Early Disturbances

A painting of the Salt Riot that occurred in Red Square that portrays the vivacity of the situation.

Red Square harboured the uprising of 1648 – also commonly known as the Salt Riot of 1648. The Tsar having raised the salt tax meant ‘crowds of angry insurgents … invaded the Kremlin and ransacked the quarters of leading ministers, murdering several of them’[1]. Their presence in Red Square, which at this time housed the Tsars’ Palace, was a prime location for rioters to target the political elite, as well as the Tsar and his family themselves.

A dramatic painting of the Streltsy Execution, conveying the sombre atmosphere of the Square at that time.

Similarly, 1698 saw Red Square become, for the second time in the late 17^th Century, a scene of bloodshed in the form of the Streltsy Uprising. This uprising saw Moscow’s elite military force, the Streltsy, engage in a mutiny against Peter the Great. This mutiny, however, was met by a ‘4000 strong-force’[2] in which the rebellion was quashed. Following this, Peter the Great ordered the ‘mass execution of the mutinous Streltsy regiments on scaffolds erected’[3] in Red Square. Here, we see that the inhabitants of Moscow gathered in Red Square where they alter perished.

In this way, as early as the 17^th Century it is possible to see Red Square become illuminated by the struggle of the general people of Moscow. From the ordinary peasants revolting against the Salt Tax, to members of the Streltsy who were sworn to protect Moscow, the inhabitants of Moscow flocked to Red Square to convey their grievances to the ruling Tsars in an attempt to establish their own voice. Red Square served, here, as an outlet for them, and eventually was drenched with the blood of the people given the Tsars’ punishment of the dissidents.