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The February Revolution took place in the fateful year of 1917 for Russia and was the first of many coups d'etat, which step by step led to the establishment of the power of the Soviets and the formation of a new state on the map.
Causes of the February Revolution of 1917
The protracted war gave rise to many difficulties and plunged the country into a severe crisis. A large part of society opposed the monarchical system; a liberal opposition against Nicholas II even formed in the Duma. Numerous meetings and speeches under anti-monarchist and anti-war slogans began to take place in the country.
1. Crisis in the army
More than 15 million people were mobilized into the Russian army at that time, of which 13 million were peasants. Hundreds of thousands of victims, killed and crippled, terrible front-line conditions, embezzlement and mediocrity of the high command of the army undermined discipline and led to mass desertion. By the end of 1916, more than one and a half million people were deserters from the army.
On the front line, cases of "fraternization" of Russian soldiers with Austrian and German were often noted. The officers made many efforts to stop this trend, but among ordinary soldiers it became normal to exchange different things and communicate with the enemy in a friendly manner.
Discontent and mass revolutionary moods gradually grew in the ranks of the military.
2. Threat of starvation
A fifth of the country's industrial potential was lost due to the occupation, food was running out. In St. Petersburg, for example, in February 1917, only a week and a half of grain remained. Deliveries of products and raw materials were carried out so irregularly that some of the military factories were closed. Providing the army with everything necessary was also at risk.
3. Power crisis
At the top, everything was also difficult: during the years of the war, four prime ministers were replaced with full of strong personalities who could stop the crisis of power and lead the country, at that time there were no ruling elites.
The royal family always strove to be closer to the people, but the phenomenon of Rasputinism and the weakness of government gradually deepened the gulf between the tsar and his people.
In the political situation, everything pointed to the proximity of the revolution. The only question left was where and how it would happen.
February Revolution: the overthrow of the centuries-old monarchical system
Beginning in January 1917, strikes took place massively throughout the Russian Empire, in which more than 700,000 workers took part in total. The trigger for the February events was a strike in St. Petersburg.
On February 23, 128,000 were already on strike, the next day their number grew to 200,000, and the strike took on a political character, and already 300,000 workers took part in it in St. Petersburg alone. This is how the February Revolution unfolded.
Troops and police opened fire on the striking workers, and the first blood was shed.
On February 26, the tsar sent troops to the capital under the command of General Ivanov, but they refused to suppress the uprising and actually sided with the rebels.
On February 27, the insurgent workers seized more than 40,000 rifles and 30,000 revolvers. They took control of the capital and elected the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies, headed by Chkheidze.
On the same day, the tsar sent an order to the Duma on an indefinite break in its work. The Duma obeyed the decree, but decided not to disperse, but to elect a Provisional Committee of ten people headed by Rodzianko.
Soon the tsar received telegrams about the victory of the revolution and calls from the commanders of all fronts to cede power in favor of the rebels.
On March 2, the establishment of the Provisional Government of Russia was officially announced, and Nicholas II appointed Prince Lvov as its head. And on the same day the king abdicated for himself and for his son in favor of his brother, but he wrote the abdication in the same way.
So the February Revolution ended the existence of the monarchy for
After that, the tsar, as a civilian, tried to obtain permission from the Provisional Government to leave with his family for Murmansk in order to emigrate to Great Britain from there. But the Petrograd Soviet resisted so resolutely that it was decided to arrest Nicholas II and his family and take them to Tsarskoye Selo for imprisonment.
The former emperor will never be destined to leave his country.
February Revolution of 1917: results
The interim government survived many crises and was able to last only 8 months. The attempt to build a bourgeois-democratic society was not crowned with success, since a more powerful and organized force claimed power in the country, which saw only the socialist revolution as its goal.
The February revolution revealed this force - the workers and soldiers, led by the Soviets, began to play a decisive role in the history of the country.
Causes and character of the February Revolution.Uprising in Petrograd February 27, 1917
The February Revolution of 1917 in Russia was caused by the same reasons, had the same character, solved the same problems and had the same balance of opposing forces as the revolution of 1905-1907. After the revolution of 1905-1907. the tasks of democratizing the country continued to remain - the overthrow of the autocracy, the introduction of democratic freedoms, the solution of burning issues - agrarian, labor, national. These were the tasks of the bourgeois-democratic transformation of the country, and therefore the February Revolution, like the revolution of 1905-1907, bore a bourgeois-democratic character.
