Today in Labor History June 27, 1905: The mutiny on the Russian battleship Potemkin began. Tensions were already high because of recent loses in the Russo-Japanese war and the presence. Furthermore, the crew was made up of recent recruits and the officers were relatively inexperienced. The mutiny began when sailors refused to eat the borscht that was served to them because of the meat was crawling with maggots. The ship’s 2nd in command threatened to shoot the men if they didn’t eat it. When he did shoot one of the mutineers, the crew attacked him and other officers, promptly killing nearly half the officers on board. They then decided to sail to Odessa to join the General Strike that was going on there. After that, they escaped to Rumania where they obtained political asylum. The mutiny is considered an important step toward the Russian Revolution. It was depicted in Serge Eisenstein’s classic film, “The Battleship Potemkin.”

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Today in Labor History June 14, 1905: The crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin mutinied after sailors were shot for complaining about being served maggot-ridden meat. Civilians soon joined the mutineers in revolutionary actions that included the burning of granaries, quays and ships in harbor. The insurrection was part of the 1905 Russian Revolution in which the first soviets formed. The mutiny was the basis for the seminal film by Sergei Eisenstein, with music scored by Dmitri Shostakovich.

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Today in Labor History December 21, 1925: Serge Eisenstein's silent movie The Battleship Potemkin premiered on this date in Moscow. This silent film, which inspired many later film greats, depicts the 1905 mutiny of sailors against their Czarist commanders during the Russo-Japanese war. The massacre on the Odessa steps scene was so iconic that dozens of later films paid homage to it, including Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil,” Brian De Palma’s “The Untouchables,” Peter Sellers’s “The Magic Christian,” Woody Allen’s “Bananas.” The film also influenced artist Francis Bacon. San Francisco’s avant-garde Club Foot Orchestra recreated the original score. Orson Welles, Charlie Chaplin and Billy Wilder all considered it one of the greatest films ever made.

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