Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya was a founding member of the Russian Bolshevik Party and the wife of Vladimir Lenin from 1898 until his death in 1924. As both his closest political collaborator and personal confidant, Krupskaya offers invaluable insights into the life and thought of the most important leader of the Russian Revolution. The portrait of Lenin that emerges is of a man unwavering in his convictions, but also—contrary to the mythology later woven around him—quick to laugh and tender in his affections.