PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
Liberal Democracy
DEBATES:
● Domestic Policies
● Nature of Government
● Repression and Enforcement
● Extent and Impact of Reform
● Extent and Effectiveness of Opposition
● Changes to Urban and Rural living / working conditions
● Limits on personal / political / religious freedoms
● Extent of Economic and Social Changes
● Impact of the Continuing War
● Reasons for PG Overthrow
Domestic Policies
Honeymoon of revolution didn’t last long and soon different groups in society started to demand
different things, which the PG found hard to meet. Situation started to get charged when groups began
arguing about new policies PG should adopt. Main issues as of March 1917 as follows:
WAR
Peace: national shame, humiliation, loss of territory
Fight: defensive (protect existing territory) or offensive (aid Allies and win more territory) strategy?
SOCIAL REFORM
Workers wanted a programme of social reform but how quickly could this take place and how far
should it go?
- Greater power in the workplace
- Improvements in working / living conditions
ECONOMY
How to improve the economic situation in Russia (particularly supply of food and fuel)?
LAND
Should it be taken from nobility and bigger landowners to be handed over to peasants so they can
divide it amongst themselves?
OR should this issue be left to an elected government and be organised in a controlled fashion?
NATIONAL MINORITIES
Finns, Poles, Ukrainians clamouring for independence / more self-governance now the tsarist regime
had collapsed. Allow breakup of old empire or not?
, Provisional Government - liberal (Kadets, Octoberists too but they’re more right wing)
● Kadets dominant force in PG - not united though.
● Milyukov and some were more right-wing, believing the revolution was over in March and
should go no further. They wanted to set up a robust constitutional framework with a
democratically elected government in a centrally controlled state.
● Left-leaning Kadets wanted more social reform with a larger role for people in government,
and more power to regional and local centres.
Main policies
● WAR: committed to continuing war and helping Allies (wanted Western help for fledgling
democracy and to remain an important power internationally). Milyukov (war minister as well
as leader of Kadets) wanted to make territorial gains.
● LAND: wanted this issue to be sorted out by an elected Constituent Assembly.
● MINORITIES: didn’t want old empire to break up - wanted to maintain integrity of the state
● ELECTIONS TO CONSTITUENT: they released the majority of the population would not
vote for them, therefore sought to delay the elections until war was over (a more settled
atmosphere might improve their chances)
Liberals dominant in PG.
Petrograd Soviet - socialists (SRs and Mensheviks and Bolsheviks)
● Mixed grouping - main socialist groups were Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs), Mensheviks,
and Bolsheviks
● First leading Bolsheviks were Stalin and Kamenev in mid-March, who assumed this was the
‘bourgeois’ stage of the revolution
● Many soviets here that didn’t belong to a party but could be powerful on local soviets
Main policies
● COOPERATION: prepared to cooperate with PG while acting as watchdog to ensure the
people’s interest were not jeopardise
● WAR: wanted a defensive war, to prevent defeat and not fight to gain territory
● LAND: wanted to leave this up to Constituent Assembly - SRs were anxious to redistribute
land but prepared to wait until Assembly met
● MINORITIES: wanted to agree to national aspirations of non-Russians and offer more
self-governance and local control (particularly wanted to grant self-governance to Ukraine)
➜ Moderate SRs favoured defensive war whilst left-wing SRs opposed the war
➜ Moderate Mensheviks supported continuation of war, Menshevik-internationalists opposed it
Moderate wings of SRs and Mensheviks dominant in PS.
Government Reform
Feb - PG and PS established
May - SRs and Mensheviks join PG through dual power (Petrograd Soviet)
November - Constituent Assembly elections are held
Liberal Democracy
DEBATES:
● Domestic Policies
● Nature of Government
● Repression and Enforcement
● Extent and Impact of Reform
● Extent and Effectiveness of Opposition
● Changes to Urban and Rural living / working conditions
● Limits on personal / political / religious freedoms
● Extent of Economic and Social Changes
● Impact of the Continuing War
● Reasons for PG Overthrow
Domestic Policies
Honeymoon of revolution didn’t last long and soon different groups in society started to demand
different things, which the PG found hard to meet. Situation started to get charged when groups began
arguing about new policies PG should adopt. Main issues as of March 1917 as follows:
WAR
Peace: national shame, humiliation, loss of territory
Fight: defensive (protect existing territory) or offensive (aid Allies and win more territory) strategy?
SOCIAL REFORM
Workers wanted a programme of social reform but how quickly could this take place and how far
should it go?
- Greater power in the workplace
- Improvements in working / living conditions
ECONOMY
How to improve the economic situation in Russia (particularly supply of food and fuel)?
LAND
Should it be taken from nobility and bigger landowners to be handed over to peasants so they can
divide it amongst themselves?
OR should this issue be left to an elected government and be organised in a controlled fashion?
NATIONAL MINORITIES
Finns, Poles, Ukrainians clamouring for independence / more self-governance now the tsarist regime
had collapsed. Allow breakup of old empire or not?
, Provisional Government - liberal (Kadets, Octoberists too but they’re more right wing)
● Kadets dominant force in PG - not united though.
● Milyukov and some were more right-wing, believing the revolution was over in March and
should go no further. They wanted to set up a robust constitutional framework with a
democratically elected government in a centrally controlled state.
● Left-leaning Kadets wanted more social reform with a larger role for people in government,
and more power to regional and local centres.
Main policies
● WAR: committed to continuing war and helping Allies (wanted Western help for fledgling
democracy and to remain an important power internationally). Milyukov (war minister as well
as leader of Kadets) wanted to make territorial gains.
● LAND: wanted this issue to be sorted out by an elected Constituent Assembly.
● MINORITIES: didn’t want old empire to break up - wanted to maintain integrity of the state
● ELECTIONS TO CONSTITUENT: they released the majority of the population would not
vote for them, therefore sought to delay the elections until war was over (a more settled
atmosphere might improve their chances)
Liberals dominant in PG.
Petrograd Soviet - socialists (SRs and Mensheviks and Bolsheviks)
● Mixed grouping - main socialist groups were Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs), Mensheviks,
and Bolsheviks
● First leading Bolsheviks were Stalin and Kamenev in mid-March, who assumed this was the
‘bourgeois’ stage of the revolution
● Many soviets here that didn’t belong to a party but could be powerful on local soviets
Main policies
● COOPERATION: prepared to cooperate with PG while acting as watchdog to ensure the
people’s interest were not jeopardise
● WAR: wanted a defensive war, to prevent defeat and not fight to gain territory
● LAND: wanted to leave this up to Constituent Assembly - SRs were anxious to redistribute
land but prepared to wait until Assembly met
● MINORITIES: wanted to agree to national aspirations of non-Russians and offer more
self-governance and local control (particularly wanted to grant self-governance to Ukraine)
➜ Moderate SRs favoured defensive war whilst left-wing SRs opposed the war
➜ Moderate Mensheviks supported continuation of war, Menshevik-internationalists opposed it
Moderate wings of SRs and Mensheviks dominant in PS.
Government Reform
Feb - PG and PS established
May - SRs and Mensheviks join PG through dual power (Petrograd Soviet)
November - Constituent Assembly elections are held
