document_title: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

question_text: the federal depository insurance corporation (fdic) has the power to close a bank when

question_tokens: the federal depository insurance corporation ( fdic ) has the power to close a bank when

text: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

text: Ownership categories[edit]

text: Each ownership category of a depositor's money is insured separately up to the insurance limit, and separately at each bank. Thus a depositor with $250,000 in each of three ownership categories at each of two banks would have six different insurance limits of $250,000, for total insurance coverage of 6 × $250,000 = $1,500,000.[7] The distinct ownership categories are[7]

text:
Single accounts (accounts not falling into any other category)
Certain retirement accounts (including Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs))
Joint accounts (accounts with more than one owner with equal rights to withdraw)
Revocable trust accounts (containing the words "Payable on death", "In trust for", etc.)
Irrevocable trust accounts
Employee Benefit Plan accounts (deposits of a pension plan)
Corporation/Partnership/Unincorporated Association accounts
Government accounts

text: All amounts that a particular depositor has in accounts in any particular ownership category at a particular bank are added together and are insured up to $250,000.

text: For joint accounts, each co-owner is assumed (unless the account specifically states otherwise) to own the same fraction of the account as does each other co-owner (even though each co-owner may be eligible to withdraw all funds from the account). Thus if three people jointly own a $750,000 account, the entire account balance is insured because each depositor's $250,000 share of the account is insured.

text: The owner of a revocable trust account is generally insured up to $250,000 for each unique beneficiary (subject to special rules if there are more than five of them). Thus if there is a single owner of an account that is specified as in trust for (payable on death to, etc.) three different beneficiaries, the funds in the account are insured up to $750,000.

text: Board of directors[edit]

text: The Board of Directors of the FDIC is the governing body of the FDIC. The board is composed of five members, three appointed by the president of the United States with the consent of the United States Senate and two ex officio members. The three appointed members each serve six-year terms. No more than three members of the board may be of the same political affiliation. The president, with the consent of the Senate, also designates one of the appointed members as chairman of the board, to serve a five-year term, and one of the appointed members as vice chairman of the board. The two ex officio members are the Comptroller of the Currency and the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

text: As of May 2018, the members of the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation were:

text:
Jelena McWilliams – Chairman of the Board
Vacant – Vice Chairman
Martin J. Gruenberg – Independent Director
Joseph Otting – Comptroller of the Currency
Mick Mulvaney – Acting Director, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau[8]

text: History[edit]

text: Panics of 1893 and 1907 and the Great Depression: 1893-1933[edit]

text: During the Panics of 1893 and 1907, many banks[note 1] filed bankruptcy due to bank runs caused by contagion. Both of the panics renewed discussion on deposit insurance. In 1893, William Jennings Bryan presented a bill to Congress proposing a national deposit insurance fund. No action was taken, as the legislature paid more attention to the agricultural depression at the time.[9]

text: After 1907, eight states established deposit insurance funds.[10] Due to the lax regulation of banks and the widespread inability of banks to branch; small, local unit banks—often with poor financial health—grew in numbers, especially in the western and southern states.[11] In 1921, there were about 31,000 banks in the US.[12] The Federal Reserve Act initially included a provision for nationwide deposit insurance, but it was removed from the bill by the House of Representatives. From 1893 to the FDIC's creation in 1933, 150 bills were submitted in Congress proposing deposit insurance.[13]

text: There was widespread panic again over the American banking system due to fears over the strength of many banks in The Great Depression; more than one-third of all U.S. banks were closed by bank runs.[2] Bank runs, sudden demands by large numbers of customers to withdraw all their funds at almost the same time, brought down many bank companies as depositors attempted to withdraw more money than the bank had available as cash. Small banks in rural areas were especially affected. Written and publicly announced reassurances and tightened regulations by the government failed to assuage depositors' fears.

text: Establishment of the FDIC: 1933[edit]

text: President Franklin D. Roosevelt himself was dubious about insuring bank deposits, saying, "We do not wish to make the United States Government liable for the mistakes and errors of individual banks, and put a premium on unsound banking in the future." But public support was overwhelmingly in favor, and the number of bank failures dropped to near zero.[14] On 16 June 1933, Roosevelt signed the 1933 Banking Act into law, creating the FDIC. The initial plan set by Congress in 1934 was to insure deposits up to $2,500 ($45,734 today)[15] adopting of a more generous, long-term plan after six months.[note 2] However, the latter plan was abandoned for an increase of the insurance limit to $5,000 ($91,468 today).[15][16]

text: The 1933 Banking Act:

text:
Established the FDIC as a temporary government corporation. The Banking Act of 1935 made the FDIC a permanent agency of the government and provided permanent deposit insurance maintained at the $5,000 level.
Gave the FDIC authority to provide deposit insurance to banks
Gave the FDIC the authority to regulate and supervise state non-member banks
Funded the FDIC with initial loans of $289 million through the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve, which were later paid back with interest
Extended federal oversight to all commercial banks for the first time
Separated commercial and investment banking (Glass–Steagall Act)
Prohibited banks from paying interest on checking accounts
Allowed national banks to branch statewide, if allowed by state law.

text: Historical insurance limits[edit]

text:
1934 – $2,500
1935 – $5,000
1950 – $10,000
1966 – $15,000
1969 – $20,000
1974 – $40,000
1980 – $100,000
2008 – $250,000

text: Congress approved a temporary increase in the deposit insurance limit from $100,000 to $250,000, which was effective from October 3, 2008, through December 31, 2010. On May 20, 2009, the temporary increase was extended through December 31, 2013. However, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (P.L.111-203), which was signed into law on July 21, 2010, made the $250,000 insurance limit permanent.[17] In addition, the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2005 (P.L.109-171) allows for the boards of the FDIC and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) to consider inflation and other factors every five years beginning in 2010 and, if warranted, to adjust the amounts under a specified formula.[18][19]

text: S&L and bank crisis of the 1980s[edit]

text: Federal deposit insurance received its first large-scale test since the Great Depression in the late 1980s and early 1990s during the savings and loan crisis (which also affected commercial banks and savings banks).

text: The Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC) had been created to insure deposits held by savings and loan institutions ("S&Ls", or "thrifts"). Because of a confluence of events, much of the S&L industry was insolvent, and many large banks were in trouble as well. FSLIC's reserves were insufficient to pay off the depositors of all of the failing thrifts, and fell into insolvency. FSLIC was abolished in August 1989 and replaced by the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC). On December 31, 1995, the RTC was merged into the FDIC, and the FDIC became responsible for resolving failed thrifts. Supervision of thrifts became the responsibility of a new agency, the Office of Thrift Supervision (credit unions remained insured by the National Credit Union Administration). The primary legislative responses to the crisis were the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991 (FDICIA). Federally chartered thrifts are now regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and state-chartered thrifts by the FDIC.

text: Final combined total for all direct and indirect losses of FSLIC and RTC resolutions was an estimated $152.9 billion. Of this total amount, U.S. taxpayer losses amounted to approximately $123.8 billion (81% of the total costs.)[20]

text: No taxpayer money was used to resolve FDIC-insured institutions.

text: 2008–2010 Financial crisis[edit]

text: In 2008, twenty-five U.S. banks became insolvent and were closed by their respective chartering authority.[21] However, during that year, the largest bank failure in terms of dollar value occurred on September 26, 2008, when Washington Mutual, with $307 billion in assets, experienced a 10-day bank run on its deposits.[22][23]

text: The FDIC created the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP) to strengthen confidence and encourage liquidity in the banking system by guaranteeing newly issued senior unsecured debt of banks, thrifts, and certain holding companies, and by providing full coverage of non-interest bearing deposit transaction accounts, regardless of dollar amount.

text: The deposit insurance limit was temporarily raised from $100,000 to $250,000.

text: On August 14, 2009, Bloomberg reported that more than 150 publicly traded U.S. lenders had nonperforming loans above 5% of their total holdings. This is important because former regulators say that this is the level that can wipe out a bank's equity and threaten its survival. While this ratio does not always lead to bank failures if the banks in question have raised additional capital and have properly established reserves for the bad debt, it is an important indicator for future FDIC activity.[24]

text: On August 21, 2009, Guaranty Bank, in Texas, became insolvent and was taken over by BBVA Compass, the U.S. division of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, the second-largest bank in Spain. This was the first foreign company to buy a failed bank during the credit crisis of 2008 and 2009. In addition, the FDIC agreed to share losses with BBVA on about $11 billion of Guaranty Bank's loans and other assets.[25] This transaction alone cost the FDIC Deposit Insurance Fund $3 billion.

