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Great October Socialist Revolution - 1917

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UPDATE: Edited some details, adding insignia etc and Added an extra Revolutionary - A Railroad worker, before and during the revolution there were strikes by the Moscow and Petrograd workers, the miners of the Donbas, the metalworkers of the Urals, the oil workers of Baku, the textile workers of the Central Industrial Region, and the railroad workers on 44 different railway lines across Russia. 

I made this to mark today, the 98th Anniversary of the October Revolution, which began on the 7th November 1917 which lead to the creation of Soviet Russia and the start of the Russian Civil War which would of course eventually lead to the creation of the Soviet Union.

It took place with an armed insurrection in Petrograd traditionally dated to 25th October 1917 however this was on the Julian (Old Style) calender, in the new Gregorian Style calender used today, it corresponds to the 7th November 1917. The Gregorian calendar was implemented in Russia on 14th February 1918, so at the time it happened it was called the October Revolution.

It followed the February Revolution earlier in the year, which overthrew the monarchy and established a Russian provisional government composed of mostly former nobles or the bourgeoisie/aristocracy. During the year, urban workers began to organize into councils which were called "Soviets" hence the Soviet Union, the word Soviet basically means an elected local, district, or national council. Revolutionaries began to criticise the Provisional Government and its actions and in-actions. The "October Revolution" in Petrograd overthrew the provisional government lead by Alexander Kerensky and gave the power to the local soviets/councils. The Bolshevik party was heavily supported by the soviets. After the Congress of Soviets, which was now the main government it had its second session and it elected members of the Bolshevik Party and other leftist groups such as the Left Socialist Revolutionaries to key positions within the new state of affairs. This immediately initiated the establishment of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, the world's first self-proclaimed socialist state.

During the revolution Bolshevik "Red Guards" forces under the Military Revolutionary Committee began the takeover of government buildings and the next day captured the Winter Palace, from which the Provisional Government was based because stupidly, they left the back door open allowing the Red Guards to march right in. A Red Guard named Adamovich remembered gasping as he burst into the palace, as he had never before seen such luxury and splendour. However the revolution was not universally recognised and so it lead to the Russian Civil War for the next 4 years until the creation of the Soviet Union in 1922.

These men specifically are revolutionaries, during the early revolutions there was no uniform designed for the Bolshevik forces, so they improvised by wearing Red colours on their uniforms, some wore lapel ribbons, red ribbons and stars on their hats or even red armbands. The two soldiers above are wearing Imperial Russian uniform, their fur hats are called M1910 Papakha's, the soldier in the middle is wearing a M1911 Shinel overcoat with Imperial buttons still. 
The man on the left is a sailor of the Cruiser "Aurora" which became one of the most recognisble icons of the October Revolution, it's blank firing shot toward the Winter Palace in defiance of the Provisional Government's rule was a apparently the order to begin the advance on Petrograd. 

Here's a catchy Revolutionary song to go with it: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTzZlO…

And some examples of real Revolutionaries in Petrograd:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia…
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia…
cdn12.img22.ria.ru/images/9097…

Credits: Edited smaller version of Russia-1914's 'Papakha' fur hat design.
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Homero331's avatar

what uniform does the sailor have?