Although the revolution of 1905-1907 and did not solve the fundamental tasks of democratizing the country that it faced and was defeated, however, it served as a political school for all parties and classes and thus was an important prerequisite for the February Revolution and the October Revolution of 1917 that followed it.
But the February Revolution of 1917 took place in a different situation than the revolution of 1905-1907. On the eve of the February Revolution, social and political contradictions sharply aggravated, aggravated by the hardships of a long and exhausting war in which Russia was drawn. The economic devastation generated by the war and, as a result of it, the aggravation of the need and misery of the masses, caused acute social tension in the country, the growth of anti-war sentiments and general dissatisfaction not only of the left and opposition, but also of a significant part of the right forces with the policy of the autocracy. The authority of autocratic power and its bearer, the reigning emperor, fell noticeably in the eyes of all sections of society. The war, unprecedented in its scale, seriously shook the moral foundations of society, introduced an unprecedented bitterness into the consciousness of people's behavior. The millions of front-line soldiers, who daily saw blood and death, easily succumbed to revolutionary propaganda and were ready to take the most extreme measures. They longed for peace, a return to the earth, and the slogan "Down with the war!" was especially popular at the time. The cessation of the war was inevitably associated with the liquidation of the political regime that had dragged the people into the war. So the monarchy lost its support in the army.
By the end of 1916, the country was in a state of deep social, political and moral crisis. Did the ruling circles realize the danger threatening them? Reports of the security department for the end of 1917 - the beginning of 1917. full of anxiety in anticipation of a threatening social explosion. They foresaw a social danger for the Russian monarchy and abroad. Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich, the Czar's cousin, wrote to him in mid-November 1916 from London: "The agents of the Intelligence Service [British Intelligence Service], usually well informed, predict a revolution in Russia. I sincerely hope Niki that you will find it possible to satisfy the fair the demands of the people before it is too late." Those close to Nicholas II with despair told him: "There will be a revolution, we will all be hanged, but it doesn't matter on what lamp." However, Nicholas II stubbornly did not want to see this danger, hoping for the mercy of Providence. A curious conversation took place shortly before the events of February 1917 between the tsar and the chairman of the State Duma, M.V. Rodzianko. "Rodzianko: - I warn you that in less than three weeks a revolution will break out that will sweep you away, and you will no longer reign. Nicholas II: - Well, God will give. Rodzianko: - God will give nothing, the revolution is inevitable" .
Although the factors that prepared the revolutionary explosion in February 1917 had been taking shape for a long time, politicians and publicists, right and left, predicted its inevitability, the revolution was neither "prepared" nor "organized", it broke out spontaneously and suddenly for all parties and for the government. Not a single political party showed itself to be the organizer and leader of the revolution that took them by surprise.
The immediate cause for the revolutionary explosion was the following events that took place in the second half of February 1917 in Petrograd. In mid-February, the supply of food to the capital, especially bread, worsened. Bread was in the country and in sufficient quantity, but due to the devastation of transport and the sluggishness of the authorities responsible for the supply, it could not be delivered to the cities in a timely manner. A card system was introduced, but it did not solve the problem. There were long queues at the bakeries, which caused growing discontent among the population. In this situation, any act of the authorities or owners of industrial enterprises that irritates the population could serve as a detonator for a social explosion.
On February 18, the workers of one of the largest factories in Petrograd, Putilovsky, went on strike, demanding an increase in wages due to the increase in the high cost of wages. On February 20, the administration of the plant, under the pretext of interruptions in the supply of raw materials, dismissed the strikers and announced the closure of some workshops for an indefinite period. The Putilovites were supported by workers from other enterprises in the city. On February 23 (according to the new style, March 8 - International Women's Day), it was decided to start a general strike. On the afternoon of February 23, opposition Duma figures also decided to take advantage, who on February 14, from the rostrum of the State Duma, sharply criticized mediocre ministers and demanded their resignation. Duma leaders - Menshevik N.S. Chkheidze and Trudovik A.F. Kerensky - established contact with illegal organizations and created a committee to hold a demonstration on February 23.
On that day, 128 thousand workers from 50 enterprises went on strike - a third of the workers of the capital. There was also a demonstration, which was peaceful. A rally was held in the city center. The authorities, in order to calm the people, announced that there was enough food in the city and there were no grounds for concern.