text: On August 27, 2009, the FDIC increased the number of troubled banks to 416 in the second quarter. That number compares to 305 just three months earlier.[26] At the end of the third quarter, that number jumped to 552.[27]

text: At the close of 2009, a total of 140 banks had become insolvent.[28] This is the largest number of bank failures in a year since 1992, when 179 institutions failed.[29]

text: On February 23, 2010, FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair warned that the number of failures in 2010 could surpass the 140 banks that were seized in 2009. Commercial real estate overexposure was deemed the most serious threat to banks in 2010.[28]

text: On April 30, 2010, the FDIC was appointed as receiver for three banks in Puerto Rico at a cost of $5.3 billion.[30]

text: In 2010, 157 banks with approximately $92 billion in total assets failed.[31]

text: In 2010, a new division within the FDIC, the Office of Complex Financial Institutions, was created to focus on the expanded responsibilities of the FDIC by the Dodd-Frank Act for the assessment of risk in the largest, systemically important financial institutions, or SIFIs.[32][33][34]

text: Funds[edit]

text: Former funds[edit]

text: Between 1989 and 2006, there were two separate FDIC funds – the Bank Insurance Fund (BIF), and the Savings Association Insurance Fund (SAIF). The latter was established after the savings and loans crisis of the 1980s. The existence of two separate funds for the same purpose led to banks' attempting to shift from one fund to another, depending on the benefits each could provide. In the 1990s, SAIF premiums were, at one point, five times higher than BIF premiums; several banks attempted to qualify for the BIF, with some merging with institutions qualified for the BIF to avoid the higher premiums of the SAIF. This drove up the BIF premiums as well, resulting in a situation where both funds were charging higher premiums than necessary.[35]

text: Then Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan was a critic of the system, saying, "We are, in effect, attempting to use government to enforce two different prices for the same item – namely, government-mandated deposit insurance. Such price differences only create efforts by market participants to arbitrage the difference." Greenspan proposed "to end this game and merge SAIF and BIF".[36]

text: Deposit Insurance Fund[edit]

text: In February 2006, President George W. Bush signed into law the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2005 (FDIRA) and a related conforming amendments act. The FDIRA contains technical and conforming changes to implement deposit insurance reform, as well as a number of study and survey requirements. Among the highlights of this law was merging the Bank Insurance Fund (BIF) and the Savings Association Insurance Fund (SAIF) into a new fund, the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF). This change was made effective March 31, 2006. The FDIC maintains the DIF by assessing depository institutions an insurance premium. The amount each institution is assessed is based both on the balance of insured deposits as well as on the degree of risk the institution poses to the insurance fund.

text: When a bank becomes insolvent, the FDIC is appointed receiver of the failed institution. As receiver, the FDIC takes title to the failed institution's assets and liquidates them; and as deposit insurer pays off the failed institution's deposit liabilities or pays another institution to assume them. Because the failed institution's assets are almost always worth less than its deposit obligations, a bank failure results in a loss to the DIF.

text: Bond interest payments of the Financing Corporation, the funding vehicle for the "Resolution Fund" of the now defunct Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC), are funded by DIF premiums.

text: A March 2008 memorandum to the FDIC board of directors shows a 2007 year-end Deposit Insurance Fund balance of about $52.4 billion, which represented a reserve ratio of 1.22% of its exposure to insured deposits, totaling about $4.29 trillion. The 2008 year-end insured deposits were projected to reach about $4.42 trillion with the reserve growing to $55.2 billion, a ratio of 1.25%.[37] As of June 2008, the DIF had a balance of $45.2 billion.[38] However, 9 months later, in March, 2009, the DIF fell to $13 billion.[39] That was the lowest total since September, 1993[39] and represented a reserve ratio of 0.27% of its exposure to insured deposits totaling about $4.83 trillion.[40] In the second quarter of 2009, the FDIC imposed an emergency fee aimed at raising $5.6 billion to replenish the DIF.[41] However, Saxo Bank Research reported that, after Aug 7, further bank failures had reduced the DIF balance to $648.1 million.[42]

text: The FDIC announced its intent, on September 29, 2009, to assess the banks, in advance, for three years' of premiums in an effort to avoid DIF insolvency. The FDIC revised its estimated costs of bank failures to about $100 billion over the next four years, an increase of $30 billion from the $70 billion estimate of earlier in 2009. The FDIC board voted to require insured banks to prepay $45 billion in premiums to replenish the fund. News media reported that the prepayment move would be inadequate to assure the financial stability of the FDIC insurance fund. The FDIC elected to request the prepayment so that the banks could recognize the expense over three years, instead of drawing down banks' statutory capital abruptly, at the time of the assessment.[43] The fund is mandated by law to keep a balance equivalent to 1.15 percent of insured deposits.[43] As of June 30, 2008, the insured banks held approximately $7,025 billion in total deposits, though not all of those are insured.[44] As of September 30, 2012, total deposits at FDIC-insured institutions totaled roughly $10.54 trillion, although not all deposits are insured.[45]

text: The DIF's reserves are not the only cash resources available to the FDIC. In addition to $67.3 billion of cash and U.S. Treasury securities held as of March 2016,[46] the FDIC has the ability to borrow up to $100 billion from the Treasury. The FDIC can also demand special assessments from banks as it did in the second quarter of 2009.[47][48]

text: "Full Faith and Credit"[edit]

text: The official FDIC teller sign, posted at every U.S. insured bank and savings association, states that FDIC deposit insurance is "backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government." The FDIC describes this sign as a symbol of confidence for depositors.[49] As part of a 1987 legislative enactment, Congress passed a measure stating "it is the sense of the Congress that it should reaffirm that deposits up to the statutorily prescribed amount in federally insured depository institutions are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States."[50]

text: Insurance requirements[edit]

text: To receive this benefit, member banks must follow certain liquidity and reserve requirements. Banks are classified in five groups according to their risk-based capital ratio:

text:
Well capitalized: 10% or higher
Adequately capitalized: 8% or higher
Undercapitalized: less than 8%
Significantly undercapitalized: less than 6%
Critically undercapitalized: less than 2%

text: When a bank becomes undercapitalized, the institution's primary regulator issues a warning to the bank. When the number drops below 6%, the primary regulator can change management and force the bank to take other corrective action. When the bank becomes critically undercapitalized the chartering authority closes the institution and appoints the FDIC as receiver of the bank.

text: At Q4 2010 884 banks had very low capital cushions against risk and were on the FDIC's "problem list".

text: Resolution of insolvent banks[edit]

text: A bank's chartering authority—either an individual state banking department or the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency—closes a bank and appoints the FDIC as receiver. In its role as a receiver the FDIC is tasked with protecting the depositors and maximizing the recoveries for the creditors of the failed institution. The FDIC does not close banks.

text: The FDIC as receiver is functionally and legally separate from the FDIC acting in its corporate role as deposit insurer, and the FDIC as receiver has separate rights, duties, and obligations from those of the FDIC as insurer. Courts have long recognized these dual and separate capacities.

text: In 1991, to comply with legislation, the FDIC amended its failure resolution procedures to decrease the costs to the deposit insurance funds. The procedures require the FDIC to choose the resolution alternative that is least costly to the deposit insurance fund of all possible methods for resolving the failed institution. Bids are submitted to the FDIC where they are reviewed and the least cost determination is made.

text: A receivership is designed to market the assets of a failed institution, liquidate them, and distribute the proceeds to the institution's creditors. The FDIC as receiver succeeds to the rights, powers, and privileges of the institution and its stockholders, officers, and directors. The FDIC may collect all obligations and money due to the institution, preserve or liquidate its assets and property, and perform any other function of the institution consistent with its appointment.

text: A receiver also has the power to merge a failed institution with another insured depository institution and to transfer its assets and liabilities without the consent or approval of any other agency, court, or party with contractual rights. Furthermore, a receiver may form a new institution, such as a bridge bank, to take over the assets and liabilities of the failed institution, or it may sell or pledge the assets of the failed institution to the FDIC in its corporate capacity.

text: The two most common ways for the FDIC to resolve a closed institution and fulfill its role as a receiver are:

text:
Purchase and Assumption Agreement (P&A), in which deposits (liabilities) are assumed by an open bank, which also purchases some or all of the failed bank's loans (assets). The bank's assets[51] that convey to the FDIC as receiver are sold and auctioned through various methods, including online, and using contractors.
Deposit Payoff, as soon as the appropriate chartering authority closes the bank or thrift, the FDIC is appointed receiver. The FDIC as insurer pays all of the failed institution's depositors[52] with insured funds the full amount of their insured deposits. Depositors with uninsured funds and other general creditors (such as suppliers and service providers) of the failed institution do not receive either immediate or full reimbursement; instead, the FDIC as receiver issues them receivership certificates. A receivership certificate entitles its holder to a portion of the receiver's collections on the failed institution's assets.

text: Covered Insured Depository Institutions Resolution Plans[edit]

text: To assist the FDIC in resolving an insolvent bank, the FDIC requires plans including the required submission of a resolution plan by covered institutions requirement under the Dodd Frank Act. In addition to the Bank Holding Company ("BHC") resolution plans required under the Dodd Frank Act under Section 165(d),[53] the FDIC requires a separate Covered Insured Depository Institution ("CIDI") resolution plan for US insured depositories with assets of $50 billion or more. Most of the largest, most complex BHCs are subject to both rules, requiring them to file a 165(d) resolution plan for the BHC that includes the BHC's core businesses and its most significant subsidiaries (i.e., "material entities"), as well as one or more CIDI plans depending on the number of US bank subsidiaries of the BHC that meet the $50 billion asset threshold.[54]

text: On December 17, the FDIC issued guidance for the 2015 resolution plans of CIDIs of large bank holding companies (BHCs).[55] The guidance provides clarity on the assumptions that are to be made in the CIDI resolution plans and what must be addressed and analyzed in the 2015 CIDI resolution plans including:[54]

text:
The assumption that the CIDI must fail.
The cause of CIDI failure must be a core business loss or impairment.
At least one "multiple acquirer strategy" is required in the plan.
A deep level of granularity is expected in the plan.
Sales strategies must be feasible and supported by considerable acquirer detail.
A detailed financial and liquidity analysis is needed.
Key legal issues must be considered.
Resolution obstacles must be addressed.
The CIDI must be insolvent at the start of resolution.

