4- The Dual Authority and Continued Dissent

Question 1

What were the 2 characterists that weakened the Provisional Government from the beginning?

Answer 1

1- They were not an elected body having come into being as a rebellious committee of the old duma. Therefore, they lacked legitimate authority had no claim on the loyalty of the Russian people. Lacking this it would be judged entirely on how well it dealt with the nations problems
2. Their authority was limited by the unofficial partnership with the Petrograd Soviet

Question 2

Who was Prince Lvov?

Answer 2

Prince Lvov was the president of the Duma from March 2nd to July 7th 1917

Question 3

Give evidence that the Petrograd Soviets actions restricted the power of the Prov Gov

Answer 3

‘Order Number 1’ - in military matters, orders of the Provisional Government were to be obeyed ‘only when they do not contradict the orders and decrees of the soviet (orders of the Petrograd soviet were of higher importance than Prov Gov essentially)

Question 4

What different views did Stalin/Kamenev and Lenin have upon returning to Petrograd?

Answer 4

1. Stalin/Kamenev - would co-operate with the Prov Gov and the other revolutionary and reformist parties
2. Lenin (returning after Stalin and Kamenev on April 3rd) - Believed that Prov Gov were just a ‘parliamentary-bourgeois republic’ replacing the Tsar. He condemned the Prov Gov and called for its overthrow in a genuine revolution

Question 5

How did Lenin get back to Russia?

Answer 5

Germany sent Lenin to Petrograd in a sealed train, in the hope that his revolutionary aims would withdraw Russian armies from the war

Question 6

What did Lenin state in his April theses?

Answer 6

1- Abandon co-operaion wih all oher parties
2- Work for a true revolution entirely by their own efforts
3- Overthrow the reactionary Prov Gov
4- Struggly, not to extend freedom to all classes but to transfer power to the workers
5- Demand that authority pass to the Soviets

Question 7

What 2 phrases sums up Lenin’s argument in the April Theses?

Answer 7

1- ‘Peace, Bread and Land’

2- ‘All Power to the Soviets’

Question 8

Why were the soviets important to Lenin?

Answer 8

Even though Lenin rejected much of what Soviets had done before his arrival in April, he still saw them as a power base.
- The Petrograd Soviet offered Lenin’s small Bolshevik Party (of 200,000 in July 1917 out of a population of 160-20 million) the means by which it could obtain power in the name of the proletariat. By infiltrating and dominating soviets, the Bolshevik Party would be in a position to take over the state

Question 9

Why did Lenin not want to work with the Provisional Government?

Answer 9

He asserted that the Provisional Government governed only in the interests of their own class as they had no wish to end the war (which brought them profits), or supply food to the Russian people (whom they despised) or reform the land-holding system (which guaranteed their property rights and privileges)

Question 10

The Provisional Government’s failure to deal with the 3 principal issues led to its …………….

Answer 10

eventual downfall

Question 11

Why did the Provisional Government keep Russia in the war?

Answer 11

Unless it did so, it would no longer receive the supplies and war-credits (money) from the Western-allies. These were important as Tsardom had left Russia virtually bankrupt

Question 12

Why was keeping Russia in the war a problem?

Answer 12

It occasioned resentment from the Russian People as the war meant ‘requisitioning’, ‘food shortages’, ‘low morale’ etc

Question 13

What was the June Offensive and was it successful?

Answer 13

The June offensive was a major offensive launches on the south-western front by the minister for war, Kerensky. It failed badly

Question 14

How did the June Offensive affect later events?

Answer 14

The June Offensive led to Kornilov suggesting that the offensive should be halted and that the Prov Gov should focus on ‘crushing the Bolsheviks’. Hence, Kerensky made Kornilov commander-in-chief (leads to Kornilov affair)

Question 15

Give evidence that the Prov Gov were no longer in full control of events by the summer of 1917.

Answer 15

1. The establishment of soviets throughout Russia
2. Worker control of factories
3. Widespread seizure of land by the peasants
4. The creation of breakaway national minority governments - most notably in Ukraine

Question 16

What were the July Days?

Answer 16

They were large-scale demonstrations against the Provisional Government, during the first week of July

Question 17

What made the July Days so threatening?

Answer 17

The atmosphere created by the news of the June Offensive failure and the governments already mounting problems (e.g. inflation, food and suppy shortages e.t.c)

Question 18

How did the Provisional Government easily put down the uprisings, during the July Days?

