Why did Lenin's wife support Stalin?

[Jacob Cliff]

Stalin abused mentally Krupskaya and Lenin noted of his "rudeness" and called for his expulsion from the Party. So then why did Krupskaya support Stalin in expelling Trotsky from the Party? Why did she want Stalin to stay? Did she not read, or simply not agree with Lenin's testament?

[Redistribute the Rep]

Maybe she liked living

Ok, kidding aside, it may just be the case that she didn't like Trotsky, Lenin himself was known to have some major disagreements with him and perhaps she didn't like stalin but just saw him as a better alternative

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

She didn't support Stalin. She (along with Sokolnikov and others) supported Zinoviev and Kamenev. And it's a pretty big stretch to call Stalin yelling over the phone "mental abuse".

[Red Star Rising]

She didn't support Stalin. She (along with Sokolnikov and others) supported Zinoviev and Kamenev. And it's a pretty big stretch to call Stalin yelling over the phone "mental abuse".

Threatening her for trying to help with her ailing husband's treatment probably qualifies though.

[Sandy Becker]

I think that Stalin was said to have been threatening with Krupskaya toward the end of Lenin's life. Good sociopath that he was, Stalin probably figured that Lenin was (to his relief) going to die soon, so he was free to be himself.

[Teacher]

The same reason anyone supports anyone.. she agreed with Stalin's policies and did not agree with Trotksy, like the majority of Soviet people. They did not get along personally because they disagreed about Lenin's care toward the end of his life and Stalin said some rude things to her. But politically she agreed with Stalin because he continued on the path that Lenin did.

[Illegalitarian]

Maybe she liked living


Ironically this is the best answer.

She was pretty well respected and had a solid place in government, a place she liked, anyways. Why would she have given this, and likely her life, up?


I wonder if Stalin maybe had Lenin killed. lmao

[Sandy Becker]

I think Trotsky put it quite well:

Stalin always lived in fear of a protest on her part. She knew far too much. She knew the history of the party. She knew the place that Stalin occupied in this history. All of the latter day historiography which assigned to Stalin a place alongside of Lenin could not but appear revolting and insulting to her. Stalin feared Krupskaya just as he feared Gorky. Krupskaya was surrounded by an iron ring of the GPU Her old friends disappeared one by one; those who delayed in dying were murdered either openly or secretly. Every step she took was supervised. Her articles appeared in the press only after interminable, insufferable and degrading negotiations between the censors and the author. She was forced to adopt emendations in her text, either to exalt Stalin or to rehabilitate the GPU. It is obvious that a whole number of vilest insertions of this type was made against Krupskaya’s will, and even without her knowledge. What recourse was there for the unfortunate crushed woman? Completely isolated, a heavy stone weighing upon her heart, uncertain what to do, in the toils of sickness, she dragged on her burdensome existence. . . .



Nothing can be further from our mind than to blame Nadezhda Konstantinovna for not having been resolute enough to break openly with the bureaucracy. Political minds, far more independent than hers, vacillated, tried to play hide and seek with history – and perished. Krupskaya was to the highest degree endowed with a feeling of responsibility. Personally she was courageous enough. What she lacked was mental courage. With profound sorrow we bid farewell to the loyal companion of Lenin, to an irreproachable revolutionist and one of the most tragic figures in revolutionary history. L.T.

March 4, 1939

[Teacher]

Of course Trotsky has no earthly idea what he is talking about in that passage. Things do not become historical facts simply because Trotsky dreamed them up and wrote them down.