text: Insured products[edit]

text: FDIC deposit insurance covers deposit accounts, which, by the FDIC definition, include:

text:
demand deposits (checking accounts of a type that formerly could not legally pay interest), and negotiable order of withdrawal accounts (NOW accounts, i.e., savings accounts that have check-writing privileges)
savings accounts and money market deposit accounts (MMDAs, i.e., higher-interest savings accounts subject to check-writing restrictions)
time deposits including certificates of deposit (CDs)
outstanding cashier's checks, interest checks, and other negotiable instruments drawn on the accounts of the bank
accounts denominated in foreign currencies[56]

text: Accounts at different banks are insured separately. All branches of a bank are considered to form a single bank. Also, an Internet bank that is part of a brick and mortar bank is not considered to be a separate bank, even if the name differs. Non-US citizens are also covered by FDIC insurance as long as their deposits are in a domestic office of an FDIC-insured bank.[56]

text: The FDIC publishes a guide entitled "Your Insured Deposits",[57] which sets forth the general characteristics of FDIC deposit insurance, and addresses common questions asked by bank customers about deposit insurance.[58]

text: Items not insured[edit]

text: Only the above types of accounts are insured. Some types of uninsured products, even if purchased through a covered financial institution, are:[58]

text:
Stocks, bonds, and mutual funds including money funds

The Securities Investor Protection Corporation, a separate institution chartered by Congress, provides protection against the loss of many types of such securities in the event of a brokerage failure, but not against losses on the investments.
Further, as of September 19, 2008, the United States Treasury is offering an optional insurance program for money market funds, which guarantees the value of the assets.[59]
Exceptions have occurred, such as the FDIC bailout of bondholders of Continental Illinois.

Investments backed by the U.S. government, such as Treasury securities
The contents of safe deposit boxes.

Even though the word deposit appears in the name, under federal law a safe deposit box is not a deposit account – it is merely a secured storage space rented by an institution to a customer.

Losses due to theft or fraud at the institution.

These situations are often covered by special insurance policies that banking institutions buy from private insurance companies.

Accounting errors.

In these situations, there may be remedies for consumers under state contract law, the Uniform Commercial Code, and some federal regulations, depending on the type of transaction.

Insurance and annuity products, such as life, auto and homeowner's insurance.


document_title: Still Open All Hours

question_text: where do they film still open all hours

question_tokens: where do they film still open all hours

root

text: Still Open All Hours

text: Series development and production[edit]

text: Still Open All Hours was broadcast on 26 December 2013, with Jason reprising his role of Granville from Open All Hours. The new one-off episode written by Clarke showed Granville now running the shop with his son Leroy (played by James Baxter),[2] after inheriting it from Arkwright.[3] Clarke wrote the script in two weeks, and production began in October 2013. The exterior scenes were filmed at the original location at Lister Avenue in Doncaster from 18 to 20 November 2013. The interior scenes were recorded on 3 December 2013 at MediaCityUK in Salford in front of a studio audience. A 30-minute documentary accompanying the show's return, entitled Open All Hours: A Celebration, aired on 27 December 2013, the day after the new episode was broadcast, on BBC One.[4][5][6]

tag: p

text: On 30 January 2014, the BBC commissioned Still Open All Hours for six new episodes beginning on 26 December 2014.[7][8] The controller of BBC comedy commissioning, Shane Allen, said: "The resounding success of the Christmas revival showed the huge and enduring audience affection for this much-loved classic. Roy has done a terrific job of updating the characters whilst keeping what was warm-hearted and enjoyable about the world of the original series."[9]

text: Production for series one started in August 2014, exterior filming started on 15 September and location recording was completed on 26 September 2014.[10][11] Interior scenes were recorded in front of a studio audience from 10 October until 21 November 2014 at Teddington Studios.[12]

text: The show later returned for a second series, beginning on 26 December 2015.[13][14] with production starting in September 2015. Exterior scenes were filmed on location from 14[15]-24 September 2015.[16] Interior scenes were recorded in front of a studio audience at Pinewood Studios from 9 October until 20 November 2015.[17]

text: In January 2016, David Jason revealed that a third series would be produced in 2016. The series began airing on 26 December 2016.[18] Production started in September 2016 with on location for exterior scenes being shot in Balby Doncaster from 12 September 2016.[19] Lynda Baron could not reprise her role as Nurse Gladys Emmanuel as the filming dates clashed with Baron's current contract with EastEnders.[20]

text: David Jason announced that a fourth series would be filmed in 2017.[21] Filming began in September 2017 with David Jason seen on location in Doncaster with co-star Tim Healy [22]. The series began airing on 28 December 2017. [23]. Interior scenes were recorded at Pinewood Studios in front of a live-studio-audience on 7, 14, and 21 October and on the 4, 11, 18, and 24 November 2016.[24] In early 2017 a fourth series was commissioned production started in August 2017. On location exterior scenes for the fourth series commenced on 11 September 2017 in Doncaster.[25].

text: In January 2018, it was revealed the show will return for a fifth series late 2018.[26]

text: Filming locations[edit]

text: The exterior shots reused the original shop from the series, on Lister Avenue in Balby, a suburb of Doncaster. The shop had to be extensively redressed (for both programmes) to resemble a traditional corner shop, as it has been a hair salon since 1962. This process took two days, before filming on location for three consecutive days.[27]

text: For the 2013 special, the studio shots were recorded at Dock10 studios at MediaCityUK, Salford Quays. For the first series, Teddington Studios were used and the second, third, and fourth series were all recorded at Pinewood Studios.

text: Characters[edit]

text: Main[edit]

text: Episode count is as of 21 January 2018 (Series 4, Episode 4)

tag: ul

text:
Character
Played by
Series
Episode count

Pilot
1
2
3
4

Main Characters

Granville
David Jason

24

Leroy
James Baxter

24

Delphine Featherstone
Cole, StephanieStephanie Cole

24

Mavis
Ollerenshaw, MaggieMaggie Ollerenshaw

24

Eric Agnew
Vegas, JohnnyJohnny Vegas

23

Madge
Forsyth, BrigitBrigit Forsyth

24

Gastric
Healy, TimTim Healy

23

Cyril
Ghir, KulvinderKulvinder Ghir

23

Kath Agnew
Lindsay, SallySally Lindsay

18

Mrs Hussein
Wadia, NinaNina Wadia

19

Wilburn Newbold
Whitehead, GeoffreyGeoffrey Whitehead

14

Nurse Gladys Emmanuel
Baron, LyndaLynda Baron

13

Recurring Characters

Salesman
Mark Williams

3

Nikki
Emily Fleeshman

6

Cindy
Misha Timmins

6

Mrs Hemstock
Catherine Breeze

4

Mr Marshall
Barry Chuckle

3

Ashley
Nadine Rose Mulkerrin

3

Dog Man
Duggie Brown

3

Mr Lomax
Keiron Self

2

Mr Bentinck
Alan David

2

Mrs Willis
Val Tagger

2

Beth
Katie Redford

4

tag: table

text: Guest cast[edit]

text: Still Open All Hours has used several actors from various past hit sitcoms as customers and one-off characters.

text:
Kathryn Hunt
Stephen Evans
Matthew Mellalieu
Peter Foster
Sally Womersley
Janet Prince
Bill Rodgers
Daniel Ryan
Tom Davis
Alex Lowe
Vicki Pepperdine
Roger Bingham
Peter Levy
Paula Wilcox
Anne Rutter
Duggie Brown
Jaye Jacobs
Ainsley Howard
Gareth Hale
Des Yankson
Spencer Jones
Jo Martin
Val Tagger
Kate O'Sullivan
Jemma Churchill
Geoffrey McGivern
David Cann
Janine Duvitski
Joe Wilkinson
Judith Jacob
Sian Reeves
Selena Griffiths
Luke Gell
Llewella Gideon
Janet Marsh
Alexander Kirk
Alexa Lee

text: Episodes[edit]

text: Twenty-seven episodes of Still Open All Hours, all written by Roy Clarke, have been produced for the BBC. The show began airing on 26 December 2013 with an anniversary special of original series, Open All Hours. All episodes have a running time of 30 minutes. Between Open All Hours and Still Open All Hours, there has been a total of 53 episodes and eight series broadcast between 1973 and 2018.

text: Broadcast and reception[edit]

text: The special was broadcast on BBC One on 26 December 2013 and received 9.43m (39.9% of the audience) viewers according to overnight figures and was the most watched programme on that day.[28] Final viewing figures showed that it was watched by 12.23m and was the most watched programme for that week.[29] It received generally poor reviews from critics. Will Dean of The Independent called it a "w-w-worthy [sic] effort" but criticised the attempt to revive the show without the late Ronnie Barker.[30] Ben Lawrence of The Telegraph said it "felt like a relic of another era" criticising the jokes and Jason's performance.[31] Jacob Mason, writing on the Radio Times website, described the show as "warmly nostalgic", whilst others noted it as "a fitting tribute to Ronnie Barker".[32] On 21 November 2014, the BBC confirmed that Still Open All Hours would return for a full series in 2014. This began airing on 26 December 2014 and finished on 25 January 2015. Series 2 began on the 26th December 2015 with a run of 6 episodes and finished on 26 January 2016, Followed by Season 3 which began airing on 26 December 2016 with 7 episodes.

