribylovsky, ''The Corporation. Russia and the KGB in the Age of President Putin'',

Encounter Books Encounter Books is a book publisher in the United States known for publishing conservative authors. It was named for '' Encounter'', the now defunct literary magazine founded by Irving Kristol and Stephen Spender. Based in New York City since 20 ...

, , 2009, p. 445.

Early life

Nadezhda Krupskaya was born to an

upper class Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status. Usually, these are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper cla ...

but impoverished family. Her father, Konstantin Ignatyevich Krupski (1838–1883), was a Russian military officer and a

nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

who had been

orphan An orphan is a child whose parents have died, are unknown, or have permanently abandoned them. It can also refer to a child who has lost only one parent, as the Hebrew language, Hebrew translation, for example, is "fatherless". In some languages ...

ed in 1847 at the age of nine. He was educated and given a

commission In-Commission or commissioning may refer to: Business and contracting * Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered ** Commission (art), the purchase or the creation of a piece of art most often on behalf of anot ...

as an infantry officer in the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

.Marcia Nell Boroughs Scott, ''Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya: A flower in the dark.'' issertationThe University of Texas at Arlington, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1996. 1383491. Just before leaving for his assignment in Poland, he married Krupskaya's mother. After six years of service, Krupski lost favour with his supervisors and was charged with "un-Russian activities". He may have been suspected of being involved with revolutionaries. Following this time he worked in factories or wherever he could find work. Just before his death, he was recommissioned as an officer. Krupskaya's mother, Yelizaveta Vasilyevna Tistrova (1843–1915), was a daughter of landless Russian nobles. Yelizaveta's parents died when she was young and she was enrolled in the

Bestuzhev Courses The Bestuzhev Courses () in Saint Petersburg were the largest and most prominent women's higher education institution in Imperial Russia. The institute opened its doors in 1878. It was named after Konstantin Bestuzhev-Ryumin, the first director ...

, the highest formal education available to women in Russia at the time. After earning her degree, Yelizaveta worked as a

governess A governess is a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching; depending on terms of their employment, they may or ma ...

for noble families until she married Krupski. Krupskaja 10

Having parents who were well educated and of aristocratic descent, combined with first-hand experience of lower-class working conditions, probably led to the formation of many of Krupskaya's ideological beliefs. "From her very childhood Krupskaya was inspired with the spirit of protest against the ugly life around her." One of Krupskaya's friends from gymnasium, Ariadne Tyrkova, described her as "a tall, quiet girl, who did not flirt with the boys, moved and thought with deliberation, and had already formed strong convictions . . . She was one of those who are forever committed, once they have been possessed by their thoughts and feelings . . ." She briefly attended two different secondary schools before finding the perfect fit with Prince A. A.

Obolensky The House of Obolensky () is an ancient Russian princely family, claiming descent from the Olgovichi branch of the Rurik dynasty. History Their name is said to derive from the town of Obolensk in the Upper Oka Principalities near Moscow. ...

's Female Gymnasium, "a distinguished private girls' secondary school in Petersburg." This education was probably more liberal than most other gymnasiums since it was noted that some of the staff were former revolutionaries. After her father's death, Krupskaya and her mother gave lessons as a source of income. Krupskaya had expressed an interest in entering the education field from a young age. She was particularly drawn to

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

's theories on education, which were fluid instead of structured. They focused on personal development of each individual student and centred on importance of the teacher–student relationship. This led Krupskaya to study many of Tolstoy's works, including his theories of reformation. These were peaceful, law-abiding ideas, which focused on people abstaining from unneeded luxuries and being self-dependent instead of hiring someone else to tend their house, etc. Tolstoy made a lasting impression on Krupskaya; it was said that she had "a special contempt for stylish clothes and comfort." She was always modest in dress, as were her furnishings in her home and office. As a devoted, lifelong student, Krupskaya began to participate in several discussion circles. These groups were formed to study and discuss particular topics for the benefit of everyone involved. It was later, in one of these circles, that Krupskaya was first introduced to the theories of

Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

. This piqued her interest as a potential way of making life better for her people and she began an in-depth study of Marxist philosophy. This was difficult since books on the subject had been banned by the Russian government, meaning that revolutionaries collected them and kept them in underground libraries. In 1890, she joined a Marxist circle organised by the engineer, Robert Klasson. The following year, she took a job in a Sunday school for adult workers.

