Ten Days That Shook the World · Character

John Reed

An American journalist with a notebook and a front-row seat, he turns Petrograd's street clashes and smoky committee rooms into the most intimate eyewitness account of 1917.

major

Also known as John Reed

First appearance: Ten Days That Shook the World

As a major figure in Ten Days That Shook the World, John Reed is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

Author and narrator, compiler of the sources listed.

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Reed moves through Smolny, the barracks, and the barricades as a foreign correspondent who is also a committed sympathizer, recording arguments, slogans, and the smell of unwashed crowds. His tension is double: he wants to be inside the revolution's confidence while still claiming the reporter's detached eye, and he keeps testing whether the Bolsheviks can truly speak for Russia's peasant millions. That question—whether a workers' rising can hold a country that is eighty percent peasant—drives the book's middle chapters and gives his reporting its anxious edge.

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Character Web

7 connections

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Relationship types

Other

Character groups

Diverse Revolutionary Participants
Bolshevik and Menshevik Figures
Anti-Bolshevik and Bolshevik Leaders
Protagonist

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

The emotional peak occurs when the narrator, after witnessing the destruction of sacred and historic Kremlin s…

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In the story

John Reed appears across 15 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

Sources
Author and narrator, compiler of the sources listed.
Ten Days That Shook the World
Narrator and eyewitness to the events.
Background
Narrator and observer; recounts conversations and events in Petrograd.
II: The Coming Storm
Narrator and observer present at the all-night meeting of the Petrograd Soviet and other events.
IV: The Fall of the Provisional Government
Narrator and participant, distributing the proclamation and observing events.
Counterrevolution
Narrator and observer, moving between Smolny, the Duma, and the secret headquarters of the Committee for Salvation.
IX: Victory
Narrator; visits the Battalion Committee of the Sixth Reserve Engineers' Battalion and later returns to Smolny, observing the aftermath of the fighting.
Moscow
Narrator and observer; travels to Moscow to assess the true feeling of the Russian people about the Revolution.
Wages and Cost of Living Before and During the Revolution
Author and narrator, arriving in Petrograd in September 1917 and reporting on wage and cost data.
Interview with Kerensky
Narrates the interview with Kerensky and notes the subsequent censorship by Kerensky's secretary.
Events of the Night, November 6th
Narrator and observer of the night's events.
3: Looting of the Winter Palace
Author and narrator; provides firsthand testimony about the looting and the subsequent recovery efforts.
Damage to the Kremlin
Narrator who personally inspected the Kremlin damage after the bombardment.
Questionnaire for the Bourgeoisie
Narrator and observer of the Bolshevik questionnaire process.
Endnotes
Referenced as author of 'Kornilov to Brest-Litovsk'.

Chapter companion notes

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