A Foray into the World of Soviet Philately

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Lets begin our story with the Russian Revolution. In 1917, the October Revolution sent the Petrograd Soviet into full revolt. The Imperial family was captured, sent to Yekaterinburg, and then brutally murdered. Socialist Alesandr Kerensky and his Provisional Government allied themselves with the Royalist forces and became known as the ‘whites’, or ‘Menshiviks’, meaning minority. Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky’s Red Army began known as the ‘reds’, or ‘Bolsheviks’, meaning majority. Years of civil war were fought, and the Soviets saw through thick and thin. Initially, overprinted stamps of the Imperial post were used, but eventually, a need for new Russia’s own stamps became seen. That was where the famous ‘Chainbreaker’ stamps came in. First printed in 1918 and symbolizing the freedom of the people through revolt, these were the first stamps of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (RSFSR).

Lets begin our story with the Russian Revolution. In 1917, the October Revolution sent the Petrograd Soviet into full revolt. The Imperial family was captured, sent to Yekaterinburg, and then brutally murdered. Socialist Alesandr Kerensky and his Provisional Government allied themselves with the Royalist forces and became known as the ‘whites’, or ‘Menshiviks’, meaning minority. Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky’s Red Army began known as the ‘reds’, or ‘Bolsheviks’, meaning majority.

Years of civil war were fought, and the Soviets saw through thick and thin. Initially, overprinted stamps of the Imperial post were used, but eventually, a need for new Russia’s own stamps became seen. That was where the famous ‘Chainbreaker’ stamps came in. First printed in 1918 and symbolizing the freedom of the people through revolt, these were the first stamps of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (RSFSR).


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