Russian Revolution in Color

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Starring: Russian Revolution in Color
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Type: DVD
Studio: Shanachie
Release Date: 2007-07-17
The Russian Revolution and Civil War were major watersheds of the 20th Century. Now, for the first time, the story of this bloodsoaked time is being told in full color. New footage from the battlefields, expert testimonies, and exciting colorized archives help to unfold the dramatic story of the Communist rise and seizure of power in 1917.

Great Introduction To The Russian Revolution
This documentary contains a mix of extraordinary historical footage and well done dramatic reenactments of the Russian Revolution and the ensuing Civil War between the Reds and Whites. But with a narrative structure that is centered on the naval officers of Kronstadt, who played a vital role in the overthrow of the Romanov monarchy. But who also tried, unsucessfully, to prevent the revolution's democratic principles from disintegrating into Bolshevik tyranny.

Reviewer Alfred Johnson, apparently a die hard Communist, claims this doc is told from an anarchist perspective. But this is clearly not the case. Rather the failures and brutality of Lenin and the Bolsheviks are discussed by various mainstream historians, both Russian and Western.

Recommended for those who want to learn more about one of the most important events of the 20th century.

outstanding if used wisely
This is an engaging documentary that tells an under reported story about an important event. Most Americans do not know that there werre two revolutions in Russia in 1917--even if they were aware there was one revolution that year. The original footage, colorized for modern consumption, brings the events to life. However, if using it in the classroom, care must be taken to teach the students to spot the differences between the actual footage and the reenactments, because they are so skilfully edited together that an uneducated eye will have difficulty discriminating between them.

The Russian Revolution in Red and Black
The sailors of the Baltic Fleet stationed at Kronstadt on the entranceway to Petrograd played a vanguard and heroic role in the various stages leading up to, and including, the October revolution in Russia in 1917. The sailors of the Baltic Fleet played a vanguard and heroic role in defending that revolution on the many fronts of the three-year Civil War against the Whites. According to the premise of this docudrama, tinged as it is in anarchist and anti-communist colors, the Kronstadt sailors also played a vanguard role in defending the premises of that revolution in their uprising against the seemingly power-crazed Bolsheviks in 1921.

That is where Bolshevik sympathizers, including this writer, part company with the creators of this work on the virtues, especially the political virtues, of the sailors. And it is, whether viewed tragically or not, also the point of departure for those who saw the necessity of defending the Bolshevik experiment, arms in hand, as it lay prostrate after years of civil war and those who later, mainly from their cozy armchairs, made this the definitive point of the degeneration of the revolution of 1917. Moreover, apparently until the end of times someone, somewhere, in some cozy armchair, is going to pose the question of the Kronstadt uprising of 1921 as the defining moment in the process of degeneration of the Russian revolution. I, like the exiled Bolshevik Left-Oppositionist Leon Trotsky, ask the simple question- why? For what purpose? (See archives article entitled Hue and Cry Over Kronstadt, written by Trotsky in 1938).

This two-part docudrama (The Fight For Freedom and Civil War) adequately highlights the social facts that made the Baltic sailors play an important role in the various stages of the revolution during 1917. Their skill levels, their camaraderie and their ties to the peasantry and working class back home made them a lynchpin for all kinds of actions planned by the Bolsheviks once the sailors were won to the need for decisive actions. In fact, as the docudrama points out, at a couple of points-the April and July Days they were ahead of the curve of the revolution. Moreover, the sailors played a decisive role in the actual physical overthrow of the Provisional Government in October and later the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly. Throughout the period, however, one should recognize that they did not act as an independent revolutionary factor but acted, for the most part, as agents of a civilian revolutionary party- Lenin's Bolsheviks.

Needless to say when the storm clouds of civil war raised its head with the uprising of the Czech Legion and the intervention of the united imperialist powers the Kronstadt sailors were at their posts, especially at the critical moments in front of Kazan. They laid down their heads on all the fronts. I should note here that the pen name that I use in this space, Markin, is to honor one of those heroic sailors who laid down his head on one of the many fronts being contested by the Red and White Armies. It is also rather germane to note here that the bulk of the cadre sailors from 1917 either shared Markin's fate, took administrative jobs with the Bolshevik government of otherwise provided service to the revolution. The upshot, of all this, is to point out, as Trotsky did, that those sailors who rose against the Bolsheviks in 1921 were not the same cadre that performed heroic service earlier.

That view has been contested, and is contested here by some of the inevitable `talking heads' that are interspersed between various action segments. And that is the rub. As pointed out up above the creators of this film have their own axes to grind. So we get the inevitable diabolical Lenin and the Bolsheviks as the personification of evil, all hungry bureaucrats ready to pounce on any political opposition. In short, the traditional anarchist/anti-communist litany that we have heard for the past 90 years. Here, beyond the specific chronology of the Kronstadt uprising itself (and the point Trotsky was trying to make in his 1938 article mentioned above) is the key question of when the revolution degenerated (the whys and what to do about it we will leave for another time).

I would argue that if 1921 is the point of qualitative degeneration (and therefore the point that a third revolution is necessary) then the whole Bolshevik experiment was wrong from the beginning. That means, and here we have the benefit of hindsight such as it is, that the working class is organically incapable of making a working class revolution to implement socialism. I do not subscribe to that opinion but that should send those who are stuck intellectually imprisoned in Kronstadt 1921 cause for pause.

Excellent Overview of the Russian Revolution & Civil War
The "in color" part of the title refers to colorized original newsreal footage used in the documentary. In addition, the DVD features interview with experts on the period (both English and Russian)and historical re-enactments played out under the narration. All of these elemenents, along with the natural drama of the story, make this a very compelling documentary.
The documentary tells the story of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and ensuing Civil War by focusing on the story of the sailors of the Kronstadt naval base near St. Petersburg (at the time, Petrograd). This works extremely well as a framing device since these sailors played key roles at several points in the historical events. The documentary does not follow the sailors exclusively, but moves on to other people and places for extended periods when these become central to the story. Still, by always returning to the sailor's the documentary retains an immediacy and a coherency it might not otherwise have.
All in all an excellent introduction to and overview of this important historical event.

Excellent Overview of the Russian Revolution
I received a copy of this DVD, and feel it was well worth the investment. Gives a good overview for the rise of the Bolshevik Revolution. I would recommend this DVD to anyone seeking a general understanding of the Russian Revolution.