2: Lead Up To October 1917 Revolution

Question 1

The Provisional Government was made up of…

Answer 1

Influential elites + those who formerly favoured constitutional monarchy

Question 2

The Petrograd Soviet was made up of…

Answer 2

Only 7 out of first 42 members were workers, the rest intellectuals
Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries but also contained a small number of Bolsheviks

Question 3

Who accepted the Provisional Government?

Answer 3

Old tsarist civil service, army officers, and police

Question 4

Who accepted the Petrograd Soviet?

Answer 4

The mass of workers, soldiers, and peasants

Question 5

Why did the workers, soldiers, and peasants not support the Provisional Government?

Answer 5

They saw the Soviet as the more democratic authority as it was not tainted by previous associations with tsardom.

Question 6

Who was the only member of both authorities?

Answer 6

Alexander Kerensky (SR)

Question 7

What was the Soviet’s order No.1?

Answer 7

Soldiers should only obey the Provisional Government when in agreement with the Soviet

Question 8

What did the Provisional Government and the Soviet disagree over?

Answer 8

Disciplining deserters and peasants, and continuing the war effort

Question 9

Present disturbances statistic

Answer 9

Present disturbances increase from in 34 districts in March to in 325 in July

Question 10

What happened after massive anti-war demonstrations in Petrograd?

Answer 10

Milyukov had to resign

Question 11

Desertions statistic

Answer 11

From 1914 to February 1917 there were 195,000 desertions
From March to May 1917 there were 365,000

Question 12

What are to be reinstated following mass desertions?

Answer 12

The death penalty

Question 13

Unemployment statistic

Answer 13

From February to June, 568 factories closed and 100,000 jobs lost

Question 14

Foodn prices statistic

Answer 14

In January 1917 prices were 300% of 1914 levels
October 1917 755%

Question 15

Bolshevik membership February to April to October

Answer 15

23,000 to 80,000 to 200,000

Question 16

When did Trotsky join the Bolsheviks?

Answer 16

July

Question 17

Timeline of 1917

Answer 17

February - first revolution, PG set up, dual power starts
April - April These
June - Failed Summer offensive
Early July - July days, Trotsky arrested, Lenin’s reputation ruined by press suggestion of working with Germany. Kerensky PM.
Late July - Kornilov affair
September - Trotsky Chairman of Petrograd Soviet and Bolshevik majorites in Petrograd and Moscow Soviets

Question 18

How many Kronstadt sailors joined workers and soldiers in the July days?

Answer 18

5,000

Question 19

How much did Bolshevik support grow between June and December?

Answer 19

164%

Question 20

How many newspapers were the Bolsheviks producing by October?

Answer 20

41

Question 21

How many Red Guards were in the capital’s factories by October?

Answer 21

10,000

Question 22

What happened in September?

Answer 22

The Bolsheviks won a majority and Trotsky became Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet

Question 23

When did Lenin decide that they should stage a revolution?

Answer 23

Mid-September
Central Committee, especially its 2 most prominent members Z+K, urged restraint
Trotsky convinced him to wait for the Congress of Soviets

Question 24

Over what 4 days did the revolution take place?

Answer 24

24th to 27th October

Question 25

What did Kerensky do out of fear of Bolshevik uprising that backfired?

Answer 25

Kerensky sent radical army units out of the capital, which provided an excuse for the Soviet to claim that he was abandoning the capital to allow it to fall to the Germans.
The Soviet set up a “Military Revolutionary Committee” on 9 Oct controlling 150,000 Petrograd soldiers

Question 26

What was the Bolshevik majority in October?

Answer 26

51%