28 July 1917. Alexandra Kollontai

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

Alexandra Kollontai

Vyborg female convict prison, Vyborg side, Russian Empire

The February Revolution cleared out our prisons. My presence brings new blood to a complex for political prisoners in this new bourgeois-republican Russia. I slept on a hard cot—slept deeply, at least until they brought in boiling water and a large hunk of black bread. I am permitted to buy tea myself.

The prison’s day began. The first order of business was to bring some sort of order to my cell. It is good that comrade Sh. compelled me to bring her plaid—the cot does not look so prisonly. There is a little shelf for toiletries; there is a place to wash.

One thought will not leave my mind: how strong is the reaction? What are our people doing? Toward midday, the head of the prison appears. He is chubby, has whiskers, was placed here by the “new authorities” (as he said himself by way of introduction). He is talkative but mostly speaks about the “baseness” of the Bolsheviks.

I keep silent.

If one is to believe his words, most of the “Bolshevik incendiaries” have been arrested while others have “repented and admitted everything.”

“And what did they admit?”

“That the Bolsheviks have a direct connection with German general headquarters. There is irrefutable evidence. And against you too… but that is not my business.”

They bring in lunch—beet salad in lenten oil, entirely edible given the times. I ask for a newspaper. It would be charged to my account. They do not bring one. In the evening, I discover that I have am being held under a “particularly strict regime,” and it is not permitted to bring me newspapers. No walks, no visitors. And so they have cut me off from the movement, from the party.

, and others

2 Like

Comment

✍ Also today

Elizaveta Naryshkina

Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire

I was in the garden today. I walked for an hour with a great deal of effort, resting on every bench. I am very tired, but I feel healthier. The news has been more calming than usual: there has been a push to form a ministry with the cadets, who have shifted rightward. See more

, and others

2 Like

Comment

Alexandre Benois

Yablonovka village, Russian Empire

All night, the rain was pouring down and drumming on the roof. At one point it was very cold, and I couldn’t sleep. Luckily the little cat Kuzka honoured me with his company: he heated up my feet and communicated a magical sense of comfort for a bit of the night. See more

, and others

1 Like

Comment

Inessa Armand

Moscow, Russian Empire

The more committed a socialist is to the cause of the workers, the more the bourgeoisie slander him. The Bolsheviks, with Lenin at their head, are the representatives of revolutionary socialism in Russia now. Perhaps nowhere else has the hatred of the bourgeoisie, slander and persecution reached the levels we see now in Russia. See more

, and others

4 Like

Comment

Aristarkh Lentulov

finishes working on "Tverskoy Boulevard" ("Passionate monastery")

27, Bolshoy Kozikhinsky lane, Moscow, Russian Empire

, and others

4 Like

Comment

Alfred Knox

Petrograd, Russian Empire

The Cossacks who had been killed in the abortive Bolshevik rising were given an official funeral, and about twenty allied officers attended. M. Kerensky drove up amidst the cheers of the populace in the Emperor’s automobile. He made an emotional speech from the steps of St. Isaac’s Cathedral. See more

, and others

Comment

27 July

Shooting a deserter

Making vodka in the trenches

“The Democratic Army” fled like a herd of sheep"

1917. Zombies, drugs, and progress

Why did the Russian Empire collapse

1916: Year in Review.

+13

in Petrograd

in Moscow