April 10, 2017

Revolution for Tiny Tots


Revolution for Tiny Tots

Marches, rallies, lines, and battles in the streets of Moscow in the artwork and recollections of schoolchildren in 1917.

In 1919, Vasily Voronov, a scholar and graphic arts teacher, donated to the Russian Historical Museum a collection of children’s artwork on the First World War and the Revolution. Voronov had taught from 1906 at Ivan Alexandov’s non-classical secondary school in Moscow, and from 1910, also in the Lomonosov Preparatory School for Boys. In 1914 he began collecting children’s art about the war, adding drawings about the Revolution three years later.

The Voronov Collection contains artwork by boys from seven to 13 years of age—older kindergartners and pupils in the lower grades of specialized and regular secondary schools in Moscow. Most were done by his own pupils. Almost all of the pieces, Voronov himself tells us, were done at home, as a free choice assignment, with no assistance or guidance from a teacher, and were influenced only by what the city was seeing and feeling in the years of war and revolution.

In 1917, Voronov also began to collect children’s texts on what was happening at that time. He published some of them in 1927, to mark the ten-year anniversary of the February and October revolutions. Like those of most of the artists, the authors’ names are unknown.

Note: In all the quotes, the original spelling and punctuation has been retained.

Demonstrations, Marches, Rallies, and Lines

Long Live a Free Russia
Demonstration — “Long Live a Free Russia!” (February 1917), signed “Yatskevich”
State Historical Museum

“The Russian people didn’t like Tsar Nicholas II and they got the idea of replacing him. The tsar did what the people wanted and gave up the throne. Once they were free, the people started robbing and killing each other.”

 

Demonstration near a Factory — “Free Speech!” (February 1917), artist unknown
State Historical Museum

“It was spring. People started getting upset and mayd a revolution.”

 

Demonstration — “Long Live a Free Russia!” and “War Until Victory, Hurrah!” (Spring 1917), signed “Kosarev” 
State Historical Museum

“During the war a commotion started in Moscow and one day when I was out for a walk with grandma and came home I found out that our lord and master had been chaised off the throne. When I sat down to tea, suddenly outside our window there wuz a racket, I saw a big crowd of workers.”

 

Rally by the Red Gates (Spring 1917), artist unknown 
State Historical Museum

This piece shows the baroque arches of the triumphal Red Gates and the bell tower of the Church of the Three Sanctifiers (both demolished in 1927).

“On March 1 under the leadership of students tsarism was overthrown and in its place came the provisional Government. But it soon brought Russia to rack and ruing.”

 

Vehicle Carrying Revolutionary Soldiers (Spring 1917), artist unknown 
State Historical Museum

“Soon the march came by, it was very big and magnifisent. They carried red banners trimmed with gold cord. Every mann or woman had a red band on. At thatt time I was taken over by a joyful feeling of love for everyone.”

 

Demonstration on a Wide Street (Summer 1917), artist unknown 
State Historical Museum

This is one of the many demonstrations in the summer of 1917. Only the first letters of the words in the placard slogans are given, including “DZSDRP,” which stands for “Long Live the Social Democratic Workers’ Party”; “DZDR”—“Long Live Democratic Russia”; and “PVSS”—“Proletarians of All Countries, Unite.”

“As soon as the Revolution began, I could not stay home. And I was drawn to the streets. All the folks were going to Red Square, where students were making speeches down by the duma. Everybody was in a joyfull mood. Trucks with soldiers holding guns were driving down the streets.”

 

Rally at the Pushkin Statue (Summer 1917), artist unknown 
State Historical Museum

This shows one of the rallies held in the summer of 1917. The Pushkin monument is in its original location, where Tverskaya Boulevard gives onto Pushkin Square (in 1950 it was moved to the other side of the square).

“Under the tsar there wasn’t enough bread, but naw there’s even less. In September they started giving out a quarter-funt* [less than four ounces] each, and in some places they aren’t giving any.”

 

Demonstration near the Bolshoi Theater — “Long Live the Democratic Republic!” (August 1917), artist unknown. 
State Historical Museum

Thousands of Muscovites have gathered on Theater Square to protest the Moscow State Conference. It was called by the Provisional Government, was held in the Bolshoi Theater on August 12 – 15, 1917, and was chaired by Alexander Kerensky. Among the red banners is a black one, carried by anarchists. In the foreground is a red placard held by employees of the Sortirovochnaya Railroad Depot, which reads “Long Live the Democratic Republic!”

 

Line in front of Chuev’s Bakery on Solianka Street (1917), artist unknown 
State Historical Museum

Lines (“tails” as they were known) became a hallmark of late 1916 and early 1917.

The food supply crisis primarily affected the large towns and cities, and for children, this was the first sign that things were not going well.

 

Images of the Revolution 

Bolshevik with a Sign — “Down with the War and the Bourgeois” (1917), artist unknown
State Historical Museum

“The people divided up into a lot of parties, there were Mensheviks and Bolsheviks. The Mensheviks were landowners and rich people, but the Bolsheviks were the people, the workers, and the craftsmen  and the peasants.”