Answer 18

In the course of 3 days, the demonstrators fell out among themselves, whilst leading soviets did not make a strong enough bid for power.
- This disunity made it easy for the Prov Gov to crush the rising by sending loyal troops to restore order

Question 19

Why did people think the Bolsheviks would take over government during the July Days?

Answer 19

because at the First All Russian Congress of Soviets, Lenin declared that the Bolshevik party were ready to take power

Question 20

How did Trotsky try to absolve them from the blame of having started a rising that failed?

Answer 20

He referred to the July Days as a ‘semi-insurrection’ that was not started by the Bolsheviks

Question 21

What were the consequences of the July Days uprisings?

Answer 21

1- Revealed that the Bolsheviks were still far from being the dominant revolutionary party and that the Prov Gov still had sufficient strength to put down an armed insurrection
2- Brought credit to Kerensky as war minister, so that he was appointed Prime Minister 2 days after
3- Prime Minister, Kerensky, shuts down Pravda and arrests many Bolshevik leaders e.g. Trotsky and Kamenev. Also published propoganda against Bolsheviks
4- Lenin fled to Finland to escape persecution
5- Bolshevik party were broken as a political force

Question 22

What critical misjudgements made by the Prov Gov enabled the Bolshevik Party to survive?

Answer 22

Critical misjudgements over the land question and the Kornilov affair

Question 23

What did the peasants believe would happen after the February Revolution, regarding the land question?

Answer 23

The peasants believed they would soon benefit from a major land redistribution, which the government would introduce after taking over the landowners’ estates

Question 24

How did the Provisional Government respond ot the land question?

Answer 24

The government had no real answer to the land problem but they did set up a land commission with the supposed ‘aim’ of redistributing land (this was merely a gesture)

Question 25

Why didn’t the Provisional Government want to provide land redistribution?

Answer 25

The majority of the Prov Gov’s members came from the landed classes who had litte enthusiasm for a policy that threatened their own interests

Question 26

How did Lenin take advantage of the Prov Gov’s inability to solve the land problem?

Answer 26

They adopted the phrase ‘land to the Peasants’ to indicate that they recognised the peasant land seizures as perfectly legitimate. This helped them gain the support of the peasants

Question 27

Why did Lenin want the support of the peasants?

Answer 27

After the peasant land-seizures, he recognised the peasants as a truly revolutionary force (that would help to undermine the Provisional government in a revolution)

Question 28

What event happened in August 1917, that undermined the Prov Gov’s gains it had made from its handling in the July Days?

Answer 28

The Kornilov Affair

Question 29

Why did General Kornilov believe that the government stood in grave danger of a socialist-inspired insurrection?

Answer 29

1. Large number of refugees flocked into the city, increasing the disorders and pressures in Petrograd
2. He never accepted the February Revolution and saw the Bolsheviks as the ‘enemies within’

Question 30

What was General Kornilov suspected of plotting afterwards?

Answer 30

He was suspected of the intention to remove the Prov Gov and impose military rule

Question 31

How did Kerensky retaliate? (against Kornilov’s supposed intention)

Answer 31

1. He ordered General Kornilov to surrender his post as commander in chief and placed Petrograd under martial law
2. Fearing that Kornilov would retaliate, he called on all loyal citizens to take up arms to defend the city (including the Bolsheviks)

Question 32

What mistake did Kerensky make, during the Kornilov affair?

Answer 32

He released the Bolsheviks from prison, in order to collect the weapons
- This was a mistake as the Bolsheviks found themselves being armed by the very government they were pledged to overthrow

Question 33

How did the Bolsheviks benefit from the Kornilov Affair?

Answer 33

1. They were able to present themselves as defenders of Petrograd, thereby diverting attention away from their failure in the July Dys
2. The Bolsheviks discovered the Provisional Governments political weakness and how vulnerable it was to military threat (Was able to use this in the October Revolution - MRC)

Question 34

Summarise the Dual Authority and continued dissent

Answer 34

1. Initial co-operation between Prov Gov and Petrograd soviet but order No1 restricts Prov Gov authority
2. Lenin’s April Theses ends co-operation. Lenin uses slogan ‘Peace, Bread, Land’
3. July days shows Bolshevik failure
4. Bolsheviks saved by governments mishandling of Kornilov affair