It Was Eighty-eight Years Ago Today That The Bolsheviks Revolted In Russia. . .And Changed The World For The Better Part Of A Century

Eight-eight years ago today, leftist revolutionaries led by Bolshevik Party leader Vladimir Lenin launched an almost bloodless coup d'etat against Russia's pathetic Provisional Government.

The Bolsheviks and their allies occupied government buildings and other strategic locations in the Russian capital of Petrograd (a/k/a St. Petersburg) and within two days formed a new government with Lenin as its head. Bolshevik Russia, later renamed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was the world's first Marxist state.

John Reed wrote an excellent book, Ten Days That Shook The World, about these events:

“What side do you belong to?” I asked. “The Government?”

“No more Government,” one answered with a grin, “Slava Bogu! Glory to God!”

That was all I could get out of him…"

Vladimir Illitch Ulianov a/k/a Lennin, liked John Reed's book so much he wrote a an introduction for it:

"With the greatest interest and with never slackening attention I read John Reed’s book, “Ten Days that Shook the World.” Unreservedly do I recommend it to the workers of the world. Here is a book which I should like to see published in millions of copies and translated into all languages. It gives a truthful and most vivid exposition of the events so significant to the comprehension of what really is the Proletarian Revolution and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. These problems are widely discussed but before one can accept or reject these ideas, he must understand the full significance of his decision. John Reed’s book will undoubtedly help to clear this question, which is the fundamental problem of the universal workers’ movement. "

The world would live with the Soviets until just a few years ago, and in 2005, only a few countries of that movement remain communist, most notably China and Cuba.

Warren Beatty (coincidentally the subject of yesterday's blog posting) wrote, directed, and starred in Reds, one of the greatest American movies ever. Reds is a three and a half hour epic that focuses on John Reed and his coverage of the Russian Revolution.
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