The Weakening of the Provisional Government of Russia

The Weakening of the Provisional Government of Russia

The Provisional Government, led by Prince Lvov, was the old Duma in a

new form. When Milyukov, the foreign minister, read out the list of

ministers in the newly-formed government, someone in the crowd called

out ‘Who appointed you?’ Milyukov replied, ‘We were appointed by the

revolution itself.’ In that exchange were expressed the two besetting

weaknesses of the Provisional Government throughout the eight months

of its existence.

It was not an elected body. It had come into being as a rebellious

committee of the old Duma that refused to disband at the tsar’s

command. As a consequence, it lacked legitimate authority. It had no

constitutional claim upon the loyalty of the people and no natural

fund of goodwill on which it could rely. It would be judged entirely

on how well it dealt with the nation’s problems.

The Provisional Government’s second major weakness was that its

authority was limited by its unofficial partnership with the Petrograd

Soviet. It was not that the Soviet was initially hostile. Indeed, at

first, there was a considerable degree of liaison between them. Some

individuals were members of both bodies. For example, Alexander

Kerensky, the SR leader, was for a time chairman of the Soviet as well

as a minister in the Provisional Government.

The Soviet did not set out to be an alternative government. It

regarded its role as supervisory, checking that the interests of the

soldiers and workers were fully understood by the government.

(Disagree…) However, in the uncertain times that followed the February

Revolution, the Provisional Government often seemed unsure ...

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...stances of post-tsarist Russia had produced a

situation in which the peasants were acting as a truly revolutionary

force. This modification of Marxist theory thus allowed Lenin to add

Russian peasants to the proletarian cause.

‘Land to the Peasants’, a slogan lifted from the programme of the SRs,

became the new Bolshevik catchphrase. What this meant in mid-1917 was

that the Bolsheviks recognised the peasant land-seizures as a fait

accompli. Lenin declared that what the peasantry had done was wholly

in keeping with ‘revolutionary legality’.

This produced a considerable swing to the Bolsheviks in the

countryside. It had the further effect of splitting the SRs, a

significant number of whom began to align themselves with the

Bolsheviks. Known as the Left SRs, they sided with the Bolshevik Party

on all major issues.