 

Bolshevik Going to a Rally (1917), A. Konstantinov
State Historical Museum

This piece shows a Bolshevik going to a pre-election rally. He is carrying a flag showing the number five, which was the number of the Lenin-led Russian Social Democratic Workers Party (the Bolshevik Party) on the list of parties eligible to run for election to the Constituent Assembly.

 

Masha the Bolshevik (1917), artist unknown
State Historical Museum

“Now we’re getting to know just who is the bourgeois are.”

 

Bolshevik and Menshevik (1917), artist unknown
State Historical Museum

A Bolshevik and a Menshevik are facing off. The tiny Menshevik has on an expensive fur coat; the huge Bolshevik is wearing a leather jacket, trousers with multicolored patches, and felt boots, and he is armed.

 

Bolshevik and Bourgeois (1917), artist unknown
State Historical Museum

“When I cam home I started drawing people going down the street with flags, and I drew a bunch of Red Flags, 14 of them. My father asked me when he cam, What are you doing? I told him I am drawing the Revolution!”

 

A Speculator (1917), artist unknown
State Historical Museum

 

 

"The Moscow War"

Battle on Theater Square (November 1917), artist unknown
State Historical Museum

There was fierce fighting on Moscow’s Theater Square in October 1917. This pieces shows a green armored car inscribed with “S.R. i S.D.,” which stands for “Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies.”

“One time I was walking across Sukharev Square and saw baricades, I didnt know what was going on. When I got home, I asked my mother, but she didnt know nothing too. In the evening when I was sitting and doing my lessons, we heard shots and then I knew it was the Revolution.”

“I had binoculars and was watching them through the window, shooting with a machine gun. For days and days it was dangerous to go out of the building, and we couldn’t get bread, we ate potatoes for four days. At night we slept in our close, and dad and the other men who live in our building took turns keeping watch with revolvers in the courtyard.”

 

The Battle for the Kremlin (November 1917), artist unknown
State Historical Museum

The Kremlin is shown from Red Square. Projectiles are flying over the crenellated wall, and the St. Nicholas Tower shows gaping holes.

“Because our building stands on the corner of Myasnikskaya Street and Yushkov Lane, they were shooting from both sides along our building. A Bolshevik machine gun stood at our gate. Once we went out into the courtyard but suddenly they started shooting like mad and we went home. A bullet hit the window below our apartment. I went to look at it.”

“On Monday they are still shooting, my mom was standing by the window and nitting a stocking and as soon as she went away, a bullet hit our window but it didn’t come into the room, because it just broke the outside glass and stayed there on the window sill.”

“When they declared a truce, I ran to the center with two pals to see what the Bolsheviks and the junkers had won. We seen a lot of buildings shot up, with their large windows smashed to pieces and some buildings were burned right down. Folks were walking everywhere not abit bothered and they were all talking about how the Moscow war was going.”

 

Buildings near the Kremlin Damaged by Gunfire (November 1917), unknown author 
State Historical Museum

“It was a lot of fun during the Rivolushun. And I won’t never forget the Russian Rivolushun.”

 

By an Open Communal Grave (November 1917), artist unknown
State Historical Museum

Members of the Red Guard who had died in the battles of the Revolution were buried in Moscow on November 10, 1917, with a total of 238 coffins being lowered into graves on Red Square. Two communal graves were dug along the Kremlin wall, on either side of the Senate Tower.

“The Bolsheviks did not hold funerals for the victims but they made speeches and music played and folks walked with red banners and ribbons. Before, I went to Red Squair to see them digging a grave and lining it with boards. Folks were arguing everywhere and some were cursing.”


From April 19 through June 19, 2017, the State Historical Museum will hold an exhibition titled “I Am Drawing the Revolution: Children’s Artwork During the Great Russian Revolution from the Collection of the State Historical Museum.” The exhibition will consist of children’s artwork, photographs of revolutionary Moscow, rare placards from 1917, and documented eyewitness accounts.


Sources

V. Voronov, “The October Revolution in Children’s Notes,” Vestnik prosveshcheniia, No. 12, 1927.

V. Voronov, “The February Revolution in Children’s Notes,” Vestnik prosveshcheniia, No. 3, 1927.

N.N. Goncharov, Moscow, 1917. The Artwork of Children Eyewitnesses. From a Collection Held in the State Historical Museum (Moscow, 1987).

Scholarly and Institutional Archive, Department of Written Sources, the State Historical Museum, op. 1, d. 154.

Department of Manuscripts and Scholarly Documentation, All-Russia Museum of Decorative, Applied, and Folk Art, f. 4, op. 1.

 

You Might Also Like

Who are you in 1917 Russia?
  • March 04, 2017

Who are you in 1917 Russia?

Take the Political Compass of the Revolution test and find out who you would have been 100 years ago – an Anarchist, a Cadet, a Right SR, a Bolshevik or a member of the Black Hundreds.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Steppe / Степь

Steppe / Степь

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Russia Rules

Russia Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955