24 June 1917. Vladimir Lenin

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

Vladimir Lenin

Petrograd, Russian Empire

A riddle: “What’s the difference between an ordinary bourgeois government and a government which is extraordinary, revolutionary, and doesn’t regard itself as bourgeois?” The difference, they say, is the following:

An ordinary bourgeois government can ban demonstrations only on constitutional grounds, and not before declaring martial law. An extraordinary and near-socialist government can ban demonstrations on no grounds at all, and on the strength of “facts” known to it alone.

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Aleksei Brusilov

Mogilev, Stavka, Russian Empire

I'm no prophet. I am only doing my duty, and the rest is not from us. But I hope that everything will work out well.

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Moscow, Russian Empire

Russia is not France, and Petrograd is not Paris. Russia is villages, Russia is a countless number of cities, huge economic and cultural centres. Russia is wisdom. Which allows her to endure such circumstances in which other nations would have already descended into complete anarchy. Wisdom is the great God of the Russian land! And we hope that it will hold us back, at the last minute, from the only horror which threatens Russia, the revolution and freedom - a civil war. See more

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Alexandra Kollontai

Chiniselli circus, Petrograd, Russian Empire

A demonstration, organised by the “Woman Worker” magazine, took place. Its success has surpassed all expectations. The Ciniselli Circus could not accommodate the crowd of several thousand and we had to organize two additional demonstrations on the square and in the circus’s garden. This, essentially, is the realisation of a working plan that we have proposed.

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8 Like

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Ivan Bunin

Vasilievskoe estate, Glotovo village, Orlovskaya guberniya, Russian Empire

All these days of late have encouraged a sense of youth, a poetic yearning for some kind of southern escape (as always in good weather), and thoughts about chance encounters...

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3 Like

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Vasily Kravkov

Podgaicy, Russian Empire

With a sense of great relief I read about the Cossack Congress that happened in Petrograd; the Cossacks made an oath to strengthen republican Russia and to save it from anarchy and Leninists. Thank you, dear ones, great sons of the Danube. A soothing impression was also created by the Peasants’ Congress that has decided against embarking on an unauthorised, plundering distribution of land before the convocation of the Constituent Assembly.

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2 Like

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Andrei Shingarev

Shingarev's apartment, 22, Bolshaya Monetnaya street, Petrogradskaya side, Petrograd, Russian Empire

We also have surprising heat. From the beginning of May until now there has been no rain, it is humid, dusty, oppressive. The general political situation is similar to the weather conditions. There is no invigorating, gracious rain, and no storm with gale and thunder.

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2 Like

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Irakli Tsereteli

Petrograd, Russian Empire

The counter-revolution can only emerge into our midst via one door, and one door alone – via the Bolsheviks. What the Bolsheviks are engaged in now is no longer ideological propaganda; it is conspiracy. May the Bolsheviks forgive us, but we shall now resort to other means of struggle. Revolutionaries unworthy of the arms they bear must have those arms confiscated. The Bolsheviks need to be disarmed. We shall permit no conspiracies…

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2 Like

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Paul Klee

paints "Playing fish"

Summer school, Gersthofen, Bavaria, German Empire

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5 Like

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Carl Mannerheim

Romanian front

One of my divisions was due to replace another; just when the time came for the units to advance to the front line, a divisional commander arrived. I asked the general whether he trusted his troops, but my misgivings seemed to offend him. I advised the commander that I’d dispatched several cannon to the site where his units were supposed to be located, just in case. Half an hour later, the general reported that the troops were refusing to go into the trenches. But as soon as the first shells exploded in the vicinity of the camp, everything fell into place, and the general’s honour was saved.

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Rurik Ivnev

Lahtinskaya street, Petrograd, Russian Empire

Where from? From where does this nastiness come from in people? These faces, faces, these are some faces. Where do these strange dark faces come from? But Russian women are completely different. Same for Russian old women. God! Save Russia!

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Alexander Blok

57, Ofitserskaya street, Petrograd, Russian Empire

Yesterday was a big day: Muravyov, Manukhin and I made the rounds of our clients in the fortress. We witnessed some “heart-rending” scenes. Protopopov gave me his notes. Someday I'll tell you who this talented and contemptible person really reminds me of. Among them are unfaltering individuals whom I respect (Makarov, Klimovich), but for the most part they’re utter rabble! Whenever they’re spluttering with tears or saying something they regard as very important, I look on at them while experiencing a particular sensation: a revolutionary one…

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