Married life

Krupskaya first met Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (later known as Vladimir Lenin) in February 1894 at a similar discussion group. She was impressed by his speeches but not his personality, at least not at first. It is hard to know very much of the courtship between Lenin and Krupskaya as neither party spoke often of personal matters. In October 1896, several months after Lenin was arrested, Krupskaya was also arrested. She was briefly interned in the

Peter and Paul Fortress The Peter and Paul Fortress () is the original citadel of Saint Petersburg, Russia, founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and built to Domenico Trezzini's designs from 1706 to 1740 as a star fortress. Between the first half of the 1700s and early ...

, but was released after another female convict burned herself to death. She was sentenced to three years exile in Ufa, but before she was deported, she received a "secret note" from Lenin, delivered by her mother, which suggested that she could be permitted to join him in his place of exile, a village in the

Minusinsk Minusinsk (; ) is a historical types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. Population: 44,500 (1973). History "About 330-200 B.C. the iron age triumphed at Minusinsk, producing spiked axes, partly bronze and ...

region of Siberia if she told people she was his fiancée. Krupskaya was permitted to accompany Lenin but only if they were married as soon as she arrived. Her mother travelled with her to Siberia, where she joined Lenin in May 1898. In her memoirs, Krupskaya notes "with him even such a job as translation was a labour of love". It is believed Krupskaya suffered from

Graves' disease Graves' disease, also known as toxic diffuse goiter or Basedow's disease, is an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid. It frequently results in and is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism. It also often results in an enlarged thyro ...

, an illness affecting the thyroid gland in the neck which causes the eyes to bulge and the neck to tighten. It can also disrupt the menstrual cycle, which may explain why Lenin and Krupskaya never had children. Upon his release, Lenin went off to Europe and settled in Munich. Upon her release Krupskaya joined him (1901). After she arrived, the couple moved to London. Krupskaya wrote a memoir of her life with Lenin, translated in 1930 as ''Memories of Lenin'' and in 1959 as ''Reminiscences of Lenin''. The book gives the most detailed account of Lenin's life before his coming to power and ends in 1919.

Political career

Krupskaya's political life was active: she was anything but a mere functionary of the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

faction of the

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party (RSDWP) or the Russian Social Democratic Party (RSDP), was a socialist political party founded in 1898 in Minsk, Russian Empire. The ...

from 1903.

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

, who was working closely with Lenin and Krupskaya from 1902 to 1903, writes in his autobiography (''My Life'', 1930) of the central importance of Krupskaya in the day-to-day work of the RSDLP and its newspaper, ''Iskra''. "The secretary of the editorial board f Iskrawas enin'swife ..She was at the very center of all the organization work; she received comrades when they arrived, instructed them when they left, established connections, supplied secret addresses, wrote letters, and coded and decoded correspondence. In her room there was always a smell of burned paper from the secret letters she heated over the fire to read..." Krupskaya became secretary of the Central Committee in 1905; she returned to Russia the same year, but left again after the failed revolution of 1905 and worked as a teacher in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

for a couple of years.

Russian Revolution

After the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

in 1917, she was appointed deputy to Anatoliy Lunacharskiy, the People's Commissar for Education, where she took charge of ''Vneshkol'nyi Otdel'' of the Adult Education Division. She became chair of the education committee in 1920 and was the deputy education commissar (government minister) from 1929 to 1939. Krupskaya was instrumental in foundation of the Soviet educational system itself. She was also fundamental in the development of Soviet librarianship. Krupskaya became a member of the

Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the Central committee, highest organ of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) between Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Congresses. Elected by the ...

in 1924, a member of its control commission in 1927, a member of the

Supreme Soviet The Supreme Soviet () was the common name for the legislative bodies (parliaments) of the Soviet socialist republics (SSR) in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). These soviets were modeled after the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, establ ...

in 1931 and an honorary citizen in 1931. Hilda Ageloff reportedly traveled to interview Krupskaya in 1931 for the newspaper ''

Brooklyn Daily Eagle The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''Kings County Democrat'', later ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' before shortening title further to ''Brooklyn Eagle'') was an afternoon daily newspaper published in the city ...

.''

