:00:00
"The first revolution,
:00:03
and the counter-revolutionaryperiod which followed it (1907-1914)
:00:06
laid bare the true natureof the czarist monarchy,
:00:09
pushed it to its limits,
:00:12
and exposed the rottenness,the corruption,
:00:15
the cynicism and the debaucheryamong the Czar's followers,
:00:18
with the monstrous Rasputinleading the pack..."
:00:22
V.I. Lenin"Letters from Exile"
:00:28
MOSFILM
:00:37
Second Artists' Association
:00:45
Russia
:00:54
The Russian Empire is a vastterritory
:00:57
straddling Europe and Asia.
:01:03
A land of 170 million inhabitants,the largest monarchy in the world.
:01:10
An agricultural country, withindustry only moderately developed.
:01:15
A country of great poets, writers,
:01:18
thinkers, and revolutionaries.
:01:22
A country where two-thirds ofthe population is illiterate.
:01:27
A country of enormoussocial contrasts,
:01:31
where bureaucracy and censorshipare omnipresent,
:01:33
where the authoritiesstifle human rights.
:01:40
The First World War has revealed
:01:42
the patent bankruptcyof government
:01:46
and accentuated its weaknessesand internal contradictions.
:01:50
Crushing military defeats havecaused the loss of Poland,
:01:55
Lithuania, parts of Latviaand Byelorussia.
:01:57
The army was almost out ofammunition.
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