Lena massacre

The Lena Massacre or Lena Execution (Russian: Ленский расстрел, Lenskiy rasstrel) refers to the shooting of goldfield workers on strike in northeast Siberia near the Lena River on 17 April [O.S. 4 April] 1912.

The strike had been provoked by exceptionally harsh working conditions, and when the strike committee was arrested, a large crowd marched in protest. They were fired on by soldiers of the Imperial Russian Army, causing hundreds of casualties. The incident did much to stimulate revolutionary feeling in Russia, and Kerensky's reporting of it in the Duma brought him to public notice for the first time.

At the time of the strike 66% of the shares of the Lena Gold Partnership (Lenzoloto) were owned by Lena Goldfields, a company registered in London and traded in London, Paris and St. Petersburg. 70% of Lena Goldfields, or about 46% of Lenzoloto, was in the hands of Russian businessmen and managed by a committee of the Russian investors of the company. 30% of Lena Goldfields, or about 20% of Lenzoloto, was in the hands of British businessmen. The remaining 30% of Lenzoloto was owned by Gunzburg and their companions.

The incident took place at the goldfields of the Lena Gold Mining (Lenzoloto), located along the shores of the Lena River about 28 miles northeast of the town of Bodaybo in northern Irkutsk . The venture produced large profits for its British and Russian shareholders, who included Aleksei Putilov (a director), Count Sergei Witte, and Empress Maria Fyodorovna. Working conditions were harsh with miners having to work fifteen to sixteen hours a day. For every thousand workers, there were more than 700 accidents. Part of the meagre salary was often used to pay fines. The other part of it was given in the form of coupons to be used in stores at the mine itself. All this led a spontaneous strike at the Andreyevsky goldfield on March 13. An immediate cause for the strike was distribution of rotten meat at one of these stores.

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