Children participants of the 1917 revolution. About the revolution (and revolutions)

The Russian Empire, as you know, was the best country in the world, where happy schoolchildren shone with a blush, going out in the morning to study, pray and dream of giving their lives for the Tsar. Of course, there were also small problems (related to outside influence or troublemakers, of which there are always plenty), for example, the total illiteracy of the rest of the people. But in 1908, as “white patriots” say today, the tsarist government adopted a program of universal education for Russian children - everyone could get an education, regardless of gender, nationality and class! The program was intended to be implemented in 20 years, those same “quiet years” that Stolypin once asked for, after which we “would not recognize the country.”

And if, as admirers of the tsarist era tell us, the bloody Bolsheviks had not destroyed a prosperous and child-friendly empire, then the time of universal and compulsory education would have come earlier - in 1928, and not as in the USSR, in 1934, when universal education was achieved. literacy.

Perhaps someone believes in these fairy tales about a beautiful kingdom, but today, when Russia celebrates the centenary of the October Revolution, for the sake of diversity let’s turn to the facts.

In 1908, no program for universal education was adopted. It was just a bill that the commission on public education considered for another two years, and after the document wandered around the tables in the Duma, in the State Council, after fruitless discussions among officials, the wonderful dream became that same mythological daddy that, for stability, serves as a support for the closet in one from high offices. In 1912, the bill was rejected by the State Council.

Citizens inclined to idealize the tsarist past, meanwhile, from high pulpits continue to assert that the opportunity to get an education and make a career for a poor peasant or farm laborer during the reign of Alexander III was very high, and the fact that the people remained dark and poor is their own choice , and also a consequence of sinfulness. Well, during the reign of the last emperor the opportunities became even greater. Especially with the theoretical universal education discussed above. Even if speakers mention in parentheses that this law was not adopted, they always forget to clarify what type of education this should have been, and we will mention that Stolypin was not talking about secondary, but about universal primary education.

When developing the program, officials took parochial schools and their subject list as a basis.

“In the pre-revolutionary elementary school the following subjects were taught: the Law of God, reading, writing, four operations of arithmetic, church singing, basic information from the church and the Russian state, and always crafts and handicrafts.” (Rustem Vakhitov, “The Revolution that Saved Russia”).

It was these items that were required for the transition of a huge agricultural country to a new technological level following other states that had already stepped through the industrial revolution; it was the Law of God and the four operations of arithmetic that were supposed to provide the prosperous Nikolaev Russia with a “big breakthrough” and full-scale industrialization, however, only through 20 years. If only these 20 years had been “calm”. But they would not have been calm and, probably, could not have been - everything was heading towards a redivision of the world and even towards a world war.

It is important to note one more point. Primary education was not a stepping stone to secondary education, as we are all accustomed to. Even after finishing primary school, it was impossible to approach secondary education. Secondary education was provided by the gymnasium, and gymnasium education was available only to the privileged class: the children of nobles, officials and the rich became gymnasium students. Here we return to the image of the beautiful and strong Tsar Alexander III, under whom supposedly, according to the admiring “white patriots,” social elevators rushed back and forth at the speed of light. It was Alexander who banned the children of commoners from entering the gymnasium - we are talking about the circular of the Minister of Education Delyanov from 1887, which was popularly called the “decree on cooks’ children.” Naturally, it’s all about money - those students were eliminated whose parents obviously could not bear all the hardships of paid education, buying uniforms, and so on.

Secondary education in Tsarist Russia was not for everyone; it was also paid, and universal primary education was only just being thought about. What about the highest? The high school students could already be thinking about entering universities. Secondary technical education was provided by real schools; graduates were allowed to enter technical and trade universities, but not universities. In 1913, on the eve of the war, there were 276 secondary schools in Russia, where 17 thousand people were trained, while there were about 45 million school-age children. But in a year the country will face an external threat and will need skilled workers more than philosophers and writers. The new century made a request for engineers, technicians, builders of industrialization. The education system in Tsarist Russia, with all the desire, without the change of structure that occurred in 1917, could not have provided an industrial breakthrough in either 20 or 200 years.

Yes, the tsarist government did not skimp on funding education: schools were built and universities were created, but the system did not change in any way and did not improve the lives of 80% of the country's population. And that very “rapid growth” of allocations for education lasted a very short period. Then, as we know, the war began, and public funds went to other concerns.

Today we are told that industry was developing at a rapid pace, no less rapid than the construction and development of schools for children. However, it was in Tsarist Russia that there was a huge percentage of children directly involved in industry.

What did 80% of children do if they didn’t study?

Child labor is very profitable and therefore was extremely widespread in a capitalist system aimed at obtaining as much profit as possible. This category of citizens could be paid significantly less. Of course, the situation in the rest of the world was not much different.

Here are data from the American Bureau of Labor in 1904, the average salary of a laborer in terms of rubles per month was:

in the United States - 71 rubles. (at 56 working hours per week);
in England - 41 rubles. (at 52.5 working hours per week);
in Germany – 31 rubles. (at 56 working hours per week);
in France – 43 rubles. (at 60 working hours per week);
in Russia – from 10 rubles. up to 25 rub. (at 60-65 working hours per week).
And the labor of minors and women was valued even lower, according to the table of researcher Dementyev, in the Moscow province, men received 14.16 rubles, women - 10.35 rubles, teenagers - 7.27 rubles, and young children - 5 rubles. and 8 kopecks.

In Russia, according to data from open sources, in metal processing there were 11 children aged 12-15 of both sexes for every thousand workers, in processing nutrients - 14, in paper processing - 58, mineral substances - 63, in fruit, grape, vodka factories - 40, tobacco factories - 69, match factories - 141. Child labor was also used in the processing of wood, animal products, chemicals and fibrous substances, in oil refineries, distilleries, breweries, beet sugar and vodka factories.

But one should not think that the tsar was not at all concerned about child labor and the position of the child in the industrial system; there were no such workers in the mines and hazardous industries, and, for example, in glass factories children were allowed to work at night only for 6 hours - very humane solution.

As you know, most of the industry in the Russian Empire was owned by foreigners, who had to meet halfway and adjust harsh laws regarding children in favor of making a profit. Historians note that, yes, the state was forced to limit the rights of minors.

There were attempts to legislatively regulate at least working conditions - to prohibit work for children under 12 years old, to limit work for children to 8 hours, but industrialists were in no hurry to implement the weak attempts of the state to become humane - after all, this is a question of income. And if inspections in big cities improved the child’s life at least a little, then in the outback the exploitation continued until 1917, until a labor code was adopted, which for the first time in the world guaranteed an 8-hour working day FOR EVERYONE and a ban on using children in work until the age of 16. ty years old

Only after the revolution of 1917 were other countries forced to become concerned about workers' rights and think about banning child labor.

"Kotya, kitty, sell the child"

Child labor was used not only by foreign industrialists in factories and factories. Merchants brought the children of poor people and peasants to St. Petersburg from the outskirts as “living goods,” which were very popular - along with firewood, game and hay.

The trade in children, the purchase and delivery of cheap labor became the specialization of individual peasant industrialists, who were called “cab drivers” in everyday life. Buyers paid parents 2-5 rubles. and took their 10-year-old child to a better life, unless, of course, the child managed to die with other children during a difficult journey.

History has preserved folklore monuments of these “business projects” (which were very similar to the slave trade in the American south of the early 19th century, only instead of blacks there were children), such as the game “Kotya, kitty, sell the child.”

The driver “sold” the children to shopkeepers or craftsmen, the new owner could dispose of the child at his own discretion - in return providing shelter and some food. It is worth noting that the children were not “sold” because of a good life, because extra hands are needed in the household, and then the assistant grew up - and give him away? The fact is that at home the child was most likely doomed to starvation. And even under such conditions, many children ran away from their owners, talked about beatings, violence, hunger - they returned home on foot in rags or remained homeless, then found themselves “at the bottom” of life in the capital. Some were luckier - and they could return to their native village in new galoshes and a fashionable scarf, this was considered success. However, this “social elevator” was not regulated by the state in any way.

October

“Here, our monarchists tell us what an educated country Russia was. But I have only one single question: are the Bolsheviks completely idiots, or what? Why did they even create a system of educational programs? They didn’t have other tasks, or what? Here they sit, they think - let us come up with some kind of problem for ourselves! Oh! Let's teach the literate to read and write! Well, how do we understand this? Indeed, the younger generation of subjects of the Russian Empire was more or less literate, who managed to go through the system of parochial and partly zemstvo schools. But these zemstvo schools were like islands in the ocean,” comments historian and advisor to the rector of Moscow State Pedagogical University Evgeny Spitsyn in a conversation with a Nakanune.RU correspondent.

The principles of the future education system were formulated back in 1903 in the RSDLP program: universal free compulsory education for children of both sexes up to 16 years of age; elimination of class schools and restrictions in education based on nationality; separation of school and church; training in native language and more. On November 9, 1917, the State Education Commission was established.

