On this day 120 years ago, January 22, 1905, the Julian calendar date January 9, many workers in Petrograd who still trusted the Tsar, under the deception of the leader of the legal union Gabon, went to the Tsar Nicholas II’s palace to perform voluntary activities, demanding better conditions for workers and calling for reforms. Many still held icons of the Tsar. However, the Tsar’s gendarmes responded with gunfire, conducting a large-scale massacre, killing over 1,000 people, injuring thousands, and committing heinous crimes against the workers! Since that day was a Sunday, this event is called “Bloody Sunday”.
January 9 serves as a warning to people: never place hope in the ruling class’s conscience awakening!
However, January 9 is not just a tragic day. Under the gunfire of the Tsar’s gendarmes, workers awakened, realizing that the entire autocratic system and capitalists were their enemies. The halo of the Tsar in people’s minds was erased. When people went to perform voluntary activities, the awakened workers’ rejection of the Tsar would be met with scorn, but after the massacre, everyone began to curse Nicholas II! They vented their anger on soldiers and officers they encountered on the street, beating and kicking them…
January 9 is not only a day of sorrow but also a symbol marking the beginning of the 1905 Revolution. After this, the Russian working masses launched a grand struggle, including the Baku uprising, the Petrograd October strike, and the Moscow December uprising… The 1905 Revolution is described as the “general rehearsal for the October Revolution” (Lenin’s words).
At the same time, sharing Gorky’s feature article “January 9” with an introduction by Lu Xun.
January 9.pdf (2.3 MB)