first hand accounts first hand history. there are the diaries of sanity to give us a poet surrounded by scandal and a woman of influence her salon was legendary in st petersburg she became a chronicler of the revolution. it would be good to be blind and deaf show no interest at all and write poems about eternity and beauty. if only i could. what do the memoirs of the painter and art critic onyx on tub and la tell us every last note made by maxine gorky has been subject to academic interpretation how did he experience one nine hundred seventy as a marxist and longtime associate of lending. can i retell the history of the russian revolution just using artists notes and documents . how did the revolution affect

them how did they influence the revolution. the first world war had been raging for three years russia was on its last legs millions have died on the battlefield no peace was inside the people had had enough and the front line was getting closer. what were young artists doing especially those in the army. did the war determine

everything. considered for example but a mere my a cough skee the poet in his early twenties he was lucky he did not have to go to the front he served at the military automobile school in st petersburg and wrote provocative columns. hey there sir you've got cabbage in your mustache from some half eaten cabbage soup somewhere and you woman your make up so thick you peer out like an oyster from a shell of things. around . by now rage against the song and his war had spread throughout society. since i had a good p.s. who was forty eight in one thousand seven hundred lived opposite the town read palace the seat of the virtually powerless russian parliament the duma.

but. like everyone else i can't get to grips with these times i understand nothing i'm shattered there's only one thing to do when i write them to the point of. the conclusion of many by now the czar must go. what voice should be used to speak what kind is needed to shout out that the war in russia will not end easily everything will collapse no matter what. people are starving there has been no bread for weeks. the powers that be are pursuing their own absolutely unsuccessful political agenda which serves only to isolate them from the lower classes.

that's why what comes next will come from below. and it will be stark and wrong. on the twenty third of february thousands of women went on strike and demanded bread they march toward the city center where they were joined by increasing numbers of workers. all over town the trams have come to a halt at the parliament building the first shots have been fired.

the streets are full of soldiers who have joined the movement. entire garrisons mutinied one hundred fifty thousand insurgents took to the streets of the city. the writer maxim gorky had been involved in the first russian revolution of one thousand and five which ended in a bloodbath he had become skeptical and did not believe in a victory of the masses he knew what can happen when revolutions fail. the looting has begun a lot of blood will flow. and listen mounds. gorky's flak became a kind of information exchange for marxists. many of the

mensheviks and bolshevik and social revolutionary party leaders had been banished to siberia or were living in exile like money so the insurgents began to organize themselves. unlike summed up and describe the events of february the twenty eighth. maybe this is a revolution we were drinking coffee when my daughter daniel leaned out the window and to our great consternation exclaimed that there were cars with red flags all the way from threatening prospect bridge. accompanied by a yelling crowd. at first we felt stunned and scared by the news but by midday we had grown used to the revolutionary motorcades. soldiers ordered drivers to get out shoot into the air. then get back

in and drive off a lot of cars with red banners head towards the duma. in the very first days of the revolution i wrote the poetic chronicle revolution gave lectures the bolsheviks of art went with the cars to the duma. in the space of just a few days the old order collapsed the. insurgents besieged the duma demanded a handover of power and the abdication of the czar. the same old bunch of officers are still strutting about in the duma it's quite clear to me that the socialists are coming the bolsheviks.

soldiers arrested policemen loyal to the czar and formed councils the diffuse rebellion was beginning to take on structure. we were all sitting in the dining room when we suddenly heard the rattle of machine guns close by. that was it five it turned out that there were machine guns posted on our roof and on the house opposite oh. oh. this is about a lot more than just the czars abdication the duma and the soldiers and workers councils are competing for power and.

suddenly it was six by then the phone rang the. cabinet selected all is well an agreement has been reached he listed the names i notice that not a single revolutionary has been included in the cabinet. and . the duma had set up a provisional government. at the same time the workers and military deputies soviet was formed two centers of power emerged the period of dual power had begun.

