In today's program we'll see what was happening in the year 1907... It so happened that the main events of the early 20th century ending with the outbreak of World War One were unfolding here in Russia. In our previous programs we mentioned the Russo-Japanese war and the first Russian revolution which was already on the wane by the time the year 1907 set in. The lull was largely the result of ongoing democratic reforms and the Czar's reluctant decision to grant limited political freedoms to his increasingly restive subjects.
The revolutionary events of 1905 did much to bring about a multiparty system in Russia, but its fledgling and politically inexperienced democracy was not deep-rooted enough to turn around a large and multinational country like Russia. The country desperately needed economic reforms and conditions that would favour quick industrial and agricultural growth. Pyotr Stolypin and his government needed time to figure out what exactly was to be done and how to get the moderately-minded loyal opposition working together to modernize the country's political and economic makeup. It was precisely with that reason in mind that the Premier was demanding "20 years of peace" to reform Russia.
These plans, however, didn't sit well with the radicals who were yearning for more decisive action. The Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin saw the country as already being in the throes of a bourgeois-democratic revolution aiming to overthrow the monarchy and establish a democratic republic. They also held that, unlike the bourgeoisie-led revolutions of Western Europe, the one that was happening in Russia was being spearheaded by the working class. The Bolsheviks actively participated in anti-government rallies while, at the same time, organizing armed revolts throughout the country. Some Bolsheviks even engaged in the so-called "expropriations" like the famous stage-coach robbery where a large sum of money was taken away by a team of militants led by the would-be Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. The Socialist-Revolutionaries were another headache for the government. By far the biggest, most active and the most feared party in Russia, the Socialist-Revolutionaries had branches operating in 500 cities and towns all across the country. They had special terrorist groups who staged a string of highly-publicized assassination attempts against top government officials, and even managed to kill two Interior Ministers. Many revolutionary-minded young men and women were attracted by those acts of terror and the deadly risk they entailed. One such combat group was led by Yevno Azef who happened to be a secret agent working for the police. Terror and provocation always walk together... In 1907 the world bid farewell to the great Russian chemist Dmitry Mendeleyev. His name has forever gone down in scientific history as the man who arranged the chemical elements in the periodic table according to their atomic weights and predicted the existence of the elements gallium, scandium and germanium before their discovery. The year 1907 also became the last for the outstanding Norwegian composer Edward Grieg whose light-soaked romantic music was deeply rooted in the national folk tradition of his country. Edward Grieg's incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt poem won him international acclaim. In Russia two famous musicians were born in 1907. These were pianist Lev Oborin and cellist Svyatoslav Knushevitsky. Oborin was the first Soviet performer to take part in and become the laureate of the Frederik Chopin international contest in Warsaw. Years later the whole world applauded the brilliant performances of international classics offered by the great trio of Lev Oborin, Svyatoslav Knushevitsky and violin virtuoso David Oistrakh.
The world-famous architect Oscar Niemeyer was born in Brasil also in 1907. The founding father of his country's architectural school, Niemayer designed many buildings in Brasil and in Europe and the Brasilian capital Brasilia is one big reflection of the great architect's designs.
On the other side of the Atlantic, Laurence Olivier was born in Britain. A born aristocrat, Olivier won hearts everywhere with his larger-than-life talents of an actor and a production director. Sir Laurence Olivier left behind textbook renditions of title roles in Shakespeare's plays and many motion pictures. His brilliant impersonations of Hamlet and Richard the Third made him one of the best-loved actors of all time. In 1907 the popular British author Rudyard Kipling became the winner of the Nobel Prize for literature. Born in India, he left behind a string of books for children all permeated with the romantic exoticism of the jungle. His Jungle Books about Mawgli, a boy brought up by a pack of wolves, has since been enjoyed by generations of youngsters everywhere.
The 20TH CENTURY: YEAR AFTER YEAR series of historical programs is prepared by Vladimir Zhamkin.
    


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