A secondary battery having an electrode assembly in which strip-shaped positive and negative electrode plates are spirally wound with a strip-shaped separator interposed therebetween, the positive and negative electrode plates comprising a current collector and a material mixture layer carried thereon. The positive electrode plate has, in a vicinity of a first end at an initial winding side, an exposed portion of the positive electrode current collector having no positive electrode material mixture formed thereon and a positive electrode lead connected to the exposed portion. A first winding turn outwardly adjacent to a connecting portion of the positive electrode lead with the separator interposed therebetween and a second winding turn outwardly adjacent to the first winding turn with the separator interposed therebetween comprise a portion of the negative electrode plate carrying the negative electrode material mixture layer.