1
The artist relies on pure colours, sometimes preferring the monochromatic palette while introducing a striking addition of a red banner in several drawings (see also
p. 6). This colorization device both adds semantic significance to the small detail and brings the reader’s attention to the ideological prominence of the flag embodying an idea of Bolshevism’s imminent domination over the gloomy Tsarist regime, which is on the brink of collapse.
2
The Tsar sent soldiers armed with rifles and machine guns against the workers.
But the soldiers did not shoot at the workers. They were themselves workers and peasants.
Together with the rebels, they went against the Tsar and seized Peter and Paul Fortress, the most important fortress in the city.
3
Prisoners were freed from all the prisons. There was one prison known as “The Crosses.”
Arrested revolutionaries were held there. The workers and soldiers drove off the gendarmes and freed the imprisoned revolutionaries.
“Comrades,” the workers said, “we have a revolution! There is no Tsar, the ministers are arrested.”
(translation by Andrew Tureski, Dalhousie University)