RUSSIA, 1905-1939

Chapter 3.  RUSSIA, 1905-24

(b)   The provisional government

The Duma, struggling to take control, set up a mainly liberal provisional government with Prince George Lvov as prime minister; in July, he was replaced by Alexander Kerensky, a moderate socialist. The new government was just as perplexed by the enormous problems facing it as the tsar had been, and in November a second revolution took place which removed the provisional government and installed the Bolsheviks.

(c)   Why did the provisional government fall from power so soon?

(i)  It took the unpopular decision to continue the war, but the June offensive, Kerensky's idea, was another disastrous failure, causing a complete collapse of army morale and discipline and sending hundreds of thousands of deserting troops streaming home. (

ii)  The government had to share power with the Petrograd soviet, an elected committee of workers and soldiers representatives which tried to govern the city. Other soviets appeared in Moscow and all the provincial cities and when the Petrograd soviet ordered all soldiers to obey only the soviet, it meant that in the last resort the provisional government could not rely on the support of an army.

(iii)  Kerensky delayed the meeting of a Constituent Assembly (parliament) which he had promised and did nothing about land reform. This lost him support on all sides.

(iv)  Meanwhile, thanks to the new political amnesty. Lenin was able to return from exile in Switzerland (April). The Germans allowed him to travel through to Petrograd in a special 'sealed' train, in the hope that he would cause further chaos in Russia. After a rapturous welcome he urged that the soviets should cease to support the provisional government.

(v)  In the midst of general chaos, Lenin and the Bolsheviks put forward a realistic and attractive policy. He demanded all power to the soviets, and promised in return an end to the war, all land to he given to the peasants, and more food. By October the Bolsheviks were in control of both the Petrograd and Moscow soviets, though they were still in a minority over the country as a whole.

(vi)  On 20 October, urged on by Lenin, the Petrograd soviet took the crucial decision to attempt to seize power. Leon Trotsky, chairman of the soviet, made most of the plans, which went off without a hitch. During the night of 6-7 November, Bolshevik Red Guards occupied all key points and later arrested the provisional government ministers except Kerensky who managed to escape. It was almost a bloodless coup, enabling Lenin to set up a new soviet government with himself in charge. The coup had been successful because Lenin had judged to perfection the moment of maximum hostility towards the Kerensky government, and the Bolsheviks, who knew exactly what they wanted, were well disciplined and organised, whereas all other political groups were in disarray.