February revolution in Russia and Petrograd. Map
February bourgeois-democratic revolution- revolution of 1917 in, the second Russian revolution, as a result of which the autocracy was overthrown, a republic was proclaimed and dual power was established between the bourgeois and.
Reasons and background
The February Revolution was generated mainly by the same socio-economic contradictions as in Russia. It faced the fundamental tasks of the democratic transformation of the country: the overthrow of the tsarist monarchy, the establishment of a democratic republic, the elimination of landownership, the destruction of national oppression. The further development of capitalism deepened the socio-economic contradictions, further bringing together the democratic and socialist tasks facing the proletariat. 1914-1918 accelerated the process of development of monopoly capital into state-monopoly capital and the growth of the political organization of the bourgeoisie. The war aggravated all social conflicts in the country to the extreme and accelerated the onset of a new revolution.
Political situation
On the eve of the revolution, three camps were still active in the political arena: government, liberal-bourgeois, or opposition, and revolutionary-democratic. By the beginning of 1917, the positions of each of them compared to 1905-1907. defined with even greater clarity. The decomposition of tsarism had reached its limit. In the government camp, the most rabid forces of reaction and obscurantism gained the upper hand, which found their fullest expression in Rasputinism. The feudal landowners, the basis of the government camp, led by the tsarist monarchy, were ready to make a deal with the German monarchy, just so as not to “give” Russia to the liberal bourgeoisie. The main goal of the bourgeoisie as a class was to achieve political power in the state.
The leaders of the largest bourgeois constitutional democratic party (the Cadets), led by P. N. Milyukov, created the “Progressive Bloc” in the 4th State Duma in August 1915. The bourgeoisie sought to take advantage of tsarism's defeats in the war and, frightening it with the growing revolution, extract concessions from the monarchy and share power. The forces of reaction and half-hearted liberal opposition were opposed by the revolutionary camp led by the proletariat, which sought to bring the democratic revolution to its end. The Russian proletariat continued to wage a revolutionary struggle against tsarism with increasing force.
The highest state power was also discredited by a chain of scandals surrounding Rasputin and his entourage, who were then called “dark forces.” By 1916, outrage over Rasputinism had already reached the Russian armed forces - both officers and lower ranks. The fatal mistakes of the tsar, combined with the loss of confidence in the tsarist government, led it to political isolation, and the presence of an active opposition created fertile ground for a political revolution.
Movement of trade unions and factory committees
On April 12, the law on meetings and unions was issued. Workers restored democratic organizations banned during the war (trade unions, factory committees). By the end of 1917, there were more than 2,000 trade unions in the country, led by the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions (chaired by the Menshevik V.P. Grinevich).
However, despite the significant bourgeois-democratic transformations that the revolution brought, capitalism remained in Russia, and there remained an unresolved contradiction between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, expressed in dual power. The most significant issues that worried the majority of society - about power, about peace, about land - were not resolved.
All this could not but prompt the revolution to its further development, which lasted throughout 1917 and ended at the end of the Great October Socialist Revolution, which overthrew the Provisional Government and established the dictatorship of the proletariat in Russia.
Plan
1. Reasons for the February bourgeois-democratic revolution
2. Chronicle of events
3. Dual power
4. List of references used
FEBRUARY BOURGEOIS-DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION
1. Causes of the revolution
The causes of the revolution can be divided into economic, political and social, although such a division is very conditional, because they are all inextricably linked.
Political reasons:
1. The desire of the bourgeoisie for complete political power.
2. Conflict between central and local authorities. The locals sought maximum independence from the center, but the center did not want to allow this.
3. The emperor could no longer single-handedly decide all issues, but could radically interfere with pursuing a consistent policy, without bearing any responsibility.
4. Limited capabilities of the State Duma and lack of government control.
5. The inability of politics to express the interests not only of the majority, but also of any significant part of the population.
6. Lack of a number of political freedoms. Wartime conditions limited freedom of speech and press. Equality of citizens was maintained in elections of state authorities and local self-government.
Economic reasons:
1. The war affected the system of economic relations - primarily between city and countryside. Back in 1915, a food crisis began. The country's food situation deteriorated sharply, and speculation flourished. The fuel crisis began to make itself felt. Coal production and supply were clearly insufficient. In 1915, Petrograd received 49%, and Moscow 46% of the fuel they needed.
2. Preservation of feudal remnants in agriculture. The community, despite Stolypin's reform, continued to control 75% of peasant farms, preventing the accumulation of capital, interest in the results of labor, the emergence of free labor in industry and competition. The landowners retained control over most of the best land, although their farming was less efficient than that of the kulaks.
4. Mixing of stages of capitalist development.
Social reasons:
1. Lack of opportunity for society to influence government.
2. Contradictions between the bourgeoisie and the noble aristocracy over political power in the country.
3. Contradictions between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat due to working conditions.
4. Controversies between landowners and peasants over land (in the fall of 1915, 177 protests by rural residents against landowners were registered, and in 1916 there were already 294).
5. Class contradictions.
6. Huge losses in the war and fatigue from it created mass discontent in the country.
7. Disappointment and dissatisfaction with government policies. From mid-1915, a series of workers' strikes and demonstrations began in the country. If in 1914 35 thousand workers went on strike, in 1915 - 560 thousand, in 1916 - 1.1 million, in the first two months of 1917 - already 400 thousand people.
8. Exacerbation of the political crisis due to defeats at the front and the deterioration of the socio-economic situation in the country.
2. Chronicle of events
The reason for the February Revolution was the following events. In Petrograd, in the second half of February, due to transport difficulties, the supply of bread deteriorated. The lines in stores for bread grew continuously. Lack of bread, speculation, and rising prices caused discontent among workers. On February 18, workers at one of the workshops of the Putilov plant demanded a salary increase. The management refused, fired the workers who went on strike, and announced the closure of some workshops for an indefinite period. But those fired were supported by workers from other enterprises.
On February 23 (March 8, new style), rallies and meetings dedicated to International Women's Day were held at Petrograd enterprises. Demonstrations and rallies of Putilov workers began spontaneously under the slogans of “Bread!” Workers from other factories began to join them. 90 thousand workers went on strike. Strikes and political protests began to develop into a general political demonstration against tsarism. In the evening the slogans “Down with war!” and “Down with autocracy!” appeared. This was already a political demonstration, and it marked the beginning of the revolution.
