The Antirevolutionary Commemoration: The Centenary of 1917 in Russia

Abstract

The Russian state’s commemoration of the centenary of the Russian Revolution was not marked by any national events and there were few official pronouncements. Yet this article argues that the Kremlin did not simply avoid the centenary but drew several important “lessons” from 1917, from the violence and tragedy of revolution to the importance of unity for future prosperity. While these “lessons” did not constitute a single official line, they did provide an overall framing for debates on the centenary and were echoed to varying degrees in conferences, newspapers, exhibitions, television and online projects at national and regional levels.