How did the Soviet holiday of October begin?

Despite the holiday’s name - October Revolution Day - it was celebrated on November 7 each year. This was due the fact that on January 26, 1918 the Soviet government changed the Julian calendar to the Gregorian. Soviet leaders did their best to make the first anniversary memorable, although the country was embroiled in a civil war. The government made grand gestures: The monument to Marx and Engels was opened in Moscow and more than four million postcards dedicated to the Revolution were made.

The first few holidays were pretty theatrical. In 1920, on Leningrad’s (now St. Petersburg) Uritskaya Square (now Palace Square) a storming of the Winter Palace (former residence of the provisional government) was staged. About 6,000 people participated. But due financial problems in the late twenties, such shows were written off.

Marching troops left Red Square and went directly to war. “The panic was great… endless bombing, fires, victims. On November 7 we came to Red Square and listened to Stalin via radio. That was a breakthrough,” one witness recalled. From the sixties to seventies, the celebration of the Revolution became more personal. As well as parades and rallies, people organized big feasts and visited friends and family.

The letter is in the reverse of the card:

Dear Valya, Vera and Sasha!

Congratulations on your October holiday!

With all my heart I wish you to be always

Healthy, joy and happy!

How are you?

We had a daughter Anechka on September 3rd,

Now there’s four of us, and everything else is the same.

Hello to our guys.

Hug and kiss you. Our whole family.