Boris Souvarine Papers - Soviet Russia Photos graduateinstitute.ch/home/research/library/archives/boris...

Notes: This postcard shows a demonstration on the Nevsky Prospect, at Petrograd. The title reads "Political demonstration of the 18th of June, 1917, at Petrograd".

This street demonstration took place in a tense political climate, with a coalition government challenged by the Bolshevik movement. At the opening of the first Congress of Soviets on the 16th of June, 1917, Lenin claimed “All power to the soviets” and declared that the Bolshevik Party was ready to assume power.

At the same time, Alexander Kerensky, Minister of War, launched a vast Russian offensive against Austro-Hungarian forces, followed by defeats. While anti-war protest grew, the Congress of the Soviets – then still dominated by the Mensheviks – organized a demonstration in Petrograd, for the 18th of June, in order to support the coalition government. However, the demonstration turned out to the advantage of the Bolsheviks, with protesters chanting Bolshevik slogans.

This event marked the first advantage of the Bolsheviks and a decisive break between the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. This event was followed by the riots of the July Days in Petrograd.

The left banner reads “All Power to the People - Peace to the Whole World - All Land to the People” and the right banner reads: “Down with the minister-capitalists”; these were Bolshevik slogans.

Unknown photographer.

Description: 1 postcard. Black and white ; 9 x 13.5 cm.

Sources and further reading: Figes, Orlando. 2014. Revolutionary Russia, 1891-1991 : a History. New York: Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt and Company

Figes, Orlando. Kolonitskii, B. I. 1999. Interpreting the Russian Revolution: the Language and Symbols of 1917. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Galili y Garcia, Ziva. 1989. The Menshevik Leaders in the Russian Revolution: Social Realities and Political Strategies. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.

Rabinowitch, Alexander. 2007. The Bolsheviks in Power: the First Year of Soviet Rule in Petrograd. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Rabinowitch, Alexander. 1976. The Bolsheviks Come to Power: the Revolution of 1917 in Petrograd. New York: W.W. Norton.