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Nikolai Izvolov

Russian State Documentary Film & Photo Archive

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX

present

a film by DZIGA VERTOV

Anniversary of the Revolution

Anniversary of the Revolution Part 1. February - October

At the beginning of 1917,

the slavery, the 3 years of war,

and food shortages caused mass unrest

that was reaching a dangerous state.

The crippled and cruel government, and even more so the dissolute power

couldn't hold back the popular masses.

On 25 February the riots in Petrograd grew.

The people took to the streets.

The State Duma tried in vain to prevent the coming events.

On 27 February Rodzianko sent a telegram to the tsar:

“Situation worsening.

Must take immediate action, for tomorrow it will be too late.

The time has come

''when the destiny of motherland and the dynasty is on the line.''

But... the ruler was silent.

The troops began to side with the people.

The Volhynian and Pavlovsky Regiments

declared their support for freedom.

A crowd gathered at the gate

to the building of the armoured brigade.

The people persuaded the soldiers to rise in defence of freedom.

The first blood was shed on Znamenskaya Square.

Joyful crowds, seeing the dawn of freedom,

took to the streets.

Demonstrations started.

A huge rally was held at the Tauride Palace.

One after another, military units approached the palace

and joined the people.

The members of the State Duma, who had taken power at the time,

went to the crowds and spoke pompously

about the triumph of truth and freedom.

Among the crowd is the Duma member Purishkevich.

The Duma member A. F. Kerensky.

In two days the liberated people

have crushed the stronghold of Tsarism:

the police and its departments.

A building for pre-trial detention perished in the fire.

The Alexander Nevsky district police station.

The district court.

The Palace Square,

surrounded by mansions of the tsars, lies in gloom.

The officers of the allied armies

congratulate the Volhynian Regiment,

the first who sided with the people.

On 4 March Petrograd buried its freedom fighters

at the Field of Mars.

Tens of thousands walked in the funeral cortege.

Members of the Provisional Government

headed by Rodzianko gathered at the common grave.

There was the War Minister Guchkov.

Coffins, one by one, were lowered into the grave.

On 26 February Moscow was alarmed by the news from Petrograd.

Wanting to find out the truth, Muscovites took to the streets.

The next day the City Duma

and the Resurrection Square

became the centre of Moscow’s life.

The interim committee and Council of Workers’ Deputies

held a meeting,

informing people of the latest news from Petrograd.

The Council of Workers’ Deputies released briefings

which were snatched up immediately.

The whole of Moscow gathered near the Duma.

Inspired and joyful, the soldiers in defence of freedom

approached the square.

The artillery arrived. Guns were placed round the Duma.

Food that had been confiscated in the districts was brought in.

Tverskaya Street was packed with people and demonstrations.

On 4 March, elected by the interim committee,

the commander-in-chief Lt. Gruzinov inspected the revolutionary troops.

The troops marched down Red Square in perfect formation.

At the same time in Petrograd, the new government was formed

which from the very beginning revealed itself as bourgeois.

The leaders of the two parties that formed the government were

Kerensky and Milyukov.

They were joined by: Nekrasov

Stakhovich

Efremov

Yakubovich

Manuilov.

The democratic layers of the population

opposed with councils of workers and soldiers' deputies.

A congress of councils was formed, and to its presidium were elected:

Chkheidze, Gots, and others.

Chairman of the Soviet of workers and soldiers’ deputies Chkheidze.

The congress gathered an enormous number

of representatives from the proletariat.

The leaders at the congress were: Dan

Gvozdev

Plekhanov

The Provisional Government listened to the congress

and introduced another method for the fight

against the proletariat.

Tsereteli and Skobelev were made ministers.

Comrade Tsereteli

Kerensky, who managed to get popularity with the masses,

was given the post of Prime Minister

and soon, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

Kerensky appointed Gen. Brusilov as Commander-in-chief.

Adm. Kolchak was appointed Commander-in-chief

of the naval forces.

18 June, a date still remembered in Russia,

initially brought a victory.

At the front, our units gave in to Kerensky and attacked.

Kerensky celebrated.

In Petrograd, a grandiose demonstration

took place on the occasion of the victory.

The proletariat, demanding peace, didn't take part in it.

During the demonstrations there were incidents.

A Cossack banner was forcefully taken down.

Shock troops of cadets continued to leave for the front.

In the capital, military organizations

held meetings and demonstrations, proclaimed slogans for the war.

But then there came the events of 3-7 July:

the lower classes, exhausted from the war,

took to the streets and tried to seize power

from Kerensky’s government.

Kerensky’s troops were immediately sent

to make arrests and conduct searches.

Clashes occurred on Nevsky Prospect.

The Exchange building has come under fire.

