Nadezhda Krupskaya, born on this day in 1869, was a Bolshevik revolutionary, feminist, and librarian who helped develop the Soviet educational system. In 1926, she authored a memoir of her life and the life of her husband, Vladimir Lenin.

Krupskaya was born to an aristocratic, well-educated family, but grew up with a working class experience. From a young age, Krupskaya was committed to improving the lives of the poor, and was influenced by Leo Tolstoy's ideas and, later, Marxism.

Nadezhda met Lenin at an illegal Marxist discussion group (the works of Marx were banned) in February 1894. In October 1896, Krupskaya was arrested and sentenced to three years exile in Ufa. Before she was deported, Nadezhda received a "secret note" from Lenin, which suggested that she could take refuge in his village of exile if she became his fiancée. This offer was accepted.

Krupskaya was politically active in the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, a precursor to the Bolshevik movement, helping edit the party's newspaper, "Iskra" ("Spark"). After the 1917 Russian Revolution, she was appointed deputy to the People's Commissar for Education and later served as Deputy Education Commissar (government minister) from 1929 to 1939.

During this time, Krupskaya was fundamental in the development of the system of Soviet libraries, establishing formal training for librarians to make them good stewards for working class education and facilitators of the communist revolution.

According to American Soviet scholar Robert V. Daniels, in December 1922, after Lenin had suffered a second stroke, Krupskaya had a violent quarrel with Stalin after she denied him access to Lenin, who she claimed was too ill.

In 1930, she gave a speech defending the leaders of the right wing opposition against Stalin, Nikolai Bukharin and Alexei Rykov. Despite this, Nadezhda retained her post as Deputy Education Commissar until the year of her death in 1939.

In 1926, Krupskaya wrote a memoir of her life with Lenin, translated in 1930 as "Memories of Lenin" and in 1959 as "Reminiscences of Lenin." The text gives the most detailed account of Lenin's life before his coming to power, ending in 1919.

"Solidarity among the male and female workers, a general cause, general goals, a general path to that goal - that is the solution to the "woman" question in the working-class environment."

  • Nadezhda Krupskaya

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