In October 1918, the authorities approved a provision on free, cooperative education for school-age children. A year later, a decree on education was signed, and now the entire population of the country between the ages of 8 and 50, who could not read or write, was obliged to learn to read and write in their native language or Russian - as desired. The education system went through various stages, like the state itself, historian Andrei Fursov tells Nakanune.RU:

“After the experiments of the 20s, in which there were attempts to deny the Russian classical system (at the beginning of the 20s, Greek, Latin, logic, history were banned as bourgeois disciplines), but in the mid-30s all this was restored like this the same way the concept of “Soviet patriotism” appeared. And November 7 ceased to be a holiday of the world revolution, but became the day of the Great October Socialist Revolution. So, the Soviet system developed what was inherent in the Russian classical education system. And what was Soviet "education, as it was in the 1970s, in the 1980s, was the best - this is recognized all over the world. The Soviet system was the best - now the Norwegians and Japanese are copying it."

In total, by 1920, 3 million people were taught to read and write. Now the school was separated from the church, and the church from the state, the teaching of any creed and the performance of religious rites in educational institutions was prohibited, physical punishment of children was also prohibited, and all nationalities received the right to study in their native language. Moreover, the Bolsheviks were puzzled by the creation of public preschool education. It was a cultural revolution. During Soviet times, for the first time in Russian history, almost universal literacy was achieved, close to 100%. The country received free secondary education and quite affordable higher education. The teaching profession was respected. The school did not provide a service for money, but raised children, devoting time to the moral and ethical aspects of the development of a young person.

High-quality higher technical education made the impossible possible - bridging the industrial gap between the USSR and the countries of developed capitalism. The new approach to education can be called successful; one only has to remember the number of world-famous Soviet scientists and inventors.

“Yes, there was a so-called “philosophical ship” - a number of scientists, philosophers, architects, artists left, but it was minuscule compared to the scale of our country. In essence, a great cultural civilization was created anew - practically from scratch. Of course, relying on on the colossal achievements of our ancestors: Pushkin, Turgenev, Nekrasov and other classics, writers and artists who truly reflected the soul of the people,” says Doctor of Historical Sciences Vyacheslav Tetekin in an interview with Nakanune.RU. “But the technical side was created anew. It received colossal development it is technical education, first of all, not that abstract humanitarian education that was considered the standard. We created one that was superior to the weapons created by the entire united Europe. Why was this possible? Because in this shortest possible time new technical personnel were created. Enormous attention was paid to education attention, colossal funds were invested. Education was a state priority. Fundamental science developed very quickly, the USSR Academy of Sciences was a powerful institution, and no one, as now, claimed that officials would “steer” what the Academy of Sciences was doing."

In addition to technical education, in the Soviet system it is worth noting such pleasant bonuses as high scholarships, developed pre-school and extracurricular education, free nurseries and kindergartens, palaces of pioneers and houses of creativity on a free basis, music schools, sports education and children's recreation camps - in The USSR joked that if there is any dictatorship in the country, it is the dictatorship of childhood.

As for street children after the Civil War and children left without parents after the Great Patriotic War, the system of orphanages was radically different from the current one, allowing people from these social institutions to find their own, often high, place in society, create families, get an education, have equal opportunities, something we can only dream about now.

Development of the republics

“October 1917 is an epoch-making event, and it is difficult to list in a nutshell everything that would not have happened if not for this revolution. Of course, none of us would exist today. And the point is not that moms and dads grandparents would not have met - the modern appearance itself is largely shaped by the revolution and the Soviet state that arose after the revolution. I’m talking here about education, naturally, and about a completely different social structure,” says the journalist and co-author in a conversation with Nakanune.RU project on modern education "Last Call" Konstantin Semin. - Everyone has something to thank for October. Before the revolution in the national republics of the empire (in Turkestan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan), the literacy rate did not reach 2%. Some peoples - including the indigenous peoples of Russia ", as we call them today, did not even have their own written language. Today, they are equal citizens of our country."

Indeed, one of the most important differences between the USSR and the empire was precisely the development of national republics and the uniform spread of education.

“The USSR is a state that has reached heights in almost all spheres of life. There is, of course, science, education, the cultural revolution. The national republics received a big boost in development. In defiance of how the British Empire or the United States acted in the format of the policy of colonialism and neocolonialism, the Soviet Union, instead of siphoning money from its outskirts, on the contrary, sent significant funds to ensure that our national republics developed,” recalls Nikita Danyuk, deputy director of the Institute of Strategic Studies and Forecasts of the RUDN University.

What did the 1917 revolution give to Russia? It was education, which became available to everyone after the change in the way of life, that provided the country with the opportunity for a “big breakthrough”, industrialization, Victory in the Great Patriotic War, the opportunity to go into space for the first time, it provided us, living today, with protection in the form of an “atomic umbrella”.

“What is an atomic bomb? It is a product of colossal effort of fundamental and applied science, it is the creation of hundreds of production enterprises that would ensure the creation of these high-tech weapons in cooperation,” says expert Vyacheslav Tetekin. simplification, behind this was the creation of a powerful fundamental science, which in fact, especially in engineering terms, did not exist in our country before 1917. And we did not have such an industry before 1917. Neither aviation nor automobile.”

In modern Russia, as we see, the Soviet system of universal education is collapsing, elite schools are appearing, higher educational institutions are increasingly moving to a commercial basis, and the availability of education is falling as rapidly as the quality.

“How powerful the education system was in the USSR is evidenced by a very simple fact - for 25 years now our frantic zealots have been trying to break this system with IMF money. They really spoiled it to a large extent by introducing the Unified State Exam, the Bologna system, but before They didn't break it to the end, because the foundation is too strong. Our education - both school and higher education - is one of the greatest achievements of the Soviet system," sums up historian Andrei Fursov.

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And the tsar ruled this country, because for a long time it had a political system - autocracy, when all power was in the hands of one person - the tsar, the autocrat. Tsar Nicholas II with his family

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And there were always thinking, educated people in Russia who considered this state of affairs unfair and wanted the people to live better; so that all children can study in schools, and not just the children of nobles and landowners; so that the working day becomes a little shorter - not 14 hours, but 8 or 10; so that all Russian citizens have equal rights. People who wanted to give the people equal rights were called revolutionaries. At first, back in the 19th century, these were the Decembrist nobles, then the commoners, the Narodnaya Volya, who even tried to kill the Tsar. Uprising of December 14, 1825 in St. Petersburg

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And then, more than a hundred years ago, many different revolutionaries appeared - those who created educational circles for workers, and terrorists who threw bombs, and those who fought for the happiness of oppressed peoples, or the peasants of the whole country. There were few revolutionaries; they were often exiled to Siberia, to hard labor, or to prison, or hanged. Attempt on the king's life. Thus, Alexander Ulyanov, a young talented guy who believed that if you kill the “bad” king, the life of the people would become better, died on the gallows. “No, we will go the other way,” said his younger brother, student Volodya Ulyanov.

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He went a different route. His party of revolutionaries was small but tough. If management has decided, everyone must obey. For the sake of the party and the victory of the revolution, it was possible to rob banks, kill gendarmes and traitors, and much more. This party called the bright future after the victory of the revolution communism, and the people who fight for it - communists, or Bolsheviks. Many of its leaders lived abroad before the revolution, many served time in exile. Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin)

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Vladimir Ulyanov, who became the head of this party, was called by his comrades by a special secret name - Lenin. It seems like a good intention - to make sure that everyone lives equally well, there are no rich or poor, all children study and choose their specialty - according to their abilities and desires? But, unfortunately, everything turned out differently. The Bolsheviks were lucky: the First World War began in 1914. It lasted a long time (until the 18th year). Soldiers died in the trenches, and people's discontent grew. Not only the people were dissatisfied, but also the rich, and the military, and students, and ... almost everyone was dissatisfied with something. And no matter how much the government changed, things didn’t get better. The Tsar abdicated the throne, and the Provisional Government began to rule. The revolutionaries could return to the country, many bans were lifted, but there was no improvement! Bread became more and more expensive, soldiers fled from the front and did not want to die in the war “for the capitalists”, the peasants wanted to own the land - by working on it, they hoped to pay off their debts and not starve anymore.

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Throughout the country, decisions were openly made by the Soviets - people's self-government. Soldiers who did not want to go to the front remained in the cities, with weapons in their hands. The Bolsheviks were preparing an armed uprising, and on October 25, and according to the new calendar - November 7, they captured the train stations and power plant, telephone, telegraph, bridges and banks of the city of Petrograd. The government in the Winter Palace was arrested. Sailors of the revolution

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In order to build communism for themselves or their children with their own hands, millions of people followed the Bolsheviks - to fight, build, kill those who disagree. On November 7 (October 25, old style), 1917, an armed uprising took place in Petrograd, which ended with the capture of the Winter Palace, the arrest of members of the Provisional Government and the proclamation of Soviet power, which lasted in our country for more than seventy years.

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Later, the Bolsheviks arrested the Tsar and the entire royal family, and then they were all taken away and killed - even the children, who had done nothing wrong to anyone. A villainous act. Then the civil war began: the young nobles and military did not want to give their country into the hands of illiterate robbers - they began to fight for it. That is, citizens of one country began to kill each other - that’s why such a war is called civil, and it is also called fratricidal. Because sometimes members of the same family, brothers, found themselves on opposite sides of the barricades and had to shoot at each other. A lot of people died in the war of beliefs.

