The Battleship Petemkin - A History of the Russian Navy

In the navy, there were pockets of avowed socialists and revolutionaries. In mid june, the battleship petemkin was out on a firing exercise. All the best officers and experienced sailors had been transferred to the pacific leaving behind lower quality officers and mostly raw recruits. Tensions in odessa had been rising steadily since april. There had been repeated strikes amongst the artisans and small businesses and shopkeepers. And unrest amongst the dock workers, who you might remember, had been already into radical literature all the way back when young trotsky was cutting his teeth as a revolutionary agitating among them Back in 18 96.