text: DVD releases[edit]

text: Although filmed and broadcast in High-definition, no Blu-ray releases have been announced to date. Series One and the 2013 Christmas Special was released on DVD on 2 February 2015 by 2 entertain. [33] Series 2 was released on 1 February 2016. Series 3 was released on 13 February 2017. [34]

text:
DVD Title
No. of Discs
Special features
No. of Episodes
Release Dates

Region 2
Region 4

Series 1
1
2013 Christmas Special
7
2 February 2015
24 June 2015

Series 2
1
2015 Christmas Special
6
1 February 2016
TBA

Series 3
1
2016 Christmas Special
7
13 February 2017
TBA

Series 4
1
2017 Christmas Special
7
19 February 2018
TBA


document_title: Russian Revolution

question_text: who was the leader of the bolsheviks when they overthrew the russian monarchy

question_tokens: who was the leader of the bolsheviks when they overthrew the russian monarchy

text: Russian Revolution

text: Background

text: The Russian Revolution of 1905 was said to be a major factor contributing to the cause of the Revolutions of 1917. The events of Bloody Sunday triggered nationwide protests and soldier mutinies. A council of workers called the St. Petersburg Soviet was created in this chaos.[2] While the 1905 Revolution was ultimately crushed, and the leaders of the St. Petersburg Soviet were arrested, this laid the groundwork for the later Petrograd Soviet and other revolutionary movements during the leadup to 1917. The 1905 Revolution also led to the creation of a Duma (parliament), that would later form the Provisional Government following February 1917.[3]

text: The outbreak of World War I prompted general outcry directed at Tsar Nicholas II and the Romanov family. While the nation was initially caught up in a wave of nationalism, increasing numbers of defeats and poor conditions soon made the opposite true. The Tsar attempted to remedy the situation by taking personal control of the army in 1915. This proved disastrous, as the Tsar was now held personally responsible for Russia's continuing defeats and losses. In addition, the Tsarina Alexandra, left to rule in while the Tsar was commanding at the front, was German born, leading to suspicion of collusion, only exacerbated by rumors relating to her relationship with the controversial mystic Rasputin. Rasputin's influence led to disastrous ministerial appointments and corruption, resulting in a worsening of conditions within Russia. This led to general dissatisfaction with the Romanov family, and was a major factor contributing to the retaliation of the Russian Communists against the royal family.[3]

text: After the entry of the Ottoman Empire on the side of the Central Powers in October 1914, Russia was deprived of a major trade route through the Dardanelles, which further contributed to the economic crisis, in which Russia became incapable of providing munitions to their army in the years leading to 1917. However, the problems were primarily administrative, and not industrial, as Germany was producing great amounts of munitions whilst constantly fighting on two major battlefronts.[4]

text: The conditions during the war resulted in devastating loss of morale within the Russian army, as well as the general population. This was particularly apparent in the cities, owing to a lack of food in response to the disruption of agriculture. Food scarcity had become a considerable problem in Russia, but the cause of this did not lie in any failure of the harvests, which had not been significantly altered during wartime. The indirect reason was that the government, in order to finance the war, had been printing millions of ruble notes, and by 1917 inflation had made prices increase up to four times what they had been in 1914. Farmers were consequently faced with a higher cost of living, but little increase in income. As a result, they tended to hoard their grain and to revert to subsistence farming. Thus the cities were constantly short of food. At the same time, rising prices led to demands for higher wages in the factories, and in January and February 1916 revolutionary propaganda, in part aided by German funds, led to widespread strikes. This resulted in a growing criticism of the government, including an increased participation of workers in revolutionary parties.

text: Liberal parties too had an increased platform to voice their complaints, as the initial fervor of the war had resulted in the Tsarist government creating a variety of political organizations. In July 1915, a Central War Industries Committee was established under the chairmanship of a prominent Octobrist, Alexander Guchkov (1862-1936), including ten workers' representatives. The Petrograd Mensheviks agreed to join despite the objections of their leaders abroad. All this activity gave renewed encouragement to political ambitions, and, in September 1915, a combination of Octobrists and Kadets in the Duma demanded the forming of a responsible government. The Tsar rejected these proposals.[5]

text: All these factors had given rise to a sharp loss of confidence in the regime, even within the ruling class, growing throughout the war. Early in 1916, Guchkov discussed with senior army officers and members of the Central War Industries Committee about a possible coup to force the abdication of the Tsar. In December, a small group of nobles assassinated Rasputin, and in January 1917 the Tsar's uncle, Grand Duke Nicholas, was asked indirectly by Prince Lvov whether he would be prepared to take over the throne from his nephew, Tsar Nicholas II. None of these incidents were in themselves the immediate cause of the February Revolution, but they do help to explain why the monarchy survived only a few days after it had broken out.[5]

text: Meanwhile, Socialist Revolutionary leaders in exile, many of them living in Switzerland, had been the glum spectators of the collapse of international socialist solidarity. French and German Social Democrats had voted in favour of their respective governments' war efforts. Georgi Plekhanov in Paris had adopted a violently anti-German stand, while Parvus supported the German war effort as the best means of ensuring a revolution in Russia. The Mensheviks largely maintained that Russia had the right to defend herself against Germany, although Martov (a prominent Menshevik), now on the left of his group, demanded an end to the war and a settlement on the basis of national self-determination, with no annexations or indemnities.[5]

text: It was these views of Martov that predominated in a manifesto drawn up by Leon Trotsky (at the time a Menshevik) at a conference in Zimmerwald, attended by 35 Socialist leaders in September 1915. Inevitably Vladimir Lenin, supported by Zinoviev and Radek, strongly contested them. Their attitudes became known as the Zimmerwald Left. Lenin rejected both the defence of Russia and the cry for peace. Since the autumn of 1914, he had insisted that "from the standpoint of the working class and of the labouring masses from the lesser evil would be the defeat of the Tsarist Monarchy"; the war must be turned into a civil war of the proletarian soldiers against their own governments, and if a proletarian victory should emerge from this in Russia, then their duty would be to wage a revolutionary war for the liberation of the masses throughout Europe.[6]

text: Economic and social changes

text: An elementary theory of property, believed by many peasants, was that land should belong to those who work on it. At the same time, peasant life and culture was changing constantly. Change was facilitated by the physical movement of growing numbers of peasant villagers who migrated to and from industrial and urban environments, but also by the introduction of city culture into the village through material goods, the press, and word of mouth.[nb 1]

text: Workers also had good reasons for discontent: overcrowded housing with often deplorable sanitary conditions, long hours at work (on the eve of the war a 10-hour workday six days a week was the average and many were working 11–12 hours a day by 1916), constant risk of injury and death from poor safety and sanitary conditions, harsh discipline (not only rules and fines, but foremen's fists), and inadequate wages (made worse after 1914 by steep wartime increases in the cost of living). At the same time, urban industrial life was full of benefits, though these could be just as dangerous, from the point of view of social and political stability, as the hardships. There were many encouragements to expect more from life. Acquiring new skills gave many workers a sense of self-respect and confidence, heightening expectations and desires. Living in cities, workers encountered material goods such as they had never seen in villages. Most important, living in cities, they were exposed to new ideas about the social and political order.[nb 2]

text: The social causes of the Russian Revolution mainly came from centuries of oppression of the lower classes by the Tsarist regime, and Nicholas's failures in World War I. While rural agrarian peasants had been emancipated from serfdom in 1861, they still resented paying redemption payments to the state, and demanded communal tender of the land they worked. The problem was further compounded by the failure of Sergei Witte's land reforms of the early 20th century. Increasing peasant disturbances and sometimes actual revolts occurred, with the goal of securing ownership of the land they worked. Russia consisted mainly of poor farming peasants, with 1.5% of the population owning 25% of the land.[citation needed]

text: The rapid industrialization of Russia also resulted in urban overcrowding and poor conditions for urban industrial workers (as mentioned above). Between 1890 and 1910, the population of the capital, Saint Petersburg, swelled from 1,033,600 to 1,905,600, with Moscow experiencing similar growth. This created a new 'proletariat' which, due to being crowded together in the cities, was much more likely to protest and go on strike than the peasantry had been in previous times. In one 1904 survey, it was found that an average of sixteen people shared each apartment in Saint Petersburg, with six people per room. There was also no running water, and piles of human waste were a threat to the health of the workers. The poor conditions only aggravated the situation, with the number of strikes and incidents of public disorder rapidly increasing in the years shortly before World War I. Because of late industrialization, Russia's workers were highly concentrated. By 1914, 40% of Russian workers were employed in factories of 1,000+ workers (32% in 1901). 42% worked in 100–1,000 worker enterprises, 18% in 1–100 worker businesses (in the US, 1914, the figures were 18, 47 and 35 respectively).[7]

text:
Years
Average annual strikes[8]

1862–69
6

1870–84
20

1885–94
33

1895–1905
176

text: World War I added to the chaos. Conscription swept up the unwilling across Russia. The vast demand for factory production of war supplies and workers caused many more labor riots and strikes. Conscription stripped skilled workers from the cities, who had to be replaced with unskilled peasants, and then, when famine began to hit due to the poor railway system, workers abandoned the cities in droves seeking food. Finally, the soldiers themselves, who suffered from a lack of equipment and protection from the elements, began to turn against the Tsar. This was mainly because, as the war progressed, many of the officers who were loyal to the Tsar were killed, and were replaced by discontented conscripts from the major cities, who had little loyalty to the Tsar.

