Download From February to October

From February to October
The Provisional Government in
Action
The Provisional Government
• Initially the Provisional Government consisted of
a small group of 12 Liberals and Social
Democrats who had sat in the last Duma and
who confronted the Tsar with the reality of his
loss of power.
• They were reluctant revolutionaries who
believed that they could produce a constitutional
solution to the problems which Russia faced.
• They believed that they should stabilise Russia,
hold power temporarily until new elections could
be held.
The Petrograd Soviet
• With the collapse of the Tsar’s power there was
a power void in Petrograd which the Provisional
Government did not completely fill.
• A Soviet (Council) of 250 workers and soldiers
was unofficially elected on the prompting of
individual Social revolutionaries and
Mensheviks. The elections initially represented a
response to the situation in Petrograd rather
than a revolutionary move.
• This move inspired Soviets to be elected in other
cities in Russia during February (March) and
they took their lead from the Petrograd Soviet.
Relations between the Petrograd
Soviet and the Provisional
Government
• Initially the Soviet decided that they would co-operate
with the Provisional Government whilst being a kind of
‘shadow’ government.
• However they did issue Order No. 1 which directed that
soldiers and sailors across Russia should elect
committees to take control of all weapons and munitions.
Furthermore off-duty personnel were not to show
deference to their officers.
• Order No. 1 was widely obeyed across Russia and
indicated that the Soviet and not the Provisional
Government had control of the armed forces.
Relations between the Provisional
Government and the Petrograd
Soviet
• The Provisional Government initially took the view that
acceptance of the existence of the Petrograd Soviet was
the only strategy ~ they did not have any alternative as
they could not rely on the loyalty of the armed forces.
• They believed that if the physical and political situation
could be improved that popular support for the Soviet
would drift away.
• They also believed ~ correctly ~ that the Petrograd
Soviet lacked the leadership necessary to give it a
unified set of objectives towards which to drive.
The Problems faced by the
Provisional Government
• The Provisional Government faced the same problems the Tsar’s
Government did:
The unsuccessful War (made more unsuccessful now by the
fact that many soldiers were not prepared to fight)
Unemployment and a lack of production
Shortages of fuel and food
Discontent in the countryside
• So long as the Provisional Government maintained its involvement
in the War it lacked the resources to solve any of the other problems
• However it needed to solve the other problems if it was going to
convince the people to support it and not the Soviets.
Enter Lenin (by train)
• Like most of the hard-line revolutionaries
Lenin had been in exile (in Switzerland)
when the February Revolution happened.
• The Germans realised that a further
revolution in Russia could knock her out of
the War and so in April 1917 allowed him
to travel across Germany to get to Russia.
The April Theses
• The moment Lenin arrived at the Finland Station
(2nd April 1917) in Petrograd he made a dramatic
political speech to a large gathering of workers
and soldiers.
• In this speech he criticised the failings of the
Provisional Government and outlined his political
manifesto or ideas (The April Theses) which he
summed up in a series of ‘sound-bite’ slogans
which became the key propaganda terms for the
Bolsheviks.
The Bolsheviks called for..
•
•
•
•
Peace!
Bread!
Land!
All power to the
Soviets!
Not everyone was convinced
• Many of the small number of Bolsheviks in
Petrograd and the Mensheviks believed that
Lenin’s plan was too radical.
• Pravda (The Bolshevik’s own newspaper)
suggested that Lenin did not understand what
had been going on in Russia.
• However there were Bolsheviks who agreed with
Lenin, such as Stalin, who agreed with him, and
these worked hard to convince the others.
• Leon Trotsky, a Menshevik, was also convinced
and he provided the intellectual justification for
Lenin’s ideas.
Throughout May and June
• The Bolsheviks led by Lenin worked hard to take
control of the Petrograd Soviet and the other
Soviets throughout the country.