Announcement by the commander of the Petrograd Military District S.S. Khabalov on the use of weapons to disperse demonstrations. February 25, 1917
On February 25, a general strike began, which covered 240 thousand workers. Petrograd was declared in a state of siege, and by decree of Nicholas II, meetings of the State Duma and State Council were suspended until April 1, 1917. Nicholas II ordered the army to suppress workers' protests in Petrograd.
On February 26, columns of demonstrators moved towards the city center. Troops were brought into the streets, but the soldiers began to refuse to shoot at the workers. There were several clashes with the police, and by evening the police cleared the city center of demonstrators.
On February 27, early in the morning, an armed uprising of soldiers of the Petrograd garrison began - the training team of the reserve battalion of the Volyn regiment, numbering 600 people, rebelled. The soldiers decided not to shoot at the demonstrators and to join the workers. The team leader was killed. The Volynsky regiment was joined by the Lithuanian and Preobrazhensky regiments. As a result, a general workers' strike was supported by an armed uprising of soldiers. (On the morning of February 27, there were 10 thousand rebel soldiers, in the afternoon - 26 thousand, in the evening - 66 thousand, the next day - 127 thousand, on March 1 - 170 thousand, that is, the entire Petrograd garrison.) The rebel soldiers marched in formation to the city center. On the way, the Arsenal - Petrograd artillery warehouse was captured. The workers received 40 thousand rifles and 30 thousand revolvers. The Kresty city prison was captured and all prisoners were released. Political prisoners, including the “Gvozdyov group,” joined the rebels and led the column. The City Court was burned. The rebel soldiers and workers occupied the most important points of the city, government buildings and arrested ministers. At approximately 2 p.m., thousands of soldiers came to the Tauride Palace, where the State Duma was meeting, and occupied all its corridors and the surrounding territory. They had no way back; they needed political leadership.
At this point, the Duma needed to continue its session at any cost, convene a formal meeting and establish close contact between the Duma and the armed forces. But right now, when, according to Kerensky A.F. The authority of the Duma reached its highest point in the country and in the army, and when this authority could have played a far-reaching positive role, the Duma’s refusal to convene a meeting was tantamount to political suicide. This reflected the weakness of the Duma, which mainly reflected only the narrow interests of the upper strata of society, which inevitably limited its ability to express the aspirations of the nation as a whole. Refusing to take the initiative. Nevertheless, the Duma, by decision of a private meeting of deputies, created at about 17:00 the Temporary Committee of the State Duma, chaired by the Octobrist M.V. Rodzianko by co-opting 2 deputies from each faction. On the night of February 28, the Provisional Committee announced that it was taking power into its own hands.
After the rebel soldiers came to the Tauride Palace, deputies of the left factions of the State Duma and representatives of trade unions created the Provisional Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies. He distributed leaflets to factories and military units calling for them to elect their deputies and send them to the Tauride Palace by 7 p.m., 1 deputy from every thousand workers and from each company. At 21 o'clock, meetings of workers' deputies opened in the left wing of the Tauride Palace and the Petrograd Council of Workers' Deputies was created, headed by the Menshevik Chkheidze and the deputy chairman of the Executive Committee, Trudovik A.F. Kerensky. The Petrograd Soviet included representatives of socialist parties (Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries and Bolsheviks), trade unions and non-party workers and soldiers. The Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries played a decisive role in the Soviet. The Petrograd Council of Workers' Deputies decided to support the Provisional Committee of the State Duma in the creation of the Provisional Government, but not to participate in it.
February 28, Chairman of the Provisional Committee Rodzianko negotiates with the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General Alekseev, about support for the Provisional Committee from the army, and also negotiates with Nicholas II, in order to prevent revolution and the overthrow of the monarchy.
On March 1, the Petrograd Council of Workers' Deputies renamed itself the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. He issued Order No. 1 for the Petrograd garrison. With this order, the Council revolutionized the army and won its political leadership (soldiers’ committees were created in all parts of the garrison, control of weapons was transferred to them, discipline outside the ranks was abolished, class titles were abolished when addressing officers and addressing soldiers as “you”, the general address “Mr. "). Order No. 1 eliminated the main components of any army - hierarchy and discipline. With this order, the Council subordinated the Petrograd garrison to itself in resolving all political issues and deprived the Provisional Committee of the opportunity to use the army in its own interests. A dual power arose: official power was in the hands of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma and then the Provisional Government, and actual power in the capital was in the hands of the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. The temporary committee is seeking support from the army leadership and generals.
The spontaneous revolutionary movement from Petrograd spread to the front, and at 10 a.m. on March 2, General Alekseev, having established contact with the commanders of all fronts, as well as the Baltic and Black Sea fleets, suggested that, in view of the catastrophic situation, they beg the tsar to abdicate in favor of preserving the monarchy. heir Alexei and appoint Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich as regent. The commanders, led by Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, agreed with this proposal with surprising readiness.
At 2:30 a.m. Alekseev conveyed this decision to the tsar, who almost immediately announced his abdication. But the tsar abdicated the throne not only on his own behalf, but also on behalf of his son, appointing his brother Mikhail Alexandrovich as his successor. At the same time, he appointed Prince Lvov as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, and Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich as Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces.
The first message about the Tsar's unexpected step was received on the evening of March 3 during a meeting of the new government and members of the Provisional Committee. Various opinions were expressed: that the accession to the throne of Grand Duke Michael is impossible, since he never showed interest in state affairs, that he is in a morganatic marriage with a woman known for her political intrigues, that at a critical moment in history, when he could save the situation, he showed a complete lack of will and independence, and so on.
“Listening to these insignificant arguments, I realized that the point is not in the arguments as such. And the fact is that the speakers intuitively felt that at this stage of the revolution any new tsar was unacceptable.”
The next day, March 3, 1917, a meeting of members of the Duma Committee and the Provisional Government with Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich took place. Under pressure, Mikhail Alexandrovich also abdicated the throne. At the same time, the Grand Duke wept.
The issue was resolved: monarchy and dynasty became an attribute of the past. From that moment on, Russia, in fact, became a republic, and all supreme power - executive and legislative - from now on until the convening of the Constituent Assembly passed into the hands of the Provisional Government.
