punkadixon

I assume you got it from my journal entry on Nov 7th (October 25 in the old Julian calendar)here. It is Latin for "Here begins the new life." Sometimes people translate it as "a new life" rather than "the new life." The phrase is famous for being the first line of Dante's "New Life," which prompted a composition bearing the name. Hesse later wrote a work with that as its title.

It is spelled: Incipit Vita Nova.

In the Russian Revolution, some people used the phrase to indicate how world historic the events of October were. They saw the Revolution as the first day of a new future that was opening for them. Since it was Latin and a Dante reference, it clearly came into use from educated revolutionaries and sympathizers, but later was put on some posters and similar mediums. Western scholars discussing Russia will sometimes use the phrase to emphasis the scope of the changes in Revolutionary Russia and the sense of hope that motivated the people who participated in the events.