When you get tired of reading books and watching movies, you can continue to learn history, for example, through paintings. This is a really cool way! The artist Alexander Labas was 17 years old when the 1917 revolution occurred. And therefore, his works, which can be seen at the exhibition in IRRI until December 10, are almost a “photo report” from the scene.

For those preparing for the main school exam

Artist Alexander Labas was born in 1900 and witnessed many important events of the last century. The first travel on airplanes and airships, two world wars, space exploration. But if you choose an event that influenced the artist more than others, then this is, of course, the October Revolution.

“I was 17 years old. I often returned to the topic of October and the Civil War. I feel amazing about this time. His images haunt me,” wrote Alexander Labas in his diaries. Based on the memories of his youth, the artist created a complex series of works, “October”: “I swore to myself that I would watch everything and then write about everything! I can climb everywhere. Even death! Don't miss anything! Here it is, a new story is being made before our eyes!”

Sailor, 1930 (State Tretyakov Gallery)

The February revolution lasted just over a week. But these eight days greatly changed the course of Russian history and paved the way for the October Revolution. The Russian Empire was weakened by the First World War: all the country's forces were aimed at maintaining the army, which suffered one defeat after another. In the winter of 1917, shortages of bread began in large cities: bakeries did not have enough fuel to bake it. There were long queues of people waiting to stock up on bread in advance at the bakeries. People who spent days on end in the “tails” began to smash shop windows. In Petrograd, the unrest escalated into real grain riots, which were joined by striking workers.

A peaceful demonstration against the war, planned for February 23, got out of control - amid slogans of “Bread!” and “Down with the war” the slogan “Down with the Tsar” appears

By February 27, the whole of Petrograd was captured by riots, in which soldiers awaiting transport to the front took part in the city. An armed uprising begins.

Emperor Nicholas II at this time is in Mogilev, where the headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was located - in other words, the headquarters of the Russian troops during the war. He sends a telegram to the city demanding that the demonstrators be stopped and quickly moves to Petrograd. By this time, all the railways had been blocked by the strikers, and the emperor was heading to Pskov. Meanwhile, in Petrograd, government troops, the second Baltic Fleet crew, as well as the sailors of the cruiser Aurora join the uprising. This warship took part in the Russo-Japanese War (1905) and the First World War (1914-1918), and in 1916 it was sent for repairs. In February 1917, the crew of the Aurora went over to the side of the rebels, one of whom could well have been the hero of this portrait by Alexander Labas. On February 28, the Peter and Paul Fortress, one of the most important objects of the city, was taken. A coup takes place - the country is now led by the State Duma, which has taken the side of the rebels, and also by the Petrograd Council, created by workers and soldiers. Finding himself in a hopeless situation, on March 2, Nicholas II abdicated the throne in favor of his brother Mikhail, who did the same the next day. Thus, in just a few days, the Romanov dynasty, which had ruled for more than 300 years, was overthrown in Russia.

Wearing a gas mask. From the series “On Maneuvers”. Sketch, 1931 (State Russian Museum)

One of the main causes of revolutionary events was the First World War. It took a huge amount of strength and resources from Russia, but the most devastating consequence of the protracted battles was the colossal loss of life. In this war, chemical weapons were used for the first time: in the battle near the Belgian city of Ypres in 1915, the German army used poisonous chlorine in an attack on the troops of England and France. More than 15 thousand soldiers were injured from the gas, 5 thousand died. After this tragedy, a gas mask became an integral part of the equipment of the allied forces. Russian soldiers who were waiting to be transported to the front were also supplied with the same gas masks. But despite the measures taken, the number of victims continued to grow. Alexander Labas recalled:

“I remember the pre-revolutionary time well. The war was felt everywhere. We lived near the Belorussky railway station, and I saw how seriously wounded soldiers were brought from the front, I saw those poisoned by gases. There were so many wounded that the hospital occupied an entire six-story building.”

The unprofitability of the war was obvious to everyone, but not to the State Duma. The Provisional Government created on its basis, or more precisely, Foreign Minister Pavel Milyukov, in April 1917 issued a note on “war to a victorious end,” in which he assures Russia’s allies of full compliance with obligations and the intention to continue the war. This speech was met with discontent on the part of the people and demonstrations, which led to a crisis in the Provisional Government and the resignation of Miliukov.

Lenin's arrival in Petrograd. Sketch, 1930 (State Tretyakov Gallery)

During the crisis of the Provisional Government, Vladimir Lenin returns to Russia. When the February Revolution thundered in the country, the leader of the Bolsheviks was in exile in Zurich, Switzerland. The Bolsheviks advocated ending the war - because of this, their party was considered illegal, which means that no one from the Bolshevik party was included in the Provisional Government. On April 3, 1917, Lenin arrives in Petrograd - at the Finlyandsky station, his comrades arrange a ceremonial meeting for him, after which he greets the crowd that has gathered in front of the station building, using an Austin armored car as a stage. Or not?

Despite the recollections of eyewitnesses, many historians believe that this speech is fiction. Lenin’s political program, or the so-called “April theses,” was announced by him some time after his arrival, and there are too many versions of that same armored car to cite as material evidence. But after director Sergei Eisenstein reproduced this scene in his film “October,” the legend became a historical fact. The figure of Lenin on an armored car has become one of the most reproduced images in art - Alexander Labas did not stand aside. He was not in Petrograd at that time, but saw Eisenstein’s film, from which this picture was reproduced. Please note that Lenin, unlike other figures in Labas’s canvases, is carefully depicted and recognizable here. These were the canons of “Lenian” (works of art in which the main character was Vladimir Lenin) - the artists had a single standard for depicting the leader of the revolution. In total, Labas painted two versions with Lenin on an armored car (both 1930, State Tretyakov Gallery and National Gallery of Georgia, Tbilisi).

“At the exhibition “Moscow-Paris” there was my painting “Lenin in 1917”, created in 1930 based on early sketches. It stood in my studio for 51 years, I didn’t give it anywhere, since it was written in a completely different way than was customary in certain years.”

Under the arch for assault. Sketch, 1932 (collection of Alexander Balashov)

In general, Lenin's return came at a very successful period for the Bolsheviks. Miliukov's note to continue the war caused a rift between the Soviets and the Provisional Government. Unrest in the city grew - now the demonstrators’ posters read “Down with autocracy!” changed to “Down with the Provisional Government!” At the height of the war, Foreign Minister Pavel Milyukov resigned, as did Minister of War and Navy Alexander Guchkov. Members of the Provisional Government and Soviets unite to overcome the crisis, but to no avail. In July, the first armed demonstration of the Bolsheviks took place, joined by sailors, soldiers and workers. The “July Days” lead to another crisis in the Provisional Government - now it is headed by Alexander Kerensky, at that time Minister of War and Navy. There are no Bolsheviks in the government again, and they begin to plan an armed uprising.

September 1917 was remembered for two events at once - the rebellion of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Lavr Kornilov, who demanded that power be transferred to him, and the next collapse of the Provisional Government. In the Soviets, the Bolsheviks have the advantage. They create the Military Revolutionary Committee formally to protect against Kornilov’s troops, but in reality to organize a coup.

On October 25, the storming of the Winter Palace, where the Provisional Government meets, begins. These events were depicted by Alexander Labas in the work “Under the Arch for Assault.” We see what is happening from the side of the General Staff arch - from this vantage point, Palace Square resembles the stage of a theater, the backdrop of which is the Winter Palace. Take a closer look at the horizon: the artist depicted a key participant in the October Revolution - the famous cruiser Aurora. A blank shot was fired from the cannons of this ship, which served as a signal to begin the assault on the Palace, which led to the victory of the Bolsheviks.

Our lane in the morning, 1929 (State Tretyakov Gallery)

The revolution also captures Moscow. The entire city is divided between opposing forces. The revolution found Alexander Labas a seventeen-year-old student at the Stroganov School - the house in Streletsky Lane, in which the artist lived with his parents, Sretenka and Myasnitskaya streets were occupied by the Bolsheviks.

“Our area was owned by the Bolsheviks, and Arbat was owned by the whites. I had relatives living there, and I wanted to go to them, although it was already dangerous. But I could see everything,” Labas recalled

That autumn, this familiar and even ordinary landscape seemed especially beautiful to the artist:

“And this tense state that struck me then, the silence in the alley, the beautiful autumn and the premonition of gigantic events stood before my eyes when I painted the painting “Our Alley in the Morning” in 1929. It’s autumn, a red maple is on fire, a large tree is hanging over, and in the distance there is fog, through it you can see houses, large stone and wooden ones, you can see the figures of running people, you can hear the echoes of a shootout.”

At the walls of the Kremlin. From the “October” series, 1959 (collection of Olga Beskina-Labas)

The main episode of the October Uprising in Moscow - the capture of the Nikolskaya Tower of the Kremlin by workers and soldiers - was made by Labas with the details of the storyboards for the film. It very interestingly shows the artist's work with a variety of techniques, all of which resemble the process of creating a painting from sketch to finished work in color. On October 28, the Kremlin was taken by detachments of cadets, shooting 300 soldiers who went over to the side of the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks began shelling the Kremlin. The shells damaged the Ivan the Great Bell Tower and the Spasskaya Tower, the Assumption and Annunciation Cathedrals, and the St. Nicholas Gate was destroyed. On November 2, the cadets announced capitulation - the revolution in Moscow was victorious.

