24 January 1917. Boris Pasternak

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

Boris Pasternak

Ushakovs' chemical plant, Tykhie Gory, Vyatsk guberniya, Russian Empire

I sprang to my feet in the middle of night, having seen the whole thing from beginning to end. Unable to sleep any further, I got up and began to write; I wrote for two days straight, sleeping no more than a couple of hours each night and reprising my work immediately on awaking. But, the holidays being over, I needed to go into the office, and had to put the thing aside. I stopped work on the 20th and spent three days reworking the thing. I haven’t yet given it a name.

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Julius Martov

Zurich, Switzerland

The storm-clouds over Russia seem thicker than ever before. Something must emerge from this situation: either a turbulent mass movement of some kind, or else a separate peace. If the papers are anything to go by, the prospect of the latter has never been so greatly feared in England and France.

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Maria Feodorovna

Mariyinsky Palace, Kiev, Russian Empire

I enjoyed a stroll through the garden. The weather is gorgeous. It’s warm in the sun.

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Paul Klee

at work on "Gaze of a demon"

Gersthofen, Bayern, German Empire

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Kazimir Malevich

56 Reserve Infantry Division Camp, Smolensk, Russian Empire

A painting can never be based on the word "beauty", just as saying ‘2x2 = 4’ can never be beautiful.

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Elizaveta Naryshkina

Petrograd, Russian Empire

I had a visit from State Council Chairman Scheglovitov. He believes it necessary to support the government and to postpone the principal reforms until the end of the war; if they’re instigated now, he says, “everything will fall apart”. I told him I was of the same opinion, but that, in my view, certain compromises should be sought as well.

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