Dual Power (March-June 1917)

Question 1

Who was the first Prime Minister of the new Provisional Government? Why was he a popular choice?

Answer 1

Prince Georgy Lvov - had been praised for his leadership of the union of zemstva/Zemgor and its medical help

Question 2

Why did the new Provisional Government lack legitimacy?

Answer 2

It was an unelected body; it had not made contact with the February Revolution demonstrators so it lacked popular support

Question 3

Who was the only member of the Provisional Government to also be a member of the Petrograd Soviet? What position did he hold in each body?

Answer 3

Alexander Kerensky
Petrograd Soviet: Vice-Chair
Provisional Government: Minister of Justice

Question 4

Which member of the Petrograd Soviet turned down a position in the Provisional Government and why?

Answer 4

Nikolay Chkheidze - the Soviet had declared that no true socialist should join the PG

Question 5

Who dominated the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet in March 1917?

Answer 5

Mensheviks

Question 6

What position did the Petrograd Soviet take initially on the new government?

Answer 6

It should stay outside the government, and act as a watchdog to ensure the Provisional Government should not damage the interests of the working class

Question 7

Why did the Petrograd Soviet resolve to stay outside the government in March 1917?

Answer 7

They were Mensheviks (and SRs) who followed the Marxist idea that a bourgeois-capitalist stage should precede communism

Question 8

Why did the Mensheviks reluctantly accept the soldiers into the Petrograd Soviet?

Answer 8

They were impossible to ignore - they provided strength in numbers and weapons

Question 9

Who issued Order No. 1, when and why?

Answer 9

The Petrograd Soviet
1 March 1917 (day before Nicholas abdicated)
It was a response to the Provisional Committee who had ordered the soldiers to return to their barracks and obey their officers

Question 10

How did Order No. 1 win over the soldiers?

Answer 10

Passed on control of weapons to soldiers’ committees

Called for civil equality of soldiers and officers

Question 11

What did Order No. 1 say about the soldiers’ relationship with the Provisional Government?

Answer 11

Soldiers should only obey the government if the Petrograd Soviet agreed

Question 12

What did the Petrograd Soviet control (rather than the Provisional Government) in March 1917?

Why was this significant?

Answer 12

Telegraph stations, railways, factories, power supplies, Soviets

The government could not send a message or even move around without the Soviet knowing

Question 13

What happened to the Okhrana under the Provisional Government?

Answer 13

It was disbanded

Question 14

What was the Provisional Government’s first decree, worked out with the Soviet?

Answer 14

An amnesty for political and religious prisoners; freedom of the press and freedom of speech; abolition of the death penalty

Question 15

What did Russia’s workers secure in the first two months of the Provisional Government?

Answer 15

The right to strike, an eight-hour working day, and legal factory committees

Question 16

Why was the Provisional Government only ‘provisional’?

Answer 16

It would arrange for elections for a Constituent Assembly that would determine Russia’s future government

Question 17

Why did the Provisional Government not want to leave the First World War, despite Germany’s strong military position?

Answer 17

An immediate peace would = national shame, humiliation and loss of territory

Britain and France wanted Russia to stay in the war to keep Germany fighting on two fronts

Question 18

What position did the Petrograd Soviet take on WWI on 11 March 1917?

Answer 18

Russia should continue fighting to defend the revolution from the German army, but should strive for a negotiated settlement

“Peace without annexations or indemnities”

Question 19

What was the Freedom Loan and on what condition did the Petrograd Soviet support it?

Answer 19

A loan proposed by the Provisional Government to meet the costs of the war.

The Soviet accepted it so long as Foreign Minister Miliukov sent a diplomatic note to the Allies, setting out the agreed defensist position (peace without annexations or indemnities)

Question 20

What did the Miliukov Note say about Russia’s intentions in the First World War?

Answer 20

The “peace without annexations or indemnities” stance was a “German formula”

Russia should continue fighting to a “decisive victory”, establishing “guarantees and sanctions”

Question 21

What happened when the Miliukov Note was reported in the Russian newspapers on 20 April?

Answer 21

Thousands of workers and soldiers demonstrated against the note and the PG’s decision to go against the Soviet - the April Crisis

Question 22

What did the April Crisis protestors NOT demonstrate against and why was this significant?

Answer 22

They didn’t demonstrate against the existence of the Provisional Government itself.

The PG still had some authority

Question 23

Who called an end to the April Crisis demonstrations and why was this significant?

Answer 23

The Petrograd Soviet (issued a two-day ban on street demonstrations)

Although the Provisional Government had the authority, the Soviet retained true power

Question 24

What happened to Miliukov after the April Crisis?

Answer 24

He resigned from the government (and Minister for War, Guchkov, did too)

Question 25

What did the Petrograd Soviet’s executive committee decide about the government on 1 May 1917?

Answer 25

The Soviet should negotiate with the government to join it in a coalition (voted 44-19 in favour)

Question 26

How many “socialists” and how many “capitalists” were in the coalition Provisional Government of 5 May?
Why was this significant?

Answer 26

Six “socialists”, nine “capitalists”.

The “socialists” from the Petrograd Soviet did not want responsibility for the government’s mistakes, so they were happy to be a minority

Question 27

What did the Provisional Government argue about the peasant land problem? Was this popular?

Answer 27

Only an elected constituent assembly could deal with the distribution of land.

Very unpopular - peasants wanted immediate action, so they seized land, livestock, timber and tools from landlords

Question 28

Why were liberals in the Provisional Government concerned about the redistribution of land?

Answer 28

They wanted landowners (their supporters) to be compensated

They were concerned that peasant soldiers in the army would rush back to claim their share of land

Question 29

Who became Minister of Agriculture in the coalition government in May 1917? What was his land policy? How successful was he?

Answer 29

Chernov - SR leader.
Empower peasants to use private land, with ownership to be sorted later.
Not successful - policy was blocked by the nine ‘capitalists’

Question 30

What did the Ukrainians demand after the collapse of the autocracy? What impact did this have on the Provisional Government?

Answer 30

Ukrainians demanded self-government.

Divided the Provisional Government. “Socialists” gave them concessions (e.g. their own Parliament), but the liberals were outraged and the Kadets resigned in July 1917.

Question 31

What happened to food shortages, unemployment and high prices under the Provisional Government?

Answer 31

They continued - they did not go away

Question 32

Between February and July 1917, how many factories in Petrograd closed, and how many jobs were lost?

Answer 32

568 factories closed

100,000 jobs lost

Question 33

What happened to the price of grain between February and June 1917?

What was the Provisional Government’s response?

Answer 33

Prices doubled.

PG sent punishment brigades into the countryside to requisition grain, but this made the peasants more hostile