The Russian Revolution, Switzerland and the LSE

One hundred years ago, food shortages in Russia triggered riots on the streets of the capital Petrograd and kicked off the Russian Revolution, a chain of events that would change the course of world history.

Marking the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, a special exhibition in the iconic Extension Building of the Swiss National Museum explores the ties linking Switzerland and Russia at a time of upheaval. In the 19th century, Russia was one of the top destinations for Swiss emigrants. By 1917, over 20'000 had begun a new life in Russia as entrepreneurs, bakers, cheesemakers, teachers or governesses. Migration also occurred in the opposite direction. Undoubtedly the most famous exile was Lenin. For more than six years the revolutionary lived in Geneva, Berne and Zurich. Upon his return to Russia, Lenin and his marginal Bolshevik faction engineered a remarkable coup, overthrowing the Provisional Government, shifting the capital to Moscow and ending Russia's participation in the First World War through the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany. Soon after, civil war erupted between the "Reds" (Bolsheviks) and the "Whites" (counter-revolutionaries), won by the later, paving the way for the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1922. There are 26 desks explaining key events in Russia from 1917 to 1932: civil war, famines, development of economic policy, Stalin’s fight against the opposition and his rise to power, industrialisation and its consequences. The exhibition also looks at the emergence of the gulag. In 1923, the first corrective labour camp sprang up, which became the model for the Soviet camp system. A dense network of forced labour camps then emerged under Stalin. The exhibition ends in the early 1930s at the end of the first Five-Year Plan. The "Great Terror", Stalin’s persecution campaigns and purges, were still to come.

You, your partner and guests are cordially invited to a guided tour through the special exhibition on Tuesday, 2 May 2017, 18:30 - 19:30

at the Swiss National Museum
Museumstrasse 2
8001 Zurich
(meet between 18:15 - 18:30 at the Welcome Desk)
View Location Map

followed by a fine dinner at the Restaurant Spitz
Museumstrasse 2
8001 Zurich

Dress: Business to casual

Our Twitter Hashtag for this event: #SLSEAArevolution

As always with all of our activities and events, this event is open to all LSE alumnae and alumni.