Crowd milling about in Kronstadt, West of Saint Petersburg,Russia, as group of Russian sailors, soldiers and civilians, marches in their midst carrying a Sign reading "Peace, Freedom, and Bread." On March 7, 1921, The Bolshevik government sends 60,000 troops under command of Mikhail Tukhachevsky to quell the disturbance. They are seen marching in the streets. Next scene shows women looking amongst the fallen for their relatives. View of Leon Trotsky (Commander of the Red Army) walking with some of his staff. View of human remains. Brief view of Lenin. Trotsky writing at his desk. Narrator mentions the State Security Agency called "Cheka," being replaced by the Joint State Political Directorate (AKA OGPU). Narrator calls it the Political Police. Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov is seen walking with a group of Soviet workers and politicians ostensibly charged with overseeing the OGPU. Another scene shows Molotov conversing with Joseph Stalin (Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin). Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin stands to Stalin's left. views of Stalin. Lev Kamenev, a leader in Moscow City politics. Russian families on a train platform preparing to travel in box cars (to Siberia?). farmers harvesting grain in Russia. A woman shopkeeper cuts a loaf of bread in pieces and weighs them on a scale for sale to a customer. American foodstuffs provided as aid to Russia. Some of the American food being unloaded at a pier. American Relief Administration Chief, Herbert Hoover, standing at a port. Food being distributed to Russian citizens, and to children. Newspaper of March 14, 1923, announces the Lenin suffers a stroke. In January, 1924, a newspaper headline announces that "Lenin is dead." Lenin seen in coffin. Funeral cortege, including principal Soviet leaders, carries the coffin outdoors in falling snow. Spectators watch and others follow in the solemn funeral march. Narrator states that "Stalin,Zinoviev, and Kamenev force Trotsky into exile." Soviet citizens are seen at hard labor under new "Five year plans."
Scenes in the Soviet Union from 1923 to 1938, including the Great Purge in Russia. On March 14, 1923 : A newspaper headline reads 'Lenin Suffers a stroke, Condition is Serious; Announcement Causes a Sensation in Moscow'. On January 21, 1924 : Another newspaper headline reads 'Lenin is Dead'. Bolshevik leader Lenin laid in a coffin. Senior Soviet officials carrying the body of Lenin in a funeral procession through the snow. People watch the funeral procession. Joseph Stalin with an officer. Stalin comes into power after Bolshevik revolutionary Leon Trotsky is forced into an exile. Views of workers pursuing 5-year plan goals: At a railroad train siding building rail infrastructure, with shovels; in logging operations in the snow; in a steel plant. View of coal being transported on conveyer. View of mining operations, with steam shovels filling rail cars. Views of chemical and petroleum facilities. View of hydroelectric power plant turbines and electrical distribution towers and wires. Workers in agriculture, with a truck in a field. Construction workers at large building site. Young machinist working on a lathe in a factory or manufacturing plant. Tailors working in a shop with pictures of Lenin and Stalin on the wall. Steam locomotive pushing train cars including boxcars up a mountain side in Siberia. Time frame of the "Great Executions" during the Great Purge: Soviet "executioner" Nikolai Yezhov and other officers inside a building and footage from the Moscow Trials or sometimes called Moscow Show Trials from 1936 - 1938. Stalin with Bolshevik revolutionaries Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev who were disposed off during the Great Purge. Scenes of Moscow Trial proceedings, with participants wearing earphones during a trial dealing with alleged conspiracy with Trotsky at the Hotel Bristol in Copenhagen in 1936. Picture of Nikolai Yezhov, who was also purged.
Things and belongings of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin after his death at Lenin's villa in Gorki, Russia. A wooden bench in the garden. Lenin's chair and his walking stick in his reading room. Books and documents in the library of Lenin. A photograph of Vladimir Lenin with his friend Joseph Stalin.
Vladimir Lenin dies at Lenin's villa in Gorki, Russia. Russian newspapers publish the news of Lenin's death. Thick snows cover on roads, houses and trees. The dead body of Lenin at his home. A chandelier in the house. Soviet leader Leon Trotsky stands near the dead body of Vladimir Lenin.
Vladimir Lenin dies at Lenin's villa in Gorki, Russia. A large crowd gathers on road outside Lenin's villa. People walk on thick snow cover to reach Lenin's villa. Lenin's wife weeps after his death. Other Soviet leaders stand near his dead body. Nicholas Bukharin, Joseph Stalin, General Klement E Voroshilov, Mikhail Kalinin, General Mikhail V Frunze and others. Civilians arrive and pay homage to their leader.
Large crowd of civilians and military mingle in red Square, Moscow, Russia. Several men stand under an umbrella. Troops talk to each other. People carry banners and a large effigy representing Capitalism. St. Basil's Cathedral in background. Men in black caps converse ernestly. Hall of Columns in background.