22 June 1917. Maxim Gorky

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

Maxim Gorky

editorial office of the newspaper "New Life", Nevsky lane, 64, Petrograd, Russian Empire

The task of culture is to develop and strengthen in the human being a social conscience, social morals, to work through and organize all the abilities, all the talents of the individual. Is this task achievable in times of widespread brutality? The Russian person, upon seeing his old way of life shaken by war and revolution to its very foundations, bellows with all his might for cultural aid.

People write on their opinions about the priests, people ask whether there will be changes in immigration law, people ask for stories “about the American government,” about how to cure syphilis, about whether there is a law regarding “the transportation of the wounded to a single gathering point,” people submit “petitions” for onions to be sent to the soldiers in the trenches—they are “very good against scurvy.”

All of these “petitions,” “messages,” and “demands” find no place in the pages of our newspapers, which are all occupied with bile and malicious bickering. Newspaper editors seem to forget that outside the sphere of their influence there remain tens of millions of people whose instinct to struggle for power still lies asleep but whose drive to build new forms of daily life has already awakened.

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✍ Also today

Nicholas II

Petrograd, Russian Empire

It has been exactly three months since I came from Moghilev and we have been prisoners. It is difficult to be without news from dear Mama, but as to the others I am indifferent. Today the day was still hotter than hot — 25 degrees in the shade and in the sun 36 degrees. Again there was a strong smell of burning. See more

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Marina Tsvetaeva

Borisoglebsky lane, 6, Moscow, Russian Empire

Two sources of heroism: "There is nothing to lose!" (Worker), "There is nothing to gain!" (Aristocrat).

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Alexandre Benois

Petrograd, Russian Empire

There is no sugar at all. Beet fields were left unplanted. This scares me more than anything, for I can not live without sweetness.

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Pierre Gilliard

Alexander Palace, Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire

After the disease Grand Duchesses shaved their heads because their hair fell out heavily; When they went out into the garden, they put on hats made to hide the lack of hair. At the moment when I was going to take pictures of them, they quickly took off their hats on the sign of Olga Nikolaevna. See more

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Elizaveta Naryshkina

Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire

It turns out that France has insisted on the abdication of the King of Greece. His second-born son, Alexander, has been declared king. The abdication didn’t happen without a struggle, but it was dignified as well. They departed in an English corvette and are now in Sweden, safe and sound. See more

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Romain Rolland

Grand Hotel Chateau Bellevue, Sierre, Switzerland

Recently, the deposed king of Greece, George, was roughed up in Lugano.

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Igor Stravinsky Leon Bakst

Diableler, Switzerland

If you want me to write music for Shakespeare, it is absolutely necessary that you come here. Strongly refuse to discuss anything in writing. I'm waiting for you.

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Nikolay Sukhanov

Petrograd, Russian Empire

The corridors of the Tauride Palace and the Cadet Corps resounded with rumours to the effect that certain military units, newly arrived from the front, were ready to place the city under martial law on the orders of the authorities, and to turn their weapons against the workers. See more

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Alexander Kerensky

There’s no substance whatsoever to the rumours of front-line troops being summoned to Petersburg to fight the workers. There isn’t a single soldier in Saint Petersburg who isn’t a member of the metropolitan garrison. Generally speaking, troops under my orders have been moving and will continue to move from the rear to the front in order to fight the external enemies of the revolution. But they shall never move from the front to the rear to wage battle against the workers.

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Anatoliy Lunacharskiy

apt.17, 25/20, Lakhtinskaya, Petrograd, Russian Empire

I saw the most charming A. Mikh. Kollontai. She looked some ten years younger and had become very unassuming and sweet while retaining traces of her former elegance. Held in high affection in Bolshevik circles, she’s ubiquitously renowned as a first-class orator. She addressed me with great cordiality and asked me to send you a warm hello and to tell you that she’d like to see you here soonest. See more

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Amedeo Modigliani

paints "Woman With a Necklace".

Emil Gudo's square, 13, Paris, France

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Pavel Dybenko

Mathilde Kschessinskaya's mansion, Petrograd, Russian Empire

As I was passing through Petrograd, I casually stopped at the palace of Kshesinskaya. It was interesting, after all, to visit the apartments of the Tsar’s former mistress, which are now occupied by the Bolsheviks, who send panic throughout all of Petrograd. And frankly, I wanted to meet Lenin himself. See more

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21 June

Gumilyov meets Yeats and Chesterton

Kolchak resigned following a scandal

"Divisions are refusing to engage. It is shameful before our allies"

1917. Zombies, drugs, and progress

Why did the Russian Empire collapse

1916: Year in Review.

+27

in Petrograd

+25

in Moscow