After the suppression of the proletariat,

Kerensky’s troops solemnly buried their casualties.

This turned the masses even more away from the power.

Kerensky, wanting to save the situation,

formed a coalition government, which included

Avksentyev

Zarudnyi

Nikitin

Yurenev

To consolidate power,

a state conference was called in Moscow.

The building of the Bolshoi Theatre was guarded by troops.

The “Grandmother” of the Revolution arrived:

Breshko-Breshkovskaya

Kerensky

Kishkin

Avksentyev

Kokoshkin, Kartashev

Chkheidze

At the meeting, a block of members of the four State Dumas

was organized.

The October Revolution in Petrograd

The October Revolution in Petrograd started by the palace

where the so-called Pre-Parliament created by Kerensky was located.

The only support of the Provisional Government

came from the cadets.

For the protection of the palace

the cadets constructed barricades from firewood.

And set up pickets.

But a bunch of White Guards couldn't protect the palace

from the rising proletariat.

The palace came under gunfire.

The centre of the October-November Revolution

in Petrograd was Smolny.

Here was the military HQ of the communists.

Smolny was protected with cannons and machine guns.

Units of sailors, soldiers, and workers went from here to fight

and returned with joyful news.

Here were the leaders of the Revolution,

among them Trotsky,

Lunacharsky,

Kollontai, and others.

The troops went from Smolny to Gatchina,

where a battle with Kerensky's followers was fought.

Here the fight was led by a special Revolutionary-military HQ.

Under the command of comrade Dybenko,

who had been appointed Commander-in-Chief.

The HQ had cannons at its disposal

and an armoured car, the ''Lieutenant Schmidt'',

which had proven itself in the fights with the cadets.

The pilot Lokaichuk was employed by the HQ.

Medical staff in cars assisted the wounded.

Units of revolutionary troops pursued the fleeing followers

of Kerensky.

New units were coming from Gatchina.

Cannons that had been used in the city.

After the suppression of the Kerensky mutiny,

a solemn funeral of the victims of the October Revolution

took place in Petrograd.

Several tens of thousands of workers

took part in the procession.

THE OCTOBER-NOVEMBER REVOLUTION IN MOSCOW

The Aleksandrov military college, where the HQ

of the White Guard was located.

The college sauna,

where the cadets held the arrested Bolsheviks.

The Aleksandrov military college,

stubbornly defended by the cadets and junkers.

The college suffered badly from shelling.

The cannon with which the cadets fired at Moscow

is still outside the college.

The shelling caused considerable damage to the Nikolsky Gate

and to the Kremlin which had been captured and defended by the cadets

The Spassky Gate.

The Chudov Monastery in the Kremlin.

The Nicholas Palace.

The Assumption Cathedral.

The damaged houses by the Nikitsky Gate,

where the cadets had their post.

Here they suffered heavy losses.

The first decrees

One of the very first steps

of the Workers' and Peasants' Government

was issuing a decree on peace:

The Workers' and Peasants' Government,

created by the revolution of 24-25 October

and guided by the Councils of Workers’ and Soldier's Deputies,

suggests to the warring nations and their governments

to begin negotiations for the immediate, democratic peace.

26 October 1917

Next came a decree on the land.

Art. 1. The ownership of the land by landowners

is abolished immediately and without any compensation.

The right of private property for the land is abolished forever.

The land is expropriated without compensation

for the use of all workers.

26 October 1917

THE OPENING AND DISSOLUTION OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY

By election day the entire city was plastered with posters.

Demonstrations took place on the streets.

Propaganda was spread among the crowd.

Crowds of people filled the streets of Petrograd

and started for the Tauride Palace.

More and more crowds approached the palace.

Only delegates were allowed inside the palace enclosure.

Demonstrators organized a rally near the enclosure.

But the crowd got to the doors of the palace.

The members of the Constituent Assembly came out to them.

The Latvian Riflemen division arrived to clear the square

in front of the Tauride Palace.

The masses didn’t leave voluntarily and force had to be used.

Artillery was brought to the Tauride Palace.

As a result of the clashes of demonstrators with the troops

on 5 January, there were casualties.

The dead were solemnly buried.

The Constituent Assembly

did not justify the hopes of the people

and has been dissolved.

THE PEACE TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK

The Russian delegates set out to the meeting.

The building

where the truce negotiations were held.

The Bulgarian delegates:

colonel Ganchev, the councillor Dr Anastasov.

General Hoffman goes to the meeting

with representatives from Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Signing of the peace treaty by Prince Leopold of Bavaria.

After the peace treaty,

the country quickly turned to peaceful life.

In Petrograd,

Swedish merchant steamships appeared on the Neva.

Masses of Russian veterans started to return from captivity.

