Text by Tyson Strandlund, YCLer from Victoria
Photos by Parneyan Weera and Tyson Strandlund
In the week leading up to the 104th anniversary of the Great October Revolution, the Victoria club of the YCL-LJC held two public events to mark the occasion at the University of Victoria.
The first of these events was an educational event held in the University of Victoria Student Union Building’s Vertigo Lounge on the evening of November 2. The educational featured comprehensive presentations on the subjects of dialectical and historical materialism by club executive members Tyson Strandlund (the author) and Camilo Valbuena, and was followed by a thorough discussion by attendees. Those in attendance included YCL members, but also a number of UVic students who had never attended a YCL event prior, and who were eager to enhance their understanding of Marxism, expressing a desire to attend future events. Following the formal discussion, individuals warmly thanked the presenters for their efforts, and noted the difference compared to the explanations in their university classes.
The second event was an evening film screening which took place on November 5 at the student movie theatre, Cinecenta. The film was a 1927 Soviet classic directed by the renowned Sergei Eisenstein and Grigori Aleksandrov, October: Ten Days that Shook the World. Released ten years following the October Revolution of 1917, the silent film depicts the events of the revolution based on the 1919 book by American journalist John Reed. Reed, a dedicated communist, had previously reported on the events of the Mexican Revolution and the First World War before travelling to Petrograd in time to witness the collapse of Alexander Kerensky’s provisional government and the establishment of Soviet power by Lenin and the Bolsheviks.
One of the most notable and dramatic events depicted in the film was the Soviet capture of the Winter Palace, the seat of Kerensky’s government, on the night of November 7 (by the Gregorian calendar), for which Reed had been present. Following the revolution, Reed worked for the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs translating documents and decrees for publication in English. Reed defended the October Revolution in America, and attended the Communist International’s Second Congress as a delegate, where he used his speaking time to address the oppression of Black people in the U.S. and to secure the invitation of Black delegates to the following Congress through the Communist Party USA; Reed also attended the first Congress of the Peoples of the East held in Baku. Tragically, Reed contracted typhus and died in 1920, having been denied medicine as a result of the Allied blockade. He became one of only three Americans to receive the honour of being buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.
As attendees entered Cinecenta and mingled in the lobby, they were greeted by the sounds of the Internationale, the Soviet anthem, and a number of Soviet songs performed by the Red Army Choir and others – a delightful and unexpected touch courtesy of Cinecenta’s student staff. The staff was highly accommodating and friendly, and commented on the impressive turnout at the film screening. Making their way into the theatre, attendees picked up copies of the most recent edition of Rebel Youth, which many were seen reading while they waited for the film to begin.
The events were, in short, highly successful, and marked a much welcome return to a semblance of pre-pandemic YCL culture.