The child of textile workers, Artyukhina was born at
Vyshny Volochyok. She became a dressmaker's apprentice at age ten and a mill worker by 17. She joined the Communist labor movement in Russia, and was forced into exile at age 20 - probably in 1909. After three years, she returned to Russia and resumed her work, both in textiles and in union organizing. She was active during the Revolution and rose through the ranks to sit as an alternate member on the
Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee from 1926 to 1930. She was also the last head of
Zhenotdel. On March 1, 1931, international journalists noticed Artukhina as the first woman to sit on the Soviet Supreme Court. She assumed leadership of the Cotton Textile Workers Union when a Commissar of light industry, Isadore Lubimoff, was removed. A collective farm was named for her. Her industry fell 11% short of its production goal for the first quarter of 1938. After this, she was dismissed from that post and started directing various textile factories in Moscow until her retirement in 1951. She was named a
Hero of Socialist Labor in 1960, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of
International Women's Day, and lies buried in the
Novodevichy Cemetery. ==Honours and awards==