The World Socialist Web Site is proud to announce that Tsar to Lenin is to be screened by two major independent cinemas in the UK, the Cornerhouse in Manchester May 27, and the National Media Museum in Bradford, June 1.

First released in 1937, Tsar to Lenin ranks among the greatest documentary films of the twentieth century. Based on archival footage assembled over more than a decade by filmmaker Herman Axelbank and narrated by the US radical Max Eastman, it presents an extraordinary cinematic account of the Russian Revolution—from the mass uprising which overthrew the centuries-old Tsarist regime in February 1917, to the Bolshevik-led insurrection eight months later that established the first socialist workers’ state, and the final victory in 1921 of the new Soviet regime over counter-revolutionary forces after a three-year-long civil war.

The Russian Revolution of 1917 ranks among the seminal events of the twentieth century. The victory of the Bolshevik Party and the establishment of the Soviet Union not only abolished capitalism in the largest country on earth. The example of a victorious socialist revolution politically radicalized the working class throughout the world, inspiring the masses with the possibility of an alternative to capitalism and imperialism.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 was the final betrayal of the Stalinist bureaucracy that usurped power from the working class under conditions of the revolution’s isolation. In its aftermath, the propagandists of the ruling class declared that “socialism was dead” and that the lack of any alternative to capitalism represented the “End of History.” Today, under conditions where capitalism confronts its greatest crisis since the 1930s, the events of 1917 assume immense contemporary significance. Tsar to Lenin provides an unparalleled film record of a revolutionary movement, embracing millions, which “shook the world” and changed the course of history.

WSWS Arts correspondent Paul Bond will make a short introduction to the film showing in Bradford, which is the UNESCO City of Film. Following the screening, there will be a question-and-answer session.

Manchester

Monday, May 27 at 6.30 p.m.
Cornerhouse, 70 Oxford Street
M1 5NH

Tickets for the film can be bought here: http://www.cornerhouse.org/film/cinema-listings/tsar-to-lenin

Following the Cornerhouse showing there will be a post-screening discussion, hosted by the Socialist Equality Party

Lass O’ Gowrie pub (upstairs room) at 8 p.m.
36 Charles Street
Manchester, M1 7DB
(four minute walk from the Cornerhouse)

Bradford

Saturday, June 1 at 3.00 p.m. (introduction starts 2.45 p.m.)
National Media Museum
BD1 1NQ

Tickets for the film can be bought here: http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/Films/T/TsarToLenin.asp