On the evening of March 2, the abdicated Emperor Nicholas II wrote in his diary: “Treason and cowardice and deceit are all around!”
So in Russia, literally in a few days - from February 23 to March 3, 1917, one of the strongest monarchies in the world collapsed.
The Provisional Committee formed a Provisional Government headed by Prince Lvov, who was replaced by the socialist Kerensky. The Provisional Government announced elections to the Constituent Assembly. The Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies was elected. Thus, dual power was established in the country.
3. Dual power
The originality of the February bourgeois-democratic revolution was the establishment of dual power in the country:
bourgeois-democratic power was represented by the Provisional Government, its local bodies (public security committees), local self-government (city and zemstvo), the government included representatives of the Cadets and Octobrist parties;
revolutionary democratic power - Councils of workers', soldiers', and peasants' deputies, soldiers' committees in the army and navy.
During the transition period - from the moment of the victory of the revolution until the adoption of the constitution and the formation of permanent authorities in accordance with it - the Provisional Revolutionary Government operates, which is entrusted with the responsibility of breaking up the old apparatus of power, consolidating the gains of the revolution by appropriate decrees and convening the Constituent Assembly, which determines the form of the future state structure of the country, approves the decrees issued by the Provisional Government, giving them the force of laws, and adopts a constitution.
The provisional government for the transitional period (until the convening of the Constituent Assembly) has both legislative, administrative and executive functions. This, for example, was the case during the Great French Revolution at the end of the 18th century. The same path of transforming the country after the revolutionary coup was envisaged in their projects by the Decembrists of the Northern Society, putting forward the idea of “Temporary Revolutionary Government” for the transition period, and then the convening of the “Supreme Council” (Constituent Assembly). All Russian revolutionary parties at the beginning of the 20th century, who wrote this down in their programs, envisioned the same way for the revolutionary reorganization of the country, the destruction of the old state machine and the formation of new authorities.
However, the process of formation of state power in Russia as a result of the February Revolution of 1917 followed a different scenario. A dual power system that has no analogues in history has been created in Russia.
As already mentioned, the emergence of Soviets - bodies of people's power - dates back to the revolution of 1905-1907. and is its important conquest. This tradition was immediately revived after the victory of the uprising in Petrograd on February 27, 1917. Already in the evening of the same day, the Petrograd Council of Workers' Deputies began to operate. He recognized the need to create district committees of Soviets and form a workers' militia, and appointed his own commissars to the city districts. The Council published an appeal in which it outlined its main task: the organization of popular forces and the struggle for the final strengthening of political freedom and popular government in Russia. On March 1, the Council of Soldiers' Deputies merged with the Council of Workers' Deputies. The united body became known as the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. In addition to the Petrograd Soviet, in March 1917, over 600 local councils arose, which elected from among themselves permanent authorities - executive committees. These were the elected representatives of the people, who relied on the support of the broad working masses. The councils performed legislative, administrative, executive and even judicial functions. By October 1917, there were already 1,429 councils in the country. They arose spontaneously - it was the spontaneous creativity of the masses. Along with this, local committees of the Provisional Government were created. This created a dual power at the central and local levels.
At that time, the predominant influence in the Soviets, both in Petrograd and in the provincial ones, was held by representatives of the Menshevik and Socialist Revolutionary parties, who were focused not on the “victory of socialism,” believing that in backward Russia there were no conditions for this, but on the development and consolidation of it bourgeois-democratic gains. Such a task, they believed, could be carried out during the transition period by the Provisional Government, bourgeois in its composition, which must be provided with support in carrying out the democratic transformations of the country, and, if necessary, put pressure on it. In fact, even during the period of dual power, real power was in the hands of the Soviets, because the Provisional Government could govern only with their support and carry out its decrees with their sanction.
At first, the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies acted together. They even held their meetings in the same building - the Tauride Palace, which then turned into the center of the country's political life.
During March-April 1917, the Provisional Government, with the support and pressure on it from the Petrograd Soviet, carried out a number of democratic reforms. At the same time, it postponed the solution to a number of pressing problems inherited from the old government until the Constituent Assembly, and among them was the agrarian question. In addition, it issued a number of decrees providing for criminal liability for the unauthorized seizure of landowners', appanage and monastic lands, and also tried to disarm and disband the revolutionary troops. In response, the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies issued Order No. 1 for the garrison of the Petrograd District on March 1, 1917. The order indicated the need to immediately elect committees of elected representatives from soldiers and sailors in all units of the army and navy of the Petrograd garrison. It noted that in all their political speeches, military units are subordinate to the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies and their committees. The Council allowed the execution only of those orders of the Military Commission of the State Duma that did not contradict the orders and resolutions of the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. The Petrograd Soviet established a procedure under which weapons of all types were to be at the disposal and under the control of district and battalion committees and in no case were to be issued to officers. By order, the soldiers were equalized in general civil political and personal life with all citizens: “In the ranks and when performing official duties, soldiers must observe the strictest military discipline, but outside of service and formation, in their political, general civil and private life, soldiers cannot be anything deprived of those rights that all citizens enjoy.” Dissatisfaction with the policies of the Provisional Government grew.
On March 29 - April 3, 1917, on the initiative of the Petrograd Soviet, the All-Russian Conference of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies was convened, which was the first attempt to unite all the Soviets of the country. The overwhelming majority at the meeting belonged to the Menshevik and Socialist Revolutionary parties, which affected the entire work of the meeting and the decisions it made. The main questions at the meeting were questions about the war and the attitude towards the Provisional Government.
On the issue of war, the resolution proposed by the Menshevik Tsereteli was adopted by an overwhelming majority. The resolution advocated the pursuit of a democratic foreign policy and the struggle for peace by organizing pressure of all peoples on their governments to abandon aggressive programs. However, having proclaimed such a goal, the meeting put forward as the current task “the mobilization of all the living forces of the country in all sectors of people’s life to strengthen the front and rear.”
In the resolution on the attitude towards the Provisional Government, the meeting spoke out for its support, “without accepting responsibility for the entire activities of the Provisional Government as a whole.”
The Meeting of representatives of peasant organizations and Soviets of Peasant Deputies on April 12-17 (25-30), 1917, dedicated to preparations for the convening of the All-Russian Congress of Peasant Deputies and the creation of local Councils of Peasant Deputies, was of great importance in the matter of uniting the peasantry and their Councils. The meeting adopted a resolution on the need to quickly organize the peasantry from bottom to top. The best form for this was recognized as the Councils of Peasant Deputies of various regions of operation.