Exiled from their motherland by the war,

the refugees set off for the occupied territories.

The demarcation lines were established:

the borders of Soviet Russia.

THE BRAIN OF THE SOVIET RUSSIA

The Red Kremlin,

where the highest public institutions of Soviet Russia

are located.

The Trinity Gates are open for access to the Kremlin.

The building of court-house in the Kremlin,

where the Council of People's Commissars

and the Central Executive Committee are located.

The main entrance for members of the Council

of People's Commissars.

The Head of the Soviet Government and Leader of the Proletariat:

Vladimir Ilyich LENIN (Ulyanov).

V. I. Lenin and the Head of Affairs of the Council

of People's Commissars: Vl. Dm. Bonch-Bruyevich.

The People’s Commissar on Military and Naval Affairs:

Lev Davydovich Trotsky.

The Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee,

Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov.

The Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars:

Vl. Dm. Bonch-Bruyevich.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Republic,

comrade Vācietis.

Comrade Vācietis with his staff in the battlefield.

The People’s Commissar of Education A. V. Lunacharsky.

The Deputy People’s Commissar of Education, Comrade Pokrovsky.

The People’s Commissar of Foreign Affairs,

Comrade Chicherin.

The Deputy People’s Commissar of Foreign Affairs,

Comrade Karakhan, member of the Central Executive Committee.

The editor of the Central Executive Committee’s paper Izvestiya,

Comrade Steklov.

The manager of Central European Department of the Commissariat

of Foreign Affairs, member of the Central Executive Committee,

Comrade Radek.

The People’s Commissar of Agriculture, Comrade Sereda.

The People’s Commissar of Justice, Comrade Stuchka.

The People’s Commissar of Food Supply, Comrade Tsuryupa.

The Chairman of the Supreme Council of the National Economy,

Comrade Rykov.

The People’s Commissar for Post and Telegraphs, Comrade Podbelsky.

The Deputy People’s Commissar for Labour, Comrade Shlyapnikov.

The Former Ambassador of the Soviet Republic in Vienna,

member of the Central Executive Committee,

Chairman of the Moscow Council, Comrade Kamenev.

The Chairman of the Soviet Peace Delegation

on Ukrainian negotiations, member of the Central Executive Committee,

Comrade Rakovsky.

The Chairman of the Extraordinary Commission on Army Equipment,

member of the Central Executive Committee, Comrade Krasin.

The Deputy People’s Commissar of Railways, Comrade Rogov.

The Deputy People’s Commissar of Post and Telegraphs,

Comrade Zalezhsky and Comrade Pavlovsky-Pavlovich.

The Head of the Russian Telegraph Agency ROSTA,

Member of the Central Executive Committee,

eminent member of the Communist Party,

Comrade Sosnovsky.

The former People’s Commissar of Food Supplies in Siberia,

member of the Central Executive Committee, Comrade Shlikhter.

The Former People’s Commissar of Post and Telegraphs,

member of the Central Executive Committee, Comrade Proshyan.

The Chairman of the Extraordinary Commission

for Evacuation and Demobilization, Comrade Vladimirsky.

The People’s Commissar of Labour, Comrade Shmidt.

The proletarian poet, member of the Central Executive Committee,

Comrade Demyan Bednyi.

The Chairman of the Moscow Council of Labour Unions,

member of the Central Executive Committee, Comrade Mikh. Tomsky.

The Member of the Central Executive Committee,

leader of the anarchist-communist party, Comrade Karelin.

The heads of the Red Army:

The Deputy People’s Commissar on Military Matters,

Comrade Sklyansky.

The Chairman of the Supreme Military Inspection,

Comrade Podvoysky.

The Supreme Military Commander, Comrade Rattel

and the Chief of Military Communications,

Comrade Zagge.

The Military Commissar of the Moscow District,

Comrade Muralov.

THE CZECHOSLOVAK FRONT

For a long time the Czechoslovak front

constituted a great threat for the Soviet Republic.

The enemies of the proletariat cut off the supply lines for bread

to the centre and the capitals:

the entire Volga region and the river Kama.

But from 6 September to 8 October the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army

expelled the opponent with vigorous blows

from Kazan and Simbirsk, cleared Volsk, Khvalynsk, Syzran,

and took the Czechoslovak stronghold Samara.

Over a month and a half,

heavy fighting took place around Kazan.

Despite gunfire, the Soviet troops stubbornly moved forward.

The enemy’s artillery started drumfire.

Often shells fell into the Volga.

The troops near Kazan had armoured trains,

which played an active part in the battles.

On the Volga, the Volga flotilla was at the command’s disposal.

The capture of Kazan was a question of survival

for the Soviet Republic.

To boost discipline in the Army and to promote the ideas

of Soviet power

1/5 of all communists went to the front.

