Sheep magazine Archive 2: issues 10-17

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
IN PICTURES
Sally Campbell spoke to artist Tim Sanders and historian John Newsinger
about creating a graphic representation of Russia 1917
Two and a half years ago Tim Sanders, regular cartoonist for Socialist
Worker, approached Bookmarks the socialist publisher with a proposal
for a graphic history of the Russian Revolution. This month the result,
1917: Russia’s Red Year, will hit the shelves.
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‘For the first time in my life I thought about something before it was too
late,’ says Tim. ‘I figured either the centenary will be pretty much ignored
by mainstream media or there’ll be tonnes and tonnes of books saying
what a terrible thing the revolution was and thank god the workers didn’t
take control – all the usual stuff.
‘So I thought I’d try to make a tiny little contribution to a counter-current
and the best way for me to do it would be to draw pictures.’
Bookmarks put Tim in touch with socialist historian – and graphic novel
fan – John Newsinger, who eagerly agreed to work on the script.
Rather than a straight retelling of the history, says John, ‘we wanted to
show how the events of 1917 impacted on two ordinary Russians, a man
and a woman. We created Peter and Natalia.
NOVEMBER 2016