Nadezhda Krupskaya died from what. Lenin and Krupskaya: what was their family life like? Historical mission of Russia

Graves' disease is characterized by increased activity of the thyroid gland, as well as numerous changes that occur in all systems of the human body. This type of disease manifests itself between the ages of thirty and forty, most often people who suffer from any thyroid defects were observed at the genetic level.

Among all diseases associated with the endocrine system, Graves' disease ranks second. It is also worth noting that representatives of the weaker sex most often suffer from this type of disease.

Perhaps the most famous person who suffered from this disease was Nadezhda Krupskaya, if you look at her photographs, you can clearly see the main signs of the disease. However, before her illness, Krupskaya was quite a pretty woman, but with age, characteristic signs appeared on her face, indicating an illness.

Graves' disease is an autoimmune disease caused by a malfunction of the immune system. The main reasons for its occurrence are considered to be a genetic predisposition and a long course of various infectious diseases. Due to constant colds, which Krupskaya suffered a lot in her youth due to the fact that at that time there were no antibiotics, she fell ill. The infection that lurked in the body of the young Nadezhda Krupskaya, which was impossible to get rid of without proper treatment, became her time bomb.

In addition, uncontrolled and prolonged use of some medicines, which contain iodine in their composition, as well as constant stressful situations may well become the causes of the development of Graves' disease. Also at risk are people who suffer from diabetes, hypoparathyroidism and vitiligo. Despite the fact that there are many reasons indicating the development of the disease, it is still poorly understood.

Most often, the disease begins its development imperceptibly without any pronounced symptoms. Most people initially begin to worry about mood swings, bad dream, excessive sweating, as well as bouts of frequent heartbeat. In addition, patients often complain of weight loss, darkening of the skin and the appearance of edema.

The most obvious example is Krupskaya, who suffered from the disease almost all her life, but fought desperately with it. Violation of the functionality of the thyroid gland affects the work of all other organs and systems, as a result of which symptoms such as:

On the part of the organs of vision, there is a change that is noticeable even to the naked eye. In addition, there is a violation of the blood supply to the eyeball, which very often leads to nerve damage, which ultimately reduces visual acuity and blindness occurs;
On the part of the cardiovascular system, there is a violation of the heart rhythm, there are attacks of pain in the region of the heart, and blood pressure indicators also increase;
From the side of the central nervous system, there are complaints of frequent migraine, dizziness, poor sleep and anxiety;
From the side digestive system there is a violation of the normal functioning of the liver, as well as diarrhea and nausea, in rare cases, vomiting occurs;
On the part of metabolic processes, there is a high probability of development diabetes and disorders of carbohydrate metabolism;
On the part of the endocrine system, there is a violation of the work of the sex glands, which in the representatives of the stronger sex manifests itself in the form of impotence, and the beautiful half of the population has problems with conception.

It is also known that Graves' disease has several degrees of development. A mild degree proceeds imperceptibly and has no pronounced symptoms, the second is characterized by an increase in pressure indicators. With the onset of a severe degree, numerous lesions occur on the part of all systems and organs of the human body.

Regarding diagnostic measures, we can say that they do not cause any particular difficulties. Recognition of the disease is possible due to characteristic symptoms, and an ultrasound examination is prescribed to confirm the diagnosis. In order to determine the concentration of hormones, it is necessary to take a blood test.

Necessary treatment

Krupskaya was never able to recover from her illness, even though she was treated by the best doctors of that time. It is also known that, on the recommendations of her husband, Krupskaya was also treated abroad, however, and this did not give any results. It is also worth noting that in the mild stage, treatment started on time can last for a long time. But in the severe stage, mortality among all patients reaches thirty percent.

Most often, the disease is benign, although patients complain of a decline in performance as a result of insufficient blood circulation. It was precisely such ailments that interfered with work that Krupskaya complained about, but she found strength in herself and struggled with her illness.

The choice of an effective treatment method depends on several factors that the specialist relies on, this includes the age of the patients and the initial causes of Graves' disease. The choice of method may also be influenced by the desire of the fairer sex to have children in the future.

Only after a thorough examination, a specialist can make a diagnosis of Graves' disease. Treatment includes several methods:

Drug treatment is the main method used in modern medicine. In order to suppress the main functions of the thyroid gland, high doses of cirostatics are used. Despite the fact that pronounced symptoms begin to disappear within two months after the start of therapy, it is by no means possible to stop taking it. Treatment can usually last from six months to two years. To exclude the occurrence side effects most patients are also prescribed inderal along with the main course of treatment;
Surgical treatment, which means complete removal thyroid gland. As a rule, to this method specialists resort only in the most extreme cases if drugs do not give a positive effect. It is worth noting that surgery does not eliminate the underlying cause of the disease;
Another commonly used technique is the use of radioactive iodine. According to the methodology, iodine is taken once and is considered preferable for those who no longer plan to have children in the future.

If a woman is in an interesting position during the detection of the disease, then in order to minimize the risk of developing an insufficient level of thyroid hormones in the embryo, minimal dosages of drugs are prescribed. As a result of such treatment, after the birth of a baby, a significant deterioration in the condition occurs, and young women should be under the close supervision of qualified specialists.

Preventive measures

After the treatment, doctors strongly recommend changing your usual lifestyle, which helps to avoid the recurrence of the disease. It is necessary to observe personal hygiene, avoid stress, as well as physical and emotional stress. It will be no less useful to stick to a certain diet, which should consist mainly of carbohydrates. Such nutrition helps to restore impaired functions of the liver and muscles, and will also help strengthen skeletal muscles.

