‘Kingdom Of Crooked Mirrors’: What Belarusians Think About November 7

A revolution day in a country where the authorities are terribly afraid of revolutions.

Belarus is the only country in the world where the “Day of the October Revolution” is celebrated. Even in Russia, which considers itself the successor to the USSR, this is a normal working day.

What does November 7 mean to Belarusians? The Charter-97% Telegram channel asked this question to its subscribers.

“Day off, no need to go to school.”

“For me, the “day of the October Revolution” earlier was the time when it is cold, rainy and you must definitely go to a demonstration. Hard labor, but a day off. Now I don't notice it at all.”

“Work with increased pay, as it’s on a “holiday”.

“November 7 is the day of remembrance of the victims of the communist regime.”

“It's just one day off. And we work so hard.”

“For my family, it means nothing at all. Just another day off. It was not a holiday before, just when I was young they drove us to the parade by order.”

“My vision of the October Revolution is as follows.

It was a large-scale, and most importantly, the first successful use of the weapon of mass stupidization called “populism”. (I see the 1994 elections in Belarus as another example of the successful use of this weapon).

It was successful, perhaps, because the bearers of the outwardly beautiful and attractive ideas of “freedom, equality, fraternity” themselves believed in these slogans, at least some of them. They quickly, within a couple of years, abandoned their beautiful slogans and began to drown the uprisings of disappointed ordinary workers in blood. As for the political essence of what happened, it was a banal illegitimate military-state coup, the very act, for the declared attempt of which today in Belarus modern gendarmes seize and imprison thousands of people for huge terms.”

“My grandmother's birthday.”

“What does November 7 mean to me? Absolutely nothing! For me, this is a holiday only if it falls on a weekday and is a day off. This applies in general to all holidays in our country, perhaps, except for the New Year and March 8.”

“A relic of the past that needs to be fairly assessed with the right conclusions drawn.”

“Sickle and hammer = death and hunger.”

“November 7 is the day of obscurantism of devils.”

“There was no revolution on November 7, 1917, there was a criminal coup.”

“The October Revolution is a terrible milestone in people's lives, I have never held celebrations on a mourning date.”

“I think that November 7, the day of some revolution, in a country where the ruler is afraid of the very word “revolution”, is a sort of a kingdom of crooked mirrors”, the readers of our Telegram channel say.