Celebrating Red October: A Story of the Ten Anniversaries of the Russian Revolution, 1927–2017

Abstract

This essay seeks to shed light on how the constantly evolving Soviet system shaped and reshaped the myth of Red October and how post-Soviet ruling elites treated the memory surrounding the 1917 Russian Revolution while pursuing political ends. At the center of the analysis are the politics of history and commemorative practices of the past ten decades, with the demise of communist ideology and the breakup of the Soviet Union serving as clear rupture points. Through its focus on revolutionary jubilees, the essay traces the trajectory of attitudes towards the Revolution over the past one hundred years–from treating Red October as a foundation myth for the entire Soviet era to viewing it as an inconvenient event that does not fit easily into the essentially counter-revolutionary official narrative of contemporary Russia.