“Arsenal” is amazing. it is about the 1918 Kiev Arsenal factory uprising

The main point of the film is showing how the Ukrainian People’s Republic and its declarations of a “Free Ukraine” mean nothing for the workers, peasants, wounded, veterans, widowed, women, elderly, etc. we cut to after the events suddenly with a nurse collecting the dead workers and asking a man who his letter should be sent to only for him to die before answering and her looking directly at the audience as she reads allowed the man’s repetition of another worker’s question to the “free” leaders earlier in the film: “can one kill bourgeoise and officers outdoors if one meets them?” with her answering “yes, you can” and we get a montage of the fight for the rest of the film. That gave me fucking chills.

Also the montage opens with workers taking a fallen comrade’s corpse back to his home as his last request “Served for four years, and in four wars. One year as a civil, brothers. Petliura wounded me by bullet and I feel my heroic death. Bury me at home for half-an hour. I have not seen it for nine years. Hurry up brothers, Arsenal is dying.” Which then kicks off an amazing rendition of one of my favorite Bolshevik songs, Tuchanka, which is about the battle for Ukraine

The constant statements by the main character as the nationalist government ask him to identify himself, expecting compliance or him to be happy with how things are since “you are a Ukrainian?” with him answering “I am a Ukrainian worker” to their dismay. Finally we have a montage that is haunting, of the remaining workers and Bolsheviks being executed one by one with some amazing editing, cutting to family asking questions like “where is the father? where is the son? where is the husband?” as we cut back to the executed men falling. Then “where is the metal workers? we have none” which goes on.

The idea is that Ukraine has achieved its “freedom” by destroying the people who actually make the country function, who form an actual community. All that remains are corpses, capitalists, petite-bourgeoise traitors, and nationalist militias. The last man left is our protagonist whose Maxim jams as the enemy encircle him and demand his name "which he simply responds “A Ukrainian worker. Shoot at me” which they do but miss or jam and accuse him of wearing a vest, so he takes his shirt off showing his bare chest and demands they shoot. And it ends with a closeup of his determined face.

The whole thing had me lamenting how Ukraine is back to another Petliura type government. Military and bourgeoise controlled, at the will of foreign imperialists, suppressing the workers. One of those little things that shows the continuity of history, one of the regions which sends a message to the UPR declaring they side with the Bolsheviks is of course Donbas.

https://archive.org/details/arsenal-eng-sub