They were followed by comrade L. D. Trotsky.

Comrade Trotsky left in a special train.

The engine of comrade Trotsky’s train

was protected by machine guns.

On the way to the front comrade Trotsky delivered speeches.

A meeting was held in Murom.

On the way to Kazan comrade Trotsky was met

by the Сommander-in-Сhief of all forces

of the Soviet Republic, comrade Vācietis.

And by the entire revolutionary-military staff

of the Eastern front.

At the beginning of September, a large number of troops

gathered near Kazan.

Entire columns arrived to the battlefield,

one after another.

Persistent and long fighting started.

Troops landed on the left shore, near Kazan.

The body of the first killed sailor was found on the shore.

Comrade Trotsky, surrounded by communists,

was at this time on board of one of the steamships,

watching the battle.

A vigorous mood reigned among the sailors.

Soon Sviyazhsky Bridge,

of great strategic importance, was taken.

The main Czechoslovak position in Verkhnii Uslon

was taken through storming by Soviet troops.

Having lost their strongholds,

the opponent regrouped in Kazan,

where they encountered gun-fire

from the well-known barge “Serezha”,

armed with long-range naval cannons.

Kazan was taken earlier than expected.

Comrade Trotsky arrived in the city by steamship.

Other steamships welcomed him by hooting.

The Volga's Kazan shore suffered considerably

from the attack of the Red artillery.

Fire destroyed the pier.

A scorched corpse was found here, a searchlight, and a car.

A steamship sank in the river.

Our troops entered the city on the very first day.

The artillery entered.

The supporters of Soviet power who had been arrested

by the White Army were released immediately.

In Kazan, the Red Army took rich spoils of war.

A whole artillery park with cannons, charges, and shells.

And machine guns hidden by the enemy among firewood.

The heroes of Kazan were:

comrade Kin, political commissar of the army squadron.

Comrade Poznansky, chief of the cavalry squadron.

Comrade Oplotsin, commander of the squadron.

Comrade Mikhailov,

political commissar of the special squadron.

Comrade Lev, commandant of the naval squadron.

And... Volodya Alekseev.

Despite the forceful attack on the city,

only a few houses were damaged.

The HQ of the White Guards:

the Nobility Assembly.

During the attack the citizens of Kazan

cleverly protected glass by covering windows with paper.

After the Soviet troops had entered the city,

life began to surge:

on the market the Red soldiers took care of their appearance.

The sales of wheat cakes increased rapidly.

The army arranged a triumphant farewell for comrade Trotsky.

At Penza station, comrade Trotsky was met

by a guard of honour

of the 1st Revolutionary Czechoslovak squadron.

Comrade Trotsky gave a speech.

The Revolutionary Czechs and Slovaks marched in review.

From Penza, comrade Trotsky went to Saratov,

which had long been a stronghold of Soviet power on the Volga.

In the city, on the river bank, thousands of refugee families

had found shelter,

having been made homeless through military operations.

The People’s Commissar of War

was met by the commander of the army, Khvesin,

commissar Lindorph,

the Cheka head Comrade Zhukov

and senior aide Savin.

In the Palace of the People a meeting was held,

where speeches were given by: comrade Trotsky,

the Chairman of the local Soviet Antonov, and others.

On the way to Khvalynsk, places of recent fights were visible.

The road here is not safe:

the steamship ''Saratovite'' and a boat stand guard.

In Khvalynsk comrade Trotsky inspected the Bolokovsky regiment.

Forty versts from the city of Nikolaevsk-Uralsky,

the Nikolaev division took up post.

The division's HQ was protected

by the armoured car ''Skull''.

There is a communist club here.

The chief of the division, Zakharov,

and the commander of the brigade, Chapayev,

for whose capture the Czechoslovaks had offered 50,000 roubles.

LABOUR COMMUNES

The People’s Commissariat of Agriculture paid great attention

to the organization of labour communes.

Such a commune was formed on the ruins

of the former Vanlyarov mansion in the Smolensk District.

The organizer of the commune, comrade Ivanov.

The commune has a council made up of Kondraty Koganov,

Efim Parfyonov, Vassily Ksenzov, and others.

The commune has modified the former mansion into a sanatorium

for weak members of the commune and children.

All communards have an identical labour duty

in the field, in the garden, and other spheres.

The female communards milk the cows.

The commune has a significant number

of work horses.

In the manor, a prison tower has been preserved,

where the landowner had kept those who'd committed offences.

The work plan and the distribution of work

are appointed by general council.

The communards receive all produce from the communal supplies.

After work, the communists gather to discuss the news and to chat.

THE END

© Nikolai Izvolov, 2018

© Birgit Beumers, translation, 2018