Photo: The fraternization of General Lavr Kornilov’s soldiers with the Provisional Government troops. August 1917.
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Overview
In March 1917, two organisations established themselves as governing bodies in Petrograd. The first was the Provisional Government, an interim regime made up of the Tsar’s former ministers and the leaders of the Duma. It was largely middle class and aristocratic. The second was an organisation of workers and soldiers, the Petrograd Soviet, which also claimed it was the legitimate people’s government in the city.
In the final days of Tsar Nicholas II’s reign, as the February Revolution swept the autocracy away, a provisional government formed, made up of a coalition led by the Constitutional Democratic (Kadet) Party. The government appointed a new prime minister of Russia, the liberal aristocrat Prince Georgi Lvov.
The Provisional Government was only ever meant to be a short-term caretaker government, set up to manage Russia until elections could be held. It is important to remember that the government was not elected and had no democratic legitimacy, a fact of which Prince Lvov was acutely aware.
The Problems of the Provisional Government
The Petrograd Soviet
The Tauride Palace in Petrograd was home to both the Provisional Government and an elected body of workers’ and soldiers’ deputies, the Petrograd Soviet. The word soviet means council or committee.
During both the February Revolution and the 1905 Revolution, workers and soldiers had elected committees of their peers in factories and army barracks. Bosses and commanding officers had been chased away or killed, giving workers and soldiers immense freedom to manage their own affairs.
Delegates from these local soviets attended the Petrograd Soviet, which viewed itself as a supreme city-wide democratic institution. During the 1905 Revolution, the soviet had established itself as a rival democratic government to the Tsar. It was abolished when that revolution failed, but twelve years later, delegates hoped to project their power across Russia as a rival to the Provisional Government.
Within two weeks, there were three thousand deputies from across the city representing army regiments and factories at the Soviet. It established a revolutionary newspaper called Izvestia (meaning ‘News’). The first chairman of the Soviet was Menshevik Nikolay Chkheidze. Meetings were often chaotic, noisy free-for-alls.
Dual Power
The leaders of the soviet formed an executive committee and believed they spoke for Petrograd’s ‘revolutionary peoples’. Because soviets existed in every public amenity and essential service (railways, telegraphs, post office), the soviet could control all aspects of public life.
It also had enormous influence over the armed forces. Nearly all army regiments had sent delegates. On March 1st 1917, the first decree of the new body was Petrograd Soviet Order No. 1:
This decree ordered soldiers and sailors to obey the Provisional Government only as long as the government’s policies did not contradict the decrees of the Petrograd Soviet.
This created a system of “Dual Power”: the Provisional Government could rule, but the soviet could effectively control it. In June 1917, the Petrograd Soviet began to add delegates from across Russia and renamed itself the All-Russian Congress of Soviets.
The Return of Exiles
Under pressure from the Soviet, the Provisional Government agreed to policies unlikely to benefit it. The Soviet created a Contact Commission to communicate with the government. On March 6th, at the soviet’s demand, the government declared an amnesty for all political prisoners of the Tsarist regime.
In Siberia, Bolsheviks such as Joseph StalinStalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (18 December 1878 – 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician, dictator and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. Read More and Lev Kamenev were freed. StalinStalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (18 December 1878 – 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician, dictator and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. Read More arrived in Petrograd twelve days later and joined the Soviet. On March 27th, Menshevik Leon Trotsky left New York to return. On April 3rd, Lenin and the core Bolshevik leadership arrived at Petrograd’s Finland Station. This decision would have profound consequences.
The Problem of the War
From the outset, the Provisional Government faced an impossible dilemma:
· Popular Demand: Widespread demand to exit WWI, given enormous human and economic costs.
· Government Constraints:
- Loans: Russia’s economy was propped up by loans from Britain and France. Abandoning her allies meant economic catastrophe.
- Peace Deal: Exiting required a treaty with Germany, which would demand large swathes of Russian territory.
- Patriotism: Many still believed Russia could win; millions of war dead made surrender seem in vain.
- Legitimacy: Some argued such a major policy change couldn’t be made by an unelected government.
- Territorial Gains: Some believed winning the war would cement the new government’s popularity.
The army’s position deteriorated throughout 1917 due to revolutionary ideas, low morale, and desertion.
The Milyukov Note
In April 1917, Foreign Minister Pavel Milyukov sent a telegram to France and Britain, reassuring them that Russia’s war aims (including territorial gains) had not changed. The telegram was leaked, causing angry protests in Petrograd, as it contradicted the official policy of a ‘defensive war’. This was the first major public dissatisfaction with the Provisional Government.
Lenin’s Bid for Power
Lenin
Vladimir Lenin (born Ulyanov) was the son of a schools inspector. His brother Alexander was executed for plotting to kill Tsar Alexander III. Lenin studied law, joined the Social Democrats, was arrested, and exiled to Siberia (1900-1917). He spent 17 years in exile developing the Bolshevik Party.
