The Turn of the Century – the Beginning of Problems
The first years of the 20th century marked the beginning of the end for Tsarist Russia. An economic crisis contributed to growing public dissatisfaction with the authorities in St Petersburg. Nicholas II of Russia believed that one way to relieve rising social tensions would be a military success. For this reason, the Russians entered the conflict against Japan in 1904 so readily. What was intended to be a remedy and a demonstration of the strength of the Russian Empire instead turned into a failure of imperial policy.
Russia Ran out of Strength
The war against Japan did not, however, develop in Russia’s favour. A particularly severe blow, both militarily, politically, and in terms of prestige, was the naval Battle of Tsushima in May 1905, in which the Japanese fleet achieved a decisive victory. The Russians were unable to meet the challenge posed by Japan, which further worsened their external situation and, above all, their internal one, which was already far from stable. From early 1905, people across Russia began to voice their discontent more and more loudly. The symbolic beginning of the revolution was the St Petersburg Bloody Sunday on 9/22 January, when a peaceful demonstration, whose representatives intended to present a petition to the Tsar, was fired upon by imperial troops. More than 1,000 demonstrators were killed by fratricidal fire and in the ensuing pursuit of fleeing crowds. The revolution spread across the entire country and through various social groups. It did not spare the military either. But…
“Potemkin has mutinied!”
The symbol of these months became the mutiny of Russian sailors on the battleship Russian battleship Potemkin, serving in the Black Sea Fleet. During the years of the Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union, the sailors of the Potemkin were regarded as some of the first communist fighters, whose actions set an example for discontented masses. At first glance, there is nothing surprising in this interpretation. One only needs to look at the general course of events unfolding on board the ship at the time:
- Discontented sailors initiated a mutiny against their commanders.
2. The ship’s captain and five officers were executed, while the remaining officers were arrested.
3. The following day, they raised red flags and sailed into Odessa, where they supported the revolutionaries.
Indeed, from the Bolsheviks’ point of view, this was an ideal story. All the more so as the sailors belonged to a secret organisation aiming to incite mutiny across the entire Black Sea Fleet. However, Soviet propaganda was notably silent on the direct cause of the uprising, which was in fact very mundane.
Soup Made from Spoiled Meat
The mutiny on the Russian battleship Potemkin, which began on 14/27 June 1905, was not an expression of a struggle in the name of social reform, and even less so of communist slogans. Although the sailors did indeed seek to spark an uprising, the immediate cause of their mutiny was… soup. Specifically, it was borscht served in the ship’s mess, which had been prepared using spoiled meat. The crew refused to eat it, and in response the command threatened to execute the dissenting sailors… The rest of the story is well known.
In this way, the culinary troubles aboard the Potemkin became the foundation for a propagandistic narrative that would persist for decades.
Piotr Bosko
Translated from Polish by Małgorzata Giełzakowska