The daily diet of patients should consist of foods that contain a large amount of vitamins. You can find out which foods are beneficial from a qualified dietitian, who can also help in formulating a diet.

In order to exclude the development of the disease, it is necessary to constantly visit a specialist in order to undergo an examination of the thyroid gland, as well as to cure infectious diseases in a timely manner. In no case should you self-medicate Graves' disease, since improper treatment can lead to death, it is best to trust experienced specialists.

Nadya Krupskaya was born on February 26 (new style) 1869 in St. Petersburg into a poor noble family. Father Konstantin Ignatievich after graduating from the Cadet Corps received the post of head of the district in the Polish Groets, and his mother Elizaveta Vasilievna worked as a governess. Her father died when Nadia Krupskaya was 14 years old, since her father was considered "unreliable" because of his connection with the populists, the family received a small pension for him. Nadezhda lived with her mother Elizaveta Vasilievna.

Krupskaya studied in St. Petersburg at the private gymnasium of Princess Obolenskaya, was friends with A. Tyrkova-Williams, her future wife P.B. Struve. Graduated from high school gold medal, was fond of, was a "hoodie". After graduating from the eighth pedagogical class. Krupskaya received a diploma as a home tutor and successfully teaches, preparing for the exams the students of the gymnasium of Princess Obolenskaya. Then she studied at the Bestuzhev courses.
In the autumn of 1890, Nadya dropped out of the prestigious Bestuzhev courses for women. She studies the books of Marx and Engels, conducts classes in social-democratic circles. Especially for the study of Marxism, she memorized German.

Acquaintance of Nadezhda Krupskaya with Vladimir Ulyanov

In January 1894, a young revolutionary arrives in St. Petersburg. Behind the back of a modest, twenty-four-year-old provincial, however, there were many experiences: the sudden death of his father, the execution of his elder brother Alexander, the death of his beloved sister Olga from a serious illness. He went through surveillance, arrest, light exile to his mother's estate.

In St. Petersburg, Ulyanov establishes legal and illegal ties with the Marxists of the city, the leaders of some social democratic circles, makes new acquaintances. In February, a meeting of a group of city Marxists took place at the apartment of engineer Klasson. Vladimir meets two activists - Apollinaria Yakubova and Nadezhda Krupskaya.

After that, Ulyanov often meets with friends, both together and separately. On Sundays he usually paid visits to the Krupsky family.

“Before his marriage in July 1898 in Shushenskoye to Nadezhda Krupskaya, only one notable “courtship” of Vladimir Ulyanov is known,” says historian Dmitry Volkogonov. - He was seriously attracted by Krupskaya's girlfriend - Apollinaria Yakubova, also a socialist and teacher.
Already not very young Ulyanov (he was then over twenty-six) wooed Yakubova, but met a polite but firm refusal. Judging by a number of indirect signs, unsuccessful matchmaking did not become a noticeable drama of the future leader of the Russian Jacobins ... "

Vladimir Ilyich immediately struck Nadezhda Krupskaya with his leadership inclinations. The girl tried to interest the future leader - firstly, with Marxist conversations, which Ulyanov adored, and secondly, with her mother's cooking. Elizaveta Vasilievna, seeing him at home, was happy. She considered her daughter unattractive and happiness in personal life did not prophesy to her. One can imagine how happy she was for her Nadenka when she saw in her house a pleasant young man from a good family!

On the other hand, having become the bride of Ulyanov, Nadia did not cause much enthusiasm among his family: they found that she had a very “herring look”. This statement meant, first of all, that Krupskaya's eyes were bulging, like those of a fish - one of the signs of Graves' disease discovered later, due to which, it is believed, Nadezhda Konstantinovna could not have children. Vladimir Ulyanov himself treated Nadyusha's "herring" with humor, assigning the bride the appropriate party nicknames: Fish And Lamprey.

Already in prison, he invited Nadya to become his wife. “Well, a wife is a wife,” she replied.

After being exiled for three years in Ufa for her revolutionary activities, Nadya decided that it would be more fun to serve her exile with Ulyanov. Therefore, she asked to be sent to Shushenskoye, Minusinsk district, where the groom was already, and, having obtained permission from the police officials, she followed her chosen one with her mother.

Nadezhda Krupskaya and Vladimir Ulyanov in Shushenskoye

The first thing that the future mother-in-law said to Lenin at the meeting was: “How you were blown away!” Ilyich in Shushenskoye ate well and led healthy lifestyle life: regularly hunted, ate his favorite sour cream and other peasant delicacies. The future leader lived in the hut of the peasant Zyryanov, but after the arrival of the bride, he began to look for other housing - with a room for his mother-in-law.

Arriving in Shushenskoye, Elizaveta Vasilievna insisted that the marriage be concluded without delay, moreover, "in full Orthodox form." Ulyanov, who was already twenty-eight, and Krupskaya, one year older than him, obeyed. A long red tape began with permission to marry: without this, Nadia and her mother could not live with Ilyich. But permission for a wedding was not given without a residence permit, which, in turn, was impossible without marriage ... Lenin sent complaints to Minusinsk and Krasnoyarsk about the arbitrariness of the authorities, and finally, by the summer of 1898, Krupskaya was allowed to become his wife. The wedding took place in the Peter and Paul Church, the bride was wearing a white blouse and black skirt, the groom was wearing an ordinary, very shabby brown suit. Lenin made his next costume only in Europe...

Vladimir invited Krzhizhanovsky, Starkov, and other friends from the exiles to the wedding. On July 10, 1898, a modest wedding took place, at which ordinary peasants from Shushenskoye were witnesses. At the wedding, they had fun and sang so loudly that the owners of the hut came in to ask to calm down ...

