HIS 102
Unit 11: Russian Revolution

Smolny Institute

This statue of Lenin stands proudly in a dramatic action pose in front of the Smolny Institute from where Lenin directed the Bolshevik seizure of power on the night of 25/26 October (5/6 November according to the European calendar) 1917. There were no such dramatic poses that night for Lenin, just sitting behind a desk issuing orders, pacing the Bolshevik offices and anxiously awaiting reports from throughout Petrograd to see if the Bolshevik gamble had succeeded.

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