Red Clydeside: A history of the labour movement in Glasgow 1910-1932

People

Helen Crawfurd and delegates of the British Co-op Movement pictured with the Krupshaya, Lenin's widow, 1927

Due to Helen Crawfurd's position as secretary of the WIR organisation she was invited to attend the tenth anniversary celebrations of the Russian revolution in Moscow IN 1927. Whilst there she met with several notable communist leaders and dignitaries including Lenin's wife Krupshaya.

As the wife of the Soviet leader, Krupskaya was an active participant in the Soviet government. She was a member of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party and also a member of the Soviet Presidium. In addition she was a member of the commissariat of education, where she used her influence to help establish a system of soviet libraries and also to develop the party's plan for educational reform.

After Lenin's death and once Stalin had gained control of the party, Krupskaya distanced herself from politics but continued to work for educational reform. Krupskaya died in 1939.

Source: Gallacher Memorial Library, Glasgow Caledonian University Special Collections and Archives