In observance of the centenary of the Great November Revolution, red flags and hammers and sickles could be seen proudly wavering from Europe to South America to Asia.
In Russia defying inaction even opposition from the government, thousands of communist supporters from around the world rallied in downtown Moscow on November 7 to mark the centenary of the Great November Revolution.
Carrying red flags, chanting communist slogans, and upholding socialism, demonstrators from dozens of former Soviet countries braved brisk weather as they marched down a main street, passed the State Duma, and rallied in Revolution Square with pro-Soviet songs blaring from loudspeakers. “All my life I have supported the Communist idea. There is no other idea that could unite in such a way, to make a man a person,” said Mikhail Veseldin, an 87-year-old pensioner.
“I don’t live far from here, but I would go anywhere under any circumstances to be here,” said Svetlana Panova, a Moscow pensioner. “So many young people, it’s great! So many foreigners!”
In Leningrad (now called St. Petersburg) several thousand people marched from the place where Lenin came from immigration to the spot where military ship Aurora, at sunrise stood and shoot which was the signal for beginning of the great October Revolution. The Russian government did not allow the demonstration to be held at the usual meeting place at the centre of St. Petersburg at the square in front of the then Winter Palace.
Commemorations of the event were also held in other cities of Russia like Omsk, Novosibirsk as also in other former Soviet republics such as Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Ukraine.
From November 2nd to November 15th in Moscow, there was an International Forum, on October Revolution Future with participants from the world including even Australia, Africa, Latin America, United States, West Europe and Asia.
In a letter dated 30 October 2017 to the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) President, the Cuban President Raul Castro congratulated the Russian people “on the occasion of celebrating the centenary of the Great October Socialist Revolution”, and wrote “This momentous event marked a milestone in the history of humanity and its influence has been present in the struggles for independence, decolonization and self-determination of peoples. The ideals that motivated workers, peasants and soldiers in the construction of the first socialist state, under the certain leadership of Lenin and the Bolshevik Party, remain fully valid.”
At Havana in Cuba, a gathering was organized in presence of the First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, President Raul Castro with cultural programmes that included poetry, music and dance dedicated to the Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin and his “Great October Socialist Revolution.”
On 7 November 2017 Bolivian President Evo Morales congratulated the Russian people in a tweet remembering how “united, peasants and workers managed to form the first socialist state in the world” and included a 53-minute animated video. That same day, a rally was held in La Paz. Venezuela’s workers held a march on 7 November 2017 in Caracas. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, then addressed the gathering. “We, as revolutionaries and socialist[s], join in this global commemoration,” a member of the National Directorate of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela said, according to TV channel TeleSur. Other events were reportedly held in Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.
China opened a commemorative museum exhibit in Beijing.
Vietnam held a large ceremony in Hanoi, connecting Lenin’s October Revolution to Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh’s August Revolution against French colonial rule in 1945, according to Vietnamese Communist Party newspaper Nhan Dhan. In North Korea, also known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the official Korean Central News Agency wrote that Victor Petrov, chairman of the Russian Association for Friendship and Cultural Cooperation with the DPRK, honored late supreme leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il with “100th Anniversary of the October Socialist Revolution Medals and Certificates.”
Centenary of the Great November Revolution celebrated across the world
