The Failure of The Provisional Government

• the provisional government (led by kerensky) couldnt make any big changes or help the events of WWI

  • WWI was their biggest issue as their allies (Britain and France) would not let them surrender or else they would want their money back (money that russia didnt have)
• The first general principle by the PG

  • A pardon for political and religious offences
  • Meant that these same people could commit the same political offences and cause uprisings and revolutions
  • the freeing of political criminals such as Lenin
• The second general principle by the PG

  • Freedom of speech and press
  • Also freedom to form labour unions and striking
  • allowed Lenin to make his populist speeches to appeal to the public
• Historian McCauley - ‘the biggest feature of the [provisional] government was inactivity’

  that the PG didnt do enough to appease workers and peasants
• the provisional government had to carry on the war, as russia was indebted to france
• the provisional government shared dual authority with the Petrograd soviet meaning that they had a lack of legitimacy
• the provisional government gave amnesty to political prisoners, allowing the likes of Lenin and Trotsky to aid in forming the Bolsheviks
• Kerensky made a mistake with the Kornilov Affair

  he provided the Bolsheviks with weapons out of fear that Kornilov would take his position as prime minister. In the end, this did not end up happening, but the Bolsheviks still kept their gained weapons
• In March 1917, the provisional government introduced bread rationing, making the Bolsheviks and their promise of 'peace land bread' seem more appealing to the people
• The provisional government were unable to deal with the food shortages due to the fact that there was no money left from the Tsarist regime to buy grain
• The provisional government failed to address the issue of land reform, which led to peasant unrest