Revolution

• After the February revolution the Tsar abdicated and passed on the throne to his brother Mikhail but he refused it so political authority was passed on to two bodies, the provisional government and the Petrograd Soviet
• The provisional government was made up largely of leading figures of various liberal parties and former supporters of a constitutional monarchy
• the provisional government was planned as a temporary government until a constituent assembly could be elected, and was supported by old tsarist civil service, police and army officers.
• The provisional government’s prime minister was Prince Lvov, who was also head of the union of zemstva.
• The Provisional government gained lots of support from grand duke mikhail, soldiers, police and civil servants
• The strengths of the provisional government is that the next heir to the throne, Grand duke Mikhail gave his blessings to the Government
• some weaknesses of the provisional government- soldiers would only obey orders of the provisional government if the soviet agreed.

  -seen as tsarist supporters

  -not elected by the people

  • the army and police were weakened by the February revolution
  • seen as undemocratic and untrustworthy by workers, peasants and soldiers
• the Petrograd Soviet- the executive committee was made up of socialist intellectuals and dominated by Mensheviks and SRs
• PS- members of the executive committee were elected, unlike the provisional government
• The Petrograd Soviet was considered by workers, soldiers and peasants to be a more democratic, less elitist organisation than the provisional government.
• The Petrograd Soviet controlled railways, telegraph station, the soldiers in the Petrograd garrison, power suppliea and factories.
• Main strengths of PS- became the focus of working class aspirations

  - determined which factories stayed open and what services would be provided

  • not tainted by association with Tsardom
  • Democratic authority
• Main weaknesses of PS- lacked confidence to take control

  • Meetings were disorganised
  • concerned they can’t control the forces they were representing
• the soviets order no. 1 said that workers and soldiers should obey the provisional government but only when the Soviet agreed
• the provisional government wanted to fight the war until a just peace had been won, but had to carry on the aggressive war as they were reliant on loans from Britain and France
• the fact that the provisional government has to carry on the aggressive war outraged socialists and Milyukov was forced to resign
• The provisional government was in crisis after the major military offensive launched against the Germans which fell apart. This meant Mensheviks and SRs would be associated with the conduct of war, so they would be criticised if it went badly. A defeat would cause national humiliation
• due to the failures of the provisional government an uprising started in July 1917
• Due to the failure of the summer offensive moderate socialists lost credibility with workers

  • thousands ran away before the offensive started
  • soldiers killed their officers instead of fighting
  • hundreds of thousands of soldiers killed- fall in morale
• In summer 1917, peasants took more land, livestock, tools and timber after the government didn’t give legitimacy for their land seizures, liberals and SRs urged the land problem to be solved by an elected constituent assembly
• The PGs failure to solve the land problem led to significant unrest in the countryside as peasants wanted more land, the collapse of central authority meant they could
• Problems dual authority faced- land

  • there was an increase in land seizures-237 cases in July
• problems the dual authority faced- land

  liberals and SR’s urged the land problem to be solved by an elected constituent assembly.

  -SR’s activists encounter resistance if they tried to restrain peasants

  SR leaders also failed to understand that the peasant demand for land couldn’t wait until after a constituent assembly
• land problem

  • Chernov wanted to allow peasants to use land from private estates and sort out ownership later but liberals blocked this
• National minorities

  • The provisional gov deputation had offered independence to Ukraine and agreed to make concessions to them
  • the fact that Ukraine wanted independence outraged liberals who thought it was the first step to the break up of Russia, wanted all regions to stay together in a centrally governed state.
  • Finns and Poles also called for independence, moderate socialists allowed some independance
• Deterioration of economic situation

  • The government increased the price it paid for grain by 100% after a poor harvest, to encourage the peasants to bring the grain into cities to sell
  • peasants still couldn’t buy goods at an affordable price
  • Food shortages continued
  • In August Government sent punishment brigades into the countryside to requisition grain
  • wages became worthless and strikes increased
  • Soviet encouraged worker disturbances
• Deterioration of economic situation

  • railway system showed signs of breaking down, meant that food cannot be transported to provinces
  • shortages of fuel and raw materials led to factories closing and laying off workers
  • 568 factories in Petrograd closed, so there was a loss of 100,000 jobs
  • scarcity of manufactured foods caused inflation
  • the provisional government could do nothing about the inflation
  • workers committees began taking over