The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Krupskaya, Nadezhda Konstantinovna
(ndy´zhd knstnty´nvn krp´sky) (KEY) , 18691939, Russian revolutionary and educator, wife of Lenin. Krupskaya was a Marxist agitator for 25 years before the Russian Revolution in Oct., 1917; she married Lenin in 1898, while both were serving terms in exile. After her release in 1901, she was active in organizing the Bolsheviks and spreading the movements propaganda. After the Bolsheviks seized power, she became a member of the Peoples Commissariat of Education. She helped develop systems of education that offered both academic and professional training and provided education to women and workers. At first an opponent of Stalin, Krupskaya later remained above party politics.