Soviet education and libraries

Before the

revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

, Krupskaya worked for five years as an instructor for a factory owner who offered evening classes for his employees. Legally, reading, writing and arithmetic were taught. Illegally, classes with a revolutionary influence were taught for those students who might be ready for them. Krupskaya and other instructors were relieved of duty when nearly 30,000 factory workers in the area went on strike for better wages. Even after the revolution her emphasis was on "the problems of youth organization and education." In order to become educated, they needed better access to books and materials. Pre-revolutionary Russian libraries had a tendency to exclude particular members. Some were exclusively for higher classes and some were only for employees of a particular company's "Trade Unions". In addition they also had narrow, orthodox literature. It was hard to find any books with new ideas, which is exactly why the underground libraries began. Another problem was the low level of literacy of the masses. Vyborg Library, designed by

Alvar Aalto Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (; 3 February 1898 – 11 May 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware, as well as sculptures and paintings. He never regarded himself as an artist, see ...

, was renamed the Nadezhda Krupskaya Municipal Library after the Soviet annexation of Vyborg. The revolution did not cause an overnight improvement in the libraries. In fact, for a while there were even more problems. The Trade Unions still refused to allow general public use, funds for purchasing books and materials were in short supply and books that were already a part of the libraries were falling apart. In addition there was a low interest in the library career field due to low income and the libraries were sorely in need of re-organization. Nadezhda Krupskay 1931

Krupskaya directed a census of the libraries in order to address these issues. She encouraged libraries to collaborate and to open their doors to the general public. She encouraged librarians to use common speech when speaking with patrons. Knowing the workers needs was encouraged; what kind of books should be stocked, the subjects readers were interested in, and organizing the material in a fashion to better serve the readers. Committees were held to improve card catalogs. Krupskaya stated at a library conference: "We have a laughable number of libraries, and their book stocks are even more inadequate. Their quality is terrible, the majority of the population does not know how to use them and does not even know what a library is." She also sought better professional schools for librarians. Formal training was scarce in pre-revolutionary Russia for librarians and it only truly began in the 20th century. Krupskaya, therefore, advocated creation of library "seminaries" where practicing librarians would instruct aspiring librarians in the skills of their profession, similar to those in the West. The pedagogical characteristics were however those of the Soviet revolutionary period. Librarians were trained to determine what materials were suitable to patrons and whether or not they had the ability to appreciate what the resource had to offer. Krupskaya also desired that librarians possess greater verbal and writing skills so that they could more clearly explain why certain reading materials were better than others to their patrons. She believed that explaining resource choices to patrons was a courtesy and an opportunity for more education in socialist political values, not something that was required of the librarian. They were to become facilitators of the revolution and, later, those who helped preserve the values of the resulting socialist state. Krupskaya was a committed Marxist for whom each element of public education was a step toward improving the life of her people, granting all individuals access to the tools of education and libraries, needed to forge a more fulfilling life. The fulfillment was education and the tools were education and library systems.

Conflict with Trotsky and Stalin

In December 1922, just after Lenin had suffered a second stroke, Krupskaya had a quarrel with Stalin, who was demanding access to Lenin, when she argued that he was too ill. On 23 December, she wrote to Kamenev complaining that the "vile invectives and threats" that Stalin had directed at her were the worst abuse she had suffered from a fellow revolutionary in 30 years. After the death of

in January 1924, Krupskaya grew closer to the political positions of

Grigory Zinoviev Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev (born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky; – 25 August 1936) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. A prominent Old Bolsheviks, Old Bolshevik, Zinoviev was a close associate of Vladimir Lenin prior to ...

and

Lev Kamenev Lev Borisovich Kamenev. ( Rozenfeld; – 25 August 1936) was a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician. A prominent Old Bolsheviks, Old Bolshevik, Kamenev was a leading figure in the early Soviet government and served as a Deputy Premier ...

in Party debates. Factions that would later form throughout the 1920s included the

Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

-led

Left Opposition The Left Opposition () was a faction within the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) from 1923 to 1927 headed '' de facto'' by Leon Trotsky. It was formed by Trotsky to mount a struggle against the perceived bureaucratic degeneration within th ...

, the Stalin-led "Centre", and the Bukharin-led

Right Opposition The Right Opposition () or Right Tendency () in the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was a label formulated by Joseph Stalin in Autumn of 1928 for the opposition against certain measures included within the first five-year plan, an oppos ...

