The Petrograd Soviet

• The mass of workers, soldiers and peasants regarded the Provisional Goverment as a self-appointed committee of the wealthy, tainted by their previous associations with tsardom. For them, the Petrograd Soviet was the more democratic organisation.
• Dominated by Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries, but also contained a small number of Bolsheviks. It was primarily composed of radical socialist intellectuals , although it claimed direct democratic authority since its members were elected by the St Petersburg soviets.
• It seemed to lack the confidence needed to assume direct control and, thanks to some delicate negotiations by Alexander Kerensky, the only member of both the Provisional Government and the Soviet, an agreement to work together was reached which laid the foundations for the period of Dual Power