17 October 1917. John Reed

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

John Reed

Petrograd, Russian Republic

In the barracks, the factories, on the street-corners, endless soldier speakers, all clamouring for an end to the war, declaring that if the Government did not make an energetic effort to get peace, the army would leave the trenches and go home.

The spokesman for the Eighth Army: “We are weak, we have only a few men left in each company. They must give us food and boots and reinforcements, or soon there will be left only empty trenches. Peace or supplies—either let the Government end the war or support the Army.”

For the Forty-sixth Siberian Artillery: “The officers will not work with our Committees, they betray us to the enemy, they apply the death penalty to our agitators; and the counter-revolutionary Government supports them. We thought that the Revolution would bring peace. But now the Government forbids us even to talk of such things, and at the same time doesn’t give us enough food to live on, or enough ammunition to fight with.”
From Europe came rumours of peace at the expense of Russia.

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Nicholas II

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Ivan Bunin

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Marina Tsvetaeva

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Anton Denikin

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There are historical moments when opportunism is not only a weakness, but also a crime.

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Igor Stravinsky Leon Bakst

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Vera Kholodnaya

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Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich

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At 3 o'clock Natasha and I went to Remiz, where we found three mushrooms, then went to the Tea house and returned home.

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Felix Yusupov

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