The Peddlers (1916)

Varia Panina. Transposed from a Hungarian csardas. Lyrics: Nikolai Nekrasov

Description: This song is an excerpt from a longer poem by Nikolai Nekrasov, Russia s greatest civic poet of the nineteenth century. A masterful wordsmith, Nekrasov focused on the lives of poor Russians, for whom he evoked considerable sympathy. Peddlers was a collage of rural Russia after the emancipation, and a strong political statement. Yet this extract, sung with throbbing passion by Varya Panina of Moscow's Yar Restaurant, suggested very different intentions.

1917

EVENTS February Revolution Formation of the Soviets April Crisis Revolution in the Army July Days Kornilov Affair Bolsheviks Seize Power First Bolshevik Decrees Constituent Assembly Treaty of Brest Litovsk
FOUR KINDS OF STATES Communist Party Building Economic Apparatus Building the Soviets Red Guard into Army State Security
DISINTEGRATION OF THE OLD SOCIETY Depopulation of the Cities Food Supply Conflict with the Church Death of the Old Culture Destruction of the Left The Empire Falls
CREATION OF A NEW SOCIETY New Letters and Dates Culture and Revolution The New Woman Workers Organization Peasant Revolution Organs of the Press Raising Socialist Youth