. From 1922 to 1925, Zinoviev and Kamenev were in a triumvirate alliance with Stalin's Centre, against Trotsky's Left Opposition. Krupskaya supported them against Trotsky, though in more conciliatory language than they used, declaring in 1924 that "I don't know whether Trotsky is guilty of all the deadly sins of which he is accused." In 1925, Krupskaya attacked

in a polemic reply to Trotsky's tract '' Lessons of October.'' In it, she stated that "Marxist analysis was never Comrade Trotsky's strong point."Nadezhda K. Krupskaya. The Lessons of October
Source: The Errors of Trotskyism, Communist Party of Great Britain, May 1925. In relation to the debate around socialism in one country versus

permanent revolution Permanent revolution is the strategy of a revolutionary class pursuing its own interests independently and without compromise or alliance with opposing sections of society. As a term within Marxist theory, it was first coined by Karl Marx and ...

, she asserted that Trotsky "under-estimates the role played by the peasantry." Furthermore, she held that Trotsky had misinterpreted the revolutionary situation in post-World War I Germany. In late 1925, when the 'triumvirate' split into two factions, she openly supported Zinoviev and Kamenev against Stalin, and went into an alliance with Trotsky's Left Opposition in early 1926, to form the United Opposition. Krupskaya was quoted by Trotsky's son Leon Sedov in his book ''The Red Book: On the Moscow Trial'' as saying "Lenin was only saved from prison by his death". But in a major boost for the leadership, Stalin announced at the end of his speech to the Fifteenth party congress in December 1927 that she had abandoned the opposition. In 1930, Krupskaya opposed Stalin again. This time, she gave a speech to the Bauman district party, in Moscow, defending the leaders of the right wing opposition,

Nikolai Bukharin Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (; rus, Николай Иванович Бухарин, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɪˈvanəvʲɪdʑ bʊˈxarʲɪn; – 15 March 1938) was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and Marxist theorist. A prominent Bolshevik ...

and

Alexei Rykov Alexei Ivanovich Rykov (25 February 188115 March 1938) was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet politician and statesman, most prominent as premier of Russia and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Soviet Union from 1924 to 1929 and 1924 t ...

, after which, according to

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

, who was a party official at the time, "without any publicity, the word went out to party circles to give her a working-over ... It was a bitter thing to watch her at these sessions when everyone started coming out against her. I remember her as a broken old woman." Khrushchev also claimed that Stalin threatened to remove Krupskaya's status, and nominate another woman as "Lenin's widow". The same story was told by the former

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

officer, Alexander Orlov, who claimed that the new 'widow' was to have been Yelena Stasova. Another rumour was that it would have been Rosalia Zemlyachka. In 1936, she defended restrictions on abortion passed by the Soviet government in that year, arguing that they were part of a consistent policy pursued since 1920 to do away with the reasons to have an abortion. Krupskaya was present at the plenum of the Central Committee in February 1937 which decided the fate of

and

, and voted in favour of expelling both from the Communist Party. But on other occasions, she tried to intervene on behalf of intended victims. At the Central Committee in June 1937, she protested, in vain, against the arrest of Osip Piatnitsky. She successfully secured the release of an Old Bolshevik named I.D. Chugurin, though he was barred from rejoining the party, and worked as a roofer for the rest of his life.

Death

Krupskaya died from

peritonitis Peritonitis is inflammation of the localized or generalized peritoneum, the lining of the inner wall of the abdomen and covering of the abdominal organs. Symptoms may include severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever, or weight loss. One pa ...

in Moscow on 27 February 1939, the day after her seventieth birthday, and her ashes were buried in the

Kremlin Wall Necropolis The Kremlin Wall Necropolis is the former national cemetery of the Soviet Union, located in Red Square in Moscow beside the Moscow Kremlin Wall, Kremlin Wall. Burials there began in November 1917, when 240 pro-Bolsheviks who died during the Mosc ...

. Stalin's secretary Alexander Poskrebyshev later claimed that Stalin ordered Krupskaya's poisoning during her birthday celebration.

Lazar Kaganovich Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich (; – 25 July 1991) was a Soviet politician and one of Joseph Stalin's closest associates. Born to a Jewish family in Ukraine, Kaganovich worked as a shoemaker and joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party ...

