Maria Ilyinichna Ulyanova (russian: Мари́я Ильи́нична Улья́нова; ,
Simbirsk
Ulyanovsk, known until 1924 as Simbirsk, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River east of Moscow. Population:
The city, founded as Simbirsk (), w ...
– 12 June 1937,
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
) was a Russian
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
revolutionary, politician, and the younger sister of
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
and
Anna Ulyanova
Anna Ilyinichna Yelizarova-Ulyanova (; , Nizhny Novgorod – 19 October 1935, Moscow) was a Russian revolutionary and a Soviet politician. The older sister of Vladimir Lenin and of Maria Ilyinichna Ulyanova, she married Mark Yelizarov (1863–1 ...
.
Biography
Maria Ilyinichna Ulyanova was born on 6 February 1878 in
Simbirsk
Ulyanovsk, known until 1924 as Simbirsk, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River east of Moscow. Population:
The city, founded as Simbirsk (), w ...
and was the youngest child of
Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov and his wife
Maria Alexandrovna. She was given the nickname "Manyasha" by her family.
She studied first at the Simbirsk gymnasium, in Simbirsk, graduating in 1893. In 1895, Maria applied to the physicochemical department of the mathematical faculty of the Higher (Bestuzhev) women's courses in St. Petersburg. However she was not accepted, and she had to enroll in 1896 for a two-year course in Moscow. After her graduation, she received a teaching diploma.
Since 1898, Maria had been a member of the
Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). She conducted propaganda in workers' circles, delivered illegal literature, and acted as a liaison officer. She was arrested several times. In September 1899, after the arrests of members of the Moscow RSDLP, Maria was sent under police supervision to
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
.
On the night of March 1, 1901, Maria was arrested and placed in solitary confinement in the Taganskaya prison. After seven months she was deported to
Samara
Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with ...
. The third time she was arrested was in January 1904, and then having been released on bail in June of the same year, Maria left for Switzerland.
In 1905, Maria returned to St. Petersburg, where she worked as secretary of the Vasileostrovsky District Committee of the RSDLP.
On May 2, 1907, Maria was arrested again. Having been released in 1908, she moved to Moscow and worked in the Moscow Party organization.
In 1908-1909 Maria lived in Paris and studied at the Sorbonne, where she received a teaching diploma in French. In the summer of 1910, hiding from arrest, Maria worked as a home teacher in the village of
Leppenino near the station
Terijoki (
Grand Duchy of Finland
The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecessor ...
).
Maria was arrested again in May 1912, and was later deported to
Vologda
Vologda ( rus, Вологда, p=ˈvoləɡdə) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the river Vologda (river), Vologda within the watershed of the Northern Dvina. ...
. From February to April 1915 in Moscow she studied at the
Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...
. In the summer of 1915 Maria went to the
Western Front (Russian Empire) The Western Front (russian: Западный фронт) was an army group in the armed forces of the Russian Empire during the First World War. It was established in August 1915 when the Northwestern Front was split into the Northern Front and We ...
with a medical-nutrition detachment.
Since 1915, Maria was part of the Moscow organization of the RSDLP, corresponding with the Foreign Bureau of the Central Committee. After the
February Revolution of 1917
The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...
, she was co-opted into the Bureau of the
Central Committee
Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...
of the RSDLP.
Maria took an active part in the development of the Social Democratic and then the Communist press in Russia. From 1900 until 1917 she worked for
Iskra
''Iskra'' ( rus, Искра, , ''the Spark'') was a political newspaper of Russian socialist emigrants established as the official organ of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP).
History
Due to political repression under Tsar Nicho ...
, in 1917-1929 she was a member of the editorial board of
Pravda
''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the co ...
.
Since 1903 - in the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the RSDLP. Member of the Bureau of the Central Committee of the RSDLP from 1917.
Maria was a member of the Central Control Commission of the CPSU from 1925 to 1934, a member of the Presidium of the CCC of the CPSU (1932-1934), then a member of the
Soviet Control Commission
The Soviet Control Commission (german: Sowjetische Kontrollkommission, SKK) was a monitoring and management committee established by the Soviet Union in order to oversee the leadership of the German Democratic Republic. It was active from 10 Octobe ...
under the SNK of the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
from 1935.
In 1935, she was appointed to the
Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union
The All-Union Central Executive Committee (russian: Всесоюзный Центральный исполнительный комитет, Vsesoyuznyy Tsentral'nyy ispolnitel'nyy komitet) was the most authoritative governing body of the USSR d ...
.
Maria Ilinichna Ulyanova died on June 12, 1937 of heart disease in Moscow. The urn with her ashes in is buried in the
Kremlin wall
The Moscow Kremlin Wall is a defensive wall that surrounds the Moscow Kremlin, recognisable by the characteristic notches and its Kremlin towers. The original walls were likely a simple wooden fence with guard towers built in 1156.
The Kremlin w ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ulyanova, Maria Ilyinichna
1878 births
1937 deaths
Soviet people of Jewish descent
People from Ulyanovsk
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members
Communist Party of the Soviet Union members
Russian untitled nobility
Maria Ilyinichna