Trotsky
Leon Trotsky (born Bronstein) came from a Jewish farming family in Ukraine. He joined the Social Democrats, was imprisoned and exiled twice (escaping both times), and lived in exile in Europe and New York. He returned to Russia after the February Revolution, arriving on May 4th, 1917.
Lenin and the War
Lenin was one of the few European socialists completely opposed to the war. He saw it as a class war and believed it should be turned into a revolution where the working classes turned their guns on their rulers.
Lenin’s Return and the April Theses
Lenin returned via a “sealed train” through Germany (which helped him, hoping to destabilize Russia). On the journey, he wrote “The Tasks of the Proletariat” (the April Theses). Upon arriving in Petrograd on April 16th, he attacked his own Bolshevik party for its caution. His Theses demanded:
· Opposition to the Provisional Government.
· Immediate peace with Germany.
· “All power to the Soviets.”
· Abolition of the police, army, bureaucracy.
· Nationalisation of all land.
· Creation of a soviet republic.
He summed it up: “Peace, Bread, Land, and All Power to the Soviets.”
Lenin’s Rage
Lenin was furious that Bolsheviks in Petrograd (like Stalin, Kamenev, and Muranov) were preaching cooperation with the government. He demanded an immediate change to preparing for revolution. Stalin, recognizing Lenin’s influence, backed down.
The Decline of the Provisional Government
The June Offensive
In June 1917, Minister of War Alexander Kerensky ordered a final offensive, commanded by General Brusilov. It was doomed:
· The war was deeply unpopular.
· Soviet Order No. 1 had caused chaos; soldiers refused officers’ orders.
· Bolshevik agitators spread anti-war messages.
The offensive initially succeeded against Austrians but failed against Germans. A German counterattack broke through, capturing Riga in September. This was a disaster for the Provisional Government’s credibility.
The July Days
The offensive’s failure sparked city-wide strikes and protests in July. The All-Russian Congress of Soviets forbade the protests, fearing chaos. Lenin initially hesitated but then tried to direct the uprising. Troops loyal to the government fired on demonstrators, ending the protests.
Consequences:
- The government was seen as no better than the Tsar’s.
- Lenin fled to Finland; Trotsky was arrested.
- Prince Lvov resigned, exhausted. Alexander Kerensky became the new Prime Minister.
Exile Again
Kerensky labeled Lenin a German agent and ordered his arrest. In hiding in Finland, Lenin wrote State and Revolution, arguing for a powerful centralized state to defend the revolution and repress class enemies. He demanded armed overthrow, but most of the party leadership was arrested or in hiding, making his call seem unrealistic.
The Kornilov Plot
In August 1917, the new army head, General Lavr Kornilov, planned a coup to crush the soviet and restore order. Historians debate Kerensky’s role—he may have initially conspired with Kornilov but got cold feet.
A panicked Kerensky, with no military support in Petrograd, turned to the soviet for help. He was forced to:
· Release imprisoned Bolsheviks.
· Arm the Bolshevik Red GuardsRed Guards Full Description:The Red Guards were the instrument through which the leadership bypassed the established bureaucracy to unleash chaos on society. Encouraged to “rebel is justified,” these groups engaged in humiliated public “struggle sessions,” violent raids on homes, and the physical abuse of teachers, intellectuals, and local officials.
Critical Perspective:The mobilization of the Red Guards represented the weaponization of the youth against the older generation. It exploited the idealism and energy of students, channeling it into mob violence and destruction. This resulted in a “lost generation” who were denied formal education and sent to the countryside, their futures sacrificed for a political power struggle.
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Railway workers (Bolsheviks) disabled the network. Bolshevik agitators caused Kornilov’s troops to mutiny. The coup collapsed, and Kornilov was arrested.
Result: The Bolsheviks were seen as defenders of the revolution, and their support surged. Crucially, they kept their weapons.
Lenin’s Coup: The October Revolution
The Party Decides
After the Kornilov Plot, political apathy gripped other parties, but the disciplined Bolsheviks grew stronger. Lenin returned in September 1917, convinced the time was right.
On October 10th, Lenin convinced the Bolshevik Central Committee to vote for an armed insurrection (10 votes for, 2 against). He wanted to act before elections to a Constituent Assembly in November, which would create a democratically legitimate government.
Planning the Takeover
The Bolsheviks established a Military Revolutionary Committee (MRC), led by Trotsky after his release. Crucially, it was presented as a Soviet organ, not just a Bolshevik one, so soldiers would follow its orders. The MRC gained control of Petrograd’s military garrisons.
October 25th (Old Style; November 7th New Style)
The revolt met little resistance. From the Smolny Institute, the MRC directed Red Guards to seize key points:
· Bridges
· Telegraph and post offices
· Railway stations
· Government ministries
The battleship Aurora sailed up the Neva River and fired blank shells at the Winter Palace. Bolshevik soldiers wandered into the Palace virtually unopposed. The Provisional Government had no military force left to defend it.
Kerensky fled the city. The Bolsheviks had not so much seized power as acquired it without a major fight.
Lenin immediately informed the soviet that power had been taken—initially on its behalf, but it quickly became clear this was a Bolshevik coup.