THE WOMEN THAT INSPIRED LENIN
Can one’s best beloved affect his fate or sometimes make him take a decision
that affects other people’s lives?
There have been a whole lot of books written about the world proletarian
leader and the founder of the Soviet Union Vladimir Lenin. His personal,
intimate life, however, has hardly been mentioned at all. Which is wrong
because, just like anyone else, Vladimir Lenin was only human…
Vladimir Lenin was married only once, to Nadezhda Krupskaya. She was 25
when she met Vladimir, a balding  young
fellow his friends called an Old Man. Nasdezhda was not a beauty either.
Heavyset with eyes popping out, Krupskaya was nicknamed “Herring”.
Whether they loved each other or not is hard to say though. Krupskaya wrote
that the main thing that drove them to each other was an opportunity to
discuss revolutionary ideals they shared so much. When Lenin was
exiled to Siberia, Krupskaya followed him there because she wanted to be
close to the man she loved. They got married in Siberia using for
the purpose a pair of wedding bands a local craftsman made  from
a copper coin.
The other woman Lenin was very much attracted to was Inessa Armand. Lenin
and Krupskaya met her in Paris in 1909. What started as just a casual acquaintance
eventually grew into a close friendship. With time Vladimir Lenin started
feeling increasingly attracted to Armand who was so immeasurably different
from his wife. Unlike the shy and frigid Nadezhda, Inessa was amorous and
frivolous. Krupskaya was a childless introvert while Inessa had five
kids from two short-lived marriages, a couple of lovers, was a great housewife
and the heart of just about any company. Krupskaya was comfortable but
boring to be with. Inessa, by contrast, made Vladimir feel very much a
man enjoying life’s many pleasures. When Krupskaya fell ill, Lenin
was a caring husband but the contrast between the beautiful Armand and
his quickly aging wife was now too hard to ignore…
Lenin and Armand were trying hard to spare Nadezhda’s feelings but she
was too smart not to see what was happening… For example, that Vladimir
was spending way more time with Inessa than he did with her right after
their marriage. At one point she asked him for a divorce and even
helped Inessa find an apartment where she and Vladimir could happily live
together. It looked like the marriage was close at hand now when, all of
a sudden Armand, without explaining anything, left Krakow. Krupskaya said
that a quite life in a Polish backwater was unthinkable for a passionate
revolutionary like Armand, that’s why she decided to get back to Paris.
The true reason for Inessa’s departure, however, was that she had a break
with Lenin. After a thousand torments Lenin had decided to stay with
his wife and devote himself wholly to his work. From Paris Armand
sent the following letter to her loved one: “So we parted, my darling!
It pains me so much! I know, I feel it that you will never come here. Way
back when we first met in Paris I didn’t fall in love with you but I already
loved you a whole lot. I could make do without kisses, only to be able
to see you, to talk to you… Why deny me this occasional joy? You ask me
if I’m mad at you because you said goodbye! No, I think you did it for
someone else’s sake…”
We know that Lenin’s family wasn’t particularly happy about his decision
to marry Krupskaya whom they saw as  a
boring old virgin. Lenin’s elder sister, Anna, was especially adamant.
What incensed her most were rumors about Krupskaya having allegedly been
unfaithful to her brother already during their Siberian exile where Nadezhda
met another exiled revolutionary, Viktor Kurnatovsky who reportedly fell
in love with her. People said that Krupskaya was unable to resist
the attentions of her extremely handsome admirer. Always taciturn and reasonable,
Krupskaya suddenly turned into a happy young woman cracking jokes and otherwise
enjoying herself. Anna made a few attempts to alert her brother to Nadezhda’s
unseemly behavior but each time he avoided a discussion. “I have no time
for all this gossip, Annushka,” he said. “Especially now that we are dealing
with tasks of a revolutionary scope…”
Inessa Armand died in the fall of 1920. Lenin was at the funeral.
Eyewitnesses said he was a terrifying sight, he was literally dying of
the grief and moral pain he was going through. Many years later long after
Lenin’s death, Nadezhda Krupskaya developed strong affection for Armand’s
daughter, also called Inessa. And for the young woman’s son Lenin’s childless
wife cared for as if he were her own grandson.
“If you only knew how I wish I had a grandson to care for,” Krupskaya wrote
to Inessa junior…
That’s what fate had in store for a great man and the two women he loved…
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Illustrations: G.Obichkin, V.Dridzo, S.Manbekova, “Nadezhda Konstantinovna
Krupskaya. Biography”, Politizdat, Moscow, 1978
05/16/2005
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