Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CRADLE OF COMMUNISM
Act One: Down with the Autocracy
In 1917, 23 February began like most days in Petrograd since the outbreak of the war.
The men went off to the metalworks and arms factories. The women went out to re-
ceive the daily bread ration. And the radical set went out to demonstrate, as it
happened to be International Women's Day. Although each left their abode an ordin-
ary individual, by day's end they would meld into the most infamous 'mass' in mod-
ern history: the Bronze Horseman's heirs let go of the reigns; the Russian Revolution,
a play in three acts, had begun.
After waiting long hours in the winter chill for a little food, the women were told
that there would be none. This news coincided with the end of the day shift and a
sweaty outpouring from the factory gates. Activist provocateurs joined the fray as the
streets swelled with the tired, the hungry and now the angry. The crowd assumed a
political purpose. They marched to the river, intent on crossing to the palace side and
expressing their discontent to somebody. But they were met at the bridge by gen-
darmes and guns.
Similar meetings had occurred previously, in July and October, on which occasions
the crowd retreated. But now it was February and one did not need a bridge to cross
the frozen river. First a brave few, then emboldened small groups, finally a defiant
horde of hundreds were traversing the ice-laden Neva toward the Winter Palace.
They congregated in the Palace Sq, demanding bread, peace and an end to auto-
cracy. Inside, contemptuous counts stole glances at the unruly rabble and waited for
them to grow tired and disperse. But they did not go home. Instead, they went around
the factories and spread the call for a general strike. By the next day a quarter of a
million people were rampaging through the city centre. Overwhelmed local police
took cover.
When word reached the tsar, he ordered military troops to restore order. But his
troops were no longer hardened veterans: they were long dead at the front. Rather,
freshly conscripted peasant youths in uniform were sent to put down the uprising.
When commanded to fire on the demonstration, they instead broke rank, dropped
their guns and joined the mob. At that moment, the 300-year-old Romanov dynasty
and 500-year-old tsarist autocracy came to an end.
