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WHY WERE THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT AND DUAL POWER OVERTHROWN IN OCTOBER…
WHY WERE THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT AND DUAL POWER OVERTHROWN IN OCTOBER 1917?
The Establishment of the Dual Power
March 1:
The
Provisional Committee of the duma
appointed a range of ministers
to create a new provisional government
Included:
liberals
moderate socialists
constitutional democrats
those previously in favour of a constitutional monarchy
Represented cross-section of influential society,
bringing together
:
land owners
industrialists
both moderate and radical members of the inteligentsia
March 3:
authority was passed onto Provisional Government because of tsar's brother's rejection
made it clear that elections should be held as soon as possible for a new constitution
Self-appointed
group: seen as undemocratic and
untrustworthy
by workers, soldiers and peasants because of
former cooperation with tsarist regime
most workers had
more faith in the alternative
: The Petrograd Soviet (left-winged, social revolutionaries)
Paesants organized themselves to take control of their own affairs
workers along front lines created similar soviets
The Petrograd soviet had
direct democratic authority
: it's members were
united in wanting to bring a true revolution to achieve workers power.
The Petrograd Soviet had
more support than the provisional government
but made no attempt to take full control: not prepared for full responsibility of governing
Negotiations by
minister of justice Kerensky
(member of provisional gov. and Soviet) led the soviets to agree for a
cooperation
with PG in return for several concessions:
granting of
basic civil liberties
abolition on legal inequalities
based on race, social class, religion, nationality
right to organize
trade unions + strikes
promise of a
constituent assembly
=
"DUAL POWER"
Popular decrees:
26 April - the
power of the state
in the future would
not be based on violence and force
, but
on consent/wants
of Russian people
freedom of
religion and press
death penalty abolition for soldiers
who deserted front line
tsarist police replaced by
people's militia
Tsar's provincial governors were dismissed, duties were
handed over to elected zemtsva
Problems faced by the Dual Power system
Removal of tsarist police force= no discipline for disobedient troops
Soviets were unhelpful, tended to encourage disturbances among the peasants
Supply of munition was disrupted due to order breaking down in Petrograd factories
Provisional government wanted to continue war
: most ministers saw abdication as a way for a stronger government to better the war effort and more opportunities to fight more effectively
WHILE
Most ordinary Russians saw the Feb. revolution as an end of tsarist control and the continuing war effort
and wartime depreivation
APRIL
: Milyukov (minister of foreign affarirs) announced that the
war would continue until a "just peace" had been won
THIS LEA TO MASSIVE ANTI-WAR DEMONSTARTIONS IN PETROGRAD + RESIGNATION OF MILYUKOV
conscripted peasants had no interest of fighting the Germans and just wanted to focus on seizing land for themselves and returning to their villages
Military desertions rose to 365 000 between March to May 1917
desertations reached peak so death penalty was reintroduced
anti-war sentiments grew even higher because of Brusilov's offensive in Galicia in June. Russian advance was taken back with heavy losses
Upper class turned against a government that failed to maintain order, protect their property and achieve wartime success
Right-wing feared that the left-wing had hijacked the Provisional Government.
JULY 1917: Lvov's replacement with Kerenksy as chairman heightened fear of left-wing takeover
Elites relied on Kornilov (appointed as commander-in-chief by Kerensky on July 16) to restore order after attempted coup in early july
At the end of August, Kornilov ordered six troop units to march on Petrograd to crush the Soviet and establish a military dictatorship.
Kerensky, panicked, asked Soviet to help defeat Kornilov. So he released Bolsheviks who had been arrested from the attempted June coup and gave them weapons to defeat soviet
lower classes=alienated because they didn't want continuation of war, government did nothing for land distribution
peasants got suspicious because PG said a constituent assembly would work on this, however this was not being created
little imrovement in peasant conditions. Value of wages fell even more rapidly than before meanwhile prices rose.
In Jan. 1917, prices were 300% of 1914 levels
. Had
risen to 755% by October.
P.G banned the formation of meetings of factory committees during working hours + created the right of factory owners to dismiss workers
workers claimed that PG was "not legitimate" and they would now only take orders from soviet
OCTOBER 16
: Trotsky (now chairman) created the Military Revolutionary Committee