“We were newlyweds,” Nadezhda Konstantinovna recalled about life in Shushenskoye, “and this brightened up the exile. The fact that I do not write about this in my memoirs does not mean at all that there was neither poetry nor young passion in our life ... "

Ilyich turned out to be a caring husband. In the very first days after the wedding, he hired a fifteen-year-old assistant girl for Nadia: Krupskaya never learned how to handle the Russian stove and grip. And the culinary abilities of the young wife even beat off the appetite of close people. When Elizaveta Vasilievna died in 1915, the couple had to eat in cheap canteens until they returned to Russia. Nadezhda Konstantinovna admitted: after the death of her mother, “ours became even more student family life».

Nadezhda Konstantinovna immediately becomes "at home", indispensable in the selection of material, the correspondence of individual fragments. Ulyanov reads some chapters of his manuscripts to his wife, but there are always few critical remarks on her part.

For a young woman, the family is always connected not only with her husband, but also with children. So it was destined that this marriage was childless. The couple never publicly, even with loved ones, shared their pain about this. True, Vladimir Ilyich, in one of his letters to his mother, when they had already left Shushenskoye, spoke quite transparently about his wife's illness (she was not with him in Pskov at that time). “Nadya,” Ulyanov wrote, “must be lying: the doctor found (as she wrote a week ago) that her illness (female) requires persistent treatment, that she should lie down for 2-6 weeks. I sent her more money (received 100 rubles from Vodovozova), because the treatment will require decent expenses ... ". Later, already abroad, Krupskaya fell ill with Graves' disease, and she had to undergo an operation. In a letter to his mother, Ulyanov reported that Nadia "was very ill - the strongest fever and delirium, so I got pretty cowardly ...".

Some of Lenin's entourage hinted that Vladimir Ilyich often gets from his wife. G. I. Petrovsky, one of his associates, recalled: “I had to observe how Nadezhda Konstantinovna, during a discussion on various issues, did not agree with the opinion of Vladimir Ilyich. It was very interesting. It was very difficult for Vladimir Ilyich to object, since everything was thought out and logical with him. But Nadezhda Konstantinovna also noticed “errors” in his speech, an excessive enthusiasm for something ... When Nadezhda Konstantinovna spoke with her remarks, Vladimir Ilyich chuckled and scratched his head. His whole appearance said that he sometimes gets hit.

Nadezhda Krupskaya and Vladimir Ulyanov abroad

Once abroad, Krupskaya quickly adopted the sparing walking regime that Ulyanov adhered to. From Geneva, Vladimir Ilyich writes: "... I still lead a summer lifestyle, I walk, swim and do nothing"; from Finland: “It's a wonderful holiday here, swimming, walking, deserting, idleness. Desolateness and idleness are the best for me ... "From France:" We are going on holiday to Brittany, probably this Saturday ... "

The Ulyanovs spent a decade and a half abroad. They did not have a permanent source of income. Before the start of the war, Nadezhda Krupskaya received an inheritance from her aunt, who died in Novocherkassk; in addition, Anna, Elizarov and Maria continued to occasionally send money to Vladimir ...

At the end of December 1909, the couple, after long hesitation, moved to Paris, where Ulyanov was destined to meet with. A charming Frenchwoman, the charming wife of a rich man, Armand, a lonely exile, a fiery revolutionary, a true Bolshevik, a faithful student of Lenin, a mother of many children. Judging by the correspondence between Vladimir and Inessa (a significant part of which has been preserved), we can conclude that the relationship between these people was illuminated by bright feelings.

As told A. Kollontai, “in general, Krupskaya was aware . She knew that Lenin was very attached to Inessa, and more than once expressed her intention to leave. Lenin kept her.

Nadezhda Konstantinovna believed that the most difficult years of emigration had to be spent in Paris. But she did not arrange jealousy scenes and was able to establish outwardly even, even friendly relations with a beautiful Frenchwoman. She answered Krupskaya in the same way ...

The couple maintained a warm relationship with each other. Nadezhda Konstantinovna is worried about her husband: “From the very beginning of the congress, Ilyich's nerves were strained to the extreme. The Belgian worker, with whom we settled in Brussels, was very upset that Vladimir Ilyich did not eat that wonderful radish and Dutch cheese that she served him in the morning, and even then he had no time for food. In London, he reached the point, he completely stopped sleeping, he was terribly worried.

Vladimir appreciates his wife and comrade-in-arms: “Ilyich spoke flatteringly about my research abilities ... I became his zealous reporter. Usually, when we lived in Russia, I could move about much more freely than Vladimir Ilyich, I could talk with much more big amount roles. From the two or three questions posed by him, I already knew what he wanted to know, and I looked with might and main, ”wrote Krupskaya many years after her husband’s death.

Most likely, without a faithful girlfriend, Vladimir Ilyich would never have achieved all his stunning successes.

The long-awaited most often comes unexpectedly. “Once, when Ilyich was already going to the library after dinner, and I had finished clearing the dishes, Bronsky came with the words: “You don’t know anything ?! Revolution in Russia! We went to the lake, where all the newspapers were hung on the shore under a canopy ... There really was a revolution in Russia.

Return of Nadezhda Krupskaya and Vladimir Ulyanov to Russia

They returned in February 1917 to Russia, thoughts about which they lived every day and in which they had not been for many years. In a sealed wagon Vladimir Ulyanov, Nadezhda Krupskaya and traveled in the same compartment.

In Russia, Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya meets her husband in fits and starts, but keeps him informed of everything. And he, seeing her abilities, more and more loads Krupskaya with affairs.

