October Revolution Day


October Revolution Day was a public holiday in the Soviet Union and other Soviet-aligned states, officially observed on November 7 from 1927 to 1990, commemorating the 1917 October Revolution.
For Soviet families, it was a holiday tradition to partake in a shared morning meal, and to watch the October Revolution Parade broadcast on Soviet Central Television.
A holiday canon was established during the Stalinist period, and included a workers' demonstration, the appearance of leaders on the podium of the Mausoleum, and, finally, the military parade on Red Square, which was held unfailingly every year, and most famously in 1941, as the Axis forces were advancing on Moscow.

Soviet observances

Civil-military parade

History

The first military parade took place on 7 November 1919 on the second anniversary of the revolution. The Russian civil war lasted until 1923. The parade in 1941 is particularly revered as it took place during the Battle of Moscow, during which many of the soldiers on the parade would be killed in action. In 1953, the parade took place as the first one to not be inspected by officers on horseback. The practice of foreign leaders began in 1957 with Mao Zedong attending that year's parade as part of a state visit, continuing throughout the next two decades with Ethiopian leader Mengistu Haile Mariam's attendance in 1980 and the leaders of Warsaw Pact and USSR-allied nations in 1967, 1977 and 1987. The 1989 parade was the first to have a drill routine by the massed bands take place. During the final parade in 1990, an assassination attempt was made on the life of President Mikhail Gorbachev by Alexander Shmonov, a locksmith from Leningrad. The two bullets he fired missed as he was tackled to the ground by crowds of demonstrators. The only time that a Soviet leader never attended a parade was in 1983 when Yuri Andropov did not attend the parade due to a sickness and his associate Konstantin Chernenko stood in for him.

Description of the parade

The most important event of the holiday is the national military parade and demonstrations on Moscow's Red Square, with members of the Politburo and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union acting as the guests of honor. The celebrations begin at 9:50 am Moscow Standard Time with the arrival honors for the commander of the parade, who is greeted by the commandant of the Frunze Military Academy usually a general officer, and receives the report on the parade's status. Once the parade commander receives the report, he takes his position in the parade and orders the formations to stand at ease. A couple minutes later, a Communist Party and government delegation arrives at the grandstand on top of Lenin's Mausoleum. The dignitaries include the General Secretary, Premier, the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, members of the entire Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, including members from the Politburo and Secretariat, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, service branch commanders, deputy defence ministers, members of the cabinet and commanders of the support departments in the general staff, in addition to the occasional foreign head of state or party as the principal foreign guest and reviewing officer. In between the south of the grandstand is a platoon of the armed linemen and markers from the Independent Commandant's Regiment in military overcoats whose purpose is to take post to mark the distance of the troops marching past. Seated in the stands on the west and east sides were residents of the capital, visitors from all over the Union, the diplomatic corps and military attaches and guests from allied and friendly countries with ties to the Union government. Within Red Square the more than 9,000 strong parade formation was complemented by the Massed Bands of the Moscow Garrison, conducted by the Senior Director of Music of the Military Band Service of the Armed Forces, the billet of an officer who usually held major general rank, at the start of the parade the bands were split into four sections across the expanse of the Square in between the inspecting formations. The mobile column, also present, was made up of around 170-380 vehicles and around 3,900 crews drawn from the participant units making up the segment of the parade. Until 1974 the mobile column was around 400 to 750 vehicles strong made up of around 7,500 to 9,800 crews and officers from the formations making up the column.
Badges
In November 1967 Minister of Defense Marshal Andrei Grechko announced his gratitude and of the Ministry of Defence to all those who marched on Red Square that 7 November as the country marked the golden jubilee anniversary year of the Revolution and for the first time, together with the text of gratitude, they were presented with commemorative badges "Participant of the military parade". Participants were also awarded a commemorative badge in the 1972 parade, the 100th parade to mark the golden jubilee of the foundation of the Soviet Union. A number of naval schools had custom made badges made in honor of their participation in the celebrations.

Parade proper

As the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower sounds the chimes at 10am the parade commander orders the parade to present arms and look to the left for inspection. The Minister of Defence then is driven on a limousine to the center of the square to receive the parade report from the commander, with the combined bands playing Jubillee March of the Red Army in the background. Once the report is received, the Minister and the parade commander begin to inspect the parading formations together with the bands. The limousinesed stop at each formation in order for the minister to send his greeting to the contingents, in which they respond with a threefold "Ura". Other than the Red Square inspection, the commander and the minister would also inspect the personnel of the mobile column on Manezhnaya Square. After the final greeting, the Massed Bands played Long Live our State by Boris Alexandrovich Alexandrov as the commander returns to his place in the parade, and the Minister driven to the grandstand while the entire parade shouts 'Ura!' repeatedly until he takes his position in the grandstand and the bands end playing. During this time, the Corps of Drums of the Moscow Military Music College, which is an affiliate of the Suvorov Military Schools, take their place behind the parade commander's limousine. The parade is then ordered to stand at ease and the chromatic fanfare trumpeters, together with the rest of the musicians of the massed bands, sound a fanfare call, usually Govovin's Moscow Fanfare for the keynote address by the minister which will follow. As the minister concludes his address, he will yell "Ura!" to which the entire parade repeats thrice. The Massed Bands of the Moscow Garrison then play the full version of the State Anthem of the Soviet Union while a ceremonial battery armed with the 76 mm divisional gun M1942 fire a 21-gun salute. As the anthem ends, the bands sound a second fanfare and the parade commander orders the parade to do carry out the following commands for the march past:
On the command "Quick march!", the linemen take their places at the south end of the square while the Corps of Drums of the Moscow Military Music College march to a drum tune, while the fifers and trumpeters play a specific tune, in a tradition that would go on until the late 1990s and early 2000s when the trumpets were removed. As the massed bands start playing the Corps of Drums begin to swing their drumsticks while on the eyes right led by the drum major. The Corps is immediately followed by the officers of the Frunze Military Academy whereas on jubilee parades, the massed colour guard is the first formation other than the corps on the square, followed by a historical contingent. The troops have always marched in the following order during the parade:
Order of ground march past column
Military Bands
Ground Column
As ground column concludes, the massed bands play either Long Live our State or Song of the Motherland, with the Moscow Higher Military Command School marching past as the last formation on the square before the mobile column with Victory Day being played beforehand as their cadets march at the rear. When the ground segment ends, the bands perform an about turn and march towards the facade of the GUM department store to give way to the mobile column, which drives past as the bands play Victorious March and Moscow Salute. Once the ground mobile column is complete, the bands take their position at the western end of the square to prepare for the finale, led by the senior director of music, conductors, bandmasters and drum majors. The finale involves the massed bands marching down the square to the tune of Song of the Soviet Army or Metropolitan March and as the bands march past the grandstand, the senior director of music, conductors and bandmasters salute at the eyes right. In 1967, the massed bands marched out to the tune of My Beloved Motherland.