The Russian Provisional Government was a provisional government of the Russian Empire and Russian Republic, announced two days before and established immediately after the abdication of Nicholas II on 2 March, O.S. [15 March 1917, N.S.], during the February Revolution. The intention of the provisional government was the organization of elections to the Russian Constituent Assembly and its convention. The provisional government, led first by Prince Georgy Lvov and then by Alexander Kerensky, lasted approximately eight months, and ceased to exist when the Bolsheviks gained power in the October Revolution in October [November, N.S.] 1917.
According to Harold Whitmore Williams, the history of the eight months during which Russia was ruled by the Provisional Government was the history of the steady and systematic disorganization of the army.Harold Whitmore Williams (1919) The Spirit of the Russian Revolution, p. 14, 15. Russian Liberation Committee, no. 9, 173 Fleet Street. London The Provisional Government was a caretaker government, with its political system and the status of the monarchy remaining unresolved until the election of the Constituent Assembly. This was finally clarified on 1 September [14 September, N.S.], when the Russian Republic was proclaimed, in a decree signed by Kerensky as Minister-President and Zarudny as Minister of Justice.The Russian Republic Proclaimed at prlib.ru, accessed 12 June 2017
Overview
On 12 March [27 February, O.S.], after Prime Minister Nikolai Golitsyn was forced to resign, 24 commissars of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma were appointed. The committee was headed by Mikhail Rodzianko and suspended the activity of the Fourth State Duma. He temporarily took formal state power and announced the creation of a new government on 13 March. The Provisional Government was formed on 15 March 1917 (N.S.) by the Provisional Committee in cooperation with the Petrograd Soviet, despite protests of the Bolsheviks. The government was led first by Prince Georgy Lvov and then by Alexander Kerensky. It replaced the Council of Ministers of Russia, which presided in the Mariinsky Palace.
The Provisional Government was unable to make decisive policy decisions due to political factionalism and a breakdown of state structures. This weakness left the government open to strong challenges from both the right and the left. The Provisional Government's chief adversary on the left was the Petrograd Soviet, a Communist committee then taking over and ruling Russia's most important port city, which tentatively cooperated with the government at first, but then gradually gained control of the Imperial Army, local factories, and the Russian Railway. The period of competition for authority ended in late October 1917, when Bolsheviks routed the ministers of the Provisional Government in the events known as the "October Revolution", and placed power in the hands of the soviets, or "workers' councils," which had given their support to the Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky. The weakness of the Provisional Government is perhaps best reflected in the derisive nickname given to Kerensky: "persuader-in-chief."
Formation
The authority of the Tsar's government began disintegrating on 1 November 1916, when Pavel Milyukov attacked the Boris Stürmer government in the Duma. Stürmer was succeeded by Alexander Trepov and Nikolai Golitsyn, both Prime Ministers for only a few weeks. During the February Revolution two rival institutions, the imperial State Duma and the Petrograd Soviet, both located in the Tauride Palace, competed for power. Tsar Nicholas II abdicated on 2 March [15 March, ], and Milyukov announced the committee's decision to offer the Regency to his brother, Grand Duke Michael, as the next tsar.Harold Whitmore Williams (1919), p. 3 Grand Duke Michael would accept after the decision of the Russian Constituent Assembly. He did not want to take the poisoned chaliceM. Lynch, Reaction and Revolution: Russia 1894–1924 (3rd ed.), Hodder Murray, London 2005, p. 79 and deferred acceptance of imperial power the next day. The Provisional Government was designed to set up elections to the Assembly while maintaining essential government services, but its power was effectively limited by the Petrograd Soviet's growing authority.
Public announcement of the formation of the Provisional Government was made. It was published in Izvestia the day after its formation. The announcement stated the declaration of government Full and immediate amnesty on all issues political and religious, including: terrorist acts, military uprisings, and agrarian crimes etc. Freedom of word, press, unions, assemblies, and strikes with spread of political freedoms to military servicemen within the restrictions allowed by military-technical conditions. Abolition of all hereditary, religious, and national class restrictions. Immediate preparations for the convocation on basis of universal, equal, secret, and direct vote for the Constituent Assembly which will determine the form of government and the constitution. Replacement of the police with a public militsiya and its elected chairmanship subordinated to the local authorities. Elections to the authorities of local self-government on basis of universal, direct, equal, and secret vote. Non-disarmament and non-withdrawal out of Petrograd the military units participating in the revolution movement. Under preservation of strict discipline in ranks and performing a military service – elimination of all restrictions for soldiers in the use of public rights granted to all other citizens.
It also said, "The provisional government feels obliged to add that it is not intended to take advantage of military circumstances for any delay in implementing the above reforms and measures."
