25 January 1917. Serge Diaghilev → Leon Bakst

Non-fiction

Project 1917 is a series of events that took place a hundred years ago as described by those involved. It is composed only of diaries, letters, memoirs, newspapers and other documents

Serge Diaghilev Leon Bakst

Paris, France

I have found you a terrific atelier. Boards, wood, and canvas have already been purchased. I have found you an artist who will make a good assistant. It is of the utmost importance that you leave Paris together with me on 7 February.

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✍ Also today

Leonid Andreyev

1, Moyka embankment, Petrograd, Russian Empire

It would seem that there’s a way of getting drunk without resorting to vodka: exhaustion and autosuggestion. Throughout these days I have been positively, genuinely drunk. I find it rather agreeable.

By my reckoning, 1917 will be my death year.

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Nikolai Wrangel

Petrograd, Russian Empire

Ceaseless anti-war propaganda is sapping the will to fight. Many factories have been evacuated; in others, the workers are on strike. The government, which seems to be doing everything in its power to spread popular discontent, is widely despised. The Tsar’s authority is all but lost.

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Anton Denikin

Romanian front, 4 Army, 8 Corps

Things have become extremely bad at home in Russia. They are cutting down the branch upon which they've been sitting since time immemorial.

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Vladimir Lenin

Zurich, Switzerland

At the root of the question of pacifism (a question of utmost importance for Switzerland) is the idea that the war is somehow not connected with capitalism, that it is somehow not a continuation of pre-war politics. This idea is a theoretical falsehood.

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Mikhail Rodzianko

32, Kirochnaya street, Petrograd, Russian Empire

We had hoped the murder wouldn’t be for naught – that Tsarskoye Selo would finally come to its senses, heed the warnings, or simply grow afraid. But things went in precisely the opposite direction. As if by perverse design, it was Rasputin’s supporters who were promoted.

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Nikolai Pokrovsky

Petrograd, Russian Empire

When I entered the ministry, there was still no Japanese ambassador, since the previous ambassador, Motono, had been appointed minister of foreign affairs. Incidentally, I’d been acquainted with him before, but only very slightly; despite his extremely unsightly, almost simian appearance, he came across as a very intelligent man possessed of a great deal of knowledge about Russian affairs. Motono was succeded by Viscount Uchida. He’d previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs: a robust fellow, he struck me as a very energetic character. Of course, he was not yet familiar with Russian life. But the staff of the Japanese embassy seemed to be more adept than others at familiarising themselves with Russian affairs. This was obvious from Uchida’s dealings with people, and from the dispatches he sent to Japan, and which we intercepted. He saw, with a clear and sober eye, our internal degeneration, and saw, too, that a revolution was approaching.

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Maurice Paleologue

10, Kutuzova embankment, Petrograd, Russian Empire

The most devoted servants of tsarism, and even some of those who form the monarch's ordinary entourage, are beginning to be alarmed at the pace of events.

I have just learned from a very reliable source that Admiral Nilov, A.D.C. General to the Emperor and one of his closest personal friends, quite recently had the courage to point out to him the whole peril of the situation; he actually went so far as to beg him to send the Empress away---as being the only thing which could still save the empire and the dynasty. Nicholas II, who is chivalrous and worships his wife, rejected the suggestion with intense scorn.

Admiral Nilov's intervention is particularly impressive because until quite recently he has always sided with the Empress. He was a close friend of Rasputin and intimately associated with the gang and is therefore largely responsible for the discredit and disgrace into which the imperial court has now fallen. But at bottom, he is honest and patriotic. At long last he has seen the abyss which is opening at Russia's feet, and he is trying---too late---to clear his conscience.

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24 January

England and France fear that Russia will betray them

Malevich holds forth on the subject of beauty

Pasternak takes advantage of the holidays by writing for two days without a break

From one revolution to another

Russia in 1917

Nightmare before Christmas

Death of Rasputin. Murder conspiracy and its consequences

-6

in Petrograd

-13

in Moscow