1962 Romanian Cruiser Aurora and Lenin Commemorative

Romanian stamp commemorating 45 years of the uprising on the Russian cruiser "Aurora".

One of the most dramatic incidents in Russia's October Revolution was the uprising abroad the Navy cruiser Aurora. It was aboard this ship that, on October 17th, 1917, a number of the crew joined the Bolsheviks, led a mutiny, and took control of the ship. They then fired the shot that signalled the attack on the Winter Palace in Petrograd (St. Petersburg) and supposedly even joined the attacking Bolshevik forces! This attack was one of the last episodes of the Bolshevik Revolution.

Forty-five years later, the Romanian postal authorities issued a special commemorative honoring the uprising aboard the Aurora. The stamp features a super-imposed Lenin and a Soviet flag pointing upwards. In the background is the Aurora itself.

This stamp was a fitting tribute to the Aurora and the October Revolution in general by Poșta Română during the period of time when Romania was under Communist rule and an ally of the Soviet Union.