Date | April 1917 |
---|---|
Location | Russian Provisional Government |
Cause | Russian involvement in World War I |
Outcome |
|
The April Crisis, which occurred in Russia throughout April 1917, broke out in response to a series of political and public controversies. Conflict over Russia's foreign policy goals tested the dual power arrangement between the Petrograd Soviet and the Russian Provisional Government. The Executive Committee and the full Soviet endorsed Nikolai Sukhanov's "An Appeal to All the Peoples of the World", which renounced war and "acquisitionist ambitions." This appeal conflicted with the Provisional Government's position on annexations, and Foreign Minister Pavel Milyukov responded with the Milyukov note on 18 April declaring Russia's right to Constantinople and the Dardanelles.
Newspapers printed Milyukov's note on 20 April. Milyukov's note united disparate groups of Russians against the Provisional Government, and against Russian involvement in World War I. [1] The public responded with mass demonstrations and violence in the streets of Petrograd, forcing Milyukov and War Minister Alexander Guchkov to resign. These events blurred the distinction between Dual Power, resulted in more governmental Soviet positions, and isolated the Bolsheviks as the only major Socialist party not affiliated with the Provisional Government. [2]
After the end of Romanov rule in February 1917, Russia's new Provisional Government, composed of State Duma members and the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, governed Russia as halves of the Dual Power dynamic. Soviet participation in the Provisional Government swayed governmental policies, and cultivated the political issues of the April Crisis. At the time, Russia was embroiled in World War I, but was suffering catastrophic losses to German armies. [3]
On 23 February, working class women stormed the streets of Petrograd, indicating the beginning of the February Revolution. This day was the socialist holiday International Women's Day, and women gathered to protest food shortages and high bread prices. In the following days, the protests intensified as both men and women marched towards the center of Petrograd. Russian police, known as the Cossacks, and soldiers from the Volhynian regiment, attempted to disseminate the crowd, but had little success. Four days later, on 27 February, key Russian military units allied themselves with the protestors, arresting Tsarist ministers the following day. During this span of time, Tsar Nicholas II had taken personal command of the Russian army. Upon receiving news about the unrest in Petrograd, the Tsar made the decision to return to the capital and restore order. However, the Tsar's generals and a delegation of politicians from the State Duma, persuaded him that only by abdicating the throne could he achieve social peace. [4]
The Provisional Government and the Soviet of Workers' Deputies had conflicting plans for governance, and this disparity underlies much of the polarization and conflict of the April Crisis. Created from former representatives of the State Duma, the Provisional Government took power on 2 March. The Provisional Government questioned their own authority and was hesitant to exercise power. This created a void of decisive governance, and damaged the Provisional Government's standing among Russia's lower classes. But the Provisional Government was always somewhat distanced from workers, soldiers, and peasants. The Petrograd Soviet, on the other hand, possessed powerful street-level sway of worker and peasant opinions. This asset made cooperation with the Soviets imperative to the Provisional Government's success, as ignoring the Soviets meant relative isolation from large segments of the population, and greater unrest among lower classes. By cooperating with the Petrograd Soviet, the Provisional Government offered the Soviets a foundation from which they could draw power, and (to a certain extent) vindicated Soviet beliefs. It also gave them a powerful platform to voice their discontent with the Provisional Government's policies. [5]
On 1 March the Petrograd Soviet released "An Appeal to All the Peoples of the World," a letter written by Nikolai Sukhanov. The letter condemned Russia's participation in World War I, criticizing the country's enduring expansionist ambitions. It also sought to confine Russia's focus mostly to intra-national issues. The letter was released at a time of public turmoil and disenfranchisement with the Provisional Government. Russia's lower classes had seen no relief from the burdens of inflation and limited resources, and were becoming more inclined to the Soviet ideals. [1]
The Petrograd Soviet pressured the Provisional Government to speak against the aims of the old, tsarist regime in the war. [6] On 14 March, the Provisional Government declared that Russia's goal was not to conquer people or territories, but was to achieve stable peace. [2]
