What Lenin was like as a man: Krupskaya

Lenin and Krupskaya in Gorky, late summer 1922

From the Soviet Sputnik Magazine, June 1969:

Among reminiscences of Lenin appearing in the Press for the first time in connection with the approaching centenary of his birth, are what Lenin's wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya, called "My Answers to a Questionnaire from the Brain Institute in 1935". The questionnaire itself has been lost, but the questions can be reconstructed from the answers:

He walked rapidly, without ever swaying or swinging his arms much.

He was not awkward. I would say rather that he was dexterous.

He played gorodki (an old Russian game like skittles.–Ed), he swam. was a good skater and liked cycling...The locality near the Volga where he lived does not abound in mushrooms, but when I was with him in exile we often went to the forest to pick mushrooms. With his keen eyesight he soon be came good at finding them, and he searched for them with zest. He was fond of going out shooting and had a passion for roaming the woods...

His movements revealed no affectation, pretense, eccentricity, theatricality or ostentation. His expressions and gestures were always eloquent...

He smiled frequently. It was - a good smile, never becoming malicious or coldly polite.

And how he laughed! it would sometimes bring tears to his eyes. He would throw back his body as he laughed. His voice was loud but not raucous, a chesty baritone. He sang. His favourite songs were “We Were Not Wedded in a Church”, “I Love You, I Love You Immensely”, “Victim of Dire Bondage”, “Whirlwinds of Danger”, “ Arise, the Toiling Folk”, “Forward, Comrades, Forward!”, “Merry Day of May”, “Rage, ye Tyrants”, “Vous Avez Pris l’Alsace et la Lorraine” (An Alsatian song Lenin learned from a French office cleaner in Paris. - Ed) and “Soldats de Dix-Septieme”.*

Ilyich once told me he had taken a fancy to Latin.

He had a simple manner of speaking, without a trace of showiness, theatricality or “natural artificiality”. It was not “mellifluous” like the French (as, for instance, Lunacharsky’s way of speaking), nor was it dry, stiff or monotonous like the English – it was a Russian manner of speaking, between these two extremes. That was what his speech was like – typical Russian speech. It was full of emotion, but not insincere or stagey; it was naturally emotional.

He always spoke ardently, whether in public speeches or informal talk. Frequently – he was highly emotional – when preparing a statement or an article he was going to write he would pace the room whispering to himself, trying to find suitable wording and putting together whole passages.

When out walking he would normally be silent and intent. Then I would keep silent too, in order to let him withdraw into himself. Then he would begin to talk – in detail and circumstantially – and he hated being interrupted by questions.

Returning home after a debate or argument, he would often feel upset and would remain silent and gloomy. I never bothered him with questions - later he would tell me everything

of his own accord. I did not have to ask him anything.

Quite frequently during our walks some unexpected word or phrase would reveal that he was thinking intensely and with concentration.

He had an excellent visual memory remembering very well faces, pages and lines from books. His memory retained the details of whatever he saw.

He was extremely fond of nature, and liked mountains, forests and sunsets. He enjoyed combinations of colours and had a high appreciation of them. He paid scant attention to his clothes. The colour of his tie, I should say, was unimportant to him, and he looked upon the tie itself as a tedious necessity.

His usual state was intense concentration.

He was cheerful and liked a joke.

He always kept some kind of organic link with life.

He had colossal powers of concentration.

He was self-critical and dealt with himself very strictly. But he hated soul-searching and agonizing self analysis.

When he was very agitated he would take a dictionary (say, Makarov’s) and read it for hours.

He was a fighter.

And always passionate.

When he was out hunting he would grow excited, and would hunt ducks crawling on all fours. But he was never foolhardy. He was not timid or fearful, and was the first into the water. He was bold and courageous.

*Song by Gaston Monthus, son of a Paris Communard, a gifted composer and performer of revolutionary songs, whom Lenin knew well. The song was dedicated to the soldiers of the French 17th Regiment who had refused to shoot down strikers.