Year: 1973
Type: article
Abstract: The relations between L. D. Trotsky and N. K. Krupskaya were never very friendly, although Trotsky, in his emigrant writings, tried to create the impression that they were close comrades.1 They first met in London in October, 1902 when Trotsky arrived shortly before dawn, direct from Siberian exile.Although they became acquainted, they were hardly close associates in the nine months between Trotsky's arrival and his split with Lenin at the Second Party Congress in July-August 1903.During the years of enmity between Lenin and Trotsky, 1903-1916, Krupskaya was anything but friendly with Trotsky, reserving some of her sharpest critical comments for him in her correspondence with comrades.After the October Revolution she naturally accepted her husband's political reconciliation with Trotsky, but had little contact with him, except for a brief time when the two households shared a dining room in the Kremlin.During Lenin's illness Krupskaya favored the ruling troika of Kamenev-Stalin-Zinoviev, partly because of her close personal association with Kamenev and Zinoviev in emigration.In early January, 1924, she specifically supported the ruling group and criticized Trotsky's "New Course" article.No doubt Trotsky considered her an opponent, and a particularly inconvenient one, because of her close association with the image of Lenin.It seems, however, that Krupskaya was not completely committed in the factional struggle.No doubt her quarrels with Stalin played a major role in persuading her that the troika could not by itself replace Lenin, that Trotsky's continued role as a party leader was necessary.Very shortly after Lenin's death on January 21, 1924, Krupskaya wrote a personal note to Trotsky, telling him of Lenin's continued high esteem for him until the end of his life and implicitly offering a 1 A fuller narrative of their relationship than that which follows may be found in my book Bride of the Revolution: Krupskaya and Lenin (Ann Arbor, Michigan and London, 1972).This work provides source references concerning the particulars that follow in this introductory note.
Author: R. H. McNeal
Language: English
Topic: Soviet and Russian History
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2123157124