• Their organisers worked to convince soldiers,
sailors, factory workers and peasants that they
would be better off if the Bolsheviks led the
Soviets and that the Soviets led the country.
• However they were not able to take absolute
power within the Communist Party and in the
first National Congress of Soviets only 1 in 8 of
the delegates were Bolsheviks and they were
not able to take control of policy.
Meanwhile back at the Provisional
Government
• The Provisional Government was now led by Alexander Kerensky, a
very able member of the Social Revolutionaries Party.
• He was unwilling to move against the Communists and other
revolutionaries because he wanted to produce a government which
would have room for all political views.
• They had continued with the War but the latest Russian offensive
(The Brusilov offensive) in June – July 1917 had ended in failure
and large numbers of Russian troops were now deserting and
heading for home. The only thing which prevented a general military
collapse was the fact that the Germans and Austrians lacked the
man power and resources to push forward quickly after the
retreating Russians.
The ‘July Days’ part 1
• Some workers in Petrograd became angry that the situation had not
become any better than it had been under the Tsar. The failure of the
Brusilov offensive was the last straw.
• They demonstrated in the streets demanding that the Petrograd
Soviet take over from the Provisional Government.
• There was some shooting and the demonstrators attacked and killed
people who they thought were shooting at them.
• Lenin’s Bolsheviks believed that this was the wrong time to take
power but they also felt that they had no option but to join the
demonstrators and attempt a coup.
• Kerensky was able to persuade some of the Petrograd garrison that
that this was a German-led coup and that the Bolsheviks were in the
pay of the Germans.
• The demonstrations were dispersed, Bolsheviks were arrested, the
printing presses of Pravda were destroyed and Lenin was forced to
flee to Finland (now independent of Russia)
Kerensky and price of democracy
• In an attempt to gain widespread support Kerensky
called a meeting of all the political parties and interest
groups in August in the Bolshoi Theatre ~ 2,500
delegates and attendees in total.
• Kerensky wanted the meeting to agree to the format of
elections for a Duma which would take over from the
Provisional Government but the richer delegates
(particularly the factory owners) would not accept this.
• Many of them wanted a return to strong, Tsarist-style
government and an end to the worker-power which the
existence of the Soviets represented.
• They backed the creation of a military-based government
led by General Kornilov (‘a man with the heart of a lion
and the brains of a lamb’).
The ‘July days’ Part 2
• It became clear to Kerensky that Kornilov was planning a military
coup. When he returned to the Front he left a strong force outside
Petrograd under the command of Krymov with orders to suppress
the Soviet and the Provisional Government.
• Without troops to rely on Kerensky turned to the Bolshevik Party for
help. The Bolsheviks already had a paramilitary defence force called
The Red Guard. The Provisional Government armed them. At the
same time a detachment of Communist-led sailors from the naval
base at Kronstadt arrived. They fortified Petrograd
• Bolshevik organisors were sent to subvert Krymov’s soldiers, whilst
railway workers disrupted the rail network to make it impossible to
re-enforce Krymov.
• The military coup failed. Krymov committed suicide. Kornilov had
been taken ill with a fever and was unable to take action. He was
arrested by the Red Guard.
• The Red Guard did not disband nor did they return their weapons
July – October 1917
• The Bolsheviks were seen as the heroes of the hour and the
Provisional Government was shown as weak.
• The Bolsheviks continued to organise, take control of committees
and Soviets. They promoted Lenin’s 4-point plan. Although Lenin
was still in Finland his supporters dominated the Central Committee
which was responsible for the organisation of the Communist Party.
• The rate of desertion at the Front increased and the Russian war
effort collapsed
• In the countryside the peasants began to seize land for themselves
and attack anyone who opposed them,
• The economic and social situation continued to deteriorate. The
Provisional Government only had a battalion of officer cadets and a
battalion of women soldiers upon whom they could rely in Petrograd.
• Early in October 1917 Lenin, travelling in disguise, returned to
Petrograd.