February 27, 1939

Nadya Krupskaya (February 26, 1869  to February 27, 1939) was Lenin's wife. She was smart, quiet, and like most women, devoted to her husband's ideals. They had a cat when exiled in Siberia, (1897-1900) and though their London landlady's cat, has been mentioned multiple times in memoirs of the era -- possibly to prettify the picture of the murderous revolutionist -- their next pet cat was not acquired til 1918. We read that Stalin's wife had to feed the cat when Krupskaya was away, so little could Lenin be depended upon. This cat, ("nameless to history,") gave rise to rumors that there were many cats in the household, but western journalists were assured that,--  there was just one cat.

The details for our comments are derived from these books:

Lenin: The Man Behind the Mask, Ronald Clark (1988)
Red revolutionary: the life of Lenin, Joan Charnock  (1968)
Bride of the revolution: Krupskaya and Lenin, Robert Hatch McNeal (1972).