A2, key topic 3 - The Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks
After the Romanov monarchy collapsed in March 1917, power was divided between the Provisional Government, which claimed legal authority, and the Petrograd Soviet, which influenced workers and soldiers. Between March and November, that unstable arrangement was tested by war, land hunger, economic breakdown, Lenin's return, the July Days and the Kornilov Revolt before the Bolsheviks seized power. This lesson explains why the Provisional Government failed and how Lenin and Trotsky turned Bolshevik support into a successful takeover. Russia still used the Julian calendar, so the takeover on 24-25 October was 6-7 November in the Western calendar.
| Date | Event | Why it mattered |
|---|---|---|
| March 1917 | Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviet emerge | Russia has "dual power" rather than one settled authority. |
| April 1917 | Lenin returns and issues the April Theses | Bolshevik policy becomes clear: no support for the government, peace, land and soviet power. |
| July 1917 | July Days | Armed protests damage the Bolsheviks temporarily, but also reveal the government's weakness. |
| August 1917 | Kornilov Revolt | The right-wing military threat fails and the Bolsheviks gain prestige as defenders of the revolution. |
| October 1917 | Bolsheviks seize power in Petrograd | The Provisional Government is overthrown and power is claimed in the name of the soviets. |
Dual Power And Weakness
The Provisional Government began with a major problem: it was provisional. It was meant to govern only until a Constituent Assembly could be elected. That made its authority uncertain from the start. It claimed to speak for Russia, but it had not been elected by all Russians. It also inherited the problems that had helped bring down the Tsar: war, food shortages, inflation, peasant land hunger, worker unrest and an army losing discipline.
The Petrograd Soviet made this weakness worse. A soviet was a council of workers' and soldiers' representatives. The Petrograd Soviet did not initially try to rule Russia directly, but it could block or pressure the Provisional Government because it had strong links with the capital's workers and soldiers. This created "dual power": two centres of authority in the same city, each claiming to defend the revolution.
Dual power
Dual power describes Russia in 1917, when the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet were two centres of authority, each claiming to defend the revolution.
One early sign was Order No. 1, issued by the Petrograd Soviet. It told soldiers to form committees and, in political matters, to obey the Soviet rather than orders that contradicted it. The exact impact of Order No. 1 is debated, but for this lesson the significance is clear: the Provisional Government could not simply command the army as a normal government would. Soldiers increasingly looked to their own committees and to soviet authority.
The government's mistakes turned uncertainty into crisis.
| Weakness or mistake | Why it damaged the government |
|---|---|
| Continuing the war | Soldiers, workers and peasants wanted peace; military defeat and shortages continued. |
| Delaying land reform | Peasants wanted land immediately, but the government said the Constituent Assembly should decide. |
| Delaying elections | Waiting for ideal conditions meant the government lacked a clear democratic mandate. |
| Depending on old officials and officers | Many people distrusted institutions linked to the old regime. |
| Sharing power with the Soviet | The government looked unable to act without permission from more radical forces. |
| Coalition changes | Repeated reshuffles made the government look unstable rather than decisive. |
The April Crisis showed the problem sharply. Foreign Minister Pavel Milyukov reassured Russia's allies that Russia would continue the war. Demonstrations followed, Milyukov and War Minister Guchkov resigned, and socialist ministers entered the government. This did not solve the problem. It blurred responsibility: moderate socialists were now tied to the government, while the Bolsheviks could stand outside and condemn it.
Misconception check: the Provisional Government was not weak because every decision was foolish. Some choices were genuinely difficult. Leaving the war risked German victory and Allied anger; redistributing land before elections risked chaos. The problem was that postponing decisions made the government look useless to people who wanted immediate change.
Lenin And April Theses
Lenin returned to Petrograd in April 1917 after years in exile. Before his return, many Bolsheviks were unsure how far to oppose the new government. Some thought the party should allow the revolution to develop through its "bourgeois" stage, meaning a period of liberal or democratic government before socialist revolution. Lenin rejected that caution.
