Moscow reluctant to mark 1917 Revolution anniversary

Russian authorities were reluctant to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution yesterday, with just low-key events being held to mark an uprising that launched more than 70 years of Communist rule.

President Vladimir Putin, who has made "stability" the keyword of his 17 years in power, would be treating the day as any other, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said previously.

Russian media had an ambiguous reaction to the centenary, with pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda asking on its front page: "Great celebration or big tragedy?"

Moscow will see a march and rally organised by the Communist Party -- still the largest opposition party in parliament -- to glorify the anniversary.

The party said its slogans will include "Lenin-Stalin-Victory!" and "Let Lenin's ideas live!"

But authorities have allowed just 5,000 participants for the afternoon rally beside a Karl Marx statue close to the Kremlin, the TASS state news agency reported.

Leftwing radical group The Other Russia, led by writer Eduard Limonov, is also set to hold an event in the capital.

Throughout the Soviet era, anniversaries of the revolution were marked with a public holiday which included pomp and military parades on Moscow's Red Square.

Under Putin, November 7 became a regular working day in 2005.

This year there was again a parade on the square, but the event was to mark the 76th anniversary of a parade during World War II, rather than the centenary of the revolution.

The centenary is the last landmark event before a presidential election in March that Putin is widely expected to contest and win.