🗳️ Committees
Every unit must elect a committee of soldiers. Weapons were put under the control of these committees and not handed to officers, even on command.
Provisional Government and the Bolshevik Revolution » The Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section A, Investigation A2, Key topic 3
- Why Russia ended up with two rival centres of power in 1917
- The mistakes the Provisional Government made over the war, land and elections
- What the Petrograd Soviet and Order Number One did
- How to compare two sources in an 8-mark question
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Unlock This CourseTwo powers, one capital
After the Tsar abdicated in March 1917, Russia was run by the Provisional Government, headed by Prince Lvov. It was a temporary government, made up mostly of Duma politicians who were landowners, businessmen and middle-class liberals. Only one minister, Alexander Kerensky, was a socialist. Nobody had voted for it. It promised to rule only until a Constituent Assembly could be elected.
In the same building, the Tauride Palace, sat the Petrograd Soviet, the council of workers' and soldiers' deputies set up on 27 February. Its leaders were mostly moderate socialists, such as the Mensheviks and the Socialist Revolutionaries. They agreed to let the Provisional Government rule, but only so long as it did what the Soviet wanted.
Key terms:
- Dual power: two rival authorities in one country. The Government had the official right to rule. The Soviet had the real power, because workers and soldiers obeyed it.
- Order Number One: an order issued by the Petrograd Soviet on 1 March 1917 (14 March in Western Europe's calendar; Russia still used an older one, so the source dates below are in the Russian calendar) that gave soldiers new rights and put army units under the Soviet's influence
- Constituent Assembly: an elected body that would decide how Russia should be governed and write its constitution
- Land reform: changing who owns the land, for example by handing large estates to the peasants
- Desertion: soldiers leaving the army without permission
The Petrograd Soviet and Order Number One
The Government had no army or police of its own. The Soviet was backed by the garrison and the factory workers, and it also had influence over the railways and telegraph. That gave it its strength.
On 1 March the Soviet issued Order Number One to the Petrograd garrison. It said:
📝 Rights
Off duty, soldiers had the same rights as any citizen. Compulsory saluting off duty ended, and officers were no longer addressed as 'Your Excellency'.
The order also said the Duma's orders should be obeyed only if the Soviet agreed with them. It was meant for Petrograd, but it spread to units at the front. Soldiers started to question officers, and discipline weakened. The Government now could not rely on the army to enforce its decisions. That is the impact of the Soviet: it split power in two and weakened the army that the Government needed to fight the war.
The mistakes of the Provisional Government
The Government faced huge problems, but it also made choices that cost it support.
1. Staying in the war
Most Russians were war-weary. Yet the Government promised the Allies it would fight on. In April the foreign minister, Milyukov, told the Allies that Russia would see the war through. Protests in Petrograd followed, and in May he and the war minister, Guchkov, resigned. That summer an offensive ordered by Kerensky, by then war minister, ended in heavy losses. Desertion grew, and the war that the people wanted ended was still going on.
2. Delaying land reform
Four in five Russians were peasants, and they wanted the nobles' land. The Government said land reform was too big a decision for a temporary government and must wait for the Constituent Assembly. Peasants grew impatient and began seizing estates for themselves. Many soldiers were peasants too, and some deserted to make sure of their share.
3. Delaying elections
The Government promised an early Constituent Assembly. But it kept putting the elections off, saying that lists of voters, including soldiers at the front, took time to prepare. The vote was not held until after the Bolsheviks had taken power. Without elections the Government could not claim that the people had chosen it.
Common mistakes
- Saying the Soviet was the Bolsheviks. In 1917 the Bolsheviks were a minority in the Petrograd Soviet, which was led by moderate socialists.
- Thinking dual power meant the two sides worked together. They shared a building, but the Soviet could overrule the Government.
- Writing that the Government did nothing. It ended censorship and gave civil liberties, but it did not deal with the war, land and elections that mattered most.
Exam-style question
Study Sources A and B.
Source A: From a proclamation by the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, published 3 March 1917 (Russian calendar), in translation
The troops that have taken part in the revolutionary movement shall not be disarmed or removed from Petrograd. On duty and in war service, strict military discipline should be maintained, but when off duty, soldiers should have the same public rights as are enjoyed by other citizens.
Source B: From Order No. 1 of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, 1 March 1917 (Russian calendar), in translation
4. The orders of the military commission of the State Duma are to be fulfilled only in those cases which do not contradict the orders and decisions of the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. ... 6. In the ranks and in fulfilling service duties soldiers must observe the strictest military discipline; but outside of service ... soldiers cannot be discriminated against as regards those rights which all citizens enjoy.
How far does Source A support the evidence of Source B about the position of soldiers in Petrograd in March 1917? Explain your answer. [8 marks]
Model answer
Source A supports Source B about soldiers' duties and rights. Both say soldiers must keep strict discipline when on duty. Source A says 'strict military discipline should be maintained' and Source B says soldiers 'must observe the strictest military discipline'. Both also say that off duty soldiers keep the rights of other citizens: A says soldiers 'should have the same public rights as are enjoyed by other citizens' and B says they 'cannot be discriminated against as regards those rights which all citizens enjoy'.
However, the sources differ about who has authority over the soldiers. Source B says the orders of the Duma's military commission are to be obeyed 'only' when they 'do not contradict' the Soviet, which puts the Soviet above the Duma. Source A, which speaks for the Duma committee, never mentions the Soviet and promises that the troops 'shall not be disarmed', as if the Duma could guarantee what happens to them.
Overall, Source A supports Source B to a limited extent. They agree on discipline and rights, but they disagree on the key question of who is in charge of the soldiers, and Source B shows the Soviet claiming power over the Duma.
What lifts this to the top level: it uses short quotations from both sources for the agreement and the difference, and it ends by judging how far A supports B.
Exam tip
Always give at least one agreement and one difference, each with a short quotation from both sources, then finish with a sentence on 'how far'. Use only what the sources say.