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While taking up the best traditions of the past, we are to build upon them for the future with solid hard work of our own.
Lenin’s father died when Vladimir was only 16, and he was reared for the most part by his mother, Maria Alexandrova. Her household, writes Lenin’s biographer David Shub, ‘was run along spartan lines and the children were largely self-educated. Alexandrova taught herself German, French, English and the piano.’
The manner in which Lenin followed in the footsteps of his mother is illustrated by his learning of the English language. While banished to Siberia by the Czarist Regime (1897-1900), Lenin and his wife, Krupskaya, spent their mornings translating ‘The Theory and Practice of Trade Unionism’ by Sidney and Beatrice Webb. Not only did they translate the book from English into their native Russian, but Lenin also translated it back into English, without referring to the original text. In a letter to his sister Anna, he wrote: “I have concluded from my experience that this is the most rational method of learning a language.”
While remembering the best traditions of the past, we must add to those lessons with insight and hard work of our own.
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