2: Lead Up To October 1917 Revolution Flashcards
The Provisional Government was made up of…
Influential elites + those who formerly favoured constitutional monarchy
The Petrograd Soviet was made up of…
Only 7 out of first 42 members were workers, the rest intellectuals
Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries but also contained a small number of Bolsheviks
Who accepted the Provisional Government?
Old tsarist civil service, army officers, and police
Who accepted the Petrograd Soviet?
The mass of workers, soldiers, and peasants
Why did the workers, soldiers, and peasants not support the Provisional Government?
They saw the Soviet as the more democratic authority as it was not tainted by previous associations with tsardom.
Who was the only member of both authorities?
Alexander Kerensky (SR)
What was the Soviet’s order No.1?
Soldiers should only obey the Provisional Government when in agreement with the Soviet
What did the Provisional Government and the Soviet disagree over?
Disciplining deserters and peasants, and continuing the war effort
Present disturbances statistic
Present disturbances increase from in 34 districts in March to in 325 in July
What happened after massive anti-war demonstrations in Petrograd?
Milyukov had to resign
Desertions statistic
From 1914 to February 1917 there were 195,000 desertions
From March to May 1917 there were 365,000
What are to be reinstated following mass desertions?
The death penalty
Unemployment statistic
From February to June, 568 factories closed and 100,000 jobs lost
Foodn prices statistic
In January 1917 prices were 300% of 1914 levels
October 1917 755%
Bolshevik membership February to April to October
23,000 to 80,000 to 200,000
When did Trotsky join the Bolsheviks?
July
Timeline of 1917
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
How many Kronstadt sailors joined workers and soldiers in the July days?
5,000
How much did Bolshevik support grow between June and December?
164%
How many newspapers were the Bolsheviks producing by October?
41
How many Red Guards were in the capital’s factories by October?
10,000
What happened in September?
The Bolsheviks won a majority and Trotsky became Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet
When did Lenin decide that they should stage a revolution?
Mid-September
Central Committee, especially its 2 most prominent members Z+K, urged restraint
Trotsky convinced him to wait for the Congress of Soviets
Over what 4 days did the revolution take place?
24th to 27th October
What did Kerensky do out of fear of Bolshevik uprising that backfired?
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
What was the Bolshevik majority in October?
51%
