09.11.2017, Russia.
On November 5-7, 2017, in Moscow, the Essence of Time movement held a number of events to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution.
The first day, November 5, was a day of the Sofia club whose members, representatives of European and Russian left-wing movements, discussed the current political situation in Russia and Europe in order to answer the question “Is there a left alternative to capitalism?”.
The meeting that was held in the premises of the Experimental Creative Center (ETC) in Moscow gathered such figures as the ex-member of European Parliament, the President of the Alternativa (Alternative) association Giulietto Chiesa; the editor of the Epikaira Greek journal Dimitris Constantakopoulos; the President of the Slavic Foundation Professor Zakhari Zakhariev; the President of the United (German: Die Einheit) party Dmitry Rempel; a member of the European Parliament, the co-chairwoman of the Latvian Russian Union Tatjana Ždanoka; a board member of the Aralar Basque political party, ex-member of the European Parliament Inaki Larrazabal Betty Fernandez; a member of the Basque Parliament Rebeka Ubera; ex Deputy Chairman of the Bulgarian Socialist Party Krasimir Andreev Premyanov, a Polish columnist, Board Member of the Changes (Polish: Zmiana) political party Janusz Niedzwiecki; an Italian science-fiction writer, member of the Alternativa association Roberto Quaglia etc.
On November 6 in Moscow, a historical conference The October Revolution: Myths and Reality was held. This is the seventh, and the last, conference in a series of conferences organized by Essence of Time in 2017 in a number of Russian cities ― Yekaterinburg, St. Petersburg, Samara, Rostov-on-Don, Tomsk, Bryansk. The conferences focused on sensitive issues related to the revolution of 1917. Myths and lies were countered with objective information based on documents, studies of Russian and foreign historians who worked with archives, evidence provided by participants of the White movement, and memoires of foreign military and diplomatic officials.
The leader of the Essence of Time movement Sergey Kurginyan gave a welcome speech. The participants of the conference were also welcomed by a French historian, Doctor of Sciences, Professor Emeritus of Diderot Paris University Annie Lacroix-Riz.
— “Was Russia in early XX century ‘an ascending Russia’?”
— “The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: a crime or an escape from the current political situation?”
— “Was Lenin a German agent?”
— “Were the Bolsheviks foreigners and Russophobes?”
— “The Bolshevik Party: fringes or pioneers of their time?”
— “Did Bolsheviks want to burn Russia in the fire of the World Revolution?”
— “Were Bolshevist leaders living in luxury while the country was in hunger and ruins?”
— “The White movement members: defenders of Russia’s unity or those who wanted to dismember it?”
— “Were Bolsheviks the inventors of concentration camps?”
— “Did Lenin and Sverdlov want a people’s trial for ‘Nicholas the Bloody’ or did they want a secret execution of the last Emperor’s family?”
— “Was Trotsky an innocent victim of the Stalin’s regime?”
— “Bolshevist anti-religious persecution: abuse by Satanist theomachists or a tragic page of the world revolutionary history?”
— “Could Stolypin’s reforms save Russia from the revolution and make it a global leader?”
— “Tukhachevsky: an unjustly convicted marshal or a political conspirator?”
— “Hundreds of millions of those repressed: a myth or reality?”
A series of Historical Notebooks is to be published based on the Conference materials.
Finally, on November 7, a Congress of the Essence of Time movement was held in Moscow to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. Among the participants there were guests from abroad. In particular, the President of the Alternativa (Alternative) association Giulietto Chiesa said, “Back in 1991 at the times of counter revolution, Italy had strong forces that had been able to defend the country. And when the Soviet Union collapsed all the defense systems were broken. For 25 years not only the Proletariat that is difficult to find nowadays, but the population itself has been marching backwards. A great retreat of the civil society was happening. The disintegration of the Soviet Union shocked everybody. And everyone felt it.”
Chiesa said that in Europe today, there are people who lost their party and became isolated. They feel scared, and they do not know how to protect themselves. They need to be organized and united based on the ideas of internationalism. A force is needed which will be able to do that. “Such a force needs to be found. And today, I saw those who can do that. Tonight, I saw that force.”
In his closing speech, the leader of the Essence of Time movement Sergey Kurginyan cited a poem written by an English poet George Gordon Byron before his death:
The dead have been awakened—shall I sleep?
The World’s at war with tyrants—shall I crouch?
The harvest’s ripe—and shall I pause to reap?
I slumber not; the thorn is in my Couch;
Each day a trumpet soundeth in mine ear,
Its echo in my heart…
“Haven’t the dead been awakened? Young Fidel, Che Guevara? All those who fought for the common cause? Can we sleep? Isn’t the world at war with tyrants? Shall we crouch?” Kurginyan said in his address to the Congress delegates; he noted that the future of Russia and the humanity depends on how much power those who attended the Congress can consolidate.
