October celebrations in the administrative centers of Eastern Siberia: a commemorative aspect (1920-1945)

The purpose of the article is to characterize the commemorative features of the October celebrations arranged in the administrative centers of Eastern Siberia between the Civil War and the end of the Great Patriotic War. The sources for the research were unpublished office documents stored in the archives of Eastern Siberia, daily newspapers published in Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk (19201945). The author determines the place and role of commemorations in festive scenarios, gives their typical examples and special conditions of celebrations peculiar to Eastern Siberia. The dynamics of festive commemorations are traced. The author establishes the tendency of their perception by the inhabitants of Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk. In Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk the October celebrations were not original from the beginning. This was due to the strict memory policy and the pattern of celebrations, uniform for the whole country. The author ascertains that before the Great Patriotic War the typical scenario of celebration of the October revolution anniversaries included memorial evenings (rallies, solemn meetings), military parades and demonstrations, solemn sessions of the city administration, entertainment events. In the early 1920s residents of the Eastern Siberia cities usually used the memorable date as an excuse to indulge in joint memories of the recent bloody events and to remember the dead. Festive demonstrations rushed to the mass graves of the victims of the revolution and the Civil War. There rallies were held, remembrance of the victims was carried out. Holiday theater productions could be dedicated to military-revolutionary events in Eastern Siberia. By the mid-1920s, the celebrations became optimistic and detached from the memory of the local events. In the years of the Great Patriotic War, festive scenarios centered around collective listening to live radio broadcast of the speeches of J. Stalin. During wartime, on 7 November there was almost no reminiscing of the October revolution at official events. Honoring the heroes of the revolution halted. Newspapers consistently recorded the unanimity and enthusiasm of the worker masses in the October days. However, it was only wishful thinking. In the early 1920s, the most popular holiday of the country caused numerous negative reactions of Siberians. Many of the demonstrators resented the coercion to participate in activities. Walking in the ranks, the Siberians could tell political jokes and refuse to carry red banners. Also, drinking of workers was a problem for the organizers of the celebrations.

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