"BLOOD AND LAUGHTER, Caricatures From The 1905 Revolution" David King & Cathy Porter (Published by Jonathan Cape Ltd, London 1983) - Part 2

 These gruesome but extra-ordinary lithographs from a hundred and ten years ago came to my mind when I heard of last week's sickening and pointless killings in Paris. These pictures document a dark chapter of Russian history where upon masses of workers and their families went to the streets of St Petersburg in 1905 to ask for better working conditions and an end to poverty from the mighty Tzar. Instead of a hearing from the authorities, they were faced with a ruthless army which attacked and fired indiscriminately! Thousands were murdered in cold blood and thousands were left wounded in disbelief - Boris Pasternak's book "Dr Zhivago" and David Lean's film with the same name were based on these bloody events, known now as the October Revolution. The journals in which they were published were created by artists and intellectuals furious and frustrated with the establishment in an effort to expose its brutality and injustice. It seems that violence against the innocent and the helpless has plagued humanity for ever...