My brother in 1931 (collection of Olga Beskina-Labas)

The revolution developed into a Civil War. After the stories of his brother Abram, who returned from the battlefield with a shot in his finger, Alexander Labas cannot stay away from the events of the civil war. In 1919, he volunteered for the front. His fate was decided by David Shterenberg, an avant-garde artist who headed the fine arts department of the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR. He placed the young painter in the Political Directorate of the 3rd Army of the Eastern Front, which may have saved him from death.

During the war, Labas was one of the artists who made propaganda posters and painted trains

The painter's brother built a military career - he was deputy chief of staff of the Kyiv Military District. However, after the end of the war, the Bolshevik regime became stricter. Repressions and reprisals against revolutionaries begin, which also affected the artist’s brother. In 1937, Abram Labas was executed on charges of military conspiracy. The artist never had time to create his picturesque portrait. This is one of the few works by Labas in which a man in military uniform is depicted in detail and is recognizable. As the years passed, for the artist, both sides of the Revolution became equally guilty of destructive pogroms and murders, because in any war people cease to be people.

You can see all these works and personally give your child a tour of 1917 at the Institute of Russian Realistic Art, where an exhibition of the artist Alexander Labas is taking place. The exhibition included about 50 graphic and painting works from the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin Museum and the Labas Foundation, as well as archival photographs from the MAMM collection of 1917–1923.

The exhibition of Alexander Labas at IRRI will last until December 10, and you can visit it from 11.00 to 20.00.

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Children about the revolution of 1917.

Target: introduce children to the events of October 1917.

November 7... A day that our grandparents, mothers and fathers have celebrated for decades in a row as a big holiday. Military parade and demonstration, flags and balloons, festive tables with delicious dishes. Now is a different time, different heroes. They don't remember Lenin. Maybe it’s good that children don’t know anything? But silence is the same as a lie. What if you tell them a true story about this day?

Once upon a time, Russia was a huge country, not just a country, but an empire, because it united the lands of not only modern Russia, but also Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Poland, Finland and many other countries. And, although it was called Russia, there were very, very many peoples living in it, besides the Russians - not dozens, but hundreds!

And the tsar ruled this country, because for a long time it had a political system - autocracy, when all power was in the hands of one person - the tsar, the autocrat.

So, not everyone in this country lived equally well. There were nobles who lived in luxury in palaces, drank and ate on gold, had fun at balls, hunted and had fun for their own pleasure... and there were poor peasants, artisans, workers who had to work hard to somehow feed their large families.

People who wanted to give the people equal rights were called revolutionaries. At first, back in the 19th century, these were the Decembrist nobles, then the commoners, the Narodnaya Volya, who even tried to kill the Tsar.

Attempt on the king's life.

Thus, Alexander Ulyanov, a young talented guy who believed that if you kill the “bad” king, the life of the people would become better, died on the gallows. “No, we will go the other way,” said his younger brother, student Volodya Ulyanov.

Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin) in October 1917

Vladimir Ulyanov, who became the head of this party, was called by his comrades by a special secret name - Lenin.

It seems like a good intention - to make sure that everyone lives equally well, there are no rich or poor, all children study and choose their specialty - according to their abilities and desires?

But, unfortunately, everything turned out differently.

The Bolsheviks were lucky: the First World War began in 1914. It lasted a long time (until the 18th year). Soldiers died in the trenches, and people's discontent grew. Not only the people were dissatisfied, but also the rich, and the military, and students, and ... almost everyone was dissatisfied with something. And no matter how much the government changed, things didn’t get better. The Tsar abdicated the throne, and the Provisional Government began to rule. The revolutionaries could return to the country, many bans were lifted, but there was no improvement! Bread became more and more expensive, soldiers fled from the front and did not want to die in the war “for the capitalists”, the peasants wanted to own the land - by working on it, they hoped to pay off their debts and not starve anymore.

Sailors of the revolution

In order to build communism for themselves or their children with their own hands, millions of people followed the Bolsheviks - to fight, build, kill those who disagree.

On November 7 (October 25, old style), 1917, an armed uprising took place in Petrograd, which ended with the capture of the Winter Palace, the arrest of members of the Provisional Government and the proclamation of Soviet power, which lasted in our country for more than seventy years.

Later, the Bolsheviks arrested the Tsar and the entire royal family, and then they were all taken away and killed - even the children, who had done nothing wrong to anyone. A villainous act.

Then the civil war began: the young nobles and military did not want to give their country into the hands of illiterate robbers - they began to fight for it. That is, citizens of one country began to kill each other - that’s why such a war is called civil, and it is also called fratricidal. Because sometimes members of the same family, brothers, found themselves on opposite sides of the barricades and had to shoot at each other. A lot of people died in the war of beliefs.

After two wars - the First World War and the Civil War - the country was devastated. Poverty, devastation, hunger. And then the Bolsheviks began the so-called “dekulakization of landowners.” They came to the yards of peasants who had some supplies, called such peasants “kulaks” - and took everything away. Grain, horses, cows, vegetables... Then they came again and took away what was left, found everything hidden - and entire families died of hunger. It must be said that very often everything that was in such “rich” peasant families was acquired through honest labor. If people were hardworking, economical, and healthy, they built a strong house, cultivated the land, raised livestock, and lived well.

On the eve of the revolution, more than 160 million people lived in the Russian Empire, 8 out of 10 people were peasants, which means they were the most powerless, hungry, downtrodden and illiterate part of the country.

The October Revolution was the hope of these people that they would study, they would be protected by the law, they would be well-fed if they worked. The Soviet power, the power of the Bolsheviks, the power of the communists, promised them this - and deceived them.

We remember the terrible events of 95 years ago. Not only adults felt the tragedy that happened in the country then. The children understood it in their own way, in some sense purer and sharper. Boys and girls of the 1920s. The voices of those children tell more and more truthfully; they do not know how to lie.

I can't lie

The year 1917, as a turning point in the history of Russia, and the fratricidal civil war that followed it, have been the object of close attention for many years not only by professional historians, but also by many contemporaries of those events. Essentially, they began to “remember” almost immediately, almost synchronously with what was happening. And this could not be explained only by the influence of the political situation: what happened in the country directly and directly affected each of its citizens, completely turned upside down, and sometimes simply broke their lives, forcing them to rethink the recent past again and again, looking for an answer to intractable or questions that are not at all solvable, posed by the revolutionary era so unexpectedly and acutely. It may seem surprising, but the discordant “remembering” polyphony of the first post-revolutionary years constantly intertwined the voices of those who, it would seem, were difficult to hear there - children who happened to grow up in this difficult time.

Indeed, boys and girls of the 1920s left behind many written texts that discussed what happened to them, their parents, and other people close and not so close to them after the 1917 revolution. For the most part, such childhood memories were preserved in the form of school essays. Without denying the fact that the influence of adults on this form of children's memoir creativity was quite large - even their very appearance was initiated by adults - the importance of such memories cannot be overestimated. Not only did observant children sometimes notice and record what remained unseen by adults, not only did they offer their own, “childish” interpretations of many phenomena, facts and events, they wrote so openly, so sincerely and openly that what they stated in simple terms notebook pages immediately turned into a kind of confession. “I don’t know how to lie, but I write what is true,” this confession of a 12-year-old girl from the Yaroslavl province could be extended to the vast majority of childhood memoirs written shortly after the end of the Civil War in Russia.

Children of 1917

The earliest childhood memories of the 1917 revolution went back to the written culture of the “former” and were created by the children of “outsiders.” These texts were clearly politicized, which is understandable: the past quickly turned into a “lost paradise” for these children, often together with a lost Motherland and a found emigrant epilogue - not without reason one of the Russian emigrant teachers, writer and publicist N.A. Tsurikov called them "little migratory birds." According to estimates of the Pedagogical Bureau for Secondary and Lower Russian Schools Abroad, created in Prague in 1923 under the chairmanship of the outstanding theologian, philosopher and teacher V.V. Zenkovsky, by the mid-1920s there were about 20 thousand Russian children of school age alone abroad . Of these, at least 12 thousand people studied in foreign Russian schools. Emigrant teachers, not without reason, believed that studying in Russian schools would help preserve children’s national identity, including by preserving their native language and Orthodox religion. Let us note that Orthodox clergy, both personally and as leaders of public organizations, played a huge role in the creation and operation of Russian refugee schools. A significant contribution to the development of the psychological and pedagogical foundations of raising and teaching children and youth and directly to the life of the Russian school in exile was made by the religious thinker, theologian and philosopher G. V. Florovsky, the founder and first hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad, Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky) and his future successor, Metropolitan Anastasy (Gribanovsky), Bishop of Prague Sergius (Korolev), his closest comrade-in-arms, who was primarily entrusted with teaching the Law of God in Russian emigrant schools, Archimandrite Isaac (Vinogradov), honorary chairman of the Diocesan Administration of the Russian Orthodox Churches in Western Europe, Metropolitan Evlogy (Georgievsky), head of the Russian spiritual mission in China, Metropolitan Innokenty (Figurovsky) and many others. Under the auspices of the Russian Orthodox Church, various children's and youth organizations existed and operated abroad: scouts, falcons, children's choirs, orchestras and theater groups; Days of Russian Culture and Days of the Russian Child, celebrated on Annunciation, were regularly held, during which funds were raised for the needs of children through church plate collections and subscription sheets.

