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VCE History: Unit 3
Crisis of Dual Authority
• Abdication of Nicholas II was most significant event of
the February revolution.
• On 28th of February the Provisional Government was
formed with (as Kerensky put it) official authority and
formal power, while the Petrograd Soviet was also
formed with the ‘genuine’ power of the people.
Abdication and
dual government
• From February through to April the Provisional
Government and the Petrograd Soviet generally worked
together and were supported by the revolutionary
parties, including the Bolsheviks.
• The second phase was from Lenin’s return on 3 April,
when he launched a rivalry campaign that separated the
Soviet from the Provisional Government and their
supporters.
• Lenin’s return instilled a radical Marxist mindset into
the Bolshevik Party.
The first phase &
Lenin returns
• Chairman of the State Duma, Rodzianko formed the
PG and Prince Lvov was appointed Prime Minister (both
from the existing ruling class).
• The other 10 members of the PG were all from the
Fourth Duma (formed in 1912).
• All were wealthy or noble and most were members of
the Free Masons. Some were openly liberal and
opposed the Tsar – including Miliunov (Foreign
Minister) and Kerensky (former leader of Socialist
Revolutionaries).
The Provisional Government:
Authority without power
The Provisional Government offered many
freedoms that the Tsar had denied:
• Full amnesty (freedom) of political and religious
prisoners.
• Freedom of speech
• Freedom of the press
• Freedom to strike and assemble
• Abolition of class, religious and national restrictions
• Plans to vote for a Constituent Assembly
• Replaced Tsarist police with elected people’s militia
• Supportive military troops asked to protect
Petrograd
Provisional Government
Policies
However, it was the Petrograd Soviet, formed with 600
soldiers and workers who had control of important
functions such as the army, railways, communications,
employers and employees. They were very powerful.
Soviet Order No. 1 provides evidence of this power:
• Every military unit had to listen to their orders
above those of the PG
• All political activities had to be subordinate
(secondary) to the aims of the Soviet
• Orders of the PG should be followed, unless the Soviet
disagreed
• All military arms and equipment were transferred to
Soviet from the Tsar’s officers
Soviet Order No. 1
http://www.johndclare.net/Russ_order_no1.htm
Petrograd Soviet – no ‘official authority’
but had mass support and control of key
military and infrastructure.
Provisional Government – authority placed in hands
of elite brains trust, derived from Tsar’s Duma. Had
decision-making power but always at the risk of PS
disagreement and questioned because of their position
in the tsarist system.
SP vs PG
• Weak political and popular foundation – they weren’t voted in,
were always temporary and represented an elitist tsarism that had
caused revolution in the first place.
• Continued fighting – war was going badly, but they committed to
the war due to loans and sense of duty.
• June offensive – unwise proactive attack of Austrian line on June 18.
Aimed to rebuild confidence, caused pain.
• Lack of focus on economic problems – granted freedoms but not
ideas for re-invigorating economy… no bread for the people!
• Lost support of both upper and working classes – tried to please
everybody and reached an ‘impossible middle road’ (Kerensky).
Without the tsar the Soviet had more power to rise up.
Why the Provisional Government
failed to win support
• As of April 1917 the Bolshevik influence was limited
with most leaders exiled in Europe or Siberia.
• The Provisional Government released those in Siberia
and allowed others to cross the border.
• The German’s assisted Lenin hoping that he would lead
the revolutionaries to defeat the government and then
withdraw the Russian troops from the war (which they
did). He, along with Trotsky, returned to Petrograd on
April 3rd.
Turning Point 1:
Lenin’s April Theses
http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/apr/04.htm
• Lenin was radical, seeking exclusive power for the
Bolshevik’s.
• The PG’s freedom of speech allowed him to voice these
opinions, starting at Finland Station when he returned.
• His two slogan’s ‘Peace, Land, Bread!’ and ‘All Power
to the Soviet’s’ were very effective at gaining popular
support.
• This growth in support would, eventually, lead to a
transfer from the Provisional Government’s upper-class
democracy to a revolutionary dictatorship of the
workers and peasants.
Lenin’s April Theses
Lenin demanded:
• That Russia leave the ‘capitalist’ war;
• Transfer from the ‘first stage’ of the revolution (placing power
in the bourgeoisie) to the ‘second stage’ (placing the power in
the hands of the leader of the proletariat, himself).
• Dismissal of the Provisional Government.
• Transfer of power to the Soviet of Worker’s Deputies
(Petrograd Soviet).
• Confiscation of all land and redistribution of land and wealth
to the ‘local soviets’ (the peasantry and working class).
Lenin’s April Theses
• The Mensheviks were a more moderate party, with
Bogdanov declaring Lenin’s thesis as ‘madness’.
• Even some of the Bolsheviks, such as Kamenev, thought
that Lenin’s arguments were ‘unacceptable’.
• This made it clear that the Bolshevik’s would seek to gain
power without the cooperation of other revolutionaries.
• So the saying ‘All power to the Soviets’ really could be
interpreted as ‘All power to the Bolshevik’s’!
• Lenin sought to gain the Petrograd Soviet supporter base
to gain sole political power. He had ended a period of
relative cooperation between Russia’s political parties.
Menshevik reaction
• By late June the country was collapsing
socially and economically, with 568
factories closing down and the dismissal of
104,000 workers.
• Street demonstrations were common and
from 3 to 6 July began to directly challenge
the PG, with an estimated 500,000
protestors behaving in a disorganised and
undisciplined way (drinking, looting etc).
• The Bolshevik’s were blamed for the
disturbances and this was a real setback for
them. Trotsky tried to blame the Socialist
Revolutionaries and Mensheviks.
• Lenin fled to Finland, or as Pipes put it ‘the
real culprit abandons his army…’
Turning Point 2: July Day’s
http://www.creeca.wisc.edu/petrovich/418A.html
Despite the July Days being a disaster it turned out well for the
Bolshevik’s because:
• They survived;
• Lenin resolved his differences with Trotsky (a great tactician);
• Trotsky used the failures to develop more effective strategies
for the October Revolution.
• Lenin learnt that revolution could not come from spontaneous
outbursts by the masses but by strong, direct leadership from
above. Surprise attacks rather than large-scale public protests
would be the way forward.
• Bolshevik’s realised that they needed to act alone by achieving
majority support in the Petrograd Soviet.
• The PG still had enough military support to defeat these mass
protests so the Bolsheviks needed smaller, smarter operators.
Surviving and thriving
• Kerensky was appointed Prime Minister of the PG, two
days after the July Days revolt and attacked the
Bolshevik’s (arrested leaders, banned Pravda etc).
• In August, General Kornilov was appointed Commander in
Chief of the Russian Army. He was described as having the
‘heart of a lion and the brain of a sheep’.
• Threatened by Germany at war, he marched his troops on
Petrograd to ‘defend’. Kerensky saw this as a threat to the
PG (military dictatorship) and declared Kornilov a
‘traitor’.
• The Bolshevik’s were released and given weapons to
protect Petrograd from the ‘tsarist general’.
• This, of course, gave Trotsky the opportunity to arm and
train the Red Guard in preparation for October.
Turning Point 3:
Kornilov Revolt
By defeating Kornilov and his troops, the Bolshevik support
grew rapidly with voting in the Moscow Soviet growing
from 11% in July to 51% in September.
The Bolshevik’s were poised to take advantage of:
• Demoralisation of the army
• Increase popularity for the ‘defenders of Petrograd’
• Self-appointment and support as the ‘true revolutionaries’
• Majority in the Petrograd and Moscow Soviet
• Trotsky being elected Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet.
Growth in support