In the autumn of the seventeenth year, events are rapidly accelerating. On the afternoon of October 24, Nadezhda Konstantinovna is found in the Vyborg District Duma and a note is handed over. She reveals it. Lenin writes to the Bolshevik Central Committee: "Procrastination in an uprising is like death."

Krupskaya understands that the hour has come. She flees to Smolny. From that moment on, she was inseparable from Lenin, but the euphoria of happiness and success passed quickly. Cruel weekdays ate joy.

In the summer of 1918, Krupskaya settled in the Kremlin in a modest small apartment specially equipped for her and Lenin. She didn't mind.

And then there was Civil War. Fight against counterrevolution. Diseases of Nadezhda Konstantinovna. SR shot at Lenin. Death ...

The sudden illness of her husband frightened Nadezhda Konstantinovna. No matter what they said, the spouses were attached to each other. Elizaveta Drabkina recalls the story of her friend, a cadet of the Kremlin courses, Vanya Troitsky, how one day, when he was on duty late at night at a post near Lenin’s apartment in the Kremlin, Vladimir Ilyich asked him if he heard Nadezhda Konstantinovna’s steps down the stairs, who was late at some meeting , knock on the door and call him. Vanya listened to the silence of the night. Everything was quiet. But suddenly the door of the apartment opened, and Vladimir Ilyich quickly came out.

“There is no one,” Vanya said.
Vladimir Ilyich made him a sign.

“He’s coming,” he whispered conspiratorially and ran down the stairs to meet Nadezhda Konstantinovna: she walked, stepping quietly with everything, but he still heard.

Illness of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

Deterioration of health and pronounced signs of the disease appeared in Lenin in the early spring of 1922. All the symptoms pointed to ordinary mental fatigue: severe headaches, memory loss, insomnia, irritability, increased sensitivity to noise. However, the doctors disagreed on the diagnosis. The German professor Klemperer believed main reason headaches poisoning the body with lead bullets that were not removed from the body of the leader after being wounded in 1918. In April 1922, he was operated on under local anesthesia, and one of the bullets in the neck was nevertheless pulled out. But Ilyich's health did not improve. And now Lenin is stricken with the first attack of the disease. Krupskaya, by duty and right of her wife, is on duty at the bedside of Vladimir Ilyich. They bend over the sick the best doctors and issue a verdict: complete rest. But bad forebodings did not leave Lenin, and he took a terrible promise from Stalin: to give him potassium cyanide in the event that he suddenly suffered a blow. Paralysis, doomed to complete, humiliating helplessness, Vladimir Ilyich feared more than anything in the world.

The Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks instructs its comrade general secretary to be responsible for observing the regimen established by the doctors.

On December 21, 1922, Lenin asked, and Krupskaya wrote a letter under his dictation regarding the monopoly of foreign trade.

Upon learning of this, Stalin did not regret rude words for Nadezhda Konstantinovna by telephone. And in conclusion, he said: she violated the doctors' ban, and he will transfer the case about her to the Central Control Commission of the Party.

Krupskaya's quarrel with Stalin took place a few days after the onset of Lenin's illness, in December 1922. Lenin found out about the quarrel only on March 5, 1923, and dictated a letter to Stalin to his secretary: “You were rude to call my wife to the phone and scold her. Although she agreed to forget what was said to you, nevertheless this fact became known through her to Zinoviev and Kamenev. I do not intend to forget so easily what was done against me, and it is useless to say that what was done against my wife I consider to be done against me. Therefore, I ask you to weigh whether you are ready to take back what was said and apologize or prefer to break off relations between us.

After the dictation, Lenin was very excited. This was noticed by both the secretaries and Dr. Kozhevnikov.

The next morning, he asked his secretary to reread the letter, hand it over personally to Stalin, and receive an answer. Shortly after her departure, his condition deteriorated rapidly. The temperature has risen. Paralysis spread to the left side. Ilyich had already lost his speech forever, although until the end of his days he understood everything that was happening to him.

These days, Nadezhda Konstantinovna, apparently, nevertheless made an attempt to end the suffering of her husband. From a secret note by Stalin dated March 17, members of the Politburo know that she "arch-conspiratorially" asked to give Lenin poison, saying that she tried to do it herself, but she did not have enough strength. Stalin again promised to "show humanism" and again did not keep his word ...

Vladimir Ilyich lived for almost a whole year. Breathed. Krupskaya did not leave him.

January 21, 1924 at 6:50 p.m. Ulyanov Vladimir Ilyich, 54 years old, died.

People did not see a tear in Krupskaya's eyes during the days of the funeral. Nadezhda Konstantinovna spoke at a memorial service, addressing the people and the party: “Do not arrange monuments to him, palaces in his name, magnificent celebrations in his memory - he attached such little importance to all this during his lifetime, he was so burdened by this. Remember that much has not yet been arranged in our country ... "

Life of Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya without Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

Krupskaya survived her husband by fifteen years. An old illness tormented and exhausted her. She didn't give up. Every day she worked, wrote reviews, gave instructions, taught how to live. Wrote a book of memoirs. The People's Commissariat for Education, where she worked, surrounded her with love and reverence, appreciating Krupskaya's natural spiritual kindness, which coexisted quite peacefully with uranium ideas.

Nadezhda Konstantinovna outlived her husband by fifteen years, full of squabbles and intrigues. When the leader of the world proletariat died, Stalin entered into a fierce struggle with his widow, not intending to share power with anyone. Nadezhda Konstantinovna begged to bury her husband, but instead his body was turned into a mummy ...

