25 October 1917. Ivan Bunin

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

Ivan Bunin

Glovo village, Russian Republic

The day before yesterday, I turned forty seven years old. It’s scary to write, although now and then there’s a flicker of comfort- but maybe, that’s just nothing, maybe, I’m exaggerating the significance of these years?

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Mikhail Prishvin

Petrograd, Russian Republic

Evacuating Petrograd is like opening a can of worms.

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Vladimir Vernadsky

Petrograd, Russian Republic

I've always feared that socialism creates army discipline. And what do I see around me? It might only exist inside - but the only thing anyone has inside is strife and squabble.

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1 Like

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Romain Rolland

Grand Hotel Chateau Bellevue, Sierre, Switzerland

A registered message from Odessa. God knows, how it came to me! “Monsieur, I am sitting in my bedroom, reading your article ‘The Lesser of Two Evils’ as I listen to someone playing the ‘Marseillaise’ on the accordion outside the window. See more

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John Reed

1, Smolny proezd, Smolny, Petrograd, Russian Republic

Smolny Institute, headquarters of the Tsay-ee-kahThe Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party and of the Petrograd Soviet, lay miles out on the edge of the city, beside the wide Neva. Under the old régime a famous convent-school for the daughters of the Russian nobility, patronised by the Tsarina herself, the Institute had been taken over by the revolutionary organisations of workers and soldiers. See more

Within were more than a hundred huge rooms, white and bare, on their doors enamelled plaques still informing the passerby that within was “Ladies’ Class-room Number 4” or “Teachers’ Bureau”; but over these hung crudely-lettered signs, evidence of the vitality of the new order: “Central Committee of the Petrograd Soviet” and “Tsay-ee-kah” and “Bureau of Foreign Affairs”; “Union of Socialist Soldiers,” “Central Committee of the All-Russian Trade Unions,” “Factory-Shop Committees,” “Central Army Committee”; and the central offices and caucus-rooms of the political parties.

The long, vaulted corridors, lit by rare electric lights, were thronged with hurrying shapes of soldiers and workmen, some bent under the weight of huge bundles of newspapers, proclamations, printed propaganda of all sorts. The sound of their heavy boots made a deep and incessant thunder on the wooden floor. Signs were posted up everywhere: “Comrades! For the sake of your health, preserve cleanliness!” Long tables stood at the head of the stairs on every floor, and on the landings, heaped with pamphlets and the literature of the different political parties, for sale.

In the south wing on the second floor was the great hall of meetings, the former ball-room of the Institute. A lofty white room lighted by glazed-white chandeliers holding hundreds of ornate electric bulbs, and divided by two rows of massive columns; at one end a dais, flanked with two tall many-branched light standards, and a gold frame behind, from which the Imperial portrait had been cut. Here on festal occasions had been banked brilliant military and ecclesiastical uniforms, a setting for Grand Duchesses.

Just across the hall outside was the office of the Credentials Committee for the Congress of Soviets. I stood there watching the new delegates come in—burly, bearded soldiers, workmen in black blouses, a few long-haired peasants. The girl in charge—a member of Plekhanov’s Yedinstvo group—smiled contemptuously. “These are very different people from the delegates to the first Siezd (Congress),” she remarked. “See how rough and ignorant they look! The Dark People.” It was true; the depths of Russia had been stirred, and it was the bottom which came uppermost now. The Credentials Committee, appointed by the old Tsay-ee-kah, was challenging delegate after delegate, on the ground that they had been illegally elected. Karakhan, member of the Bolshevik Central Committee, simply grinned. “Never mind,” he said, “When the time comes we’ll see that you get your seats.”

It was evident that a quorum would not come together by November 2, so the opening of the Congress was postponed to the 7th.

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Alexander Zamaraev

Totma, Vologodskaya guberniya, Russian Republic

It's quiet, there's no snow.

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Amedeo Modigliani

is working on «Luisa»

Paris, France

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2 Like

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Nicholas II

Tobolsk, Russian Republic

It was a nice sunny day, after a light, cold night. We have started taking our walks again at 4 o'clock since the children have an added number of lessons.

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Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich

Gatchina, Russian Republic

In the morning, I read, and waked around the garden. At 3 o’clock I took a walk in the grove beyond the crossing. When I returned home, Baranov’s son was there who asked me to be the godfather to his son Andrei. Then I read and played the guitar.

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George Buchanan

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

"After observing that a naval demonstration in the Skagerak was more likely to create a diversion than any steps that we might take in the North Sea, Tereschenko said that he had felt considerable diffidence about appealing to us for assistance so long as Russia made no effort to save herself. See more

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24 October

A painting by Henri Matisse

Agents of the Tsar’s secret service are still at work

"The Central Committee has chosen the course of “A.I.”: “armed insurrection is unavoidable"

1917. Zombies, drugs, and progress

Why did the Russian Empire collapse

From one revolution to another

Russia in 1917

in Petrograd

in Moscow