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The Best of 100 Years Today, Post-Revolution Russia in Your Photos

Nov 09, 2017 - 09:26 am

Metal foundry in Armavir, Krasnodar region. "The 1917 revolution is hard to comprehend, even after 100 years. Especially for people living in modern Russia, where the search for historical justice and truth has become incredibly difficult. By not holding large celebrations, most likely with time people will stop paying such attention to this day. But in my opinion, no matter what happens today - it is important for everyone to understand and remember the events that took place in the country 1917, their cause and consequences." Maxim Babenko

Kuibyshev Square, Samara. On Nov. 7, Samara didn’t celebrate the centenary of the revolution. Instead, the city marked the date with a military parade to honor the 1941 military parade which was held here from which people went straight to the frontlines. Around 90 military regiments from the Privolzhsky district and Leningrad region took part in a military parade on Samara’s Kuibyshev Square. "Sometimes it seems as if today the parades are pure propaganda, but when you’re there, you feel something real. As cliché as it sounds, you feel pride and compassion. It’s especially touching when you see people attending with pictures of their lost relatives." Svetlana Makoveyeva, photographer of "Komsomolskaya Pravda in Samara"

Moscow metro. "This is a good visual example of the attitude of the “Soviet man” towards his ideals. The man’s body is old but tough. He holds the flag with confidence and strength. It is the physical embodiment of his youth. I didn’t want to interrupt them with my modern technology and interrupt their perfect dialogue." Andrei Afanasyev

Moscow apartment. "This photo was taken in my neighbour’s kitchen. Some things never change — not because time does not affect them, but because they don’t want to change. This kitchen is like a time machine, you could easily go back 50 years. But it is also a place where you can travel from the past into the future, from a cramped space with a Soviet smell in a panel apartment in a Moscow suburb, to an island of solitude in the bubbling megapolis outside." Vadim Kiyasov

Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO). "There’s no time to sleep for Russian university students. The city bustles and pulses outside the windows while he remains focused. He wakes up at 5:45 a.m. every morning, eats a bowl of oatmeal and drinks a cup of black coffee, then gets to work. His daily routine is regimented, divided into blocks of class, study, eating, transiting, working, sleeping. The routine is necessary; it keeps you on track. Discipline is the means to success, they say in Russia." Brawley Benson

Tarasa Shevchenko Embankment, Moscow. For years, Moscow didn’t have a skyline. Until Moscow City was stamped out of the ground. Now the shiny skyscrapers tower above the Soviet-era apartment blocks. Sasha Edelshtein

Moscow, entrance to Aeroport metro station. From morning to night, these Moscow metro ladies sit behind the window selling tickets. Infamously unsmiling, they’re an integral part of Moscow life. Evan Gershkovich

Yalta, Crimea. "My daughter Ariadna having lunch in the coastal city of Yalta. Crimea was annexed by Russia in March 2014. For us, the revolution was without doubt a tragic event. Russia, the country, ceased to exist and her most independent and bright minds were destroyed. In Yalta, there were no celebrations. Everyone who wanted to celebrate likely already did so on National Unity Day." Sergei Melikhov

Village of Nyukenitsa, north of Moscow. A child pays tribute to a bust of Lenin. The plaque on the bust is a text by Russian poet Mayakovsky: “Lenin lived, Lenin lives, Lenin will live forever.” Maria Georgieva

St. Petersburg. "This picture was taken in one of the sleeping districts of St. Petersburg, the city where the revolution happened 100 years ago. Here you can often meet stray cats sitting on the hoods of cars or wandering about." Ekaterina Boissonnier

Moscow, Kedrov Street 6. “This picture was taken in an ordinary Moscow courtyard. That’s how it is across the country: from Moscow to southern Yakutia, there are traces of the revolution which took place 100 years ago. Some of the busts are well looked after, some of them have been abandoned and are derelict, some are plaster, some bronze. And every city has at least one street named after Vladimir Ilyich.” Artem Timofeichuk

Moscow, Tverskaya Street. On Nov. 7, at an impromptu Communist March on Moscow’s central Tverskaya Street, youngster hold up pop-art signs with revolutionaries Che Guevara, Lenin, Stalin and Karl Marx. “Your photo could be here,” one sign reads. Sandro Fernandes

Moscow, Sokolniki metro station. Commuters on their way home, after work. “I love taking depressing and black and white pictures of my favorite city, it's how I see my city. Revolution? I don't think about it at all. It's what happened and it's a part of my country's history. The Russian Empire's time had expired, so new ideas came instead." Inna Kiyasova

In Chita, Nov. 7 was above all a celebration for the local Communist Party. "In the morning, veteran members of the Communist Party gathered at the headquarters. Thirty years ago, it was a huge building, now it’s just one room on a single floor. Komsomol members took flowers to a monument to the Fighters of the Revolution on Revolution Square. Holding hands, they formed the number 100. Later, there was a performance at the House of Officers of the Soviet Army. Veterans were given honors, and young pioneers danced and sang old Soviet songs. Nostalgia for the past made me stay for the entire duration of the concert. It was a window into the past." Evgeny Yepanchintsev

Moscow City. "I underwent my own revolution several years ago, when I moved to the far-flung and maniacal Moscow from Belarus. For me it was a challenge and the beginning of an entirely new life. Now I work at a multinational company headquartered in Moscow City and I’m full of new ideas and ambition. On the day of the revolution I remembered what I think is a quote by Otto von Bismarck: “Geniuses prepare revolution, romantics make it and the rascals – enjoy the fruits.” Alexandra Velikaya

Moscow, Park Kultury metro station. "One hundred years ago, Moscow did not have a metro. And probably there was no such thing as a rush hour, either. I’ve heard that in the 1910s they considered building an elevated metro in Moscow, like in New York, and have it go across Red Square." David Kharebov

Canteen of the Pushkin Institute, Moscow. The students from the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute were probably the only students working on this national holiday. The institute specialises in teaching Russian to international students and in training teachers to teach Russian as a foreign language. Maya Stephany-Daguzé

On Nov. 7, 2017, Russia marked the centenary of the 1917 October Revolution. Far from the days of Bolshevik uprising and Lenin’s formation of a new Soviet government, today's Russia presents a strikingly different picture, with a changing story still being written and told by the residents of this country.

To capture a glimpse of everyday life in Russia, we asked our readers to show us your day on Nov. 7 — a century after the revolution. Here's a selection of your stories so far.

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