The next day, 214,000 workers were on strike. The strikes were accompanied by demonstrations: columns of demonstrators with red flags and singing "La Marseillaise" rushed to the city center. Women who took to the streets with the slogans "Bread"!, "Peace"!, "Freedom!", "Return our husbands!" took an active part in them.
Authorities first viewed them as spontaneous food riots. However, the events grew every day and took on a threatening character for the authorities. On February 25, more than 300,000 people went on strike. (80% of city workers). The demonstrators were already speaking with political slogans: "Down with the monarchy!", "Long live the republic!", rushing to the central squares and avenues of the city. They managed to overcome the police and military barriers and break through to Znamenskaya Square near the Moscow railway station, where a spontaneous rally began at the monument to Alexander III. Rallies and demonstrations took place on the main squares, avenues and streets of the city. Cossack squads sent against them refused to disperse them. Demonstrators threw stones and logs at the mounted policemen. The authorities have already seen that the "riots" are taking on a political character.
On the morning of February 25, columns of workers again rushed to the city center, and on the Vyborg side, police stations were already smashed. The rally began again on Znamenskaya Square. Demonstrators clashed with police, killing and injuring several demonstrators. On the same day, Nicholas II received from the commander of the Petrograd Military District, General S.S. Khabalov reported on the unrest that had begun in Petrograd, and at 9 o'clock in the evening Khabalov received a telegram from him: "I order tomorrow to stop the unrest in the capital, unacceptable in the difficult time of the war with Germany and Austria." Khabalov immediately ordered the police and the commanders of the spare parts to use weapons against the demonstrators. On the night of February 26, the police arrested about a hundred of the most active figures of the left parties.
February 26 was Sunday. Factories and factories did not work. Masses of demonstrators with red banners and singing revolutionary songs again rushed to the central streets and squares of the city. On Znamenskaya Square and near the Kazan Cathedral, there were continuous rallies. On the orders of Khabalov, the police, who sat on the roofs of houses, opened fire from machine guns on demonstrators and protesters. On Znamenskaya Square, 40 people were killed and the same number were wounded. The police fired at the demonstrators on Sadovaya Street, Liteiny and Vladimirsky avenues. On the night of February 27, new arrests were made: this time 170 people were captured.
The outcome of any revolution depends on which side the army ends up on. The defeat of the revolution of 1905 - 1907 was largely due to the fact that despite a series of uprisings in the army and navy, in general, the army remained loyal to the government and was used by it to suppress peasant and worker riots. In February 1917, a garrison of up to 180,000 soldiers was stationed in Petrograd. Basically, these were spare parts that were to be sent to the front. There were quite a few recruits from cadre workers mobilized for participating in strikes, and quite a few veterans who had recovered from wounds. The concentration in the capital of a mass of soldiers who easily succumbed to the influence of revolutionary propaganda was a major mistake of the authorities.
The execution of demonstrators on February 26 aroused strong indignation among the soldiers of the capital's garrison and had a decisive influence on their going over to the side of the revolution. On the afternoon of February 26, the 4th company of the reserve battalion of the Pavlovsky regiment refused to take the place indicated to it at the outpost and even opened fire on a platoon of mounted police. The company was disarmed, 19 of its "instigators" were sent to the Peter and Paul Fortress. Chairman of the State Duma M.V. Rodzianko telegraphed the tsar that day: "The situation is serious. There is anarchy in the capital. The government is paralyzed. There is indiscriminate shooting in the streets. Parts of the troops are shooting at each other." In conclusion, he asked the king: "Immediately instruct a person who enjoys the confidence of the country to form a new government. It is impossible to delay. Any delay is like death."