A further step towards the unification of peasant Soviets was the first All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Peasant Deputies, held in Petrograd from June 3 (16) to June 24 (July 7), 1917. The overwhelming majority of the delegates to the congress belonged to the Socialist Revolutionary Party. Bolshevik delegates made up about 2 percent of the congress. The dominance of the Socialist Revolutionaries determined the political nature of the congress and its decisions. The Bolsheviks, although they were in the minority, took an active part in the work of the congress, exposing the imperialist policies of the bourgeois Provisional Government and the compromise of the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. At the congress on the land issue, V.I. Lenin spoke, calling on the peasants for the immediate organized seizure of the landowners' lands.
The All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Peasant Deputies adopted a number of Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik resolutions: it approved the policies of the bourgeois Provisional Government and the entry of “socialists” into the Provisional Government; spoke in favor of continuing the war “to the victorious end”, as well as in favor of an offensive at the front. The congress postponed the decision on the land issue until the Constituent Assembly.
The First All-Russian Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies played a well-known role in the life of the Soviets.
The most important and central issues considered by the congress were: about revolutionary democracy and government power (that is, essentially about the attitude towards the Provisional Government), about the attitude towards war, about land, etc. V.I. Lenin, speaking twice at the congress, exposed the imperialist nature of the Provisional Government, its policies and actions. He demanded the transfer of all power into the hands of the Soviets. On all major issues, the Bolsheviks defended the interests of the revolution. But the Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik majority at the congress managed to carry out its decisions. Full confidence was expressed in the Provisional Government, and the direction of its policy was recognized as meeting the interests of the revolution. The congress even approved the offensive of Russian troops at the front, which was being prepared by the Provisional Government.
The dual power lasted no more than four months - until the beginning of July 1917, when, in the context of an unsuccessful offensive by Russian troops on the German front, on July 3-4, the Bolsheviks organized a political demonstration and attempted to overthrow the Provisional Government. The demonstration was shot, and repression fell on the Bolsheviks. After the July days, the Provisional Government managed to subjugate the Soviets, who obediently carried out its will. However, this was a short-term victory for the Provisional Government, whose position was becoming increasingly precarious. Economic devastation in the country deepened: inflation grew rapidly, production fell catastrophically, and the danger of impending famine became real. In the village, mass pogroms of landowners' estates began, peasants seized not only landowners' lands, but also church lands, and information was received about the murders of landowners and even clergy. The soldiers are tired of the war. At the front, fraternization between soldiers of both warring sides became more frequent. The front was essentially falling apart. Desertion increased sharply, entire military units were withdrawn from their positions: soldiers hurried home to be in time for the division of the landowners' lands.
The February Revolution destroyed the old state structures, but failed to create a strong and authoritative government. The provisional government increasingly lost control over the situation in the country and was no longer able to cope with the growing devastation, the complete breakdown of the financial system, and the collapse of the front. The ministers of the Provisional Government, being highly educated intellectuals, brilliant speakers and publicists, turned out to be unimportant politicians and bad administrators, divorced from reality and poorly aware of it.
Dual power is not a separation of powers, but a confrontation of one power with another, which inevitably leads to conflicts, to the desire of each power to overthrow the opposing one. Ultimately, dual power leads to paralysis of power, to the absence of any power, to anarchy. With dual power, the growth of centrifugal forces is inevitable, which threatens the collapse of the country, especially if this country is multinational.
In a relatively short time, from March to October 1917, four compositions of the Provisional Government changed: its first composition lasted about two months (March-April), the next three (coalition, with “socialist ministers”) - each no more than one and a half months . It experienced two serious power crises (in July and September).
The power of the Provisional Government weakened every day. It increasingly lost control over the situation in the country. In an atmosphere of political instability in the country, deepening economic devastation, a protracted unpopular war, and the threat of impending famine, the masses yearned for “firm power” that could “restore order.” The contradictory behavior of the Russian peasant also worked - his primordially Russian desire for “firm order” and at the same time primordially Russian hatred of any really existing order, i.e. a paradoxical combination in the peasant mentality of Caesarism (naive monarchism) and anarchism, obedience and rebellion.
The history of the state has never known such a unique circumstance that created the intertwining of two powers, two dictatorships - the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and bourgeois landowners, on the one hand, and the dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry, on the other. Such an abnormal situation could not exist for long. “There cannot be two powers,” says V.I. Lenin, “in a state.” One of them must be destroyed, reduced to nothing.
By the fall of 1917, the power of the Provisional Government was virtually paralyzed: its decrees were not implemented or were completely ignored. There was virtual anarchy on the ground. There were fewer and fewer supporters and defenders of the Provisional Government. This largely explains the ease with which it was overthrown by the Bolsheviks on October 25, 1917. They not only easily overthrew the virtually powerless Provisional Government, but also received powerful support from the broad masses of the people, promulgating the most important decrees the very next day after the October Revolution - about earth and peace. It was not abstract socialist ideas, incomprehensible to the masses, that attracted them to the Bolsheviks, but the hope that they would actually stop the hated war and distribute the coveted land to the peasants.
Bibliography
1. Kerensky A.F. Russia at the historical revolution // Questions of history, 1990. No. 6-12.
2. Klyuchevsky V.O. Works in 9 volumes. T.1: Course of Russian history. M.1987.
3. Lenin V.I., Works, T. 24.
4. Minaev E.P. History of the Fatherland in the 9th – 20th centuries: textbook. M., 1996.
5. Rodzianko M.V. Notes of the Chairman of the State Duma. “New Youth, 1999 No. 4(37)
6. Fedorov V.A.. History of Russia 1861-1917. –M., 1999.
Minaev E.P. History of the Fatherland in the 9th – 20th centuries: textbook. M., 1996. P.104
Kerensky A.F. Russia at the historical revolution // Questions of history, 1990. No. 6-12.
Rodzianko M.V. Notes of the Chairman of the State Duma. “New Youth, 1999 No. 4(37)
Kerensky A.F. Specified edition.
Fedorov V.A.. History of Russia 1861-1917. –M., 1999
Submit your application indicating the topic right now to find out about the possibility of obtaining a consultation.I. February Bourgeois-Democratic Revolution:
a) the situation in the country on the eve of 1917.