In December 1923, in one of the largest Russian emigrant schools - the Russian gymnasium in Moravian Trzebov (Czechoslovakia) - on the initiative of its director, two lessons were unexpectedly canceled and all students were asked to write an essay on the topic “My memories from 1917 to the day of entering the gymnasium “(among other survey participants was Marina Tsvetaeva’s daughter Ariadna Efron, which she wrote about in her memoirs many years later). Later, the Pedagogical Bureau extended this experience to a number of other Russian emigrant schools in Bulgaria, Turkey, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. As a result, by March 1, 1925, the Bureau had collected 2,403 essays with a total volume of 6.5 thousand handwritten pages. The results of the analysis of the memoirs were published in several brochures, but the memoirs themselves were not published for a long time and were stored first in the Russian Foreign Historical Archive in Prague, and after it was transferred to Russia at the end of the Second World War - in the Central Archives of the USSR (now the State Archives of the Russian Federation) . Some of these documents (over 300) were published only in 1997 with the blessing of Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov).

The collected essays were very different, which is no coincidence: after all, they were written by students of different ages, and the age range ranged from 8 (preparatory school students) to 24 years (young people who resumed their studies after a forced break). Accordingly, these essays were very different from each other in their volume - from a few lines, written with great difficulty by the smallest ones, to 20-page essays by high school students, written in a neat, small handwriting. As the child grew up and his writing improved, a natural complication of the texts was observed, when the fixation of individual, often scattered autobiographical facts was replaced by attempts to comprehend the past, reasoning about the fate of the abandoned Motherland, and often patriotic moods and feelings were directly fueled by the religious attitudes and religious consciousness of the writers. Russia and the Orthodox faith were intertwined together, and it was in the faith of Christ that these children, rejected by the new Soviet government, saw hope for the resurrection of their Fatherland: “Let us ask God to take under his protection the abused and humiliated, but not forgotten, despite everything persecution, the Christian faith, our dear Holy Rus'"; “Somewhere there, in the depths of vast Russia, people of the ancient way of life will appear who, with the name of God on their lips, will go to save Russia”; “I believe that truth will triumph and Russia will be saved by the light of the Christian Faith!”

God was with the children

With all their diversity, the bulk of childhood memories fit into a fairly stable contrasting scheme in content and evaluation: “it was good - it became bad.” The pre-Bolshevik past appeared in the writings of children of emigration as a beautiful, kind fairy tale, in which there was always a place for religion and God. Remembering the “golden”, “quiet”, “happy” childhood in Russia, boys and girls described in detail with such impatience the expected “bright holidays” of Christmas and Easter, when they always went to church and received gifts, decorated a Christmas tree and painted Easter eggs, when There were parents and friends nearby, and also “Someone Merciful, Who will forgive and not condemn.” “...Christmas,” writes Ivan Chumakov, a 6th grade student at the English school for Russian boys in Erinkey (Turkey). - You study the troparion, tell it to your father, mother, sisters, and even your younger brother, who still doesn’t understand anything. And you’ll ask your mother to wake you up for matins three days in advance. In church you stand calmly, cross yourself every minute and read the troparion. The church service ended. Without returning home, you run to “glorify Christ.” There are sweets, gingerbreads, pennies - all pockets. Then go home to break your fast. After that, praise again, and so on all day long... And soon Easter. This is a holiday... indescribable. All day long bells ringing, rolling eggs, “baptism”, congratulations, gifts...”

God was with the children, and the children were with God, not only on religious holidays, but constantly, daily, hourly. Some of them directly admitted to the “deep religiosity” inherited from their parents. Prayer invariably occupied its special, stable place in children’s routine daily practices: “The next morning I always woke up cheerful, got dressed, washed, prayed to God and went to the dining room, where the table was already set... After tea I went to study, solved several problems, wrote two penmanship pages, etc.” God preserved, God protected, God pacified, God instilled hope: “Here are some pictures from distant childhood. Night, in front of the image of the Mother of God a lamp is burning, its trembling, uncertain light illuminates the all-forgiving face of the Lovely Virgin, and it seems that the features of her face move, live, and her lovely deep eyes look at me with affection and love. I, a little girl, am lying in bed in a long nightgown, I don’t want to sleep, I hear the snoring of my old nanny, and in the silence of the night it seems to me that I am alone in a huge world where there is not a single human soul, I feel scared , but, looking at the wonderful features of the Mother of God, my fears gradually go away, and I imperceptibly fall asleep.”

And suddenly, suddenly, in an instant, all this - so “ours”, so familiar, so established - was destroyed, and godlessness, no matter how blasphemous it sounds, was elevated to the rank of a new faith, where they prayed to the new revolutionary apostles and followed the new revolutionary covenants . “The Bolsheviks preached that there is no God, that there is no beauty in life, and that everything is permissible,” and they did not just preach, but put this permissiveness into practice. The ban on teaching the Law of God and the replacement of icons hanging in classrooms - “these trinkets,” as the Red Commissars called them - with portraits of the leaders of the revolution were, perhaps, the most harmless things that the new authorities did. The desecration of religious shrines occurred everywhere: even during searches, which were witnessed by children (“Several drunken, unbridled sailors, hung from head to toe with weapons, bombs and entwined machine-gun belts, burst into our apartment with loud screams and abuse: the search began... All was destroyed and vandalized, even icons were torn down by these blasphemers, beaten with rifle butts, trampled under foot"), and outside their home. “The Bolsheviks invaded the churches of God, killed the priests, took out the relics and scattered them around the church, cursed in Bolshevik style, laughed, but God endured and endured,” a 15-year-old student of the Russian gymnasium in Shumen (Bulgaria) testifies with bitterness. “The light from the fire illuminated the church... the hanged men swung on the bell tower; their black silhouettes cast a terrible shadow on the walls of the church,” recalls another. “On Easter, instead of ringing, there is shooting. I’m scared to go outside,” writes a third. And there was a lot of such evidence.

It was in God that the children trusted in the most difficult, most terrible moments of their lives, when there was nothing to hope for, and it was Him that they praised when the trials were already behind them: “We were led into a large, bright room (ChK. - A.S.)… I remember that at that moment I was just praying. We didn’t sit for long, a soldier came and took us somewhere; when asked what they would do to us, he, patting me on the head, answered: “They will shoot”... We were brought to a yard where several Chinese stood with guns... It was like a nightmare, and I was just waiting for it to end. I heard someone counting: “One, two”... I saw my mother whispering: “Russia, Russia,” and my father squeezing my mother’s hand. We were expecting death, but... a sailor came in and stopped the soldiers who were ready to shoot. “These will come in handy,” he said and told us to go home. Returning… home, all three of us stood in front of the images, and for the first time I prayed so fervently and sincerely.” For many, prayer became the only source of vitality: “On the night of the Annunciation there was a terrible cannonade; I didn’t sleep and prayed all night”; “I had never prayed before, never remembered God, but when I was left alone (after the death of my brother), I began to pray; I prayed all the time - wherever the opportunity presented itself, and most of all I prayed in the cemetery, at my brother’s grave.”

Have mercy on Russia, have mercy on me!

Meanwhile, among the children there were those who were completely desperate, who had lost the core of life, and with it - as it seemed to them - their faith in the Almighty: “I am worse than a wolf, faith has collapsed, morality has fallen”; “I... noticed with horror that I didn’t have anything that holy, that good that my dad and mom put into me. God ceased to exist for me as something distant, caring for me: the Gospel Christ. A new god stood before me, the god of life... I became... a complete egoist who is ready to sacrifice the happiness of others for his own happiness, who sees in life only the struggle for existence, who believes that the highest happiness on earth is money.” It was precisely these children and adolescents that V.V. Zenkovsky had in mind when, analyzing his writings, he argued that the “religious path of overcoming” had not yet been opened to everyone, and very painstaking work was needed to help children “come closer to the Church.”

In emigration, children were to some extent protected from the bloodthirsty revolutionary Moloch. They got back a lot of what they themselves would like to get back from the recent past. But, in their own words, even Christmas became somehow “sad,” not like in the Russia they left behind, which they could not forget and where they would so much like to return. No, they did not at all need a new Soviet fatherland, a hostile and unusual “anti-world” of Soviet power and Bolshevism. They strove to return to the old Russia they wrote about in their writings and depicted in their drawings: quiet, snow-covered noble estates, Kremlin walls and towers, small village churches. Among the surviving drawings, one is especially touching: the domes of Orthodox churches with crosses and the laconic inscription “I love Russia.” Most of these children never achieve their dreams. But they continued to believe and pray earnestly for their Motherland - just as earnestly as for themselves: “God, will everything really remain like this? Have mercy on Russia, have mercy on me!”