On 3 April, the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin arrived in Petrograd on a sealed train from Switzerland. At the Finland Station, he made statements against both the "Appeal to All the Peoples of the World" and the "Declaration of War Aims," instead demanding "all power to the soviets." [2] He rejected any cooperation with the Provisional government or the Mensheviks, and called for withdrawal of Russia's troops from the war. [7] Lenin's views on these issues were published in the Bolshevik newspaper, Pravda , on 7 April in what is known as his April Theses. [7]
On 18 April, the foreign minister, Paul Milyukov, sent a note to the Allies that said that Russia was determined to fight until World War I ended in victory. The note explained that the Provisional Government would readily enforce the usual "guarantees and sanctions" that would accompany victory. This statement implied that Russia would retain control of the Dardanelle Straits and Constantinople, as previously agreed upon by the Allies in 1915. [6]
In response to Milyukov's leaked notes, vast numbers of workers and soldiers took to the streets of Petrograd and Moscow. These demonstrations were sometimes violent: armed soldiers occupied the streets, and many skirmishes occurred between pro and anti-government activists. Brutality among anti-government protestors was aimed at the Provisional Government's inconsistent stance on Russia's participation in the war. Facing famine and inflation, protestors raised their voices to decry the Provisional Government's failure to represent their viewpoints and desires. Among protestors demands was the faint call for Soviet power, which displayed the evolving sentiments of Russia's populace, and foreshadowed the lower class-driven rise of the Soviets. Fearing that Russia was not ready for Soviet rule, Soviet leaders worked to pacify protestors and quell demonstrations. [8]
Responding to unrest among Russia's lower classes, Milyukov and the War Minister, Alexandr Guchkov, both resigned. [2] The cabinet was subsequently reorganized to include socialists. Victor Chernov, a leader of the Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs) was now Minister of Agriculture, and Irakli Tsereteli, a Menshevik, was in charge of Posts and Telegraphs. [7] The far-left leaning Bolsheviks refused to participate in what they viewed as the "bourgeois" coalition government. [6] This left Lenin and the Bolsheviks as the only group that held fast to their anti-war policy, due to the collaboration and compromise needed for the other left-leaning political groups to work with the coalition government. [7]
The Bolsheviks were the only political party that remained unwavering in their stance against Russia's involvement in the war. Lenin believed that the "international, imperialist war," would be better turned into a series of revolutionary wars within the warring nations. The Bolshevik Party's strict stance against Russia's participation in World War I led to an increase in the party's popularity. [7]
Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky was a Russian lawyer and revolutionary who led the Russian Provisional Government and the short-lived Russian Republic for three months from late July to early November 1917 (N.S.).
The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution, October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. It was led by Vladimir Lenin's Bolsheviks as part of the broader Russian Revolution of 1917–1923. It began through an insurrection in Petrograd on 7 November 1917 [O.S. 25 October]. It was the precipitating event of the Russian Civil War. The initial stage of the October Revolution, which involved the assault on Petrograd, occurred largely without any casualties.
The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social change in Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government following two successive revolutions and a civil war. It can also be seen as the precursor for the other revolutions that occurred in the aftermath of World War I, such as the German Revolution of 1918–1919. The Russian Revolution was one of the key events of the 20th century.
The Kornilov affair, or the Kornilov putsch, was an attempted military coup d'état by the commander-in-chief of the Russian Army, General Lavr Kornilov, from 10 to 13 September 1917, against the Russian Provisional Government headed by Aleksander Kerensky and the Petrograd Soviet of Soldiers' and Workers' Deputies. The exact details and motivations of the Kornilov affair are unconfirmed due to the general confusion of all parties involved. Many historians have had to piece together varied historical accounts as a result.
Pavel Nikolayevich Milyukov was a Russian historian and liberal politician. Milyukov was the founder, leader, and the most prominent member of the Constitutional Democratic party. He changed his view on the monarchy between 1905 and 1917. In the Russian Provisional Government, he served as Foreign Minister, working to prevent Russia's exit from the First World War.
