The Ninth Circle: The Lena Goldfield Workers and the Massacre of 4 April 1912

• Published in: Slavic Review
• Main Author: Melancon, Michael
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1994
• Subjects: Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous); Cultural Studies; lena river
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2501519; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0037677900062811

"Stretching out ahead a frigid wasteland,…so thick a sheet of ice as never locked the Don up in its frozen source" Dante, Inferno , Canto XXXII, "The Ninth Circle" On a wintry early April day, far out in the Lena River basin to the north of Lake Baikal, a file of workers some three thousand strong marched determinedly out of the deforested hills along a road toward a company settlement on the Bodaibo River. Most walked three or four abreast on a road narrowed by the previous night's snow fall, as others trudged along a parallel railroad track a few meters away; within the sparse township, a small figure in the distance waved his arms and shouted but his voice faded in the chill late afternoon air. As the miners proceeded along lengthy stables and stacks of firewood, a uniformed guard hurried forward to persuade them to turn off onto another road. As they rounded the stables, the road curved somewhat bringing them into full view of a substantial building; only a wooden bridge over a small stream and perhaps two hundred meters stood between the workers and their goal. A company of soldiers stood in formation beyond the bridge. The workers' lines faltered uncertainly but people pushed forward from behind.