text: Political issues

text: Many sections of the country had reason to be dissatisfied with the existing autocracy. Nicholas II was a deeply conservative ruler and maintained a strict authoritarian system. Individuals and society in general were expected to show self-restraint, devotion to community, deference to the social hierarchy and a sense of duty to the country. Religious faith helped bind all of these tenets together as a source of comfort and reassurance in the face of difficult conditions and as a means of political authority exercised through the clergy. Perhaps more than any other modern monarch, Nicholas II attached his fate and the future of his dynasty to the notion of the ruler as a saintly and infallible father to his people.[nb 3]

text: This idealized vision of the Romanov monarchy blinded him to the actual state of his country. With a firm belief that his power to rule was granted by Divine Right, Nicholas assumed that the Russian people were devoted to him with unquestioning loyalty. This ironclad belief rendered Nicholas unwilling to allow the progressive reforms that might have alleviated the suffering of the Russian people. Even after the 1905 revolution spurred the Tsar to decree limited civil rights and democratic representation, he worked to limit even these liberties in order to preserve the ultimate authority of the crown.[nb 3]

text: Despite constant oppression, the desire of the people for democratic participation in government decisions was strong. Since the Age of Enlightenment, Russian intellectuals had promoted Enlightenment ideals such as the dignity of the individual and the rectitude of democratic representation. These ideals were championed most vociferously by Russia’s liberals, although populists, Marxists, and anarchists also claimed to support democratic reforms. A growing opposition movement had begun to challenge the Romanov monarchy openly well before the turmoil of World War I.

text: Dissatisfaction with Russian autocracy culminated in the huge national upheaval that followed the Bloody Sunday massacre of January 1905, in which hundreds of unarmed protesters were shot by the Tsar's troops. Workers responded to the massacre with a crippling general strike, forcing Nicholas to put forth the October Manifesto, which established a democratically elected parliament (the State Duma). The Tsar undermined this promise of reform but a year later with Article 87 of the 1906 Fundamental State Laws, and subsequently dismissed the first two Dumas when they proved uncooperative. Unfulfilled hopes of democracy fueled revolutionary ideas and violent outbursts targeted at the monarchy.

text: One of the Tsar’s principal rationales for risking war in 1914 was his desire to restore the prestige that Russia had lost amid the debacles of the Russo-Japanese war. Nicholas also sought to foster a greater sense of national unity with a war against a common and ancient enemy. The Russian Empire was an agglomeration of diverse ethnicities that had shown significant signs of disunity in the years before the First World War. Nicholas believed in part that the shared peril and tribulation of a foreign war would mitigate the social unrest over the persistent issues of poverty, inequality, and inhuman working conditions. Instead of restoring Russia's political and military standing, World War I led to the horrifying slaughter of Russian troops and military defeats that undermined both the monarchy and society in general to the point of collapse.

text: World War I

text: The outbreak of war in August 1914 initially served to quiet the prevalent social and political protests, focusing hostilities against a common external enemy, but this patriotic unity did not last long. As the war dragged on inconclusively, war-weariness gradually took its toll. More important, though, was a deeper fragility: although many ordinary Russians joined anti-German demonstrations in the first few weeks of the war, the most widespread reaction appears to have been skepticism and fatalism. Hostility toward the Kaiser and the desire to defend their land and their lives did not necessarily translate into enthusiasm for the Tsar or the government.[9][10][11]

text: Russia's first major battle of the war was a disaster: in the 1914 Battle of Tannenberg, over 30,000 Russian troops were killed or wounded and 90,000 captured, while Germany suffered just 12,000 casualties. However, Austro-Hungarian forces allied to Germany were driven back deep into the Galicia region by the end of the year. In the autumn of 1915, Nicholas had taken direct command of the army, personally overseeing Russia's main theatre of war and leaving his ambitious but incapable wife Alexandra in charge of the government. Reports of corruption and incompetence in the Imperial government began to emerge, and the growing influence of Grigori Rasputin in the Imperial family was widely resented. In the eyes of Michael Lynch, a revisionist historian (member of the School of Historical Studies at the University of Leicester) who focuses on the role of the people, Rasputin was a "fatal disease" to the Tsarist regime.

text: In 1915, things took a critical turn for the worse when Germany shifted its focus of attack to the Eastern front. The superior German army – better led, better trained and better supplied – was terrifyingly effective against the ill-equipped Russian forces, driving the Russians out of Galicia, as well as Russian Poland, during the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive campaign. By the end of October 1916, Russia had lost between 1,600,000 and 1,800,000 soldiers, with an additional 2,000,000 prisoners of war and 1,000,000 missing, all making up a total of nearly 5,000,000 men.

text: These staggering losses played a definite role in the mutinies and revolts that began to occur. In 1916, reports of fraternizing with the enemy started to circulate. Soldiers went hungry, and lacked shoes, munitions, and even weapons. Rampant discontent lowered morale, which was further undermined by a series of military defeats.

text: Casualty rates were the most vivid sign of this disaster. Already, by the end of 1914, only five months into the war, around 390,000 Russian men had lost their lives and nearly 1,000,000 were injured. Far sooner than expected, barely trained recruits had to be called up for active duty, a process repeated throughout the war as staggering losses continued to mount. The officer class also saw remarkable changes, especially within the lower echelons, which were quickly filled with soldiers rising up through the ranks. These men, usually of peasant or working-class backgrounds, were to play a large role in the politicization of the troops in 1917.

text: The huge losses on the battlefields were not limited to men. The army quickly ran short of rifles and ammunition (as well as uniforms and food), and, by mid-1915, men were being sent to the front bearing no arms. It was hoped that they could equip themselves with the arms that they recovered from fallen soldiers, of both sides, on the battlefields. The soldiers did not feel that they were being treated as valuable soldiers, or even as human beings, but rather as raw materials to be squandered for the purposes of the rich and powerful.

text: By the spring of 1915, the army was in steady retreat, which was not always orderly; desertion, plunder and chaotic flight were not uncommon. By 1916, however, the situation had improved in many respects. Russian troops stopped retreating, and there were even some modest successes in the offensives that were staged that year, albeit at great loss of life. Also, the problem of shortages was largely solved by a major effort to increase domestic production. Nevertheless, by the end of 1916, morale among soldiers was even worse than it had been during the great retreat of 1915. The fortunes of war may have improved, but the fact of the war, still draining away strength and lives from the country and its many individuals and families, remained an oppressive inevitability. The crisis in morale (as was argued by Allan Wildman, a leading historian of the Russian army in war and revolution) "was rooted fundamentally in the feeling of utter despair that the slaughter would ever end and that anything resembling victory could be achieved."[12]

text: The war devastated not only soldiers. By the end of 1915, there were manifold signs that the economy was breaking down under the heightened strain of wartime demand. The main problems were food shortages and rising prices. Inflation dragged incomes down at an alarmingly rapid rate, and shortages made it difficult to buy even what one could afford. These shortages were a problem especially in the capital, St. Petersburg, where distance from supplies and poor transportation networks made matters particularly bad. Shops closed early or entirely for lack of bread, sugar, meat and other provisions, and lines lengthened massively for what remained. It became increasingly difficult both to afford and actually buy food.

text: Not surprisingly, strikes increased steadily from the middle of 1915, and so did crime; but, for the most part, people suffered and endured, scouring the city for food. Working class women in St. Petersburg reportedly spent about forty hours a week in food lines, begging, turning to prostitution or crime, tearing down wooden fences to keep stoves heated for warmth, grumbling about the rich, and wondering when and how this would all come to an end.

text: Government officials responsible for public order worried about how long people's patience would last. A report by the St. Petersburg branch of the security police, the Okhrana, in October 1916, warned bluntly of "the possibility in the near future of riots by the lower classes of the empire enraged by the burdens of daily existence."[13]

text: Nicholas was blamed for all of these crises, and what little support he had left began to crumble. As discontent grew, the State Duma issued a warning to Nicholas in November 1916. It stated that, inevitably, a terrible disaster would grip the country unless a constitutional form of government was put in place. Nicholas ignored these warnings and Russia's Tsarist regime collapsed a few months later during the February Revolution of 1917. One year later, the Tsar and his entire family were executed.

text: February Revolution

text: At the beginning of February, Petrograd workers began several strikes and demonstrations.[citation needed] On 7 March [O.S. 22 February], workers at Putilov, Petrograd's largest industrial plant, announced a strike.[14]

text: The next day, a series of meetings and rallies were held for International Women's Day, which gradually turned into economic and political gatherings. Demonstrations were organised to demand bread, and these were supported by the industrial working force who considered them a reason for continuing the strikes. The women workers marched to nearby factories bringing out over 50,000 workers on strike.[15] By 10 March [O.S. 25 February], virtually every industrial enterprise in Petrograd had been shut down, together with many commercial and service enterprises. Students, white-collar workers and teachers joined the workers in the streets and at public meetings.[citation needed]

text: To quell the riots, the Tsar looked to the army. At least 180,000 troops were available in the capital, but most were either untrained or injured. Historian Ian Beckett suggests around 12,000 could be regarded as reliable, but even these proved reluctant to move in on the crowd, since it included so many women. It was for this reason that when, on 11 March [O.S. 26 February], the Tsar ordered the army to suppress the rioting by force, troops began to mutiny.[16] Although few actively joined the rioting, many officers were either shot or went into hiding; the ability of the garrison to hold back the protests was all but nullified, symbols of the Tsarist regime were rapidly torn down around the city, and governmental authority in the capital collapsed – not helped by the fact that Nicholas had prorogued the Duma that morning, leaving it with no legal authority to act. The response of the Duma, urged on by the liberal bloc, was to establish a Temporary Committee to restore law and order; meanwhile, the socialist parties establish the Petrograd Soviet to represent workers and soldiers. The remaining loyal units switched allegiance the next day.[17]

text: The Tsar directed the royal train back towards Petrograd, which was stopped 14 March [O.S. 1 March],[16] by a group of revolutionaries at Malaya Vishera. When the Tsar finally arrived at in Pskov, the Army Chief Nikolai Ruzsky, and the Duma deputees Guchkov and Vasily Shulgin suggested in unison that he abdicate the throne. He did so on 15 March [O.S. 2 March], on behalf of himself, and then, having taken advice, on behalf of his son, the Tsarevich.[16] Nicholas nominated his brother, the Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, to succeed him. But the Grand Duke realised that he would have little support as ruler, so he declined the crown on 16 March [O.S. 3 March],[16] stating that he would take it only if that was the consensus of democratic action.[18] Six days later, Nicholas, no longer Tsar and addressed with contempt by the sentries as "Nicholas Romanov", was reunited with his family at the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo.[19] He was placed under house arrest with his family by the Provisional Government.

