Maintaining the best traditions of the Russian department, on November 4th students reenacted the Revolution of October 1917 (also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution, Red October, October Uprising, or the Bolshevik Revolution). On the steps of Bosler Hall, Russian Club members gave speeches, in English and Russian, drawn from historical proclamations by leaders of the Revolution such as Vladimir Lenin. Afterwards, the students stormed Bosler Hall, chanting the original slogan of the striking workers and soldiers: “Мир, земля, хлеб!” (Peace, land, bread).
The October Revolution began with an armed insurrection by workers and soldiers in Petrograd (present-day Saint Petersburg). The start of the insurrection is traditionally dated to 25 October 1917 (in the Julian or Old Style calendar, which was in use in Russia at that time), which corresponds to 7 November 1917 in the Gregorian or New Style calendar. The Revolution in Petrograd overthrew the provisional government and gave the power to the local councils of workers and soldiers, the so-called soviets. It initiated the establishment of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, the world’s first self-proclaimed socialist state.
The October Revolution has been reenacted at Dickinson College since 1990.
