ABSTRACT
Among the leaders of the Soviet legal profession, Nikolai Vasil' evich Krylenko occupies a special place because of the multifaceted character of his career. His early adult years were devoted not to law but largely to the life of a professional revolutionary and then a political and military operative. He turned to law, the field in which he spent the last twenty years of his life, only in 1918, when he was in his thirty-third year. His work in law involved a breadth of experience not found among present -day Soviet jurists, and rare even in Kry lenko' s day: prosecutor in important political trials; Commissar of Justice at both the RSFSR and USSR levels; ardent legal reformer who wrote and published prolifically on legal issues of the day; editor and lecturer who, if numerous Soviet sources are to be credited, took seriously the need to disseminate "legal propaganda" among the populace.! In addition, Krylenko was well known for his interests outside oflaw, including chess, mountain-climbing, hunting, and tourism, all areas which he helped encourage and develop in the new Soviet state.2