text: The immediate effect of the February Revolution was a widespread atmosphere of elation and excitement in Petrograd.[20] On 16 March [O.S. 3 March], a provisional government was announced. The center-left was well represented, and the government was initially chaired by a liberal aristocrat, Prince Georgy Yevgenievich Lvov, a member of the Constitutional Democratic party (KD).[21] The socialists had formed their rival body, the Petrograd Soviet (or workers' council) four days earlier. The Petrograd Soviet and the Provisional Government competed for power over Russia.

text: Between February and throughout October: "Dual Power" (dvoevlastie)

text: The effective power of the Provisional Government was challenged by the authority of an institution that claimed to represent the will of workers and soldiers and could, in fact, mobilize and control these groups during the early months of the revolution – the Petrograd Soviet [Council] of Workers' Deputies. The model for the soviet were workers' councils that had been established in scores of Russian cities during the 1905 Revolution. In February 1917, striking workers elected deputies to represent them and socialist activists began organizing a citywide council to unite these deputies with representatives of the socialist parties. On 27 February, socialist Duma deputies, mainly Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries, took the lead in organizing a citywide council. The Petrograd Soviet met in the Tauride Palace, the same building where the new government was taking shape.

text: The leaders of the Petrograd Soviet believed that they represented particular classes of the population, not the whole nation. They also believed Russia was not ready for socialism. So they saw their role as limited to pressuring hesitant "bourgeoisie" to rule and to introduce extensive democratic reforms in Russia (the replacement of the monarchy by a republic, guaranteed civil rights, a democratic police and army, abolition of religious and ethnic discrimination, preparation of elections to a constituent assembly, and so on).[22] They met in the same building as the emerging Provisional Government not to compete with the Duma Committee for state power but to best exert pressure on the new government, to act, in other words, as a popular democratic lobby.

text: The relationship between these two major powers was complex from the beginning and would shape the politics of 1917. The representatives of the Provisional Government agreed to "take into account the opinions of the Soviet of Workers' Deputies", though they were also determined to prevent "interference in the actions of the government", which would create "an unacceptable situation of dual power."[23] In fact, this was precisely what was being created, though this "dual power" (dvoevlastie) was the result less of the actions or attitudes of the leaders of these two institutions than of actions outside their control, especially the ongoing social movement taking place on the streets of Russia’s cities, in factories and shops, in barracks and in the trenches, and in the villages.

text: A series of political crises – see the chronology below – in the relationship between population and government and between the Provisional Government and the soviets (which developed into a nationwide movement with a national leadership, The All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Soviets (VTsIK)) undermined the authority of the Provisional Government but also of the moderate socialist leaders of the Soviet. Although the Soviet leadership initially refused to participate in the "bourgeois" Provisional Government, Alexander Kerensky, a young and popular lawyer and a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRP), agreed to join the new cabinet, and became an increasingly central figure in the government, eventually taking leadership of the Provisional Government. As minister of war and later Prime Minister, Kerensky promoted freedom of speech, released thousands of political prisoners, did his very best to continue the war effort and even organised another offensive (which, however, was no more successful than its predecessors). Nevertheless, Kerensky still faced several great challenges, highlighted by the soldiers, urban workers and peasants, who claimed that they had gained nothing by the revolution:

text:
Other political groups were trying to undermine him.
Heavy military losses were being suffered on the front.
The soldiers were dissatisfied and demoralised and had started to defect. (On arrival back in Russia, these soldiers were either imprisoned or sent straight back into the front.)
There was enormous discontent with Russia's involvement in the war, and many were calling for an end to it.
There were great shortages of food and supplies, which was difficult to remedy because of the wartime economic conditions.

text: The political group that proved most troublesome for Kerensky, and would eventually overthrow him, was the Bolshevik Party, led by Vladimir Lenin. Lenin had been living in exile in neutral Switzerland and, due to democratization of politics after the February Revolution, which legalized formerly banned political parties, he perceived the opportunity for his Marxist revolution. Although return to Russia had become a possibility, the war made it logistically difficult. Eventually, German officials arranged for Lenin to pass through their territory, hoping that his activities would weaken Russia or even – if the Bolsheviks came to power – led to Russia's withdrawal from the war. Lenin and his associates, however, had to agree to travel to Russia in a sealed train: Germany would not take the chance that he would foment revolution in Germany. After passing through the front, he arrived in Petrograd in April 1917.

text: On the way to Russia, Lenin prepared the April Theses, which outlined central Bolshevik policies. These included that the soviets take power (as seen in the slogan "all power to the soviets") and denouncing the liberals and social revolutionaries in the Provisional Government, forbidding co-operation with it. Many Bolsheviks, however, had supported the Provisional Government, including Lev Kamenev. [24]

text: With Lenin's arrival, the popularity of the Bolsheviks increased steadily. Over the course of the spring, public dissatisfaction with the Provisional Government and the war, in particular among workers, soldiers and peasants, pushed these groups to radical parties. Despite growing support for the Bolsheviks, buoyed by maxims that called most famously for "all power to the Soviets," the party held very little real power in the moderate-dominated Petrograd Soviet. In fact, historians such as Sheila Fitzpatrick have asserted that Lenin's exhortations for the Soviet Council to take power were intended to arouse indignation both with the Provisional Government, whose policies were viewed as conservative, and the Soviet itself, which was viewed as subservient to the conservative government. By some historians' accounts, Lenin and his followers were unprepared for how their groundswell of support, especially among influential worker and soldier groups, would translate into real power in the summer of 1917.

text: On 18 June, the Provisional Government launched an attack against Germany that failed miserably. Soon after, the government ordered soldiers to go to the front, reneging on a promise. The soldiers refused to follow the new orders. The arrival of radical Kronstadt sailors – who had tried and executed many officers, including one admiral – further fueled the growing revolutionary atmosphere. The sailors and soldiers, along with Petrograd workers, took to the streets in violent protest, calling for "all power to the Soviets." The revolt, however, was disowned by Lenin[25] and the Bolshevik leaders and dissipated within a few days. In the aftermath, Lenin fled to Finland under threat of arrest while Trotsky, among other prominent Bolsheviks, was arrested. The July Days confirmed the popularity of the anti-war, radical Bolsheviks, but their unpreparedness at the moment of revolt was an embarrassing gaffe that lost them support among their main constituent groups: soldiers and workers.

text: The Bolshevik failure in the July Days proved temporary. The Bolsheviks had undergone a spectacular growth in membership. Whereas, in February 1917, the Bolsheviks were limited to only 24,000 members, by September 1917 there were 200,000 members of the Bolshevik faction.[26] Previously, the Bolsheviks had been in the minority in the two leading cities of Russia—St. Petersburg and Moscow behind the Mensheviks and the Socialist Revolutionaries, by September the Bolsheviks were in the majority in both cities.[27] Furthermore, the Bolshevik-controlled Moscow Regional Bureau of the Party also controlled the Party organizations of the thirteen (13) provinces around Moscow. These thirteen provinces held 37% of Russia's population and 20% of the membership of the Bolshevik faction.[27]

text: In August, poor or misleading communication led General Lavr Kornilov, the recently appointed Supreme Commander of Russian military forces, to believe that the Petrograd government had already been captured by radicals, or was in serious danger thereof.[dubious – discuss] In response, he ordered troops to Petrograd to pacify the city. To secure his position, Kerensky had to ask for Bolshevik assistance. He also sought help from the Petrograd Soviet, which called upon armed Red Guards to "defend the revolution". The Kornilov Affair failed largely due to the efforts of the Bolsheviks, whose influence over railroad and telegraph workers proved vital in stopping the movement of troops. With his coup failing, Kornilov surrendered and was relieved of his position. The Bolsheviks' role in stopping the attempted coup further strengthened their position.

text: In early September, the Petrograd Soviet freed all jailed Bolsheviks and Trotsky became chairman of the Petrograd Soviet. Growing numbers of socialists and lower-class Russians viewed the government less and less as a force in support of their needs and interests. The Bolsheviks benefited as the only major organized opposition party that had refused to compromise with the Provisional Government, and they benefited from growing frustration and even disgust with other parties, such as the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries, who stubbornly refused to break with the idea of national unity across all classes.