World recognition
Country Date 22 March 1917 24 March 1917
Initial composition Initial composition of the Provisional Government:
Post Name Party Time of appointment Prime minister and Minister of the Interior Georgy Lvov March 1917 Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavel Milyukov Kadet March 1917 Mikhail Tereshchenko Non-Party April 1917 Minister of War and Navy Alexander Guchkov Octobrist March 1917 Alexander Kerensky Socialist-Revolutionary Party April 1917 Minister of Transport Nikolai Nekrasov Kadet March 1917 Minister of Trade and Industry Aleksandr Konovalov Progressist March 1917 Minister of Justice Alexander Kerensky Socialist-Revolutionary Party March 1917 Socialist-Revolutionary Party April 1917 Minister of Finance Mikhail Tereshchenko Non-Party March 1917 Andrei Shingarev Kadet April 1917 Minister of Education Alexander Manuilov Kadet March 1917 Minister of Agriculture Andrei Shingarev Kadet March 1917 Victor Chernov Socialist-Revolutionary Party April 1917 Minister of Labour Matvey Skobelev Menshevik April 1917 Minister of Food Alexey Peshekhonov Popular Socialists (Russia) April 1917 Minister of Post and Telegraph Irakli Tsereteli Menshevik April 1917Ober-Procurator of the Most Holy Synod Vladimir Lvov Progressist March 1917
April Crisis
During the April Crisis (1917) Ivan Ilyin agreed with the Kadet Milyukov, who staunchly opposed Petrograd Soviet demands for peace at any cost. On 18 April [1 May, ] 1917, minister of Foreign Affairs Pavel Milyukov sent a note to the Allied governments, promising to continue the war to 'its glorious conclusion'. On 20–21 April 1917, massive demonstrations of workers and soldiers erupted against the continuation of war. Demonstrations demanded resignation of Milyukov. They were soon met by the counter-demonstrations organised in his support. General Lavr Kornilov, commander of the Petrograd military district, wished to suppress the disorders, but premier Georgy Lvov refused to resort to violence.
The Provisional Government accepted the resignation of Foreign Minister Milyukov and War Minister Guchkov and made a proposal to the Petrograd Soviet to form a coalition government. As a result of negotiations, on 22 April 1917, agreement was reached and 6 socialist ministers joined the cabinet.
During this period the Provisional Government merely reflected the will of the Soviet, where left tendencies (Bolshevism) were gaining ground. The Government, however, influenced by the "bourgeois" ministers, tried to base itself on the right wing of the Soviet. Socialist ministers, coming under fire from their left-wing Soviet associates, were compelled to pursue a double-faced policy. The Provisional Government was unable to make decisive policy decisions due to political factionalism and a breakdown of state structures.
Kerensky's June Offensive
In the summer of 1917, within the government, the liberals persuaded the socialists that the Provisional Government needed to launch an offensive against Germany. This was as a consequence of several factors: a request from Britain and France to help take the pressure off their forces in the West, avoiding the national humiliation of a defeat, to help put the generals and officers back in control of the armed forces so they could control the revolution and to place them in a better bargaining position with the Germans when peace negotiations started.
The government agreed that a 'successful military offensive' was required to unite the people and restore morale to the Russian army. Alexander Kerensky, Minister for War, embarked on a 'whirlwind tour' of the Russian forces at the fronts, giving passionate, 'near-hysterical', speeches where he called on troops to act heroically, stating 'we revolutionaries, have the right to death.' This worked for a time until Kerensky left and the effect on the troops waned.
The June Offensive, which started on 16 June, lasted for just three days before falling apart. During the offensive, the rate of desertion was high and soldiers began to mutiny, with some even killing their commanding officers instead of fighting.
The offensive resulted in the death of thousands of Russian soldiers and great loss of territory. This failed military offensive produced an immediate effect in Petrograd in the form of an armed uprising known as the 'July Days'. The Provisional Government survived the initial uprising, but their pro-war position meant that moderate socialist government leaders lost their credibility among the soldiers and workers.
July crisis and second coalition government
On July 2 [July 15, N.S.], in response to the government's compromises with Ukrainian nationalists, the Kadet members of the cabinet resigned, leaving Prince Lvov's government in disarray. This prompted further urban demonstrations, as workers demanded "all power to the Soviets."
On the morning of July 3 (July 16), the machine-gun regiment voted in favour of an armed demonstration, with it agreed that the demonstrators should march peacefully to the front of the Tauride palace and elect delegates to 'present their demands to the executive committee of the Soviet'.
The following day, July 4 (July 17), around 20,000 armed sailors from the Kronstadt naval base arrived in Petrograd. The mass of soldiers and workers then went to the Bolshevik Headquarters to find Lenin, who addressed the crowd and promised them that, ultimately, all power would go to the Soviets. However, Lenin was rather reluctant about these developments, with his speech uncertain and barely lasting a minute.
As violence escalated in the streets with the mob looting shops, houses, and attacking well-dressed civilians, Cossacks and Kadets stationed atop the buildings of Liteyny Avenue began to fire upon the crowds, causing the marchers to scatter in panic as dozens were killed.
At around 7 pm, soldiers and a group of workers from the Putilov iron plant broke into the palace and, flourishing their rifles, demanded full power to the Soviets.