The Provsional Government & Its Opponents (march-july 1917) Flashcards
What was the makeup of the PG?
- All of its members, with the exception of kerensky were middle class liberals
- real driving force of the PG was the Kadet leader Milyukov who became foreign minister
Why did the provisional government have little power and support?
- In March 1917, the PG was in power but had no means of compelling people to obey its orders
- It had no authority over the Petrograd garrison, which was firmly under the control over the Petrograd soviet as a result of its order number 1
What is soviet order number 1 & why was it issued?
- Petrograd garrison aligned itself with the Petrograd soviet before the provisional government was set up
- on the 28th of February, the provisional committee of the Duma (the forerunner of the PG) fearing that Petrograd would fall victim to mob rule, ordered the troops on the city’s streets to return to their barracks
- The soldiers, distrustful of the middle class Duma politicians fearing they may be disciplined for turning against their officers during the February revolution, refused to accept legitimacy of the order & returned to the Petrograd soviet
- The soviets responded and issued order number 1 on 1 March - this stated that the garrison was subordinate to the soviets and declared that the orders of the provisional committee were only to be obeyed if they did not conflict with those of the soviet. As a result, the PG had to have the approval of the PS before it gave orders to the garrison
How did the Petrograd soviet have full control?
- Was in full control of the capital, because it was supported by key workers and the city’s army garrison
- The loyalty of the postal & railway workers to the PS ensured it controlled the city’s links to the outside world
- The backing of the army garrison, gave the PS th capacity to suppress opposition inside the capital, as well as protection against intervention from outside it
- the garrison was a sizeable force; around 180,000 troops and a further 150,000 stationed in outlying districts
What was the political makeup of the Petrograd soviet?
- was elected by the city’s factory workers and soliders of the Petrograd soviet, there was one representative from each battalion of soldiers (250 men) and one for every 1,000 workers
- the garrison was over represented in the PS, 2/3 of its 3,000 members were soldiers representatives, despite the fact that in 1917, there were fewer soldiers in Petrograd than there were workers
How did the provisional government and Petrograd soviet work together to pass key reforms? And when?
In spring 1917, the provisional government passed a series of measures previously discussed with the Petrograd soviet back in February
What reforms were passed by the PG & PS?
- an amnesty for all political prisoners including those detained for terror offences
- abolition of capital punishment
- unrestricted freedom of speech and assembly
- equal rights for citizens regardless of class, religion or nationality
- the election of the zemstva and town councils would be on a fully democratic basis
Why was there conflicting attitudes to the war?
Liberals were intent on fighting until outright victory was achieved, whilst the Petrograd soviet wanted to end the war quickly by means of a compromise peace negotiated between allie and central powers (Germany and Austria)
How did revolutionary defencism come about?
In mid march 1917, an increasingly self confident Petrograd soviet published a statement on Russia’s war aims, entitled ‘An appeal to the peoples of the world’ which set out the policy known as revolutionary defencism
What were the 3 pledges of revolutionary defencism?
- Russia would not make a seperate peace agreement with Germany but would try to bring about a peace settlement involving all warring nations
- Russia would not seek to make territorial gains at the expense of other countries
- until a peace settlement was reached, Russia would continue to defend its territory and its revolution against invading armies
Who was opposed to revolutionary defencism and why?
- Foreign minister Milyukov
- As a patriot, he wanted Russia to fight on until Germany had been defeated
- eyes on prize which could only be secured though an outright allied victory, as a result of an agreement with its allies, Russia had been promised control the seaway between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean after the war
How and Why did the Milyukov crisis occur?
- majority favoured a compromise with the Petrograd soviet (result was the PG’s declaration of war aims which affirmed its commitment to the war but affirmed it would not forcibly seize territories from countries)
- PS accepted this, but pressed for the declaration to be sent to Russia’s allies as a formal diplomatic note
- PG yielded, and the declaration was dispatched
- Milyukov chose to add a private telegram which he distanced himself from revolutionary defencism and insisted Russia would keep fighting until victory had been achieved
- Telegram was leaked to the press
What was the result of the Milyukov crisis?
- uproar
- supporters of the PS took to the streets and accused Milyukov of being a traitor and demanding his resignation
- clashes in April 21st convinced Lvov that stability was needed, dual power had to end
- Lvov appealed to soviet leaders to take office in a reconstituted PG and threatened to resign if they refused
- Milyukov was forced to resign
- Guchkov resigned — Kerensky replaced him as war minister
What was Lenin’s first task after returning to Russia?
Lenin’s first task on his return to Russia was to win his party over to his views. After a brief period of in-fighting within the Bolshevik ranks, he succeeded
Largely due to new entrants into the Bolshevik party eg; in feb 1917 Bolsheviks had 25,000 members whereas by April this rose to 75,000
What was Lenin’s tactic for drumming up support?
Knew that in spring 1917, Bolsheviks were too weak to mount a series threat to power
Decide to announce a series of police to appeal to left wing opinion in Petrograd known as April thesis
Policies of the April thesis? (peace)
— Peace; anti war sentiment was strong, dismissed policy of revolutionary defencism and claimed that under Bolshevik rule, there would be immediate peace
Why did the PG refuse to sanction land reforms?
- It insisted that land reform was a matter foe a future democratically elected parliament
- a disorderly peasant land grab was likely to lead to an unfair distribution of land between peasant households
- land seizures encouraged desertion from the army, with peasant conscripts laving their units in order to ger home and claim with their share of whatever land was going
How did Lenin encourage land reforms in his april thesis?
‘All land to the peasantry’’ gave impression that the Bolsheviks were content to allow seized landowners’ estates to become the peasantry’s private property despite the fact hat as socialists, they were opposed to private landownership
How did Lenin’s april thesis offer all power to the soviets?
- Lenin argued that the key institution in Russia’s post-revolution political arrangements should be soviets elected by workers and soldiers, not a democratically elected government
What and when was the june offensive?
18th June 1917, following a 2 day artillery bombardment, Russia’s armies attacked their German & Austrian counterparts along a 120 mile front in the southern part of the battle zone
Why was the decision to launch a major offensive bizarre?
Russia was war-weary and armies weakened by desertion, 100,000 soldiers deserted in the period between February-June 1917
What was agreed by Britain, France & Russia? and when?
November 1916, they all agreed to launch a coordinated attack on the central powers in mid 1917
Why did the June offensive fail?
Initial Russian gains were followed by a German counterattack
Russia’s armies boke and ran, looting as they went and within a week, German forces had advanced 150 miles deeper into Russian territory
What was the first machine gun regiment?
It was one of the largest units in the Petrograd garrison, with 10,000 men and 1,000 machine guns