text: In Finland, Lenin had worked on his book State and Revolution[28] and continued to lead his party, writing newspaper articles and policy decrees. By October, he returned to Petrograd (St. Petersburg), aware that the increasingly radical city presented him no legal danger and a second opportunity for revolution. Recognising the strength of the Bolsheviks, Lenin began pressing for the immediate overthrow of the Kerensky government by the Bolsheviks. Lenin was of the opinion that taking power should occur in both St. Petersburg and Moscow simultaneously, parenthetically stating that it made no difference which city rose up first, but expressing his opinion that Moscow may well rise up first.[29] The Bolshevik Central Committee drafted a resolution, calling for the dissolution of the Provisional Government in favor of the Petrograd Soviet. The resolution was passed 10–2 (Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev prominently dissenting) and the October Revolution began.

text: October Revolution

text: The October Revolution was led by Vladimir Lenin and was based upon Lenin's writing on the ideas of Karl Marx, a political ideology often known as Marxism–Leninism. It marked the beginning of the spread of communism in the 20th century. It was far less sporadic than the revolution of February and came about as the result of deliberate planning and coordinated activity to that end.

text: Though Lenin was the leader of the Bolshevik Party, it has been argued that since Lenin was not present during the actual takeover of the Winter Palace, it was really Trotsky's organization and direction that led the revolution, merely spurred by the motivation Lenin instigated within his party.[30] Critics on the Right have long argued that the financial and logistical assistance of German intelligence via their key agent, Alexander Parvus was a key component as well, though historians are divided, since there is little evidence supporting that claim.

text: On 7 November 1917, Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin led his leftist revolutionaries in a revolt against the ineffective Provisional Government (Russia was still using the Julian calendar at the time, so period references show a 25 October date). The October revolution ended the phase of the revolution instigated in February, replacing Russia's short-lived provisional parliamentary government with government by soviets, local councils elected by bodies of workers and peasants. Liberal and monarchist forces, loosely organized into the White Army, immediately went to war against the Bolsheviks' Red Army, in a series of battles that would become known as the Russian Civil War.

text: Soviet membership was initially freely elected, but many members of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, anarchists, and other leftists created opposition to the Bolsheviks through the soviets themselves. When it became clear that the Bolsheviks had little support outside of the industrialized areas of Saint Petersburg and Moscow, they simply barred non-Bolsheviks from membership in the soviets.[citation needed] Not surprisingly, this caused mass domestic tension with many individuals who called for another series of political reform, revolting, and calling for "a third Russian revolution," a movement that received a significant amount of support. The most notable instances of this anti-Bolshevik mentality were expressed in the Tambov rebellion, 1919–1921, and the Kronstadt rebellion in March 1921. These movements, which made a wide range of demands and lacked effective coordination, were eventually defeated along with the White Army during the Civil War.

text: Russian Civil War

text: The Russian Civil War, which broke out in 1918 shortly after the October Revolution, brought death and suffering to millions of people regardless of their political orientation. The war was fought mainly between the Red Army ("Reds"), consisting of the uprising majority led by the Bolshevik minority, and the "Whites" – army officers and cossacks, the "bourgeoisie", and political groups ranging from the far Right to the Socialist Revolutionaries who opposed the drastic restructuring championed by the Bolsheviks following the collapse of the Provisional Government to the soviets (under clear Bolshevik dominance).[31][32] The Whites had backing from nations such as Great Britain, France, USA and Japan, while the Reds possessed internal support which proved to be much more effective. Though the Allied nations, using external interference, provided substantial military aid to the loosely knit anti-Bolshevik forces, they were ultimately defeated.[31]

text: The Bolsheviks firstly assumed power in Petrograd, expanding their rule outwards. They eventually reached the Easterly Siberian Russian coast in Vladivostok, 4 years after the war began, an occupation that is believed to have ended all significant military campaigns in the nation. Less than one year later the last area controlled by the White Army, the Ayano-Maysky District, directly to the north of the Krai containing Vladivostok, was given up when General Anatoly Pepelyayev capitulated in 1923.

text: Several revolts were initiated against the Bolsheviks and their army near the end of the war, notably the Kronstadt Rebellion. This was a naval mutiny engineered by Soviet Baltic sailors, former Red Army soldiers, and the people of Kronstadt. This armed uprising was fought against the antagonizing Bolshevik economic policies that farmers were subjected to, including seizures of grain crops by the Communists.[33] This all amounted to large-scale discontent. When delegates representing the Kronstadt sailors arrived at Petrograd for negotiations, they raised 15 demands primarily pertaining to the Russian right to freedom.[34] The Government firmly denounced the rebellions and labelled the requests as a reminder of the Social Revolutionaries, a political party that was popular among Soviets before Lenin, but refused to cooperate with the Bolshevik Army. The Government then responded with an armed suppression of these revolts and suffered 10 thousand casualties before entering the city of Kronstadt.[35] This ended the rebellions fairly quickly, causing many of the rebels to flee to political exile.[36]

text: During the Civil War, Nestor Makhno led a Ukrainian anarchist movement, the Black Army allied to the Bolsheviks thrice, one of the powers ending the alliance each time. However, a Bolshevik force under Mikhail Frunze destroyed the Makhnovist movement, when the Makhnovists refused to merge into the Red Army. In addition, the so-called "Green Army" (peasants defending their property against the opposing forces) played a secondary role in the war, mainly in the Ukraine.

text: Execution of the imperial family

text: The Bolsheviks executed the tsar and his family on 16 July 1918.[37] In early March, the Provisional Government placed Nicholas and his family under house arrest in the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, 24 kilometres (15 mi) south of Petrograd. In August 1917 the Kerensky government evacuated the Romanovs to Tobolsk in the Urals, to protect them from the rising tide of revolution. After the Bolsheviks came to power in October 1917, the conditions of their imprisonment grew stricter and talk of putting Nicholas on trial increased. As the counter revolutionary White movement gathered force, leading to full-scale civil war by the summer, the Romanovs were moved during April and May 1918 to Yekaterinburg, a militant Bolshevik stronghold.

text: During the early morning of 16 July, Nicholas, Alexandra, their children, their physician, and several servants were taken into the basement and shot. According to Edvard Radzinsky and Dmitrii Volkogonov, the order came directly from Lenin and Sverdlov in Moscow. That the order came from the top has long been believed, although there is a lack of hard evidence. The execution may have been carried out on the initiative of local Bolshevik officials, or it may have been an option pre-approved in Moscow should White troops approach Yekaterinburg. Radzinsky noted that Lenin's bodyguard personally delivered the telegram ordering the execution and that he was ordered to destroy the evidence.[38][39]

text: The revolution and the world

text: Leon Trotsky said that the goal of socialism in Russia would not be realized without the success of the world revolution. Indeed, a revolutionary wave caused by the Russian Revolution lasted until 1923. Despite initial hopes for success in the German Revolution of 1918–19, in the short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic and others like it, no other Marxist movement at the time succeeded in keeping power in its hands.

text: This issue is subject to conflicting views on the communist history by various Marxist groups and parties. Joseph Stalin later rejected this idea, stating that socialism was possible in one country.

text: The confusion regarding Stalin's position on the issue stems from the fact that he, after Lenin's death in 1924, successfully used Lenin's argument – the argument that socialism's success needs the workers of other countries in order to happen – to defeat his competitors within the party by accusing them of betraying Lenin and, therefore, the ideals of the October Revolution.

text: Historiography

text: Few events in historical research have been as conditioned by political influences as the October Revolution. The historiography of the Revolution generally divides into three camps: the Soviet-Marxist view, the Western-Totalitarian view, and the Revisionist view.[40] Since the fall of Communism in Russia in 1991, the Western-Totalitarian view has again become dominant and the Soviet-Marxist view has practically vanished.[41]

text: Lenin's biographer Robert Service, says he, "laid the foundations of dictatorship and lawlessness. Lenin had consolidated the principle of state penetration of the whole society, its economy and its culture. Lenin had practised terror and advocated revolutionary amoralism."[42]

text: Chronology

text: Chronology of events leading to the revolution

text: Dates are correct for the Julian calendar, which was used in Russia until 1918. It was twelve days behind the Gregorian calendar during the 19th century and thirteen days behind it during the 20th century.

text:
Date(s)
Event(s)

1874–81
Growing anti-government terrorist movement and government reaction.

1881
Alexander II assassinated by revolutionaries; succeeded by Alexander III.

1883
First Russian Marxist group formed.

1894
Start of reign of Nicholas II.

1898
First Congress of Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP).

1900
Foundation of Socialist Revolutionary Party (SR).

1903
Second Congress of Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. Beginning of split between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.

1904–5
Russo-Japanese War; Russia loses war.

1905
Revolution of 1905.

1905
January
Bloody Sunday in Saint Petersburg.

1905
June
Battleship Potemkin uprising at Odessa on the Black Sea (see movie The Battleship Potemkin).

1905
October
General strike, Saint Petersburg Soviet formed; October Manifesto: Imperial agreement on elections to the State Duma.

1906
First State Duma. Prime Minister: Petr Stolypin. Agrarian reforms begin.

1907
Third State Duma, until 1912.

1911
Stolypin assassinated.

1912
Fourth State Duma, until 1917. Bolshevik/Menshevik split final.

1914
Germany declares war on Russia.

1914
30 July
The All Russian Zemstvo Union for the Relief of Sick and Wounded Soldiers is created with Lvov as president.

1914
August–November
Russia suffers heavy defeats and a large shortage of supplies, including food and munitions, but holds onto Austrian Galicia.

1914
3 August
Germany declares war on Russia, causing a brief sense of patriotic union amongst the Russian nation and a downturn in striking.

1914
18 August
St. Petersburg is renamed Petrograd as 'Germanic' names are changed to sound more Russian, and hence more patriotic.

