21 May 1917. Jean Cocteau

Rome, Italy

You are asking me to report on some details about “Parade.” I hasten to tell you. Forgive my style. Every morning new invectives descend on me, sometimes, they reach me from really far away. Critics have become angry with us, even though they have not seen or heard the work. And because this abyss of ignorance cannot be filled—for one would need to explain everything, beginning with Adam—I found it more dignified to not respond to anyone.

So, with equal interest, I look through those articles that insult us, and those that express their disdain, and those in which condescension competes with irony, and those that congratulate us inopportunely.

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Maxim Gorky

23, Kronversky ave., Petrograd, Russian Empire

Here, in Russia, you should always talk about culture - you should talk endlessly.

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Claude Debussy

Paris, France

The human mechanism is something very mysterious, and I never manage to discipline my will, I forget the simplest things and I curse myself a hundred times a day. And yet I finished the sonata for violin and piano, the ending of which defended against me, like a hundred of boches. See more

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Alexander Blok with Vasily Maklakov

57, Ofitserskaya street, Petrograd, Russian Empire

Today I was twice in the Winter Palace and became an editor. My salary will be 600 rubles a month. I have just read Nicholas’ handwritten note to Voeikov, in which he demands that the newspapers stop writing “about the deceased R.”. The handwriting is pretty feminine - weak; written in December. Boring gentleman.

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Elizaveta Naryshkina

Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire

It seemed to me that now the Empress had no longer any need for my presence, after I had helped her contact Kerensky. He will protect her without my assistance.

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Petrograd Soviet of Workers and Soldiers Deputies

Tauride Palace, Petrograd, Russian Empire

The Executive Committee received information that the strike of laundresses, which began after the unwillingness of their owners to come to an agreement with female workers and lasted for more than two weeks, proceeds with a number of complications. Many cases of mistreatment of female workers by mistresses, including beating and eviction from apartments, were recorded.

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Leon Bakst Lyubov Gritsenko

Paris, France

Dearest Lyubochka, how good it would be if we could beat the Germans as soon as possible—we could see each other again, and you and the children could get a bit of sun somewhere in the south of France or in Italy. I dream only of this. I’ve been following the Russian newspapers closely. Who has been sending me Russkoe Slovo? Stay healthy, all of you. Loving kisses to you and the children.

Your Lyova

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Georgi Plekhanov

Petrograd, Russian Empire

What is fraternization like on the front? A German pike swims up to a Russian carp, and under the guise of fraternization, it wheedles out our military secrets and takes a peek at our positions to make them easier to seize later on.

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George Buchanan

4, Dvortsovaya embankment, Petrograd, Russian Empire (British Embassy)

On May 21 I wrote as follows to the Foreign Office:

" The last two weeks have been very anxious ones, as the victory which the Government had won over the Soviet in the matter of the note to the Powers was not nearly sx) complete as Mihukoff had imagined. So long as the Soviet maintained its exclusive right to dispose of the troops, the Government, as Prince Lvoff remarked, .was * an authority without power,' while the Workmen's Council was ' a power without authority/ Under such conditions it was impossible for Guchkoff, as Minister of War, and for Korniloff, as military governor of Petrograd, to accept responsibility for the maintenance of discipline in the army. See more

They both, consequently, resigned, while the former declared that if things were to continue as they were the army would cease to exist as a fighting force in three weeks' time. Guchkoff's resignation precipitated matters, and Lvoff, Kerensky and Tereschenko came to the conclusion that, as the Soviet was too powerful a factor to be either suppressed or disregarded, the only ,way of putting an end to the anomaly of a dual Government was to form a Coalition. Though this idea did not at first find favour with the Soviet, it was eventually agreed that the latter should be represented in the Government by three delegates — Tseretelli, Chernoff and Scobeleff. Miliukoff was at headquarters when the crisis broke out, and he had on his return to choose between accepting the post of Minister of Education or leaving the Cabinet. After a vain struggle to retain charge of the Foreign Office he tendered his resignation. '* Though the more moderate section of the Govern- ment, with ,which I am naturally in sympathy, will be weakened by Miliukoff's and Guchkoff's departure, their loss will, I think, be compensated by gains in other directions. The former is so obsessed by one idea — Constantinople, which to the Socialists represents the imperialistic policy of the old regime — that he has never voiced the views of the Government as a whole ; and I personally prefer to deal with someone jybo, even if he does not see eye to eye with us, can speak with authority as the exponent of the Government's poUcy. Guchkoff , on the other hand, suffers from a weak heart and is hardly up to his work. His views with regard to disciphne in the army are very sound, but he has been unable to impose them on his colleagues. He has not, moreover, any hold on the masses — the prin- cipal factor — as he lacks Kerensky's gift of personal magnetism. The new Coalition Government, as I have already telegraphed, offers us the last and almost forlorn hope of saving the military situation on this front. Kerensky, who assumes charge of both the War Office and the Admiralty, is not an ideal War Minister, but he hopes, by going to the front and making passionate appeals to the patriotism of the soldiers, to be able to galvanize the army into new life. He is the only man .who can do it if it can be done, but his task will be a very difficult one. The Russian soldier of to-day does not understand for what or for whom he is fighting. He was ready formerly to lay down his life for the Tsar, who in his eyes impersonated Russia ; but now that the Tsar has gone Russia means nothing to him beyond his own village. Kerensky has begun by telling the army that he is going to re-establish the strictest discipline, to insist on his orders being obeyed, and to punish all recalcitrants. He has been going round the barracks to-day, and to-morrow he leaves for the front to prepare for the coming offensive.

Tereschenko, who has succeeded Miliukoff at the Foreign Office, has made a good start by his tactful treatment of the delicate question of our agreements in his statement to the Press. He serves as a link between the hourgeoisi^e and the democracy, though he is not liked by the extremists. If our reply to Miliii- koff' s note is published in its present form there is certain to be friction, and the Soviet will try to force his hands. After discussing the question with Albert Thomas, I think that we ought to forestall any action of this kind by ourselves making some conciliatory but non-committal statement on the subject. We have got to face the fact that Socialism is now dominant and that, if we are to enlist its support in favour of a fight to a finish, we must try to win its sympathies. The new Socialist Ministers will naturally be apprised of the contents of Russia's secret agreements, and if the Russian soldiers are told that they must go on fighting till the objects of those agreements have been realized they will demand a separate peace. I would therefore suggest the addition of a paragraph in our reply explaining that our agreements with regard to Asia Minor were inspired by the idea of barring the road to German penetration, but that, if this object can be attained by other means, we would be prepared to re- examine the question as soon as an opportune moment arrived for an exchange of views on the eventual conditions of peace."

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20 May

After the premiere of the “Parade” ballet, it was easier to get through to God, than to Diaghilev

Trotsky: “The Russian revolution is a prologue to worldwide revolution”

Ukrainian statesman: “Now is not the time for us to break away from the Russian empire”