II. Revolution: The first three red days:
a) strikes;
b) meeting of the State Duma;
c) the situation is escalating;
d) “the Duma only met for 49 minutes”;
d) the emperor is not alarmed.
III. Shooting:
a) “cartridges are prepared in the regimental workshops”;
b) “the whistle of bullets overhead cut through the frosty air”;
c) the opposition is active;
d) the revolutionary underground is rejoicing.
IV. The uprising began:
a) the shelves rebelled;
b) watered prisoners at large;
c) Duma members exchange alarming news;
d) “a delegation of soldiers from the rebel regiments.”
a) Tauride Palace - the center of revolutionary events;
b) “military units refuse to go out against the rioters”;
c) the authorities are worried.
VI. Conclusion:
a) the attitude of political figures to past events.
FEBRUARY BOURGEOIS-DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION
By the beginning of the 20th century. The agrarian question was acute in Russia. The reforms of Emperor Alexander II did not make life much easier for peasants and villages. The village continued to maintain a community, which was convenient for the government to collect taxes. Peasants were forbidden to leave the community, so the village was resettled. Many high personalities of Russia tried to destroy the community as a feudal relic, but the community was protected by the autocracy and they failed to do this. One of these people was S. Yu. Witte. Later, P. A. Stolypin managed to free the peasants from the community during his agrarian reform. But the agrarian problem remained. The agrarian question led to the revolution of 1905 and remained central by 1917.
By 1917, 130 million people lived in the countryside. The agrarian question was more acute than before. Over half of the peasant farms were poor. Throughout Russia there was widespread impoverishment of the masses.
Those questions that life puts forward are posed by it twice, and three times, and more, if they are not resolved or are half resolved. This was the case with the peasant question and with other problems in Russia:
- although the autocracy was at the last line, it continued to exist;
– workers sought to achieve better working conditions;
– national minorities needed, if not independence, then greater autonomy;
- the people wanted an end to the terrible war. This new problem has been added to the old ones;
– the population wanted to avoid hunger and impoverishment.
The government's domestic policy was in deep crisis. During 1914–1917, 4 chairmen of the Council of Ministers were replaced. From the autumn of 1915 to 1916 - five ministers of internal affairs, three ministers of war, 4 ministers of agriculture.
The ruling circles of Russia saw the main chance to delay the death of the autocracy in the victorious end of the war with Germany. 15.6 million people were put under arms, of which up to 13 million were peasants. The war of '14 by this time was causing discontent among the masses, not without the participation of the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks authorized rallies in the capitals and other cities of Russia. They also carried out agitation in the army, which negatively affected the mood of soldiers and officers. People in the cities joined the Bolshevik demonstrations. All factories in Petrograd worked for the front, because of this there was a shortage of bread and other consumer goods. In Petrograd itself, long lines of queues stretched through the streets.
On February 14, the Duma met and declared that the government must be changed, otherwise nothing good will happen. The workers wanted to support the Duma, but the police dispersed the workers as soon as they began to gather to go to the Duma. Chairman of the State Duma M. Rodzianko obtained a reception from the sovereign and warned that Russia was in danger. The emperor did not react to this. He did not deceive, but he was deceived himself, because the Minister of Internal Affairs ordered that local authorities send telegrams to Nicholas II about the “immeasurable love” of the people for the “adored monarch.”
The tsarist government by the end of 1916 expanded the issue of money so much that goods began to disappear from shelves. The peasants refused to sell food for depreciating money. They took the products to large cities: St. Petersburg, Moscow, etc.
The provinces “closed themselves” and the tsarist government switched to food appropriation, because the financial company's fortunes forced it. In 1914 The state wine monopoly was abolished, this stopped the agrarian drain of money into the agricultural sector. In February 1917 industrial centers were falling apart, Moscow, St. Petersburg and other Russian cities were starving, and the system of commodity-money relations in the country was disrupted.
The ministers deceived the emperor in everything related to domestic politics. The Emperor believed them unconditionally in everything. Nicholas was more concerned about things at the front, which were not going well. Failure to solve internal problems, the financial crisis, the difficult war with Germany - all this led to spontaneous uprisings that grew into the February Bourgeois Revolution of 1917.
Revolution
THE FIRST THREE RED DAYS
Strikes occurred in only a few factories. It must be said that discontent among the masses arose largely due to the food issue (in particular, the lack of bread) and most of all this worried women, who had to wait in long lines in the hope of getting at least something. In many workshops groups gathered, read the leaflet distributed by the Bolsheviks and passed it from hand to hand:
– Dear comrade women! How much longer will we endure in silence and sometimes take out our simmering anger on small traders? After all, they are not to blame for the people’s disasters; they themselves are going bankrupt. The government is to blame; it started this war and cannot end it. It is ruining the country, and it is its fault that you are starving. The capitalists are to blame - it is being carried out for their profit, and it is high time to shout to them: “Enough! Down with the criminal government and its entire gang of robbers and murderers. Long live the world!”
During the lunch break, rallies began at most factories in the Vyborg region and at a number of enterprises in other regions. Women workers angrily denounced the tsarist government, protested against the lack of bread, the high cost, and the continuation of the war. They were supported by Bolshevik workers at every large and small factory on the Vyborg side. There were calls everywhere for work to stop. The ten enterprises that were on strike on Bolshoy Sampsonievsky Prospekt were joined by others from 10–11 a.m. The tactic of “dismissal from work” began to be widely used. Women no longer made up the majority of the strikers who took to the streets. The workers of the subdistrict quickly reached the factories located along the Neva - Arsenal, Metallichesky, Phoenix, Promet and others. Under the windows of the factory floors they shouted:
- Brothers! Finish your work! Come out!
Arsenal residents, Phoenix workers, and workers from other factories joined the strikers and filled the streets. The unrest also spread to the Forest subdistrict. So, at Aivaz, after lunch, 3 thousand workers gathered for a rally dedicated to Women's Day. The women said they would not work today and asked male workers to join their strike. At about 4 p.m., Aivaz stopped working completely. Some enterprises on the Petrograd side and Vasilyevsky Island also went on strike. In total, according to police data, about 90 thousand workers of 50 enterprises went on strike. Thus, the number of strikers exceeded the scope of the strike on February 14.