1914
5 November
Bolshevik members of the Duma are arrested; they are later tried and exiled to Siberia.

1915
Serious defeats, Nicholas II declares himself Commander in Chief.

1915
19 February
Great Britain and France promise Russia Istanbul and other Turkish lands.

1915
5 June
Strikers shot at in Kostromá; casualties.

1915
9 July
The Great Retreat begins, as Russian forces pull back out of Galicia and Russian Poland into Russia proper.

1915
9 August
The Duma's bourgeois parties form the 'Progressive bloc' to push for better government and reform; includes the Kadets, Octobrist groups and Nationalists.

1915
10 August
Strikers shot at in Ivánovo-Voznesénsk; casualties.

1915
17–19 August
Strikers in Petrograd protest at the deaths in Ivánovo-Voznesénsk.

1915
23 August
Reacting to war failures and a hostile Duma, the Tsar takes over as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, prorogues the Duma and moves to military headquarters at Mogilev. Central government begins to seize up.

1916
Food and fuel shortages and high prices. Progressive Bloc formed.

1916
January–December
Despite successes in the Brusilov offensive, the Russian war effort is still characterised by shortages, poor command, death and desertion. Away from the front, the conflict causes starvation, inflation and a torrent of refugees. Both soldiers and civilians blame the incompetence of the Tsar and his government.

1916
6 February
Duma reconvened.

1916
29 February
After a month of strikes at the Putílov Factory, the government conscripts the workers and takes charge of production. Protest strikes follow.

1916
20 June
Duma prorogued.

1916
October
Troops from 181st Regiment help striking Russkii Renault workers fight against the Police.

1916
1 November
Miliukov gives his 'Is this stupidity or treason?' speech in reconvened Duma.

1916
29 December
Rasputin is killed by Prince Yusupov.

1916
30 December
The Tsar is warned that his army will not support him against a revolution.

1917
Strikes, mutinies, street demonstrations lead to the fall of autocracy.

text: Chronology of the 1917 revolutions

text:
Gregorian Date
Julian Date
Event

January
Strikes and unrest in Petrograd.

February
February Revolution.

8 March
23 February
International Women's Day: strikes and demonstrations in Petrograd, growing over the next few days.

11 March
26 February
50 demonstrators killed in Znamenskaya Square Tsar Nicholas II prorogues the State Duma and orders commander of Petrograd military district to suppress disorders with force.

12 March
27 February
* Troops refuse to fire on demonstrators, deserters. Prisons, courts, and police bumbs attacked and looted by angry crowds.

Okhrana buildings set on fire. Garrison joins revolutionaries.
Petrograd Soviet formed.
Formation of Provisional Committee of the Duma by liberals from Constitutional Democratic Party (Kadets).

14 March
1 March
Order No.1 of the Petrograd Soviet.

15 March
2 March
Nicholas II abdicates. Provisional Government formed under Prime Minister Prince Lvov.

16 April
3 April
Return of Vladimir Lenin to Russia. He publishes his April Theses.

3–4 May
20–21 April
"April Days": mass demonstrations by workers, soldiers, and others in the streets of Petrograd and Moscow triggered by the publication of the Foreign Minister Pavel Miliukov's note to the allies, which was interpreted as affirming commitment to the war policies of the old government. First Provisional Government falls.

18 May
5 May
First Coalition Government forms when socialists, representatives of the Soviet leadership, agree to enter the cabinet of the Provisional Government. Alexander Kerensky, the only socialist already in the government, made minister of war and navy.

16 June
3 June
First All-Russian Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies opens in Petrograd. Closed on 24 June. Elects Central Executive Committee of Soviets (VTsIK), headed by Mensheviks and SRs.

23 June
10 June
Planned Bolshevik demonstration in Petrograd banned by the Soviet.

29 June
16 June
Kerensky orders offensive against Austro-Hungarian forces. Initial success only.

1 July
18 June
Official Soviet demonstration in Petrograd for unity is unexpectedly dominated by Bolshevik slogans: "Down with the Ten Capitalist Ministers", "All Power to the Soviets".

15 July
2 July
Russian offensive ends. Trotsky joins Bolsheviks.

16–17 July
3–4 July
The "July Days"; mass armed demonstrations in Petrograd, encouraged by the Bolsheviks, demanding "All Power to the Soviets".

19 July
6 July
German and Austro-Hungarian counter-attack. Russians retreat in panic, sacking the town of Tarnopol. Arrest of Bolshevik leaders ordered.

20 July
7 July
Lvov resigns and asks Kerensky to become Prime Minister and form a new government. Established 25 July.

4 August
22 July
Trotsky and Lunacharskii arrested.

8 September
26 August
Second coalition government ends.

8–12 September
26–30 August
"Kornilov mutiny". Begins when the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, General Lavr Kornilov, demands (or is believed by Kerensky to demand) that the government give him all civil and military authority and moves troops against Petrograd.

13 September
31 August
Majority of deputies of the Petrograd Soviet approve a Bolshevik resolution for an all-socialist government excluding the bourgeoisie.

14 September
1 September
Russia declared a republic.

17 September
4 September
Trotsky and others freed.

18 September
5 September
Bolshevik resolution on the government wins majority vote in Moscow Soviet.

2 October
19 September
Moscow Soviet elects executive committee and new presidium, with Bolshevik majorities, and the Bolshevik Viktor Nogin as chairman.

8 October
25 September
Third coalition government formed. Bolshevik majority in Petrograd Soviet elects Bolshevik Presidium and Trotsky as chairman.

23 October
10 October
Bolshevik Central Committee meeting approves armed uprising.

24 October
11 October
Congress of Soviets of the Northern Region, until 13 October.

2 November
20 October
First meeting of the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet.

7 November
25 October
October Revolution is launched as MRC directs armed workers and soldiers to capture key buildings in Petrograd. Winter Palace attacked at 9:40pm and captured at 2am. Kerensky flees Petrograd. Opening of the 2nd All-Russian Congress of Soviets.

8 November
26 October
Second Congress of Soviets: Mensheviks and right SR delegates walk out in protest against the previous day's events. Congress approves transfer of state authority into its own hands and local power into the hands of local soviets of workers', soldiers', and peasants' deputies, abolishes capital punishment, issues Decree on Peace and Decree on Land, and approves the formation of an all-Bolshevik government, the Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom), with Lenin as chairman.

text: Cultural portrayal

text: George Orwell's classic novella Animal Farm is an allegory of the Russian Revolution and its aftermath. It describes the dictator Stalin as a big Berkshire boar named, "Napoleon." Trotsky is represented by a pig called Snowball who is a brilliant talker and makes magnificent speeches. However, Napoleon overthrows Snowball as Stalin overthrew Trotsky and Napoleon takes over the farm the animals live on. Napoleon becomes a tyrant and uses force and propaganda to oppress the animals.[43]

text: Film

text: The Russian Revolution has been portrayed in or served as backdrop for many films. Among them, in order of release date:

text:
The White Guard, Mikhail Bulgakov, 1926. Partially autobiographical novel, portraying the life of one family torn apart by uncertainty of the Civil War times. Also, Dni Turbinykh (IMDB profile), 1976 – film based on the novel.
Konets Sankt-Peterburga AKA The End of Saint Petersburg (IMDB profile). 1927. Directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin and Mikhail Doller, USSR.
October: Ten Days That Shook the World (IMDB profile). 1927. Directed by Sergei Eisenstein and Grigori Aleksandrov. Soviet Union. Black and White. Silent.
Arsenal (IMDB profile). 1929. Set in the Ukraine. Written and directed by Aleksandr Dovzhenko.
Scarlet Dawn, a 1932 Pre-Code American romantic drama starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Nancy Carroll caught up in the fallout of the Russian Revolution.
Knight Without Armour. 1937. A British historical drama starring Marlene Dietrich and Robert Donat, with Dietrich as an imperiled aristocrat on the eve of the Russian Revolution.
Lenin v 1918 godu AKA Lenin in 1918 (IMDB profile). 1939. Directed by Mikhail Romm, E. Aron, and I. Simkov. Historical-revolutionary film about Lenin's activities in the first years of Soviet power.
Doctor Zhivago. 1965. A drama-romance-war film directed by David Lean, filmed in Europe with a largely European cast, loosely based on the famous novel of the same name by Boris Pasternak.
Reds (IMDB profile). 1981. Directed by Warren Beatty, it is based on the book Ten Days that Shook the World.
Anastasia (IMDB profile). 1997. An American animated feature, directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman.


document_title: The Wizard (Black Sabbath song)

question_text: who played harmonica on the wizard black sabbath

text: The Wizard (Black Sabbath song)

text: Information[edit]

text: "The Wizard" is about a wizard who uses his magic to encourage people he encounters. In a 2005 interview with Metal Sludge, Black Sabbath bassist and lyricist Geezer Butler said the song's lyrics were influenced by the wizard Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings.[2] It was also believed to be about the band's drug dealer at the time.[citation needed]

text: Personnel[edit]

text:
Ozzy Osbourne – vocals, harmonica
Tony Iommi – guitar, slide guitar[3]
Geezer Butler – bass
Bill Ward – drums

text: Covers[edit]

text: The song was covered by Bullring Brummies for the Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity in Black..[4]

text: The song was covered by Zakk Wylde's band Pride and Glory on the second disc of the reissue of Pride and Glory. Wylde had also been a member of Ozzy Osbourne's solo band at the time.