The April Theses set out his new line. Lenin argued for:
| Lenin's demand | Political meaning |
|---|---|
| No support for the Provisional Government | The Bolsheviks should not join or prop up a government Lenin saw as capitalist and pro-war. |
| "All power to the soviets" | Authority should pass from the government to workers' and soldiers' councils. |
| Immediate peace | The war was presented as an imperialist war that harmed workers and soldiers. |
| Land to the peasants | Bolsheviks could appeal to rural anger even though the Socialist Revolutionaries had long been stronger among peasants. |
| Workers' control | Factory workers could be attracted by promises of control over production. |
The genius of the April Theses was not that everyone instantly agreed with Lenin. Many Bolsheviks were shocked by how radical he sounded. The point was that Lenin gave the party a clear identity. While the Provisional Government said "wait for elections" and moderate socialists said "defend the revolution but continue the war", Lenin offered sharper slogans: peace, land, bread, and all power to the soviets.
Those slogans worked because they connected politics to everyday suffering. A soldier did not need a long theory of Marxism to understand "peace". A peasant did not need to read party resolutions to want land. A hungry city worker could connect "bread" to the government's failure to solve shortages. Lenin turned the Bolsheviks from a small revolutionary party into the loudest voice for immediate solutions.
However, Lenin also created a risk. Calling for soviet power while the Bolsheviks were still a minority in many soviets meant the party had to win influence quickly. Lenin's strategy depended on the Provisional Government discrediting itself further and on the Bolsheviks becoming the most convincing defenders of the revolution.
For exam answers, avoid saying "Lenin promised everyone everything" as if the promises were vague bribery. A stronger answer explains why the promises were politically targeted: they matched the exact groups whose support mattered in Petrograd and beyond, especially soldiers, workers and land-hungry peasants.
July Days Setback
The July Days were armed demonstrations in Petrograd by workers, soldiers and sailors who wanted the Soviet to take power from the Provisional Government. They were caused by several pressures: continuing war, economic hardship, anger among soldiers, frustration with the moderate socialist leaders of the Soviet, and the failure of the June Offensive at the front.
The events were dangerous for the Bolsheviks because the movement was radical but not fully controlled by them. Some Bolshevik activists encouraged the demonstrations, and Bolshevik slogans appeared on the streets. Lenin and the central leadership, however, were cautious because they feared a premature rising. The party could not yet be sure that the rest of Russia, the army or even the Soviet leadership would support a seizure of power.
The protests did not become a successful revolution. The Provisional Government and Soviet leaders regained control. The government then moved against the Bolsheviks. Bolshevik offices and newspapers were attacked or closed, leading Bolsheviks were arrested, and Lenin went into hiding in Finland after accusations that he was a German agent. Kerensky became prime minister in July, giving the government a new leading figure.
At first glance, the July Days look like a disaster for the Bolsheviks. They lost influence temporarily, Lenin had to flee, and the government claimed to have saved order. But the deeper significance is more complicated.
| Immediate result | Longer-term significance |
|---|---|
| Bolsheviks were blamed for disorder | The party learned not to move before it had stronger organisation and support. |
| Lenin went into hiding | He could still direct strategy by letters and avoided arrest. |
| Kerensky became prime minister | The government became more identified with one leader, making later failure easier to blame on him. |
| Moderate socialists helped suppress unrest | The Bolsheviks could argue that Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries protected the government instead of transferring power to the soviets. |
The July Days therefore acted as a rehearsal and a warning. They showed that anger in Petrograd was intense, but they also showed that anger alone was not enough. A successful takeover would need timing, discipline, armed support and a command structure. Trotsky and the Military Revolutionary Committee would later provide some of what July lacked.
Misconception check: the July Days were not simply "the October Revolution but failed". In July, the Bolshevik leadership was divided and hesitant, Soviet leaders did not back a takeover, and the party had not yet gained the prestige that would come after Kornilov.
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