the revolution brought new freedoms freedom of assembly. the release of all political prisoners and. equal rights for all citizens. freedom of speech and press. abolition of capital punishment. a few days were enough to put an end to the three hundred year reign of the romanovs. emblems of the old order were destroyed. on march the fourth fifty artists gathered in my flat it was a distressing moment because there were rumors that the monument to alexander the

third was about to be destroyed. this is the people's art it belongs to us and we must do everything we can to make the people realize this to make them take and keep what is theirs. the group of artists acted immediately. to prevent the destruction of artistic monuments we the undersigned have resolved to establish a commission for questions pertaining to art the chairman maxine gorky. in order to implement the plan outlined by corkey yesterday evening emissaries went to the duma today armed with a list of demands. after that everything went very fast a government resolution was drafted the arts commission can be established. the

commission was granted a number of powers it was even assigned a militia of its own. the gorki commission issued an appeal it was broadcast throughout the city. citizens the old rulers are gone leaving behind a great legacy which now belongs to the people treasure this legacy the beauty that talented people were able to create even under the yoke of despotism. i have forgotten how and why but someone voiced the suspicion i might try to force my way into the academy with some organizing committee or other at that a bearded gentleman rose and said if mayakovsky enters the academy it will be over my dead body if he tries to do so i shall shoot him that's classless art for you. one person calls for setting up a commission for the protection of historical monuments. that's followed by

a counterproposal that a commission be founded for the systematic destruction of art and history. it's no longer the council of workers' deputies but the council of workers and soldiers deputies. in its latest proclamation there was a very strange order for number one garrison. the order stripped the officers of their authority and legalize the soldiers councils that had sprung up spontaneously. it also guaranteed that the soldiers of st petersburg would not be sent to the front if they did not want to go more and more soldiers were deserving and heading home news of the revolution was spreading

fast. many were drawn to the capital the call for peace was growing louder. we have dual rule the incoherent council with its absurd proclamations and the menace of the front. the question of war must be addressed without delay as a reminder to myself i will give a brief outline of my current views on war i am in favor of war that is to say i am in favor of it speedy and and dignified. what was to be done some argued the war should be ended immediately and unconditionally others wanted to fight on and win back the territory russia had lost. our nonpartisan press is without exception such that we want to have nothing to do with it

especially at a time like this. there is nowhere for writers to say their part we accept the role of secretive visors and play us with gusto. was friends with alexander korecki a star of the february revolution he was minister of justice and then of war in the provisional government. kerensky came at about six we kissed a few civilly of course he's somewhat crazy but he exudes a certain sorrow. soldiers have rioted in the peter and paul fortress and thrown pillows and blankets out of the windows. there was unrest in south korea two. korecki went there in person and arrested a close confident of the czarina possibly saving her from mob law. but.

there was a huge public demonstration of grief on the field of mars. two million people were there. shimmered. in the kitchens and servants' quarters the most terrible things were predicted to happen today indiscriminate slaughter and the like our butler even locked the front door and refused to let anyone out of the house. in fact the proletariat showed their best side to maintain strict order throughout the demonstrations we walked all the. for town even to the graves themselves. the most uncanny moment came when the black drapes were followed by the first two caskets covered in bright red cloth. it was clear and immediate evidence of the new zeitgeist

the break with ancient custom i hadn't expected my fellow countrymen to break so unabashedly with the holy rituals of death there was something wicked in it something provocative the coffin somehow lost their identity as caskets of peace as the symbol of oppression of tory and. the bright red gave them a peculiar fight taliban or electric quality such a lovely red boat moving above the heads of the crowds of workers was a vocative of a commander leading the disenfranchised into battle. and . it looked as if the terrible coffins were in a hurry to get to the big pit where they would be sunk to check the merciless wrath of the people.

i was particularly surprised at the discipline displayed by the endless droves of proletarians strange that there were so few peace logan's. land and freedom or eight hour day were more common. in other words strictly essential and material demands. the promise of the revolution could not be kept there was still hunger and war for most people nothing had changed it was rumored the provisional government had no intention of pulling out of the war. i do not belong to any political party but i have no doubt that my answer to the question of whether we are aware of the great responsibility each of us now bears is yes we are aware of our responsibility and because we are aware of it we say stop the slaughter stop the bloodshed.

mayakovsky published an appeal in the an artist newspaper. on march twenty eighth one thousand nine hundred seventy four the revolution. comrades if you want your manifestos posters and banners to draw more attention turn to artists for help if you want your proclamations and appeals to be more effective and convincing turn to poets and writers for help. as to lenin that trischka that loud mouth braggart has finally turned up after all .