8 December 1917. Alexandre Benois

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

Alexandre Benois

38, 1st line of Vasilyevsky Island, Petrograd, Russian Republic

Towards midday I set off on foot for the Winter Palace. A barricade has been put up on the Palace Bridge. Only those with passes are allowed through. The path along the fence of the Tsar’s garden is littered with broken bottles.

There is no wind, and the air around the palace reeks of alcohol. A sailor who has been standing on guard since the morning by the stairs to the cellar is clearly intoxicated on the fumes, although there are no reasons to doubt his claim that not a drop has passed his lips. I heard later in the day that almost all of the wine has been removed from the cellar, which has been flooded with water…

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Rurik Ivnev

Shirokaya street, Petrograd, Russian Republic

A group of women has assembled around the newspaper man, on the corner. They were yelling: can this be any other way with our people? You can only do this with whips and bullets with them…

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Marina Tsvetaeva

Train "Sevastopol - Moscow"

In a train car. (2nd return track to Moscow. I'm on my way):

-Breshkovsky is a rascal, too! She said "you should go to war!"

-Destroy all the poor people and enjoy life again!

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Vladimir Lenin

Petrograd, Russian Republic

Could one of the comrades let me know if the resolution on courts was passed yesterday in the Petrograd Soviet? And if anything practical was done?

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Georgy Knyazev

Sredny avenue, Vassilyevsky island, Petrograd, Russian Republic

We are standing at the abyss. War with the enemy has ceased, but a new and merciless war has been declared between brothers.
“Comrade Supreme Commander, we ask you to send, immediately, to Moscow, Rostov-on-Don and Orenburg, such forces that, while not putting the front in danger, would suffice to quickly wipe from the face of the earth the counter-revolutionary insurrection of Cossack generals and bourgeois Kadets”. See more

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Lisbon, Portugal

The Lisbon theatre was huge and resembled a circus. It was even called a Colosseum. Diaghilev avidly disliked it. But it was our only option, as the former royal theatre had closed down. See more

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Nicholas II

Tobolsk, Russian Republic

It was a nice cold day. During the day I finally went outside and took a walk and chopped wood for a little while. The sun shone and warmed things up, especially in the rooms. At 9 o'clock we attended vespers.

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7 December

Military Revolutionary Committee issued a decree on enemies of the people

Britain and Trotsky have reached an agreement

1917. Zombies, drugs, and progress

Why did the Russian Empire collapse

in Petrograd

-8

in Moscow