In preparing the article, materials from the books “Children of Russian Emigration (The Book that the Exiles Dreamed of and Couldn’t Be Published)” (M.: TERRA, 1997) and “Children of Emigration: Memoirs” (M.: Agraf, 2001), as well as monographs were used author of “Russian childhood in the twentieth century: History, theory and practice of research.” (Kazan: Kazan State University, 2007).

Formation of Russian scouts. Marseilles. 1930

Music lessons with children in the Russian commune of Montgeron. Paris. 1926

Teachers and students of the pro-gymnasium of the All-Russian Union of Cities in the Selimiye camp. 1920

Teachers and students of the St. Sergius Theological Institute in Paris. 1945 In the center- Schemamonk Savvaty. To his right- Vladimir Veidle. Alexander Shmeman, Konstantin Andronikov and Sergei Verkhovsky. Far right- Father Vasily Zenkovsky

Text: Alla SALNIKOVA

1917 was a year of upheaval and revolution in Russia, and its finale came on the night of October 25, when all power passed to the Soviets. What are the causes, course, results of the Great October Socialist Revolution - these and other questions of history are in the center of our attention today.

Causes

Many historians argue that the events that occurred in October 1917 were inevitable and at the same time unexpected. Why? Inevitable, because by this time a certain situation had developed in the Russian Empire, which predetermined the further course of history. This was due to a number of reasons:

Results of the February Revolution : she was greeted with unprecedented delight and enthusiasm, which soon turned into the opposite - bitter disappointment. Indeed, the performance of the revolutionary-minded “lower classes” - soldiers, workers and peasants - led to a serious shift - the overthrow of the monarchy. But this is where the achievements of the revolution ended. The expected reforms were “hanging in the air”: the longer the Provisional Government postponed consideration of pressing problems, the faster discontent in society grew;
Overthrow of the monarchy : March 2 (15), 1917, Russian Emperor Nicholas II signed the abdication of the throne. However, the question of the form of government in Russia - a monarchy or a republic - remained open. The Provisional Government decided to consider it during the next convocation of the Constituent Assembly. Such uncertainty could only lead to one thing - anarchy, which is what happened.
The mediocre policy of the Provisional Government : the slogans under which the February Revolution took place, its aspirations and achievements were actually buried by the actions of the Provisional Government: Russia’s participation in the First World War continued; a majority vote in the government blocked land reform and the reduction of the working day to 8 hours; autocracy was not abolished;
Russian participation in the First World War: any war is an extremely costly undertaking. It literally “sucks” all the juice out of the country: people, production, money - everything goes to support it. The First World War was no exception, and Russia's participation in it undermined the country's economy. After the February Revolution, the Provisional Government did not retreat from its obligations to the allies. But discipline in the army had already been undermined, and widespread desertion began in the army.
Anarchy: already in the name of the government of that period - the Provisional Government, the spirit of the times can be traced - order and stability were destroyed, and they were replaced by anarchy - anarchy, lawlessness, confusion, spontaneity. This was manifested in all spheres of the country’s life: an autonomous government was formed in Siberia, which was not subordinate to the capital; Finland and Poland declared independence; in the villages, peasants were engaged in unauthorized redistribution of land, burning landowners' estates; the government was mainly engaged in the struggle with the Soviets for power; the disintegration of the army and many other events;
The rapid growth of influence of the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies : During the February Revolution, the Bolshevik party was not one of the most popular. But over time, this organization becomes the main political player. Their populist slogans about an immediate end to the war and reforms found great support among embittered workers, peasants, soldiers and police. Not the least was the role of Lenin as the creator and leader of the Bolshevik Party, which carried out the October Revolution of 1917.

Rice. 1. Mass strikes in 1917

Stages of the uprising

Before speaking briefly about the 1917 revolution in Russia, it is necessary to answer the question about the suddenness of the uprising itself. The fact is that the actual dual power in the country - the Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks - should have ended with some kind of explosion and subsequent victory for one of the parties. Therefore, the Soviets began preparing to seize power back in August, and at that time the government was preparing and taking measures to prevent it. But the events that happened on the night of October 25, 1917 came as a complete surprise to the latter. The consequences of the establishment of Soviet power also became unpredictable.

Back on October 16, 1917, the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party made a fateful decision - to prepare for an armed uprising.

On October 18, the Petrograd garrison refused to submit to the Provisional Government, and already on October 21, representatives of the garrison declared their subordination to the Petrograd Soviet, as the only representative of legitimate power in the country. Starting from October 24, key points in Petrograd - bridges, train stations, telegraphs, banks, power plants and printing houses - were captured by the Military Revolutionary Committee. On the morning of October 25, the Provisional Government held only one object - the Winter Palace. Despite this, at 10 o'clock in the morning of the same day, an appeal was issued, which announced that from now on the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies was the only body of state power in Russia.

In the evening at 9 o'clock, a blank shot from the cruiser Aurora signaled the start of the assault on the Winter Palace and on the night of October 26, members of the Provisional Government were arrested.

Rice. 2. The streets of Petrograd on the eve of the uprising

Results

As you know, history does not like the subjunctive mood. It is impossible to say what would have happened if this or that event had not occurred and vice versa. Everything that happens happens as a result of not one reason, but many, which at one moment intersected at one point and showed the world an event with all its positive and negative aspects: civil war, a huge number of dead, millions who left the country forever, terror, the construction of an industrial power , eliminating illiteracy, free education, medical care, building the world's first socialist state and much more. But, speaking about the main significance of the October Revolution of 1917, one thing should be said - it was a profound revolution in the ideology, economy and structure of the state as a whole, which influenced not only the course of history of Russia, but of the whole world.

When developing the program, officials took parochial schools and their subject list as a basis.

What did 80% of children do if they didn’t study?

Here are data from the American Bureau of Labor in 1904, the average salary of a laborer in terms of rubles per month was:

Only after the revolution of 1917 were other countries forced to become concerned about workers' rights and think about banning child labor.

"Kotya, kitty, sell the child"

October

Development of the republics

Indeed, one of the most important differences between the USSR and the empire was precisely the development of national republics and the uniform spread of education.

07/19/2017 Texts / Reviews

“We live in 1917”: an encyclopedia about the revolution

Text: Evgenia Shaffert

Oblokhka provided by the publishing house “Walk into History”

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Literary critic Evgenia Shaffert on whether it is worth reading the first children's encyclopedia about the revolution.

Rogozny P. We live in 1917: an encyclopedia for children. - M.: Walking into History, 2017. - 72 p. - (Russia in 1917).

How many books for children about the revolution were published in the year of its centenary? Perhaps, if we don’t talk about reprints of fiction from past years, thematic publications can be counted on the fingers of one hand. There are many reasons for this, it’s not so much that we don’t understand very well what exactly we need to tell a child about the revolution, we haven’t even decided what goal we want to achieve with our story. The answers “you need to know your history” or “understand the mistakes of the past so as not to make them in the future” sound beautiful, but - alas! - do not work, especially with teenagers. Actually, that’s why, it seems to me, there are few books, and only one publishing house set its sights on an entire children’s thematic series (there were enough adult publications) about Russia in 1917 - “On Foot into History.” It’s not that they answered the questions asked above about the meaning of such texts, but rather found the only acceptable way in our general situation of ambiguous assessments of the historical past - to talk about the events of that period as objectively and entertainingly as possible. And then we’ll see why we need all this knowledge.

The “Russia in 1917” series consists of several books. Following the example of other thematic series of the publishing house, it contains a combination of interactive, educational and artistic texts: a book with tasks, a guidebook and an encyclopedia. I suggest taking a closer look at P. G. Rogozny’s encyclopedia “We Live in 1917.”

Who is author?

The author of a children's educational book is not necessarily a professional in the chosen topic. In the end, even adult popularizers of science are often more or less aware of the current situation in their chosen field of knowledge, are well versed in the databases of scientific publications and know how to work with information, and nothing more. We know of many cases where excellent educational books are written by non-specialists; for example, neurophysiologist Svetlana Lavrova is good at books about the Russian language. But in the case of Rogozny, in principle, we do not need any reservations, because the book about the Russian revolution was written by a professional historian, an expert on this topic.

Pavel Gennadievich Rogozny is a research fellow in the group of the history of Russian revolutions and social movements at the Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. He also has experience teaching in middle and high schools. In the RSCI database, his 24 publications are easily found, one way or another related to the topic of the Russian revolution or its historiography. It is also not difficult to find popular articles by Rogozny on the Internet, for example, not so long ago he showed “Revolution in Pictures” on “Arzamas”, and in 2011 in the magazine “Neva” there was his material “The Russian Church and the Red Troubles”.

Illustration courtesy of the publishing house “Walking into History”

It is quite obvious that the author focuses on the topic of the 1917 revolution on a professional level. In the introduction to his first children's encyclopedia, he invites readers to "work together to understand what happened in 1917, as impartially as possible."

What is the structure of the book?

The first spread shows a timeline, to which the reader, if he is not very well versed in dates, will have to constantly return, because the narrative is structured not chronologically, but according to a thematic principle.

