The Potemkin Mutiny is a key event in the year of 1905, a significant uprising year in Russia that saw many resistance movements, each building up to the catalyst of the February Revolution in 1917.
By 1905 it was already clear to the citizens and troops of Russia that poor living conditions were becoming more normalised by the day. For the Russian naval battleship Potemkin—a part of the Black Sea fleet—this reality was served to the crew directly. The heart of motivated soldiers and sailors alike is rooted in nourishing rations. Empty stomachs led to malnourishment and lethargy; difficult for anyone to follow orders of hard, strenuous labour. Already faced with harsh treatment from superiors, the over 700 hundred sailors aboard the Potemkin felt the knots loosen on their restraint when served rotten rations—maggot-infested meat. Despite the crew's adamant protest over the rations, the ship's doctor claimed the meat fit for human consumption. Outraged at the blatant disregard to their poor treatment, the sailor's refused to eat the rations and with many already holding revolutionary sympathies, they sent a spokesman—Ukrainian sailor Grigory Vakulenchuck—to voice the matter to the Commander Giliarovsky. Ippolit Giliarovsky, second in command to Captain Golikov had a history for his volatile temper and heavy-handedness. To him, a crew refusing to eat rations was equivalent to pure insubordination and the command was quickly spoken to bear arms at all disobeying. Vakulenchuck stood tall, faced the guards and told them to stand down, and when they listened to his orders over Giliarovsky's, mutiny was afoot.
Valiant Vakulenchuck was shot amidst the chaos, a wound that would turn fatal and claim his life, but not before the crew rallied around him. Inspired and irate, the crew successfully seized Giliarovksy, alongside Captain Golikov and the doctor, throwing them overboard with deadly bullet wounds. After the initial thrill of mutiny settled, the red flag of the Potemkin was raised and non-commissioned officer Afanasi Matushenko, a secret member of the Social Democrats who was spreading propaganda upon the ship, was elected chairman of the Ship Committee.
Sails raised, the ship steered towards Odessa, their sights set on the port city shrouded in revolt for over two weeks; conflict between anti-tsarist demonstrators and government-employed Cossacks. Hundreds were dead and injured, whilst thousands of houses and stores had suffered damage. It seemed that for the crew of the Potemkin, revolt had only just begun, and a unique sense of solidarity could be found in this port city. The citizens of Odessa proved their anti-tsarist regime by gathering to show their support for the sailors. A frigid atmosphere of celebration broke out as the sailors placed the body of Vakulenchuck beside a flight of stairs which would later be immortalised as the Odessa steps. With the growing crowd, spirits festered; speeches were made; revolutionary songs were chanted; and Tsar Nicholas II's orders were given to the governor and soldiers to eliminate the scene. The memorial place of a celebrated man became a mass grave in moments as soldiers took to shooting the united crowd with no escape but the raging sea. It is said that 2000 died, and 3000 sustained serious injuries.
Once the swell calmed, Vakulenchuck was granted a burial via the authorities, and when the crew failed to receive an amnesty, the Potemkin returned to sea. They hoped their actions would set an example and provide ammunition for other crews to mutiny, yet not everyone could follow their successful lead, and whilst some revolts broke out, they were quickly squashed. Like man's need for fuel, a ship cannot sail forever, and before they knew it, the sailors were running out of resources and coal.
Destination: Constanza, Romania. Here the sun set, and things weren't looking bright for the mutineers when the Romanians refused to hand over supplies, instead demanding the sailor's surrender the ship to them. Back on the sea, the crew hoped for better results in Feodosia yet were met with the same dismissal. With little choice remaining, the Potemkin made a final journey under the sailors's command back to Constanza where they forfeited the vessel, leaving the sea cocks open and giving it a hearty send off, decks flooded.
A grand life was not waiting for all mutineers. The ship was returned to the Russian navy, and whilst a large proportion of the sailor's evaded capture by claiming asylum in Romania, those who were captured faced trial. With a guilty charge, they were sentenced to death or exile. Yet the actions of the sailors were not in vain and certainly never forgotten, immortalised in Eisenstein's film The Battleship Potemkin (1925). A film that would exalt the significance of revolution so much so, that it would be banned by Jospeh Stalin for years out of fear of inspiring the next revolutionists.