, a former

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

member and Stalin's associate, also suggested

Lavrentiy Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria ka, ლავრენტი პავლეს ძე ბერია} ''Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria'' ( – 23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician and one of the longest-serving and most influential of Joseph ...

may have been involved with Krupskaya's poisoning and was quoted in 1991 as saying "I can't dismiss that possibility. He might have." In 1939,

had made similar assertions about the circumstances of Krupskaya's death. Conversely, Luigi Zoja, a writer disputed these claims as he argued that Stalin had sent birthday cakes to Krupskaya on previous occasions and other guests who had eaten the cake were seemingly unaffected. Stefan Thomas Possony suggested that she may have consumed poisoned coffee. Arkadi Vaksberg argued that the delayed medical attention for several hours prompted suspicions rather than the rumours of a poisoned cake. He also argued that her physical symptoms resembled those of Pavel Alliluyev, another purported victim of poisoning.

Legacy

* Following her death in 1939, a Leningrad chocolate factory was renamed in her honour. The brand ''Krupskaya Chocolates'' still exists today. * The

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

2071 Nadezhda discovered in 1971 by Soviet astronomer Tamara Mikhailovna Smirnova was named in her honour. * Film director Mark Donskoy made a biographical film ''Nadezhda ''of her in 1974. * In the 1974 BBC production ''

Fall of Eagles Autumn, also known as fall (especially in US & Canada), is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March (Southern Hemisphere ...

'', Krupskaya was portrayed by Lynn Farleigh. * In 1974, Jane Barnes Casey wrote a fictional memoir of her life ''I, Krupskaya: My Life with Lenin'' (Houghton Mifflin Company; ). *

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

named a prize in her honour, the UNESCO Nadezhda K. Krupskaya literacy prize.Winners of the Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Priza and the Nadezhda K. Krupskaya Prize
UNESCO * In 1997, Nadezhda Krupskaya was portrayed by an Estonian actress Helene Vannari in the

Hardi Volmer Hardi Volmer (born 8 November 1957 in Pärnu) is an Estonian film director, puppet theatre set decorator and musician. Volmer is the singer in the Estonian punk rock band Singer Vinger. Animated cartoons *"Imeline nääriöö" (Wonderful New ...

directed Estonian historic comedy '' All My Lenins''.

Works

* ''Memories of Lenin.'' New York: International Publishers, 1930. – Reissued as ''Reminiscences of Lenin.'' * ''On Education: Selected Articles and Speeches.'' Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1957.

Gallery

Krupskaja-old.jpg, Krupskaya (middle) in the 1930s Krupskaja Spandau.jpg, A board at a

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

in the former East German part of Berlin-Spandau, Germany

Footnotes

Works cited

* Clements, Barbara Evans, ''Bolshevik Women,'' Cambridge University Press, 1997. * Fitzpatrick, Sheila. ''The Commissariat of Enlightenment: Soviet Organization of Education and the Arts under Lunacharsky, October 1917–1921.'' Cambridge University Press, 2002. * McNeal, Robert H., ''Bride of the Revolution: Krupskaya and Lenin.'' London: Gollancz, 1973. * Raymond, Boris ''The Contribution of N. K. Krupskaia to the Development of Soviet Russian Librarianship: 1917–1939.'' Ann Arbor, MI: University of Chicago, 1978. * Scott, Marcia Nell Boroughs, ''Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya: A Flower in the Dark.'' PhD dissertation. University of Texas at Arlington, 1996. Available from ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1383491.

External links

Nadezhda Krupskaya

Krupskaya on deathbed
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Krupskaya, Nadezhda Konstantinova 1869 births 1939 deaths 20th-century Russian women politicians 20th-century Russian women writers Revolutionaries of the Russian Revolution of 1905 Politicians from Saint Petersburg Feminists from the Russian Empire Honorary members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Family of Vladimir Lenin Nadezhda Communist women writers Female revolutionaries Left Opposition Old Bolsheviks Members of the Central Committee of the 15th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Members of the Central Committee of the 16th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Members of the Central Committee of the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Wives of premiers of the Soviet Union Russian Marxist writers Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members Russian communists Revolutionaries of the Russian Revolution Soviet women writers Soviet educators Soviet women in politics Women writers from the Russian Empire Unsolved murders in the Soviet Union Burials at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis