23 January 2017
January 23rd, the first meeting of the Organizing Committee of events to commemorate the 1917 Revolution, headed by MGIMO Rector, took place in the hall of the State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia, decorated with original 1917 posters.
The event was kicked off by the Chairman of the Russian Historical Society, Sergey Naryshkin, who suggested the audience formally endorse Anatoly Torkunov as Head of the Organizing Committee.
In turn, addressing the audience, Anatoly Torkunov spoke about revolutions as a historical phenomenon, giving an overview not only of the political, socio-economic and cultural aspects of the process but also of the, mostly tragic, consequences for the population. The Rector also described the international repercussions of the 1917 Revolution, its impact on the decolonization process and on the birth of the Western model of the welfare state. He also noted the Revolution’s impact on the specificities and dynamics of Russian-Western relations, which survive to this day.
The Director of the Institute of Russian History at the Russian Academy of Sciences Yuri Petrov commented on the list of main commemorative events submitted for the approval of the Organizing Committee. The plan includes over 90 regional, national and international events. Anatoly Torkunov remarked that the plan remains flexible and reminded the audience that the International conference «The 1917 Revolution and its place in the history of the 20th century» would take place September 27th-28th at MGIMO University.
See the MGIMO web-site for more photos and russian version.