But events literally from the first hours of the strike took on a different character than on February 14. If there were few demonstrations then, on February 23, the majority of workers remained on the streets for some time before going home and took part in mass demonstrations. Many strikers were in no hurry to disperse, but remained on the streets for a long time and agreed to the calls of the strike leaders to continue the demonstration and go to the city center. The demonstrators were excited, which anarchist elements did not fail to take advantage of: 15 shops were destroyed on the Vyborg side. On Bezborodkinsky and Sampsonievsky Prospekts, workers stopped trams; if the car drivers and conductors showed resistance, they overturned the cars. In total, the police counted, 30 tram trains were stopped.
From the first hours, the events of February 23 revealed a peculiar combination of organization and spontaneity, so characteristic of the entire further development of the February Revolution. Rallies and speeches by women were planned by the Bolsheviks and Mezhrayontsy, as well as the possibility of strikes. However, no one expected such a significant scale. The call of women workers, following the instructions of the Bolshevik Center, was very quickly and unanimously taken up by all male workers of the striking enterprises. The performance of women seemed to offend the masculine honor of all workers. And this emotional moment became the first manifestation of the spontaneity of the movement. At the Ericsson plant, for example, where, in addition to the Bolshevik cell, there were also organizations of Menshevik defense activists and Socialist Revolutionaries, it was the latter who were the first to call for turning the movement into a general strike of the entire plant and trying to win over neighboring enterprises.
At the Arsenal, the Socialist Revolutionaries, together with the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, called for a general strike and joined the workers. The advanced proletariat shook up the masses: less conscious workers, who were under the influence of the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries, and ordinary people began to join the political struggle.
The police were taken by surprise by the events. In particular, on the territory of the 2nd Vyborg section it turned out to be completely insufficient to even contain, let alone disperse, a crowd of thirty thousand strikers. It was this area that became the main focus of the movement on February 23. From here the agitators fled to Lesnaya, to the 1st Vyborgsky precinct, to the Petrogradskaya side and to Vasilievsky Island. But already on the territory of the 1st Vyborg precinct, the police acted more actively against the demonstrators. According to the disposition of February 8, the Cossacks were called here, who, together with the police, cut through the crowd of demonstrators on Bezborodkinsky Avenue and pushed them back to the Finlyandsky Station. But then the workers stopped the movement of trams on the streets adjacent to the station, thereby complicating the actions of the Cossacks, and filled the entire space with a dense crowd. Speakers appeared on the roofs of tram cars, on the steps of the station and on the bollards.
If it did not resolve the economic, political and class contradictions in the country, it was a prerequisite for the February Revolution of 1917. The participation of Tsarist Russia in the First World War showed the inability of its economy to carry out military tasks. Many factories stopped operating, the army experienced a shortage of equipment, weapons, and food. The country's transport system is absolutely not adapted to martial law, agriculture has lost ground. Economic difficulties increased Russia's external debt to enormous proportions.
Intending to extract maximum benefits from the war, the Russian bourgeoisie began to create unions and committees on issues of raw materials, fuel, food, etc.
True to the principle of proletarian internationalism, the Bolshevik Party revealed the imperialist nature of the war, which was waged in the interests of the exploiting classes, its aggressive, predatory essence. The party sought to channel the discontent of the masses into the mainstream of the revolutionary struggle for the collapse of the autocracy.
In August 1915, the “Progressive Bloc” was formed, which planned to force Nicholas II to abdicate in favor of his brother Mikhail. Thus, the opposition bourgeoisie hoped to prevent revolution and at the same time preserve the monarchy. But such a scheme did not ensure bourgeois-democratic transformations in the country.
The reasons for the February Revolution of 1917 were anti-war sentiment, the plight of workers and peasants, political lack of rights, the decline in the authority of the autocratic government and its inability to carry out reforms.
The driving force in the struggle was the working class, led by the revolutionary Bolshevik Party. The allies of the workers were the peasants, demanding the redistribution of land. The Bolsheviks explained to the soldiers the goals and objectives of the struggle.
The main events of the February revolution happened quickly. Over the course of several days, a wave of strikes took place in Petrograd, Moscow and other cities with the slogans “Down with the tsarist government!”, “Down with the war!” On February 25 the political strike became general. Executions and arrests were unable to stop the revolutionary onslaught of the masses. Government troops were put on alert, the city of Petrograd was turned into a military camp.
February 26, 1917 marked the beginning of the February Revolution. On February 27, soldiers of the Pavlovsky, Preobrazhensky and Volynsky regiments went over to the side of the workers. This decided the outcome of the struggle: on February 28, the government was overthrown.
The outstanding significance of the February Revolution is that it was the first popular revolution in history of the era of imperialism, which ended in victory.
During the February Revolution of 1917, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the throne.
Dual power arose in Russia, which became a kind of result of the February revolution of 1917. On the one hand, the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies is a body of people's power, on the other hand, the Provisional Government is an organ of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie headed by Prince G.E. Lvov. In organizational matters, the bourgeoisie was more prepared for power, but was unable to establish autocracy.
The provisional government pursued an anti-people, imperialist policy: the land issue was not resolved, factories remained in the hands of the bourgeoisie, agriculture and industry were in dire need, and there was not enough fuel for railway transport. The dictatorship of the bourgeoisie only deepened economic and political problems.
After the February revolution, Russia experienced an acute political crisis. Therefore, there was a growing need for the bourgeois-democratic revolution to develop into a socialist one, which was supposed to lead to the power of the proletariat.
One of the consequences of the February revolution is the October revolution under the slogan “All power to the Soviets!”
The February bourgeois-democratic revolution of 1917 and its significance.
Chairman of the Duma M.V. Rodzianko warned Nikolai P that the government was paralyzed and “there is anarchy in the capital.” To prevent the development of the revolution, he insisted on the immediate creation of a new government headed by a statesman who enjoyed the trust of society. However, the king rejected his proposal. Moreover, the Council of Ministers decided to interrupt the meetings of the Duma and dissolve it for the holidays. The moment for the peaceful, evolutionary transformation of the country into a constitutional monarchy was missed. Nicholas II sent troops from Headquarters to suppress the revolution, but a small detachment of General N.I. Ivanov was detained near Gatchina by rebel railway workers and soldiers and was not allowed into the capital.