“In the summer of 1930, district party conferences were held in Moscow before the 16th Party Congress,” historian Roy Medvedev writes in his book They Surrounded Stalin. - At the Bauman conference, the widow of V.I. Lenin, N.K. Krupskaya, spoke and criticized the methods of Stalinist collectivization, saying that this collectivization had nothing to do with the Leninist cooperative plan. Krupskaya accused the Central Committee of the party of ignorance of the mood of the peasantry and of refusing to consult with the people. “There is no need to blame the local authorities,” said Nadezhda Konstantinovna, “the mistakes that were made by the Central Committee itself.”

When Krupskaya was still making her speech, the leaders of the district committee let Kaganovich know about it, and he immediately left for the conference. Rising to the podium after Krupskaya, Kaganovich subjected her speech to a rude scolding. Rejecting her criticism on the merits, he also stated that, as a member of the Central Committee, she had no right to bring her criticisms to the rostrum of the district party conference. “Let N.K. Krupskaya not think,” Kaganovich declared, “that if she was Lenin’s wife, then she has a monopoly on Leninism.”

In 1938 the writer Marietta Shahinyan contacted Krupskaya for a review and support for her novel about Lenin, A Ticket to History. Nadezhda Konstantinovna answered her with a detailed letter, which caused Stalin's terrible indignation. A scandal broke out, which became the subject of discussion of the Central Committee of the party.

“To condemn the behavior of Krupskaya, who, having received the manuscript of Shaginyan’s novel, not only did not prevent the novel from being born, but, on the contrary, encouraged Shaginyan in every possible way, gave positive reviews about the manuscript and advised Shaginyan on various aspects of the life of the Ulyanovs and thereby bore full responsibility for this book. To consider Krupskaya’s behavior all the more unacceptable and tactless, since Comrade Krupskaya did all this without the knowledge and consent of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, thereby turning the all-Party business of compiling works about Lenin into a private and family affair and acting as a monopolist and interpreter of public and personal the life and work of Lenin and his family, to which the Central Committee never gave anyone the rights ... "

The mystery of the death of Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya

Her death was mysterious. It came on the eve of the XVIII Party Congress, at which Nadezhda Konstantinovna was going to speak. On the afternoon of February 24, 1939, friends visited her in Arkhangelskoye to celebrate the mistress's approaching seventieth birthday. The table was laid, Stalin sent a cake. Everyone ate it together. Nadezhda Konstantinovna seemed very lively ... In the evening she suddenly became ill. They called a doctor, but for some reason he arrived after more than three hours. The diagnosis was made immediately: "acute appendicitis-peritonitis-thrombosis". For some reason, the necessary urgent operation was not performed. Three days later, Krupskaya died in terrible agony at the age of seventy.

Stalin personally carried the urn with the ashes of Krupskaya.

She met Vladimir Ulyanov thanks to her friend Apollinaria Yakubova, who brought Nadya to a Marxist gathering organized under the plausible pretext of pancakes.

Already not very young Ulyanov (he was then over twenty-six) wooed Yakubova, but met a polite but firm refusal. Judging by a number of indirect signs, unsuccessful matchmaking did not become a noticeable drama of the future leader of the Russian Jacobins ... "

Vladimir Ilyich immediately struck Nadezhda with his leadership inclinations. The girl tried to interest the future leader - firstly, with Marxist conversations, which Ulyanov adored, and secondly, with her mother's cooking. Elizaveta Vasilievna, seeing him at home, was happy. She considered her daughter unattractive and did not prophesy happiness in her personal life. One can imagine how happy she was for her Nadenka when she saw in her house a pleasant young man from a good family!

Already in prison, he invited Nadya to become his wife. “Well, a wife is a wife,” she replied.

Being exiled to Ufa for three years for her revolutionary activities, Nadia decided that it would be more fun to serve her exile with Ulyanov. Therefore, she asked to be sent to Shushenskoye, Minusinsk district, where the groom was already, and, having obtained permission from the police officials, she followed her chosen one with her mother.

The first thing that the future mother-in-law said to Lenin at the meeting was: “How you were blown away!” Ilyich in Shushenskoye ate well and led a healthy lifestyle: he regularly hunted, ate his favorite sour cream and other peasant delicacies. The future leader lived in the hut of the peasant Zyryanov, but after the arrival of the bride, he began to look for other housing - with a room for his mother-in-law.

Best of the day

At the wedding, many exiles from the surrounding villages had fun, and they sang so loudly that the owners of the hut came in to ask them to calm down ...

“We were newlyweds, after all,” Nadezhda Konstantinovna recalled about life in Shushenskoye, “and this brightened up the exile. The fact that I do not write about this in my memoirs does not mean at all that there was neither poetry nor young passion in our life ... "

“The spouses never shared their pain with anyone: the childlessness of Nadezhda Konstantinovna, who suffered from Graves' disease and, as Vladimir Ilyich himself writes, not only her. In a letter to his mother, the loving son says: “Nadya must be lying: the doctor found (as she wrote a week ago) that her illness (female) requires persistent treatment, that she must lie down for 2-6 weeks. I sent her more money (received 100 rubles from Vodovozova), because the treatment will require decent expenses ... ”(D. Volkogonov).

Some of Lenin's entourage hinted that Vladimir Ilyich often gets from his wife. G. I. Petrovsky, one of his associates, recalled: “I had to observe how Nadezhda Konstantinovna, during a discussion on various issues, did not agree with the opinion of Vladimir Ilyich. It was very interesting. It was very difficult for Vladimir Ilyich to object, since everything was thought out and logical with him. But Nadezhda Konstantinovna also noticed “errors” in his speech, an excessive enthusiasm for something ... When Nadezhda Konstantinovna spoke with her remarks, Vladimir Ilyich chuckled and scratched his head. His whole appearance said that he sometimes gets hit.

