I am watching a documentary on Netflix titled "The Russian Revolution", and there's this line 18 minutes in where it's mentioned that:
"He had a maid of 12, whom he paid one ruble a month, and kept her in a sort of cage under the stairs."
This was in the context of the time he spent exiled in Siberia, and how it wasn't all that bad.
This is followed up with a chuckle about "So much for bolshevik egalitarianism".
Quote was said by a Prof. Donald Rayfield, author of "Stalin and his Hangmen".
Could anyone shed light on the issue?
Lenin (27 y.o.at the time) was in exile in Shushenskoye village for 3 years, from 1897 to 1900. Although being fairly remote, the village was well developed and counted about 1500 residents.
Lenin was accompanied by his wife Nadezhda and his mother-in-law. The latter took care of household, while Lenin with assistance of his wife tried to earn money by translations and publications (barely successful).
It's known they hired an aid to household. October 9, 1898, Krupskaya wrote:
Наконец мы наняли прислугу, девочку лет 15, за 2 1/2 р. в месяц + сапоги, придёт во вторник, следовательно, нашему самостоятельному хозяйству конец.*
I.e.:
We are finally hire a servant, girl of 15 for 2 1/2 rubles per month + boots, she will come in Tuesday, so our self-supporting is over.
As for "cage" thing, I can't find any source. My only suggestion, it's a translation error. Probably an interpreter failed to distinguish the words клетка (cage) and клетушка (tiny room).
*Source: Н.Валентинов, "Малознакомый Ленин" // Nikolai Valentinov-Volsky, The Little-Known Lenin