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Authors: Christopher Read
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overwhelming was this tumultuous awakening of nature.’ [Krupskaya 37] Winter was different but it too had its attractions. Krupskaya describes ‘a magic kingdom’ of ice and snow:
Late in the autumn, when the snow had not yet begun to fall, but the rivers were already freezing, we went far up the streams. Every pebble, every little fish, was visible beneath the ice, just like some magic king dom. And winter-time, when the mercury froze in the thermometers [–39 °C], when the rivers were frozen to the bottom, when the water, flowing over the ice, quickly froze into a thin upper ice-layer – one could skate two versts [two kilometres] or so with the upper layer of ice crunching beneath one’s feet. Vladimir Il’ich was tremendously fond of all this. [Krupskaya 38]
Hunting was a major daytime occupation and Lenin became addicted. At first, Krupskaya was taken aback by all the talk about ducks. ‘They talked for hours on the subject, but by the following spring I had also become capable of conversing about ducks – who had seen them, and where and when … Vladimir Il’ich was an ardent hunter, but too apt to become heated over it. In the autumn we went to far-off forest clearings. Vladimir Il’ich said: “If we meet any hares, I won’t fire as I didn’t bring any straps, and it won’t be convenient to carry them.” Yet immediately a hare darted out Vladimir Il’ich fired.’ [Krupskaya 37] Massacre of hares was common. In winter, they were trapped on islands in the Yenisei. ‘Our hunters would sometimes shoot whole boat loads.’ Krupskaya also recalls that Lenin still hunted much later in life when they had returned to Russia proper but ‘by that time his huntsman’s ardour had considerably ebbed. Once we organized a fox-hunt. Vladimir Il’ich was greatly interested in the whole enterprise. “Very skilfully thought out,” he said. We placed hunters in such a way that the fox ran straight at Vladimir Il’ich. He grasped his gun and the fox, after standing and looking at him for a moment, turned and made off to the wood. “Why on earth didn’t you fire?” came our perplexed inquiry. “Well, he was so beautiful, you know,” said Vladimir Il’ich.’ [Krupskaya 38]
The long winter nights were an opportunity for reading. According to Krupskaya Lenin read Hegel, Kant and the French naturalist philosophers or, ‘when very tired’, Pushkin, Lermontov or Nekrasov. He also read and reread Turgenev, Tolstoy and Chernyshevsky’s What is to be Done? plus what Krupskaya calls ‘the classics’ apparently including Zola and Herzen. [Krupskaya 38] They also translated the Webbs’ book on trade unionism into Russian, though how they did this when their English was, as they later discovered, rather poor is hard to explain. It seems that they were only able to do so by having the German translation by their side. Nonetheless, it did bring in a little money. They also wrote and read drafts of Lenin’s first major book, The Development of Capitalism in Russia , about which more later.
Their social life was largely circumscribed by the village to which they were confined and its immediate surroundings. The situation brought Lenin an opportunity to observe Siberian rural life at first hand. Not unnaturally, on arrival at Shushenskoe, Lenin tried to establish good relations with the local schoolteacher, the only educated person in the immediate vicinity. However, the teacher spent his time with the local elite, consisting of the priest and a couple of shopkeepers, and he showed no interest in social problems. Lenin did, however, get to know several local peasants quite well, one of whom, a certain Zhuravliev, he described as ‘by nature a revolutionary’ who opposed the rich and fought against injustice. Another, named Sosipatych, was a typical stubborn muzhik [peasant] who accompanied Lenin on hunting trips. Through these acquaintances and his observation of local life Lenin observed what he called the
Late in the autumn, when the snow had not yet begun to fall, but the rivers were already freezing, we went far up the streams. Every pebble, every little fish, was visible beneath the ice, just like some magic king dom. And winter-time, when the mercury froze in the thermometers [–39 °C], when the rivers were frozen to the bottom, when the water, flowing over the ice, quickly froze into a thin upper ice-layer – one could skate two versts [two kilometres] or so with the upper layer of ice crunching beneath one’s feet. Vladimir Il’ich was tremendously fond of all this. [Krupskaya 38]
Hunting was a major daytime occupation and Lenin became addicted. At first, Krupskaya was taken aback by all the talk about ducks. ‘They talked for hours on the subject, but by the following spring I had also become capable of conversing about ducks – who had seen them, and where and when … Vladimir Il’ich was an ardent hunter, but too apt to become heated over it. In the autumn we went to far-off forest clearings. Vladimir Il’ich said: “If we meet any hares, I won’t fire as I didn’t bring any straps, and it won’t be convenient to carry them.” Yet immediately a hare darted out Vladimir Il’ich fired.’ [Krupskaya 37] Massacre of hares was common. In winter, they were trapped on islands in the Yenisei. ‘Our hunters would sometimes shoot whole boat loads.’ Krupskaya also recalls that Lenin still hunted much later in life when they had returned to Russia proper but ‘by that time his huntsman’s ardour had considerably ebbed. Once we organized a fox-hunt. Vladimir Il’ich was greatly interested in the whole enterprise. “Very skilfully thought out,” he said. We placed hunters in such a way that the fox ran straight at Vladimir Il’ich. He grasped his gun and the fox, after standing and looking at him for a moment, turned and made off to the wood. “Why on earth didn’t you fire?” came our perplexed inquiry. “Well, he was so beautiful, you know,” said Vladimir Il’ich.’ [Krupskaya 38]
The long winter nights were an opportunity for reading. According to Krupskaya Lenin read Hegel, Kant and the French naturalist philosophers or, ‘when very tired’, Pushkin, Lermontov or Nekrasov. He also read and reread Turgenev, Tolstoy and Chernyshevsky’s What is to be Done? plus what Krupskaya calls ‘the classics’ apparently including Zola and Herzen. [Krupskaya 38] They also translated the Webbs’ book on trade unionism into Russian, though how they did this when their English was, as they later discovered, rather poor is hard to explain. It seems that they were only able to do so by having the German translation by their side. Nonetheless, it did bring in a little money. They also wrote and read drafts of Lenin’s first major book, The Development of Capitalism in Russia , about which more later.
Their social life was largely circumscribed by the village to which they were confined and its immediate surroundings. The situation brought Lenin an opportunity to observe Siberian rural life at first hand. Not unnaturally, on arrival at Shushenskoe, Lenin tried to establish good relations with the local schoolteacher, the only educated person in the immediate vicinity. However, the teacher spent his time with the local elite, consisting of the priest and a couple of shopkeepers, and he showed no interest in social problems. Lenin did, however, get to know several local peasants quite well, one of whom, a certain Zhuravliev, he described as ‘by nature a revolutionary’ who opposed the rich and fought against injustice. Another, named Sosipatych, was a typical stubborn muzhik [peasant] who accompanied Lenin on hunting trips. Through these acquaintances and his observation of local life Lenin observed what he called the
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