"Dual power" refers to the coexistence of two Russian governments as a result of the February Revolution: the Soviets, particularly the Petrograd Soviet, and the Russian Provisional Government. The term was first used by the communist Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) in the 1917 Pravda article titled "The Dual Power".
The history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was generally perceived as covering that of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party from which it evolved. In 1912, the party formally split, and the predecessor to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union became a distinct entity. Its history since then can roughly be divided into the following periods:
The Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, commonly known as the Petrograd Soviet Ispolkom was a self-appointed executive committee of the Petrograd Soviet. As an antagonist of the Russian Provisional Government, after the 1917 February Revolution in Russia, the Ispolkom became a second center of power. It was dissolved during the Bolshevik October Revolution later that year.
The July Days were a period of unrest in Petrograd, Russia, between 16–20 July [O.S. 3–7 July] 1917. It was characterised by spontaneous armed demonstrations by soldiers, sailors, and industrial workers engaged against the Russian Provisional Government. The demonstrations were angrier and more violent than those during the February Revolution months earlier.
The State Duma, also known as the Imperial Duma, was the lower house of the legislature in the Russian Empire, while the upper house was the State Council. It held its meetings in the Tauride Palace in Saint Petersburg. It convened four times between 27 April 1906 and the collapse of the empire in February 1917. The first and the second dumas were more democratic and represented a greater number of national types than their successors. The third duma was dominated by gentry, landowners, and businessmen. The fourth duma held five sessions; it existed until 2 March 1917, and was formally dissolved on 6 October 1917.
The first significant attempt to implement communism on a large scale occurred in Russia following the February Revolution of 1917, which resulted in the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. The Bolshevik Party, led by Vladimir Lenin, capitalized on the discontent with the Provisional government and successfully seized power in the October Revolution of the same year. Lenin's government began to transform Russian society through policies such as land redistribution, nationalization of industry, and withdrawal from World War I. After Lenin's death in 1924, Joseph Stalin's rise to power brought about rapid industrialization, forced collectivization, and widespread political repression, which solidified the Soviet Union's status as a major world power but at a tremendous human cost.
The Russian Provisional Government was a provisional government of the Russian Empire and Russian Republic, announced two days before and established immediately after the abdication of Nicholas II on 2 March, O.S. [15 March 1917, N.S.], during the February Revolution. The intention of the provisional government was the organization of elections to the Russian Constituent Assembly and its convention. The provisional government, led first by Prince Georgy Lvov and then by Alexander Kerensky, lasted approximately eight months, and ceased to exist when the Bolsheviks gained power in the October Revolution in October [November, N.S.] 1917.
The All Russian Constituent Assembly was a constituent assembly convened in Russia after the February Revolution of 1917. It met for 13 hours, from 4 p.m. to 5 a.m., 18–19 January [O.S. 5–6 January] 1918, whereupon it was dissolved by the Bolshevik-led All-Russian Central Executive Committee, proclaiming the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets the new governing body of Russia.
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The February Revolution, known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of two revolutions which took place in Russia in 1917.
The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies was held on November 7–9, 1917, in Smolny, Petrograd. It was convened under the pressure of the Bolsheviks on the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the First Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.
The State Conference in Moscow (Moscow State Conference) (also known as Moscow Council of the Conference of Public Figures) was an all-Russian political forum convened by the Provisional Government. The meeting was held in Moscow on 12-15 August (O.S.) 25–28 August, 1917 (N.S.). The meeting was convened by Kerensky's Second Government and attended by actual and former Duma members, representatives of all major political parties, commercial and industrial organizations, the unions, army and academic institutions, to inform Russian citizens about the political situation in the country and to unite the forces supporting it among different layers and groups of Russian society.
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An index of articles related to the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War period (1905–1922). It covers articles on topics, events, and persons related to the revolutionary era, from the 1905 Russian Revolution until the end of the Russian Civil War. The See also section includes other lists related to Revolutionary Russia and the Soviet Union, including an index of articles about the Soviet Union (1922–1991) which is the next article in this series, and Bibliography of the Russian Revolution and Civil War.