On February 28, Nikolai P left Headquarters for Tsarskoe Selo, but was detained on the way by revolutionary troops. He had to turn to Pskov, to the headquarters of the Northern Front. After consultations with the front commanders, he became convinced that there were no forces to suppress the revolution. On March 2, Nicholas signed a Manifesto abdicating the throne for himself and his son Alexei in favor of his brother, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich. However, when Duma deputies A.I. Guchkov and V.V. Shulgin brought the text of the Manifesto to Petrograd, it became clear that the people did not want a monarchy. On March 3, Mikhail abdicated the throne, declaring that the future fate of the political system in Russia should be decided by the Constituent Assembly. The 300-year reign of the House of Romanov ended. Autocracy in Russia finally fell. This was the main result of the revolution.
37.
The Silver Age of Russian culture at the beginning of the 20th century.
Changes in economic and political life after the fall of serfdom created new conditions for the development of culture. Capitalist modernization stimulated scientific and technological progress and increased the need for highly educated people (administrators, lawyers, engineers, vocational and technically educated workers). The revitalization of socio-political life and the intensification of ideological struggle had a significant impact on the development of culture. A new social stratum has emerged - the Russian intelligentsia, which has become characterized not only by belonging to intellectual work, but also by a special spirituality, concern for the fate of the country, and a desire to serve society and for the benefit of the people.
There were two lines in the government's cultural policy. The first was aimed at meeting the sociocultural needs of the state. About 10% of the state budget was spent on cultural needs, medical care and social charity. The second line was aimed at forming public consciousness in the spirit of the updated theory of “official nationality” and preventing the democratization of education. This line was implemented by its restrictions, censorship policies and the strengthening of the influence of the church on society.
Culture of Russia in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. absorbed the artistic traditions, aesthetic and moral ideals of the “golden age” of the previous time. At the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. In the spiritual life of Europe and Russia, trends emerged related to the worldview of man in the 20th century. They demanded a new understanding of social and moral problems: personality and society, art and life, the place of the artist in society, etc. All this led to the search for new artistic methods and means. A unique historical and artistic period developed in Russia, which his contemporaries called the “Silver Age” of Russian culture.
Unlike Western European countries, Russia did not have a law on universal compulsory primary education. However, the needs of production required professionally educated workers. Therefore, the government decided to expand the network of schools. Primary education was provided by state, zemstvo and Perkovno-parochial schools. They taught writing, reading, counting and the law of God for 2-3 years. Zemstvo schools especially contributed to improving literacy. Despite the efforts of the government and the Synod to support parochial schools, their importance gradually declined.
The secondary education system included gymnasiums and real schools. In gymnasiums (male and female), much attention was paid to the natural and human sciences and the study of foreign languages. In real schools, the emphasis was on applied natural-technical knowledge.
In 1887, the so-called “circular on cooks’ children” prohibited the admission to the gymnasium of children of “coachmen, footmen, laundresses, small shopkeepers and the like.” Without a certificate of completion of a gymnasium it was impossible to enter the university. This was a way to preserve the class system of education and slow down its democratization.
On the eve of the First World War, there were 120 higher educational institutions in Russia, with 130 thousand students studying.
In post-reform Russia and at the beginning of the 20th century. The people's desire for literacy, familiarization with scientific knowledge, literature and art has especially intensified. The leading Russian intelligentsia played a major role in realizing this need, creating various educational organizations at zemstvos and scientific societies, as well as new out-of-school forms of education. Since the 60s of the XIX century. Free Sunday schools for adults, which taught the basics of literacy and basic vocational knowledge, became widespread.
Printing played a major role in popularizing scientific knowledge and introducing people to reading fiction. Cheap publication of works by Russian writers, primers, children's books and textbooks made them accessible to the entire people.
In the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. The process of differentiation of sciences, their division into fundamental and applied, deepened. The needs of Russia's industrial development and new attempts at philosophical understanding of the relationship between nature and society left a special imprint on the state of the natural sciences and humanities.
The development of Russian economic thought was reflected in the works of the Marxists
The struggle of classes and parties for different paths of development in Russia. Bolshevik victory. The October Revolution, its significance. February 1917, October 1917.
The working class (18 million people) consisted of urban and rural proletarians. They managed to feel their political strength, were predisposed to revolutionary agitation and were ready to defend their rights with weapons. They fought for the introduction of an 8-hour working day, a guarantee of employment, and increased wages. The peasantry (130 million people) demanded the destruction of large private land properties and the transfer of land to those who cultivate it. The army (15 million people) became a special political force. The soldiers advocated ending the war and broad democratization of all military institutions. They actively supported the basic demands of the workers and peasants and were the main armed force of the revolution.
The extreme right (monarchists, Black Hundreds) suffered a complete collapse after the February Revolution. The Octobrists did not have a historical perspective, they unconditionally supported industrialists on the labor issue and advocated the preservation of landownership.
The Kadets from the opposition party became the ruling party, initially occupying key positions in the Provisional Government. They stood for turning Russia into a parliamentary republic. On the agrarian issue, they still advocated the purchase of landowners' lands by the state and peasants. The cadets put forward the slogan of maintaining loyalty to the allies and waging the war “to the victorious end.”
The Social Revolutionaries, the most massive party after the revolution, proposed turning Russia into a federal republic of free nations, eliminating landownership and distributing land among the peasants “according to an equalizing norm.” They sought to end the war by concluding a democratic peace without annexations and indemnities, but at the same time considered it necessary to defend the revolution from German militarism.
The Mensheviks, the second largest and most influential party, advocated the creation of a democratic republic, the right of nations to self-determination, the confiscation of landowners' lands and their transfer to the disposal of local governments. In foreign policy, they, like the Socialist Revolutionaries, took the position of “revolutionary defencism.”
The time from February to October is a special period in the history of Russia. There are two stages in it. At the first (March - early July 1917) there was a dual power in which the Provisional Government was forced to coordinate all its actions with the Petrograd Soviet, which took more radical positions and had the support of the broad masses.
