NEWSWATCH: “The Russia Revolution, A Century On” – The Interpreter (Lowy Institute for International Policy-Australia)/Matthew Dal Santo
“A century ago today, Emperor Nicholas II, ‘Tsar and Autocrat of all the Russias’, pencilled his name to a document renouncing a throne three hundred years in his family’s possession, not only for himself but also his son and chronically ill heir, Alexis. The date, according to the old Russian calendar, was 3 March 1917. So definitively began, after days of riots in war-weary Petrograd … the Russian Revolution. As news of the Tsar’s abdication filtered back to the capital, jubilant crowds trampled the Romanovs’ double-headed eagle in the streets. A hundred years later, however, jubilation has yielded to a quieter kind of commemoration. Today, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow will lead a memorial service in honour of Nicholas II and Russia’s vanished monarchy. … * * * Only by acknowledging their contribution can Russians make peace with not only with their past, but their present as well. Should 1917 be celebrated – or should it be mourned?
For many Russians, the answer has less to do with history than with what kind of a people they are today.
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