Each spread (in rare cases two) of the publication is devoted to a single topic related to the economic, political, cultural life of the Russian Empire before the revolution or the Soviet state immediately after it. A lot of space is devoted to a description of the ordinary life of Russian citizens (the emphasis on the history of everyday life is a common feature of all “Walk into History” encyclopedias). The author alternates chapters covering general topics with chapters about events. For example, after the passages “Life in the village”, “Life in the city: a noble family”, “We are going to the dacha”, “Boots, sailor suit, French: children's and adult fashion” and other similar ones there will be a section “Empire under attack: Russian -Japanese War and Revolution of 1905." Afterwards, the reader will see a chapter about the imperial family, then read two sections about the events of the First World War and again return to general topics: “Russian Science”, “Types of troops and weapons of the Russian Army”, etc.

Illustration courtesy of the publishing house “Walking into History”

This arrangement of chapters and topics raises questions. Why does the author first repeatedly mention various figures of the Russian revolution and only at the end place the section “Faces of 1917”? Why does he talk about fashion at the very beginning, and about the church at the end? It is highly likely that Rogozny has the answers; let us also note that it is unlikely that one can find an ideal recipe for such an encyclopedia. However, the editors did their best to make the book easy to read. Each chapter opens with a lead or chronology, and the most important things in the text are highlighted in color, so the reader can easily recap any fragment.

What about the design?

About half the book is devoted to illustrations that complement the textual information; they are also accompanied by captions, although without indicating the sources for archival documents and photographs. Looking ahead, let us clarify that this encyclopedia completely lacks reference and scientific apparatus: at the end of the book there is no name and geographical index, the dictionary of terms is excluded (the author does not even explain the meaning of the word “revolution”), there is no list of sources and literature.

Illustration courtesy of the publishing house “Walking into History”

The pictures were very well chosen. Many archival photographs were used to illustrate events and everyday details. The authors show fragments of magazine and newspaper publications, political cartoons, and fragments of historical maps. Images of archival documents are supplemented with illustrations by contemporary artist E. Gavrilova. Apparently, the source for it was numerous photographs of those years, so the pictures adequately reflect the era. Drawing in retrotones a certain conventional, smoothed reality of the beginning of the last century, the artist is mistaken (or deliberately deviates from the truth) only once, when she depicts the murder of the heir to the Austrian throne, Franz Ferdinand: in the illustration he dies in the arms of his wife, although, as we remember, everything happened on the contrary, the pregnant woman whom the terrorist shot first died in the arms of her already bleeding husband.

Illustration courtesy of the publishing house “Walking into History”

Will we find fault with the content?

The task of containing all aspects of social life that led the country to the violent destruction of the existing political system in less than a hundred pages seems almost impossible. It is worth remembering not only the limitations set by the genre, but also, perhaps, the insufficient erudition of the target audience - the encyclopedia should be understandable to readers 10-15 years old. It is difficult to write such a book for children: you need to avoid complications, but not simplify to the limit, say the most important things, but remain interesting and entertaining, characterize the leading figures, but also demonstrate the objective conditions within which they lived. In some places, Rogozny coped with all these tasks superbly, in others it turned out worse.

One of the first chapters of the encyclopedia is devoted to the industrialization of the country at the beginning of the century. The industry of the Russian Empire is presented surprisingly facelessly, as in a paragraph from a school textbook: “Unprecedented industries appeared: electrical production, automotive and aircraft manufacturing.” Of course, general words cannot be avoided, but in order for them to at least somehow stick with a reading teenager, even such simple things should be explained with examples. What exactly did Russian electrical plants produce? What kind of cars and planes did they assemble? And how much per year, more than some English people, or less? It is clear that the author is limited by volume, but examples of Russian industry products can also be shown in illustrations, however, as such, apparently, photographs of a steam locomotive and a railway bridge are shown.

Illustration courtesy of the publishing house “Walking into History”

The paragraphs devoted to the lives of workers suffer from the same annoying lack of child-friendly examples. The author writes that a worker with his annual earnings could buy “twice as much food as a peasant family produced,” and also points out that the wages of a skilled worker were high. At the same time, it remains completely unclear: a high worker’s salary is how much, what can such a person afford? It was enough to name these figures and compare them with the cost of a number of consumer goods (bread, clothing, a movie ticket) for the reader to build a more or less understandable picture in his head and at the same time evaluate what the growth of the strike movement mentioned in the chapter was based on: objectively harsh living conditions, need and poverty, or did it develop as a result of the political propaganda mentioned in the chapter?

Describing the revolutionary movement in Russia, the author chooses a generally accepted scheme, perfectly formulated by V. I. Lenin in his article “In Memory of Herzen”, which we remember mainly from the quotes “the circle of these revolutionaries is narrow, they are terribly far from the people” and “The Decembrists woke Herzen” . There, Vladimir Ilyich identified three stages in the development of the socio-political opposition: noble, raznochinsky and proletarian. In a simplified version, without delving into nuances, such as the ideological differences between the “Union of Salvation” and the “Union of Welfare” or the content of “Voices from Russia,” Rogozny sets out the same scheme, which, however, compares favorably with Lenin’s in the absence of an indication of the continuity of some revolutionary ideas for others.

Illustration courtesy of the publishing house “Walking into History”

On a number of basic issues, the author is scrupulous and does not forget to provide important, sometimes completely forgotten details. Few of today's teenagers know about the incredible popularity of the poet S. Nadson or the activities of Maria Alexandrovna Spiridonova, but the high school students of 1913 dreamed of being like her. From the chapters about the daily life of the Russian Empire before the revolution, the reader learns what citizens wore and what they studied, what films they watched and when they began to support football (it turns out that there was no good football in Russia at that time either). The author touches on not the most obvious, but incredibly important topics: he describes the practice of public associations and mutual aid systems during the First World War, talks about the level of development of medicine, and separately touches on issues of symbolism and post-revolutionary emigration. The reader may be surprised to learn that mathematical methods in the humanities began to be used precisely then, on the eve of the revolution, and open lectures on everything in the world and rallies were an extremely popular form of leisure, well, exactly as they are now!

A detailed account of the events of the First World War seems more than appropriate, because usually these events fade in the shadow of the coming revolution, civil war and intervention. The author writes: “Makarov recalled that once they received an order to attack without artillery preparation, which was tantamount to suicide. Realizing that the oldest regiment of the Russian army could not fail to carry out the order, the officers decided to go on the attack without soldiers. The order will be considered completed, they will die, but the soldiers will survive. The criminal order to attack without artillery was canceled at the last moment.”

In the course of the entertaining narrative, Rogozny does not forget to debunk the most common myths concerning this period, and for this it is worth thanking him additionally, after all, the incorrect interpretation of certain events to a large extent makes us today “a country with an unpredictable past.” When should ideological prevention begin, if not in adolescence? In particular, Rogozny clarifies when and in connection with what circumstances the concept of “Great Patriotic War” appeared (schoolchildren almost certainly do not know that it was not in the 40s of the twentieth century), and explains why to call the February Revolution “great and bloodless "Not entirely fair. He writes: “After the release of prisoners from Petrograd prisons, the city was overwhelmed by a wave of robberies and murders. There were also many random victims - it was impossible to tell who shot whom.” He also talks about the bloody pogrom in Tver, which was the result of the February events. He does not forget to once again mention the common, hundreds of times refuted, but surprisingly tenacious myths about Kerensky's flight in a woman's dress and about Lenin - the “German spy.”

Some events, for example, the country’s path from February to October, are presented more briefly than we would like, while others did not find a place in the book at all. The author slightly less than completely ignores the national issue in Russia (however, at the very beginning it is said that citizens must indicate their religious affiliation rather than their nationality when registering), and forgets to tell the details of the lives of representatives of other faiths. He focuses on Central Russia, only casually mentions other regions of the huge country, or tries to draw a conditional, average portrait of “city” and “village”, without specifying that the life of peasants in Siberia was significantly different from the life of those, for example, in the Volga region. Talking about education in the Russian Empire, Rogozny does not say how many literate people there were (and how later, already in Soviet Russia, they had to organize a mass educational program), while briefly describing the civil war, he does not write in detail about foreign intervention. Probably, it would be possible to continue the list of important, but not reflected in the book, if not for a number of circumstances that completely justify the author: the volume of the encyclopedia is small, and complaints about thematic gaps are caused by the almost complete absence of books on this topic for children and youthful bookshelves.

What's the result?

The author and editors of the publishing house “On Foot into History” (A. Litvina, E. Stepanenko and E. Suslova) have created a good encyclopedia, suitable for any reader who is not yet familiar with the history of the Russian revolution. The task of making an impartial and consistent portrait of the era seems completed, and our schoolchild can set off to reflect on the last words of the book: “Terrible things happened during the Revolution and the Civil War, and the memory of them is terrible.” Here it would be possible to send him to further reflection with the help of a good list of references or at least an interactive promotion on social media, but this potential of the publication is not realized, either the publishing house does not have enough resources for targeted work in this direction, or it is not deliberately carried out.

