Early actions of PG

• Arrested and imprisoned Tsarist officials

  • Police officers arrested themselves to prevent more violence against them by workers and soldiers
  • Secret police disbanded
• First Decree of PG (worked w/ Soviet)

  • granted amnesty for political and religious prisoners
  • established freedom of the press and freedom of speech
  • discrimination on the grounds of social, religious or national grounds was made illegal
• Increased civil liberties was dangerous as it meant that people could criticise the PG and destabilise its power, esp when fighting a war
• PG promised that it would arrange for elections for a Constituent Assembly that would determine the future govt of Russia

  • Secret ballot and universal suffrage
• Soldiers from Petrograd garrison would not be sent to the Eastern front
• Workers had the right to strike and organise trade unions

  • 8 hour working day and recognition of factory committees
  • hard to sustain workers rights in a war effort
• Replaced Tsarist governors with commissars

  • usually the old Zemstvo chairmen, some of whom were land owners
  • ultimately not respected and largely ignored
• Committees of Public Organisations set up in many areas

  • membership rapidly expanded to take in representatives of soldiers, workers and trade unions
  • however, they were being outstripped b the growth of town soviets set up to represent workers
• Lvov encouraged localities to run their own affairs, e.g peasants setting up their own committees

  • moving fast in reforms and built up the expectations of the people
• Early reforms were not attainable long term, too many people to appease