There is also a story that once Krupskaya, who knew about her husband's love for Inessa Armand, invited him to leave so that he could arrange his personal happiness. But Vladimir Ilyich preferred to stay with his wife. It was rumored that Ilyich's friend, the exiled Kurnatovsky, was secretly in love with Nadezhda Konstantinovna. He very often went to the Ulyanovs, allegedly to talk about Marxism ... Be that as it may, the revolutionaries who tied their destinies lived a long life together and were inseparable until the very death of Vladimir Ilyich. Deterioration of health and pronounced signs of the disease appeared in Lenin in the early spring of 1922. All the symptoms pointed to ordinary mental fatigue: severe headaches, memory loss, insomnia, irritability, hypersensitivity to noise. However, the doctors disagreed on the diagnosis. The German professor Klemperer considered the main cause of headaches to be the poisoning of the body with lead bullets, which were not removed from the body of the leader after being wounded in 1918. In April 1922, he was operated on under local anesthesia, and one of the bullets in the neck was nevertheless pulled out. But Ilyich's health did not improve. Professor Darshkevich, who diagnosed him with overwork, prescribed rest for him. But bad forebodings did not leave Lenin, and he took a terrible promise from Stalin: to give him potassium cyanide in the event that he suddenly suffered a blow. Paralysis, doomed to complete, humiliating helplessness, Vladimir Ilyich feared more than anything in the world.

That spring he spent in Gorki. On the night of May 25, as usual, I could not sleep for a long time. And then, under the windows, as luck would have it, a nightingale sang. Lenin went out into the garden, picked up pebbles and began to throw them at the nightingale, and suddenly noticed that his right hand was not obeying well ...

By morning he was already very ill. Speech and memory suffered: Ilyich at times did not understand what was said to him, and could not find words to express his thought.

On May 30, Ilyich called Stalin to Gorki and reminded him of this promise. He seemingly agreed, and on the way to the car he told everything to the leader's sister Maria Ilyinichna. Together, they persuaded Lenin to wait with suicide, convincing that the doctors did not lose hope for his full recovery. He believed.

“We will see what kind of wife you are to him,” Joseph Vissarionovich Krupskoy hinted more than once. And one day Nadezhda Konstantinovna, an extremely restrained woman, lost her temper: she went into hysterics, she sobbed. This, according to one version, allegedly finished off a little alive Ilyich.

In the first ten days of March of the following year, Ilyich lost his speech forever, although until the end of his days he understood everything that was happening to him. From the records of the doctor on duty: “On March 9, he looked at Krupskaya and told her:“ We must call my wife ... ”

“In the summer of 1930, district party conferences were held in Moscow before the 16th Party Congress,” historian Roy Medvedev writes in his book They Surrounded Stalin. - At the Bauman conference, the widow of V. I. Lenin, N. K. Krupskaya, spoke and criticized the methods of Stalinist collectivization, saying that this collectivization had nothing to do with the Leninist cooperative plan. Krupskaya accused the Central Committee of the party of ignorance of the mood of the peasantry and of refusing to consult with the people. “There is no need to blame the local authorities,” said Nadezhda Konstantinovna, “the mistakes that were made by the Central Committee itself.”

In 1938, the writer Marietta Shaginyan approached Krupskaya for a review and support for her novel about Lenin, A Ticket to History. Nadezhda Konstantinovna answered her with a detailed letter, which caused Stalin's terrible indignation. A scandal broke out, which became the subject of discussion of the Central Committee of the party.

Her death was mysterious. It came on the eve of the XVIII Party Congress, at which Nadezhda Konstantinovna was going to speak. On the afternoon of February 24, 1939, friends visited her in Arkhangelskoye to celebrate the mistress's approaching seventieth birthday. The table was laid, Nadezhda Konstantinovna seemed very lively ... In the evening she suddenly became ill. They called a doctor, but for some reason he arrived after more than three hours. The diagnosis was made immediately: "acute appendicitis-peritonitis-thrombosis". For some reason, the necessary urgent operation was not performed. Three days later, Krupskaya died in terrible agony at the age of seventy.

In Soviet historiography Nadezhda Krupskaya was mentioned exclusively in the status of "wife and comrade-in-arms" Vladimir Lenin. In the post-Soviet period, because of the same status, she was subjected to mockery and insults from all kinds of "denunciators" and "subversers".

It seems that neither one nor the other was interested in the personality of this outstanding woman, whose whole life was painted in tragic tones.

She was born on February 26, 1869 in St. Petersburg into an impoverished noble family. Nadenka graduated from the pedagogical class of the gymnasium with a gold medal and entered the Higher Women's Courses, but she studied there for only a year.

Nadezhda Krupskaya, 1895 Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Nadia's father was close to the members of the Narodnaya Volya movement, so it is not surprising that the girl from her youth became infected with leftist ideas, which is why she quickly found herself on the lists of "unreliable".

Father died in 1883, after which Nadia and her mother had a particularly hard time. The girl earned a living by private lessons, while teaching at the St. Petersburg Sunday evening school for adults behind the Nevsky Zastava.

And without that not the most good health Nadezhda suffered greatly during the years when she ran from student to student through the damp and cold streets of St. Petersburg. Subsequently, this will affect the fate of the girl in a tragic way.

party belle

Since 1890, Nadezhda Krupskaya was a member of the Marxist circle. In 1894, in a circle, she met the “Old Man” - such a party nickname was worn by a young and energetic socialist Vladimir Ulyanov. Sharp mind, brilliant sense of humor, great oratory- Many revolutionary young ladies fell in love with Ulyanov.

