History of the common grave of communists in the context of Petrozavodsk political life during the Russian civil war

The first overview of the history of the common grave of Communists, located in the center of Petrozavodsk (Lenin square), is represented. On the basis of archive materials and published sources, the author analyzes the role of the new secular cemetery in the political life of the town, discloses the aims pursued by provincial authorities, and studies the attitude of local citizens towards the new memorial. The author comes to a conclusion that inauguration of the mass grave of Communists in Petrozavodsk during the Russian Civil War was a part of the Bolsheviks' mobilization policy. Comrades buried there were considered to be a role model for the local population; their heroic deaths called to arms and blamed those who avoided this struggle. The memorial perpetuated not individual heroes, but the common ideal of struggle for the working class. That is why many of the heroes were forgotten later.