Illustration courtesy of the publishing house “Walking into History”

We have a fear, given by the historical myth, which does not allow us to calmly perceive everything that is in any way connected with the victory of the Bolsheviks. Well, how will everyone begin to talk about the events of 1917 at every step, and a generation of revolutionaries will grow up in the country, we know what consequences the famous novel by N. G. Chernyshevsky entailed? However, for such results the encyclopedia of P. G. Rogozny is obviously not enough. And the point here is not at all in the small circulation or the high cost of publication for the average intelligent family, but in the inability for the young reader to emotionally relate himself to the characters and events of the book. The author tried too hard to be impartial, so Nicholas II, Rasputin, Lenin, Trotsky and dozens of other historical figures mentioned in the book will not inspire anyone; they firmly took the place of long-standing characters in a faded photograph, which, frankly, is not that interesting to contemporaries.

In 1919, Vasily Voronov, a scientist and teacher of graphic arts, donated a collection of children's drawings dedicated to the First World War and the Revolution to the Russian Historical Museum. Voronov taught from 1906 at the Moscow real school of Ivan Alexandrov, and from 1910 - at the Lomonosov men's gymnasium. In 1914, he began collecting children's drawings about the war, and three years later they added drawings about the revolution.

Voronov's collection is made up of drawings by boys of senior preschool age, junior schoolchildren of city schools and secondary educational institutions in Moscow - aged from seven to thirteen years. These are mainly the works of his students. Almost all the drawings, according to the collector himself, were executed at home, as works on free themes, without the help or instructions of a teacher, only under the influence of events and moods that lived in the city during the years of war and revolution.

In 1917, Voronov, in addition to drawings, began collecting children's texts dedicated to the events that took place at that time. Some of these records were published by the scientist in 1927, on the tenth anniversary of the February and October revolutions. The names of the authors of the texts, as well as most of the drawings, are unknown.

Demonstrations, rallies and queues

Images of the revolution

"Moscow War"

Demonstrations, rallies
and queues

Demonstration with the slogan “Long live free Russia!” The drawing is signed with the name Yatskevich. February 1917

Unknown author. Demonstration near the factory with the motto “Freedom of Speech!” February 1917 State Historical Museum

“It was spring. People began to worry and started a revolution."

Demonstration with slogans “Long live free Russia!” and “War until victory!” The drawing is signed with the name Kosarev. Spring 1917 State Historical Museum

“During the war, turmoil began in Moscow, one day when I was walking with my grandmother and came home, I learned that the sovereign had been driven from the throne. When I sat down to drink tea, suddenly I heard a noise outside our windows, I saw a large crowd of workers.”

Unknown author. Rally at the Red Gate. Spring 1917 State Historical Museum

The picture shows the baroque arch of the triumphal Red Gate and the bell tower of the Church of the Three Saints (demolished in 1927).

“On March 1, under the leadership of students, tsarism was overthrown, and was replaced by a provisional government. But it soon brought Russia to the point where it was impossible.”

Unknown author. Car with revolutionary soldiers. Spring 1917 State Historical Museum

“Soon a demonstration appeared, it was very large and grandiose. They carried red banners trimmed with gold cord. Every man or woman had a red bow. At that time, I was overcome with a joyful feeling of love for everyone.”

Unknown author. Demonstration on a wide street. Summer 1917 State Historical Museum

One of the many demonstrations of the summer of 1917. The slogans on the posters are given only in initial letters: “DZSDLP” - “Long live the Social Democratic Labor Party”; “DZDR” - “Long live democratic Russia”; "PVSS" - "Workers of all countries, unite."

“As soon as the revolution began, I could not sit at home. And I was drawn to the street. All the people went to Red Square, where students were making speeches near the Duma. Everyone was in a happy mood. Trucks with soldiers in their hands were driving along the streets."

Unknown author. Rally near the monument to Pushkin. Summer 1917 State Historical Museum

One of the rallies in the summer of 1917 is depicted. The monument to Pushkin stands in its original location, at the beginning of Tverskoy Boulevard on Pushkinskaya Square (in 1950 it was moved to the opposite side of the square).

“Under the Tsar there was little bread, and now there is even less. In September they started giving out a quarter of a pound, but in some places they won’t give it at all.”

Unknown author. Demonstration near the Bolshoi Theater with the slogan “Long live the democratic republic!” August 1917 State Historical Museum

Thousands of Muscovites gathered on Theater Square to protest the Moscow State Conference. It was convened by the Provisional Government and took place on August 12-15, 1917 under the chairmanship of the Bolshoi Theater. In the middle of the red banners is the black banner of the anarchists. In the foreground is a red poster of the railway workers at the Sortirovochnaya station with the inscription: “Long live the democratic republic!”

Unknown author. The queue at Chuev's bakery on Solyanka. 1917 State Historical Museum

Queues (“tails”) became the main feature of the end of 1916 and the beginning of 1917. The food crisis primarily affected large cities, and for children this was the first sign of trouble.

Images of the revolution

Unknown author. Bolshevik with the banner “Down with the war and the bourgeoisie.” 1917 State Historical Museum

“The people were divided into many parties, there were Mensheviks and Bolsheviks. The Mensheviks were landowners and rich people, and the Bolsheviks were the people, workers, artisans, and peasants."

A. Konstantinov. Bolshevik going to a rally. 1917 State Historical Museum

The picture shows a Bolshevik going to a pre-election rally. In his hands is a flag with the number 5, which indicates the number of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolshevik Party) headed by Lenin in the electoral lists for the elections to the Constituent Assembly.

Unknown author. Masha the Bolshevik. 1917 State Historical Museum

“Now we have begun to find out what kind of bourgeoisie they are”

Unknown author. Bolshevik and Menshevik. 1917 State Historical Museum

The Bolshevik and the Menshevik are opposed to each other: the Menshevik is tiny and dressed in an expensive fur coat; Bolshevik is huge, he is wearing a leather jacket, pants with multi-colored patches, felt boots and is armed.

Unknown author. Bolshevik and bourgeois. 1917 State Historical Museum

“When I came home, I began to draw how they were walking along the street with flags, and drew as many as 14 Red Flags. My father asked me when he arrived, What are you doing? I told him that I was painting a revolution!”

Unknown author. Speculator. 1917 State Historical Museum

"Moscow War"

Unknown author. Fight on Theater Square. November 1917 State Historical Museum

Fierce fighting took place on Theater Square in Moscow in October 1917. The picture shows a green armored car with the inscription “S. R. and S.D.”, that is, “Council of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies.”

“Once I was walking along Sukharev Square and saw barricades, I didn’t know what they were. When I came home, I asked my mother, but she also didn’t know. In the evening, when I was sitting at home and doing homework, we heard shots and then I found out that it was a revolution.”

“I watched from the window through binoculars as they fired from a machine gun. All these days it was dangerous to leave the house, and we could not get bread; for four days we ate potatoes. At night we slept without undressing, and dad and other men who live in our house took turns with revolvers in the yard.”

Unknown author. Battle for the Kremlin. November 1917 State Historical Museum

The Kremlin is shown from the Red Square side. Cannonballs fly over the battlement, the Nikolskaya Tower is filled with gaping holes.

“Since our house is located on the corner of Myasnitskaya and Yushkov lanes, they shot from both sides along our house. There was a Bolshevik machine gun at our gate. Once we went out into the yard, but suddenly they started shooting heavily, and we went home. A bullet hit the window above our apartment in our house. I went to see her"

“On Monday they were still shooting, my mother was standing at the window and checking her stocking, and as soon as she moved away, the bullet hit our window, but did not fly into the room, but broke through the first glass and remained on the windowsill.”

“When a truce was announced, I and two comrades ran to the center to see what the Bolsheviks and cadets had fought. We saw many houses with large windows smashed to pieces, and several houses were all burned down. There were safe people walking everywhere and everyone was talking about how the Moscow war was going on.”

Unknown author. Shelled houses near the Kremlin. November 1917 State Historical Museum

“It was a lot of fun during the revolution days. And I will never forget the Russian revolution"

“There was no funeral service for the Bolshevik victims, but speeches were made and music was played and people walked with red banners and ribbons. I used to go to Red Square to watch how the grave was dug up and laid with boards. People were arguing among themselves everywhere and some were swearing.”

Unknown author. At an open mass grave. November 1917 State Historical Museum

On November 10, 1917, Red Guards who died in revolutionary battles were buried in Moscow. 238 coffins were lowered into graves on Red Square. Two mass graves are located near the walls of the Kremlin, on both sides of the Senate Tower.

From April 19 to June 19, 2017, the State Historical Museum will host the exhibition ““I Draw the Revolution!”: Children’s Drawings of the Great Russian Revolution from the Collection of the State Historical Museum,” which will feature children’s drawings, photographs of revolutionary Moscow, and rare posters 1917 and documentary evidence of eyewitnesses.

Children participants of the 1917 revolution. About the revolution (and revolutions)

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I can't lie

Children of 1917

God was with the children

Have mercy on Russia, have mercy on me!

Causes

Stages of the uprising

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​“We live in 1917”: an encyclopedia about the revolution

Who is author?

What is the structure of the book?

What about the design?

Will we find fault with the content?

What's the result?

“We live in 1917”: an encyclopedia about the revolution