Inessa Fedorovna Armand (nee Steffen) (born April 26 (May 8) 1874 - died September 24, 1920) is an adventurer and activist of the Russian revolutionary movement.
I. Armand went down in history as a leader of the Russian and international revolutionary movement. She took part in the 1905 revolution, a year earlier she joined the Bolshevik Party. Later Armand took part in international socialist conferences. Despite the fact that her name was not banned, many details of her life remained unknown. Probably, the fact that Inessa's biography went beyond the traditional scheme of party life played a role.
Origin
Inessa Armand was born in Paris into a family of French theater artists. The Steffen family had relatives living in Russia, and when her father died, her mother sent the girl to Moscow - to her grandmother and aunt. The latter taught French to the children of the wealthy industrialist E. Armand.
E. Armand gave his children an excellent education at home. Inessa, who was brought up with them, knew several foreign languages, played the piano perfectly.
The birth of a revolutionary idea
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When Inessa was 18 years old, Armand's eldest son Alexander became her husband. Inessa and Alexander had four children. But a calm and secure life was not attractive to Inessa. She had an ardent desire to bring knowledge to the masses, to engage in enlightenment. To this end, she opened a school for peasant children. Later, the girl began to be interested in revolutionary ideas. Inessa's husband's brother and his friends had acquaintances among the Social Democrats. Through them, Inessa established contacts with the Social Revolutionaries, began to study forbidden literature, and comprehends the basics of underground work.
Inessa with her husband Alexander Armand
Meeting with Lenin
1904, winter - Inessa Armand left for Switzerland with her children. There she met V. I. Lenin, from the same moment broke off relations with the Socialist-Revolutionary Party and took the path of Bolshevism. In the Bolshevik Party, she fulfilled the duties of a liaison, did a lot of propaganda work. For revolutionary activities a year later she was arrested. Thanks to the amnesty for political prisoners, which was announced on October 17, 1905, I. Armand managed to avoid trial. In order not to be arrested again, she, after leaving prison, went into an illegal position.
But soon she again fell into the hands of the tsarist secret police. This time a trial took place, which sentenced her to exile in the Arkhangelsk province. A year later, Inessa managed to escape from there. She returned to Moscow, lived there illegally for some time. Then, using forged documents, Armand left for France.
In Paris she met Lenin again. At this time, according to a number of historians, they developed a close relationship. Many researchers argue that Lenin really loved only Inessa Armand.
Companions - Armand and Lenin
Revolutionary activity
Arriving in France, she settled in a suburb of Paris - Longjumeau. Armand's house practically became a boarding house for Russian Bolsheviks who came to France. Lenin suggested that the girl organize something like a university for them.
Inessa gladly responded to many of Lenin's proposals. So, even at the beginning, on her own initiative, she began to give Russian revolutionaries French lessons and teach literature. In addition, I. Armand began to actively appear in the press. 1912 - she returned to Russia, but a few months later she again finds herself in prison. Her husband posted a bail, after which Inessa was released and she went to Lenin's in Krakow.
After Krakow, they live in Paris. There Inessa headed a legal revolutionary publication called "Rabotnitsa". The printing house in which it was printed was located in France, from there "Rabotnitsa" was shipped to Russia. 1914 - the Congress of the Second International took place in Belgium. Because Inessa Armand could speak French fluently, she was delegated to this meeting for negotiations with the leaders of the movement.
In Belgium I. Armand was able to achieve a lot: suffice it to say that the result of her activity was the consolidation of all forces and political parties. It can also be noted that this was a good preparation for the creation of the Third International, which was based on the Bolshevik program. After Belgium, the path of the revolutionary lay in Switzerland. Inessa plans to convene an international women's conference. The conference took place, but the majority of delegates did not support either the slogans of the communists or their program.
1915 - an international socialist conference was held in Zimmerwald (Switzerland), opposing the First World War. The conference was attended by delegates from Switzerland, France, Germany, Poland, Russia and other countries.
Approximately the same situation developed at the youth conference, which took place almost immediately after the women's one. Then Inessa returned to Paris. There she began to engage in Bolshevik agitation among the French socialists. Those who sympathized with the ideas of the Zimmerwald Conference began to group around her. Lenin organized the left Zimmerwald faction on it and put forward political slogans, but they were not included in the manifesto of the conference.
I. F. Armand, 1913
1917 year
After the victory of the Bolsheviks in 1917, the revolutionary came to Russia and, together with her party comrades, did a great deal of social and political work. First of all, she promoted Lenin's April Theses, and also attended workers' meetings, made reports there. In addition, she was elected a deputy of the Moscow City Duma. Inessa Armand has also written political articles in a number of newspapers. It should be noted that agitation work attracted the revolutionary woman most of all.
Therefore, when she was elected a member of the Central Executive Committee and appointed chairman of the Moscow Provincial Council of the National Economy, I. Armand did not remain in these posts for long.
1919 year
1919 Armand left Russia to help captured Russian soldiers return home from Poland. This mission was carried out under the auspices of the Red Cross, and Inessa took an active part in it. After completing her mission, she returned to Russia, where she was appointed head of the women's department of the Central Committee of the party. On Armand's initiative, the Kommunistka magazine was created. In addition, she wrote articles that were regularly published in the central organ of the Bolshevik press - the newspaper Pravda.
Death of Inessa Armand
The intense political activity of the revolutionary could not but affect the state of her health. After holding an international women's conference in Moscow in June 1920 during the Second Congress of the Comintern, Armand obeyed the will of the doctors and left for Kislovodsk for treatment in a sanatorium. But on the way there she gets cholera. 1920, September - Inessa Armand died and was buried in Red Square.
Y. Matyukhina