Later they will write that the future leader of the revolution in Krupskaya was attracted not female beauty, which was not, but exclusively ideological closeness.

This is not entirely true. Of course, the main unifying principle for Krupskaya and Ulyanov was the political struggle. However, it is also true that Vladimir was attracted to Nadia and female beauty.

She was very attractive in her younger years, but this beauty was taken away from her by a terrible autoimmune disease - Graves' disease, which affects women eight times more often than men, and is also known by a different name - diffuse toxic goiter. One of its most striking manifestations is bulging eyes.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Nadezhda inherited the disease and already in her youth manifested itself in lethargy and regular ailments. Frequent colds in St. Petersburg, and then prison and exile led to an aggravation of the disease.

Late 19th - early 20th century effective ways there has not yet been a cure for this disease. Nadezhda Krupskaya Graves' disease crippled her whole life.

Work instead of children

In 1896, Nadezhda Krupskaya ended up in prison as an activist of the "Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class" created by Ulyanov. The leader of the "Union" himself was already in prison by that time, from where he asked for the hand of Nadezhda. She agreed, but her own arrest delayed the wedding.

They got married already in Siberia, in Shushenskoye, in July 1898.

Ulyanov and Krupskaya did not have children, and speculation appeared from this - Nadezhda was frigid, Vladimir did not feel attracted to her, etc.

All this is nonsense. The relationship of the spouses, at least in the early years, was of a full-fledged nature, and they thought about children. But a progressive illness deprived Nadezhda of the opportunity to become a mother.

She tightly closed this pain in her heart, focusing on political activities, becoming the main and most reliable assistant to her husband.

Colleagues noted the fantastic performance of Nadezhda - all the years next to Vladimir she processed a huge amount of correspondence, materials, delving into completely different issues and managing to write at the same time own articles.

She was next to her husband both in exile and in exile, helping him in the most difficult moments. Meanwhile, her own strength was sapped by an illness that caused her appearance to become more and more ugly. What it was like for Nadezhda to experience all this, only she knew.

Vladimir Lenin and Nadezhda Krupskaya with Lenin's nephew Viktor and the worker's daughter Vera in Gorki. August - September 1922. Photo: www.russianlook.com

Love-Party Triangle

Nadezhda was aware that Vladimir could be carried away by other women. And so it happened - he had an affair with another wrestling comrade-in-arms, Inessa Armand.

Inessa Armand, 1914 Photo: Public Domain

These relations continued after the political emigrant Vladimir Ulyanov turned into the leader of the Soviet state, Vladimir Lenin, in 1917.

The story that Krupskaya allegedly hated her rival and her entire family is a fiction. Nadezhda understood everything and repeatedly offered her husband freedom, she was even ready to leave herself, seeing his hesitation.

But Vladimir Ilyich, making a difficult life choice, not a political one, remained with his wife.

This is difficult to understand from the point of view of simple everyday relationships, but Inessa and Nadezhda remained in good relations. Their political struggle stood above personal happiness.

Inessa Armand died of cholera in 1920. For Lenin, this death was a heavy blow, and Nadezhda helped him survive.

In 1921, a serious illness struck Lenin himself. Nadezhda brought her half-paralyzed husband back to life, using all her pedagogical talent, re-teaching her to speak, read and write. She succeeded in the almost impossible - to return Lenin to active work again. But a new stroke brought all efforts to naught, making Vladimir Ilyich's condition almost hopeless.

Life after Lenin

After in January 1924, work became the only meaning of the life of Nadezhda Krupskaya. She did a lot for the development of the pioneer organization in the USSR, the women's movement, journalism and literature. At the same time, she considered Chukovsky's fairy tales harmful to children, spoke critically about the pedagogical system Anton Makarenko.

In a word, Nadezhda Konstantinovna, like all major political and statesmen, was a controversial and ambiguous person.

The trouble was also that Krupskaya, a talented and intelligent, self-sufficient person, was perceived by many in the USSR exclusively as “Lenin's wife”. This status, on the one hand, caused universal respect, and on the other hand, sometimes disregard for the personal political position of Nadezhda Krupskaya.

Significance of confrontation Stalin and Krupskaya in the 1930s is clearly exaggerated. Nadezhda Konstantinovna did not have sufficient leverage to pose a threat to Joseph Vissarionovich in the political struggle.

“The Party loves Nadezhda Konstantinovna not because she is a great person, but because she close person our great Lenin,” this phrase, once spoken from a high rostrum, very accurately defined Krupskaya’s position in the USSR of the 1930s.

death on anniversary

She continued to work, wrote articles on pedagogy, memories of Lenin, warmly communicated with the daughter of Inessa Armand. She considered Inessa's grandson her grandson. In her declining years, this lonely woman clearly lacked the simple family happiness that her serious illness and political struggle deprived her of.

Claudia Nikolaeva and Nadezhda Krupskaya in Arkhangelsk, 1936. Photo: Public Domain

On February 26, 1939, Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya celebrated her 70th birthday. The old Bolsheviks gathered for the celebration. Stalin sent a cake as a gift - everyone knew that Lenin's comrade-in-arms loved sweets.

This cake will later become the reason for accusations against Stalin in the murder of Krupskaya. But in fact, not only Nadezhda Konstantinovna ate the cake, but such a plot itself looks somehow too unrealistic.

