How a noblewoman and decadent Larisa Reisner became a sex symbol of the October Revolution

This woman's life was very short, but so eventful that there would be enough events in it for several lifetimes. Having everything she could wish for, she chose the path of a revolutionary, but she could not give up her usual luxury. Reisner flared up brightly and quickly burned down, remaining in the memory of her colleagues as a man of unparalleled dedication and amazing frivolity.

Larisa Reisner was born on May 1, 1995 in the Polish city of Lublin in a family of scientists and hereditary German nobles. Her father, Mikhail Andreevich Reisner, a professor of law, came from an old Ostseye baronial family, and her mother was a descendant of the Russian nobles Khitrovo and a relative of the Minister of War of the Russian Empire V. A. Sukhomlinov.

Larisa Reisner with her parents

In 1905, the Reisner family moved to St. Petersburg, where they became interested in Bolshevik ideas. This was not surprising, since her father, despite his noble origin, was an adherent of social democracy and Karl Liebknecht, August Bebel and Vladimir Lenin visited him at home.

Already at the age of 14, Larisa read Capital and caught fire with the ideas of universal equality and world revolution. But this did not prevent the girl from getting a good education — after graduating from the gymnasium with a gold medal, Reisner became a student at the university where her father taught.

The girl's literary talent woke up early and she began to write poetry and prose. In 1915, Larisa helped her father publish the literary magazine Rudin, which was named after Turgenev's hero. Later she took part in the creation of several more decadent publications.

Among the poets, whom we today refer to the Silver Age, Reisner quickly became her own. Her poems were recognized as too overloaded with "beauties", but the girl attracted the attention of the creative intelligentsia not only with them. Larissa loved fancy, fantastic outfits and hairstyles, and also painted her lips with blue lipstick.

Reisner's bright beauty invariably attracted attention wherever she appeared. Vadim, the son of the writer Leonid Andreev later recalled:

Larisa Reisner was compared to the ancient goddess and heroine of the ancient German sagas, poems were dedicated to her, and artists asked her to pose for portraits.

Larisa Reisner and Fyodor Raskolnikov

In 1916, a woman meets the poet Nikolai Gumilev, who came to St. Petersburg on leave from the active army. He became Larisa's first man, inviting her to "some nasty hotel". Someone assumed that lovelace, in general, brought his beloved to a brothel on Gorokhovaya Street. But Reisner did not notice the shortcomings of her chosen one, as she was crazy about the brilliant officer and poet.

Gumilev left for the front, and for several months the novel continued by correspondence, until Larisa found out that she was far from the poet's only lover. Their relationship ended and Reisner was very worried about the vile betrayal of her first man, with whom she planned to live next to all her life.

But in 1917, the 22-year-old poetess was not up to love experiences — the October Revolution broke out and she plunged headlong into its turbulent whirlpool. Educated and at the same time ardently devoted to the revolution, the girl was highly appreciated by her colleagues. Reisner worked under the leadership of the People's Commissar of Education Lunacharsky, responsible for the preservation of the collections of the Winter Palace.

Soon she joined the Bolshevik Party and began to actively participate in the events of that troubled time. On the train heading from Petrograd to Moscow, Larisa met the Bolshevik Fyodor Raskolnikov, who became her husband. In Moscow, the couple lived on a grand scale — the newlyweds occupied a luxurious mansion, got servants and enjoyed French cheeses and expensive wines seized from the "oppressors of the working class."

Soon, together with her husband, Reisner was sent to create the Volga military Flotilla and became a participant in several water battles on the Volga and the Caspian. The woman fought no less bravely than the men, showing complete contempt for death.

In August 1918, Larisa went to explore Kazan occupied by the White Women and was captured. The woman managed to miraculously escape death — she made a daring escape, passing by the Japanese sentry with dignity and Olympic calmness, who did not understand that before him was not a guest of the officers, but a prisoner.

It was said that Reisner conquered Leon Trotsky himself with her beauty, courage and devotion to the revolution, who admired the woman and often set her as an example. Someone even claimed that there was a short and passionate affair between the revolutionaries.

After the Civil War, Reisner fell madly in love with the sailor, jazzman and writer Sergei Kolbasyev. Their romance was stormy and quite long, and ended after Larisa left for Afghanistan, where she began working in a diplomatic mission. In a foreign country, Reisner met for some time with a local aristocrat, whom she called the "Afghan prince".

Returning to Moscow, Reisner became the common-law wife of prominent Comintern figure Karl Radek. Contemporaries noted that the short, bow-legged and bald Radek looked ridiculous next to the beauty Reisner, but this woman always put a person's personal qualities above his appearance.

Devoted to the cause of the world revolution, Reisner did not seek to be closer to the common people and tried to surround herself with comfort and even luxury everywhere. While organizing a flotilla on the Volga with Raskolnikov, she lived with her husband on board the imperial yacht "Mezhen".

It is a well-known fact that the Empress once wrote her name with a diamond on the glass of the stateroom of a luxury ship. Reisner crossed it out and scribbled her own next to it. The following words are attributed to the revolutionary:

In 1920, in Petrograd, suffering from hunger and devastation, Reisner irritated people with her luxurious outfits and bohemian lifestyle. Together with Fyodor Raskolnikov, she settled in the Admiralty building, where she often arranged lavish receptions, which many Bolsheviks condemned.

Larisa Reisner with her brother Igor

One day Reisner asked her husband to take her to a meeting of the Council of People's Commissars, which was held by Lenin. The woman dressed in her best outfits and smelled of expensive perfumes, embarrassing those present. The leader of the world proletariat himself drew attention to the inappropriately dressed beauty and delicately asked outsiders to leave the hall.

Reisner's love of luxury was surprisingly combined with dedication. She could work on a par with men on a subbotnik, volunteer for dangerous reconnaissance, even go on an attack with revolutionary sailors. One day, the subordinates of her husband Fyodor Raskolnikov decided to check out the "lady" and, putting her in a boat, went into battle.

As a result, the sailors were the first to surrender, leaving the river flood, shot through with machine guns, under the jokes of the brave Larisa. There were many such cases in the life of this woman, so she was treated with great respect and forgave her the most extravagant antics.

Larisa Reisner became the prototype of the commissar in the play "Optimistic Tragedy" by Vsevolod Vishnevsky, who served with Reisner on the Volga Flotilla. The woman herself also did not leave her literary studies and wrote poems, as well as essays about the Civil War, Afghanistan and the revolutionaries of Germany.

Larisa Reisner with her husband. 1922. Moscow

Larisa Reisner died on February 9, 1926 at the age of 30 in Moscow. The cause of death was typhus, which the revolutionary picked up after drinking a glass of raw milk. Her mother and brother Igor fell ill with her, but they survived. Immediately after the death of her daughter in the Kremlin hospital, her mother committed suicide.

The writer Mikhail Koltsov wrote about the death of Larisa Reisner the following:

Larisa Reisner's life is full of contradictory and controversial actions. Descendants remembered her as a "revolutionary lady" in French outfits, who, with her courage and assertiveness, could inspire even discouraged men and lead them along.