Ulianova, Mariia

Ul’ianova, Mariia Aleksandrovna 

(née Blank). Born Feb. 22 (Mar. 6), 1835, in St. Petersburg; died July 12 (25), 1916, inPetrograd. Mother of V. I. Lenin.

The daughter of a physician, Ul’ianova was educated at home; she studied the German, French, and English languages and Russian and Western literature. In 1863, without having attended any educational institutions, she passed the examinations to become an elementary school teacher.

Ul’ianova devoted her life entirely to her family and children, whom she sought to raise as honest and educated persons of high moral standards. Having exceptional teaching abilities, she exerted a tremendous influence on her children and understood their belief in the need for revolution. Ul’ianova was a friend to her children. She bore with unusual steadfastness and courage the misfortunes that befell one member after another: the death of her husband in 1886, the killing of her son Aleksandr by tsarist executioners in 1887, the death of her daughter Ol’ga in 1891, and the numerous instances of arrest and exile of her other children—Vladimir, Anna, Dmitrii, and Mariia. Ul’ianova was always by the side of the child who was most threatened by danger or whose situation was the most difficult. Twice she went abroad to meet Vladimir Il’ich (to France in the summer of 1902 and to Stockholm in the autumn of 1910). All the Ul’ianov children loved their mother deeply. Lenin always showed great concern for her; when he was separated from his mother, he carried on a continual correspondence with her.

Ul’ianova was buried in the Volkov Cemetery in Petrograd.

WORKS

“Pis’ma M. A. Ul’ianovoi (1898-1915 gg.).” Istoricheskii arkhiv, 1958, no. 2.

REFERENCES

Lenin, V. I. “Pis’ma k rodnym, 1893-1922.” Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed. vol. 55.
Perepiska sem’i Ul’ianovykh, 1883-1917. Moscow, 1969.
V. I. Lenin: Biograflia. 5th ed. Moscow, 1972.
Ul’ianova, M. I. “Mat’ Vladimira Il’icha: M. A. Ul’ianova.” Voprosy istorii KPSS, 1964, no. 4.
Sem’ia Ul’ianovykh: Sb. st., 3rd ed. Saratov, 1966.
Voskresenskaia, Z. Serdtse materi: Rasskazy iz zhizni M. A. Ul’ianovoi. Moscow, 1967.
Shaginian, M. S. Sem’ia Ul’ianovykh. Moscow, 1959.
M. A. Ul’ianova: Rekomendatel’nyi ukazatel’ literatury. [Compiled by I. E. Baranovskaia. Ulianovsk] 1968.

M. G. BONDARCHUK