A few hours after the celebration, Krupskaya became ill. Nadezhda Konstantinovna was diagnosed with acute appendicitis, which soon turned into peritonitis. She was taken to the hospital, but could not be saved.

The resting place of Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya was the niche of the Kremlin wall.

She devoted her whole life to her husband, the revolution and building a new society, never grumbling at the fate that deprived her of simple female happiness.

She devoted her whole life to her husband, the revolution and the building of a new society. Fate deprived her of simple human happiness, illness took away her beauty, and her husband, to whom she remained faithful all her life, cheated on her. But she did not grumble and courageously endured all the blows of fate.

Nadezhda Krupskaya was born in St. Petersburg on February 26, 1869 into an impoverished noble family. She graduated with a gold medal from the pedagogical class of the gymnasium, entered the Higher Women's Courses, where she studied for only a year.

Nadezhda's father was close to the members of the Narodnaya Volya movement, so it is no coincidence that the girl became infected with leftist ideas and ended up on the lists of "unreliable". In 1883, her father died, and Nadia had to support the whole family - she gave private lessons and at the same time taught at a Sunday evening school for adults behind the Nevsky Zastava. In those years, Nadia's already poor health suffered greatly when she had to run through the cold and damp streets of St. Petersburg from student to student. Subsequently, this tragically affected her health.

Party First Beauty

In 1890, Nadezhda Krupskaya became a member of the Marxist circle, and four years later she met the "Old Man" - such a party nickname was the energetic young socialist Vladimir Ulyanov. At that time, many young ladies fell in love with him. It was simply impossible not to notice Ulyanov's brilliant sense of humor, sharp mind and excellent oratorical skills, and revolutionary-minded young ladies simply could not resist his charm.

And although later they wrote that the inspirer of the revolution was attracted in Krupskaya only by ideological closeness, and not by female beauty, which simply did not exist, this was not so. In her younger years, Nadezhda was very attractive, but Graves' disease (diffuse toxic goiter) deprived her of this beauty, one of the manifestations of which is bulging eyes. At that time, there were no effective ways to deal with this disease; this diagnosis crippled Krupskaya all her life.

Work instead of children

In 1896, Nadezhda Krupskaya, as an activist of the Union of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class, created by Vladimir Ulyanov, was sent to prison. The leader himself was in prison at that time. From there, he made Nadezhda a marriage proposal. She agreed, but due to her own arrest, the wedding had to be postponed. The couple got married after 2 years in the summer of 1898 already in Siberian Shushenskoye.

Later, evil tongues said that Vladimir was indifferent to his wife, and therefore they had no children. But in fact, in the first years of their married life, the relationship was full, they also thought about children. But Nadezhda's illness progressed, depriving Nadezhda of the opportunity to become a mother. When Krupskaya realized that she would not have children, she plunged into political activity and became the main and most reliable assistant to her husband.

She was next to him in exile, in exile, processed a huge amount of materials and correspondence, understood various issues and at the same time managed to write her own articles. Meanwhile, her own health was getting worse and worse, and her appearance more and more ugly. She took it very hard.

Party love triangle

Nadezhda was a smart and pragmatic woman and was well aware that her husband could be carried away by other women. What happened. He began an affair with another political ally - Inessa Armand. These relations continued even after the political emigrant Ulyanov Lenin became the leader of the Soviet state in 1917.

Krupskaya, deeply suffering, offered her husband freedom from family ties, and even, seeing that he hesitated, was ready to leave herself. But Vladimir Ilyich stayed with his wife.

Today, from the point of view of human relations, it is difficult to understand how Nadezhda and Inessa remained in a wonderful relationship. And their political struggle was higher than personal happiness. In 1920, Inessa Armand died of cholera. Lenin was able to survive this heavy blow only with the support of Krupskaya.

A year later, Lenin himself was struck down by a serious illness - he was paralyzed. Hope brought the half-paralyzed husband back to life - she taught him to read, speak and write again. It seemed incredible, but through her efforts Lenin was able to return to active work. But there was a new stroke, and Vladimir Ilyich became hopeless.

Life after Lenin

In 1924, Lenin died, and work became the only meaning of life for Nadezhda Konstantinovna. She did a lot for the development of the women's movement, pioneering, literature and journalism. She was very critical of Makarenko's pedagogy and considered Chukovsky's fairy tales harmful to children. But her trouble was that the intelligent, talented and self-sufficient Krupskaya in the USSR was perceived exclusively as "Lenin's wife." On the one hand, this status caused universal respect, but at the same time her personal political position nobody took it seriously.

“The Party loves Nadezhda Konstantinovna not because she is a great person, but because she is a close person of our great Lenin,” this phrase once said from a high rostrum very accurately determined Krupskaya’s position in the USSR of the 1930s.

In her declining years, Nadezhda Konstantinovna lacked the simple family happiness that the political struggle and illness deprived her of. She warmly communicated with the daughter of Inessa Armand, and she considered her grandson her own.

death on anniversary

On February 26, 1939, the Bolsheviks gathered for the 70th anniversary of Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya, and even Stalin himself, remembering that the wife and comrade-in-arms of the leader of the proletariat loved sweets, sent her a cake. It was this cake that subsequently became an excuse for evil tongues to blame the father of nations for the death of Krupskaya. But in fact, of all those present at the anniversary, only the birthday girl herself did not eat the cake.

Literally a few hours after the guests left, Krupskaya felt unwell. Doctors diagnosed her with acute appendicitis, which turned into peritonitis. But they couldn't save the woman. The niche of the Kremlin wall became her resting place.

Today it is of great interest and - a story about love, which is stronger than death.