Inessa Armand is a revolutionary and closest comrade-in-arms of Lenin, famous for her feminist views and personal relationships with the leader of the world proletariat. She lived a vibrant, eventful life and died at the age of 46, in the prime of her political career.
Childhood and adolescence: the beginning of a biography
Elizabeth Pesce d'Herbanville (real name Inessa Armand) was born in 1874 in Paris, in a family of professional actors. Father, Theodore Stefan, was a comedian, mother, Natalie Wild, sang in the opera, and then taught vocals. In addition to Elizabeth, the family had 2 more daughters. The girls were orphaned early, their father died when the eldest was only 5 years old. Mother could not support a large family alone, it was decided that Elizabeth and Rene would move to her aunt, a teacher of French language and music in the family of a wealthy merchant Eugene Armand. So the future revolutionist ended up in Russia, which became her new homeland.
In a family of rich and progressive industrialists, young French women received an excellent upbringing. The sisters were fluent in languages: French, Russian and English, later they began to study German. The girls worked hard on music, played the piano. Elizabeth showed her special talents, completely captivating her new family.
At 18, the girl was married to the eldest son and heir to the capital, Alexander. Elizabeth acquired a new surname and came up with a short and resonant name - Inessa. The young wife began to live the ordinary life of a wealthy bourgeois lady, but this role soon began to weigh on her.
Political career
Inessa began her journey into politics quite peacefully. After her marriage, she organized a school for peasant children, entered into a society that improves the lives of women and struggled with prostitution.
Armand's ideas were supported by her husband’s younger brother, Vladimir, who was keen on revolutionary ideas. He supplied the relative with literature, helped in the organization of schools and circles. Vladimir told Inessa about his namesake - the future leader of the revolution, Ulyanov-Lenin. Still not knowing this person personally, Inessa was imbued with his ideas and decided to become a member of the party organized by him. The young woman wrote a letter to Ulyanov and soon received a detailed answer. After 2 years, Inessa and Vladimir Armand joined the ranks of the RSDLP.
A pair of revolutionaries actively took up the job, campaigning, printing proclamations and leaflets. The result was an early arrest of Inessa, after the trial she was sent to a two-year exile in Mezen. She managed to establish contacts with Lenin, and in 1908 fled to Switzerland with a fake passport. Inessa entered the university in Brussels, at the same time she met personally with Lenin, who lived in exile. Armand became her man in the house and an indispensable assistant. In the list of daily duties of a young revolutionary:
- maintaining party documentation;
- participation in the search for funds and new sources of replenishment of the party cash desk;
- writing speeches and newspaper articles;
- compilation of proclamation texts;
- training agitators.
The revolutionary returned to Russia in 1917, together with Lenin and Krupskaya. Inessa became the head of the provincial economic council, while speaking at numerous rallies. She was a great speaker, able to ignite the masses and convey revolutionary ideas to them.
In the years 1919-1920. Armand was actively involved in the women's movement. She organized the international congress of women communists, wrote and published articles on the emancipation of women and the formation of a new institution of an advanced Soviet family.