At the second stage (July-October 25, 1917), dual power was ended. The autocracy of the Provisional Government was established in the form of a coalition of the liberal bourgeoisie (Cadets) with “moderate” socialists (Socialist Revolutionaries, Mensheviks). However, this political alliance also failed to achieve the consolidation of society. Social tension has increased in the country. On the one hand, there was growing indignation among the masses over the government's delays in carrying out the most pressing economic, social and political changes. On the other hand, the right was dissatisfied with the weakness of the government and insufficiently decisive measures to curb the “revolutionary element.” Monarchists and right-wing bourgeois parties were ready to support the establishment of a military dictatorship. The extreme left Bolsheviks headed for the seizure of political power under the slogan “All power to the Soviets!” The provisional government was unable to overcome all this, and therefore was unable to retain power.
In April 1917, the first government crisis broke out. It was caused by general social tension in the country. The catalyst was the note P.N. Milyukov dated April 18. In it, he addressed the Allied powers with assurance of Russia's determination to bring the war to a victorious end. This led to extreme indignation of the people, mass rallies and demonstrations demanding an immediate end to the war, the transfer of power to the Soviets, and the resignation of P.N. Milyukova and A.I. Guchkova.
The failure of the offensive at the front and the threat of the Cadets to collapse the coalition caused a new general political crisis. On July 3-4, mass armed demonstrations of workers and soldiers took place in Petrograd. The slogan “All power to the Soviets!” was put forward again. Clashes occurred between demonstrators and units loyal to the government. The demonstration was dispersed.
Repressions began against the Bolsheviks and Left Socialist Revolutionaries, who were accused of preparing an armed seizure of power. The government declared Petrograd under martial law, disarmed the soldiers and workers who participated in the demonstration, and issued an order for the arrest of V.I. Lenin and other Bolshevik leaders, accusing them of spying for Germany.
Kornilov rebellion. August 25 L.G. Kornilov launched an attack on Petrograd with the aim of establishing a military dictatorship. This threat forced A.F. Kerensky turned to the people for support and even cooperated with the Bolsheviks. All socialist parties opposed the Kornilovism. The Soviets and the units of the workers' Red Guard subordinate to them. By August 30, the rebel troops were stopped, L.G. Kornilov was arrested.
The Bolsheviks came to power. On October 10, the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b) adopted a resolution on an armed uprising. On October 12, the Military Revolutionary Committee (MRC) was formed under the Petrograd Soviet. The Military Revolutionary Committee was created to protect the Soviets from the military navel and Petrograd from a possible German offensive. In practice, it became the center of preparation for the uprising.
The Provisional Government tried to resist the Bolsheviks. But its authority dropped so much that it did not receive any support. The Petrograd garrison went over to the side of the Military Revolutionary Committee. On October 24, soldiers and sailors, Red Guard workers began to occupy key places in the city (bridges, train stations, telegraph and power plants). By the evening of October 24, the government was blocked in the Winter Palace. A.F. Kerensky left Petrograd in the afternoon and went for reinforcements to the Northern Front. On the morning of October 25, an appeal “To the Citizens of Russia” was published. It announced the overthrow of the Provisional Government and the transfer of power to the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee. On the night of October 25-26, the Winter Palace was taken and the old ministers were arrested.
The transfer of power into the hands of the Bolsheviks on Russian territory took place both peacefully and armedly. It took a long period from October 1917 to March 1918. The pace and method of establishing power was influenced by various factors: the socio-political situation on the ground, the combat capability of the Bolshevik committees, the strength of counter-revolutionary organizations.
The relatively easy victory of the Bolsheviks was due primarily to the weakness of the bourgeoisie, the absence in Russia of a wide segment of the population with a pronounced private property ideology. The Russian bourgeoisie also lacked political experience and the art of social demagoguery. The "moderate" socialists entered into an alliance with the bourgeois parties and failed to lead the popular movement. Their influence among the masses gradually weakened. Liberal and right-wing socialist forces did not understand the depth of social tension and did not satisfy the basic demands of the people. They did not bring Russia out of the war, they did not solve the agrarian, labor and national issues. In 1917, the economic condition of the country steadily deteriorated, devastation, hunger and impoverishment of the population grew.
At the beginning of 1917, interruptions in food supplies to major Russian cities intensified. By mid-February, 90 thousand Petrograd workers went on strike due to bread shortages, speculation and rising prices. On February 18, workers from the Putilov plant joined them. The administration announced its closure. This was the reason for the start of mass protests in the capital.
On February 23, International Women's Day (March 8 according to the new style), workers and workers took to the streets of Petrograd with the slogans “Bread!”, “Down with war!”, “Down with autocracy!” Their political demonstration marked the beginning of the revolution.
On February 25, the strike in Petrograd became general. Demonstrations and rallies did not stop. On the evening of February 25, Nicholas II from Headquarters, located in Mogilev, sent the commander of the Petrograd Military District S.S. A telegram to Khabalov with a categorical demand to stop the unrest. Attempts by the authorities to use troops did not produce a positive effect; the soldiers refused to shoot at the people. However, officers and police killed more than 150 people on February 26th. In response, the guards of the Pavlovsk regiment, supporting the workers, opened fire on the police.
On February 27, the mass transition of soldiers to the side of the workers, their seizure of the arsenal and the Peter and Paul Fortress, marked the victory of the revolution. The arrests of tsarist ministers and the formation of new government bodies began.
On the same day, elections to the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies were held in factories and military units, drawing on the experience of 1905, when the first organs of workers' political power were born. An Executive Committee was elected to manage its activities. The Menshevik N.S. became the chairman. Chkheidze, his deputy, Socialist Revolutionary A.F. Kerensky. The Executive Committee took upon itself the maintenance of public order and the supply of food to the population.
On March 1, the Petrograd Soviet issued “Order No. 1” on the democratization of the army. Soldiers were given equal civil rights with officers, harsh treatment of lower ranks was prohibited, and traditional forms of army subordination were abolished. Soldiers' committees were legalized. The election of commanders was introduced. Political activities were allowed in the army. The Petrograd garrison was subordinate to the Council and was obliged to carry out only its orders.
On February 27, at a meeting of leaders of Duma factions, it was decided to form a Provisional Committee of the State Duma headed by M.V. Rodzianko. The task of the committee was to “restoration of state and public order” and the creation of a new government. The temporary committee took control of all ministries.
On March 2, after negotiations between representatives of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma and the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, the Provisional Government was formed. The Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik leadership of the Petrograd Soviet considered the revolution to be bourgeois. Therefore, it did not seek to take full state power and took a position of supporting the Provisional Government. A dual power arose in Russia.