Russia - 1917

• Composition of Provisional Government

  • 4 Kadets
  • Kerensky (only socialist member)
  • Formed from progressive bloc
  • Prince Lvov (interior minister, figurehead)
• Provisional Government had no authority over Petrograd garrison and no disciplined police force to call upon
• Petrograd Soviet had no fixed terms and monitored the Provisional Government
• Characteristics of Petrograd Soviet

  • 1,500 other soviets by October
  • 1 representative per 1000 people
  • Executive committee dominated by Mensheviks and SRs
  • Policies decided upon by Executive Committee
  • Irakli Tsereteli most influential figure
  • Began to have interests in foreign policy
  • Over-represented the garrison
  • Had loyalty of railway and postal workers
  • Had loyalty from Petrograd army - 180,000 troops
  • Many soldiers supported them to avoid fighting at the front
  • Other soviets looked to them for leadership and direction
  • Took responsibility for the capital's affairs
• Milyukov and Guchkov

  Wanted to fight until they defeated Germany, were very patriotic, promised control of the seaway between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean after the war, wanted territorial gains
• April Crisis - Declaration of War Aims sent to Russia's allies

  Milyukov added a private telegram saying they would fight until a 'conclusive victory' was made, this was leaked to the press and people demanded he resigned
• Milyukov was forced to resign and Guchkov also left in protest, showing the power of the Soviet and the weakness of the Provisional Government
• Petrograd Soviet

  Wanted to leave the war as they thought it was imperialistic, were aware that Russia's workers and peasants wanted peace, feared that Germany would impose a conservative regime on Russia if they left, wanted a defensive war not to make territorial gains, did not want to make a separate peace treaty with Germany
• Lenin and April Theses

  Dismissed 'revolutionary defensism', encouraged peasant land seizures, wanted power to soviets not a democratically elected Parliament, wanted immediate peace despite no-one outside of Russia wanting to negotiate, went against his morals to suit his immediate purpose, soviets had no obvious role in political system, Bolsheviks wouldn't win in a nationwide election
• The June Offensive was a big failure, with Germany advancing 150 miles deeper into Russian territory, making the Bolsheviks look more appealing with their call for immediate peace
• The July Days - soldiers refused to fight

  They could defend the revolution, mid-level Bolsheviks involved, Lenin didn't approve, soldiers and workers called for transfer of power to soviets, 20,000 Kronstadt soldiers involved
• After the July Days, documents came out about Lenin being a German spy, Lenin fled to Finland after a warrant for his arrest, 800 prominent Bolsheviks were arrested, Bolshevik officers were ransacked, and armed units were disbanded
• Kerensky's leadership and the make-up of the new government

  Believed to be politically strong but reputation ruined, failed to control inflation and develop a land policy, replaced Prince Lvov as PM, couldn't monitor soldiers and failed in June offensive, government made up of 9 socialists, 3 Kadets, 4 others, fragile and narrow base of support
• Conditions in the factories

  • Factory committees emerged 1917
  • Workers demanded 8 hour work day and pay rise
  • 1917 - wages double and tripled but inflation became bad
  • Workers demanded further wage increase
  • Strikes
  • Railway system and peasants hoarding grain
  • Businesses closed down - led to unemployment
  • 'Socialist polarisation' - middle and upper classes accusing industrial workers of not doing their part in the war effort
• Conditions in the countryside

  • Peasants insisted private landlord and orthodox Church should be confiscated to village communities
  • Illegally gathering landlords timber and grazing cattle
  • Whole estates started being seized
  • Peasants pressured to rejoin village communes after Stolypin's land reforms
  • Provisional Government had no will or means to impose order in the countryside
  • Landowners appealed for support but were left disappointed
• Kornilov Affair

  1. Kornilov placed as commander-in-chief

  2. Kornilov made demands (strikes banned and punishable by death, railway workers under army control)

  3. Kerensky didn't break off negotiations and Kornilov made more demands (military dictator)

  4. Kornilov dismissed

  5. Kornilov and General Krymov marched on Petrograd

  6. Railway workers stopped trains and Petrograd Soviet turned Krymov's troops against him

  7. Kornilov arrested

  8. Kerensky under fire from left and right wing
• The Bolsheviks were seen as the saviours of the revolution because many who infiltrated Krymov's forces were Bolsheviks
• After the Kornilov Affair, Bolshevik party membership increased sharply and they gained 33% of the vote in Petrograd and 51% in Moscow