Even on the eve of the tsar's departure for Headquarters, two versions of his decree on the State Duma were prepared - the first on its dissolution, the second on a break in its sessions. In response to Rodzianko's telegram, the tsar sent a second version of the decree - on the suspension of the Duma from February 26 to April 1917. At 11 am on February 27, the deputies of the State Duma gathered in the White Hall of the Tauride Palace and silently listened to the tsar's decree on the adjournment of the session of the Duma. The tsar's decree placed the Duma members in a difficult position: on the one hand, they did not dare to disobey the tsar's will, and on the other hand, they could not but reckon with the menacing development of revolutionary events in the capital. Deputies from the left parties proposed not to obey the tsar's decree and to declare themselves the Constituent Assembly in the "appeal to the people", but the majority was against such an action. In the Semicircular Hall of the Tauride Palace, they opened a "private meeting", at which it was decided, in fulfillment of the tsar's order, not to hold official meetings of the Duma, but the deputies not to disperse and remain in their places. By half past three in the afternoon on February 27, crowds of demonstrators approached the Tauride Palace, some of them entered the palace. Then the Duma decided to form from among its members a "Provisional Committee of the State Duma for the Restoration of Order in Petrograd and for Relations with Institutions and Persons." On the same day, a Committee of 12 people chaired by Rodzianko was formed. At first, the Provisional Committee was afraid to take power into its own hands and sought an agreement with the tsar. On the evening of February 27, Rodzianko sent a new telegram to the tsar, in which he suggested that he make concessions - to instruct the Duma to form a ministry responsible to it.
But events unfolded rapidly. On that day, strikes swept almost all the enterprises of the capital, and in fact the uprising had already begun. The troops of the capital's garrison began to go over to the side of the rebels. On the morning of February 27, a training team rebelled, consisting of 600 people from the reserve battalion of the Volynsky regiment. The team leader was killed. Non-commissioned officer T.I., who led the uprising Kirpichnikov raised the entire regiment, which moved towards the Lithuanian and Preobrazhensky regiments and dragged them along.
If on the morning of February 27, 10 thousand soldiers went over to the side of the rebels, then in the evening of the same day - 67 thousand. On the same day, Khabalov telegraphed the tsar that "the troops refuse to go out against the rebels." On February 28, 127 thousand soldiers turned out to be on the side of the rebels, and on March 1 - already 170 thousand soldiers. On February 28, the Winter Palace, the Peter and Paul Fortress were taken, the arsenal was captured, from which 40,000 rifles and 30,000 revolvers were distributed to workers. On Liteiny Prospekt, the building of the District Court and the House of Preliminary Detention were destroyed and set on fire. The police stations were on fire. The gendarmerie and the Okhrana were liquidated. Many policemen and gendarmes were arrested (later the Provisional Government released them and sent them to the front). Prisoners were released from prisons. On March 1, after negotiations, the remnants of the garrison who had settled in the Admiralty, along with Khabalov, surrendered. The Mariinsky Palace was taken and the tsarist ministers and top dignitaries who were in it were arrested. They were brought or brought to the Tauride Palace. Minister of Internal Affairs A.D. Protopopov voluntarily appeared under arrest. The ministers and generals from the Tauride Palace were escorted to the Peter and Paul Fortress, the rest - to the places of detention prepared for them.
Military units from Peterhof and Strelna who had gone over to the side of the revolution arrived in Petrograd through the Baltic Station and along the Peterhof Highway. On March 1, the sailors of the Kronstadt port rebelled. The commander of the Kronstadt port and the military governor of the city of Kronstadt, Rear Admiral R.N. Viren and several senior officers were shot by sailors. Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich (cousin of Nicholas II) brought the sailors of the Guards crew entrusted to him to the Tauride Palace at the disposal of the revolutionary authorities.
On the evening of February 28, in the conditions of the already victorious revolution, Rodzianko proposed announcing that the Provisional Committee of the State Duma would assume government functions. On the night of February 28, the Provisional Committee of the State Duma addressed the peoples of Russia with an appeal that they were taking the initiative to "restore state and social order" and create a new government. As a first step in the ministries, he sent commissars from among the members of the Duma. In order to seize the situation in the capital and stop the further development of revolutionary events, the Provisional Committee of the State Duma tried in vain to return the soldiers to the barracks. But this attempt showed that he was unable to take control of the situation in the capital.
The soviets, which were revived during the revolution, became a more effective revolutionary power. As early as February 26, a number of members of the Union of Workers' Cooperatives of Petrograd, the Social Democratic faction of the State Duma and other working groups put forward the idea of forming Soviets of Workers' Deputies along the lines of 1905. This idea was also supported by the Bolsheviks. On February 27, representatives of the working groups, together with a group of Duma deputies and representatives of the left intelligentsia, gathered in the Taurida Palace and announced the creation of the Provisional Executive Committee of the Petrograd Council of Working People's Deputies. The committee issued an appeal to elect deputies to the Soviet without delay - one deputies from 1,000 workers, and one from a company of soldiers. 250 deputies were elected and gathered in the Tauride Palace. They, in turn, elected the Executive Committee of the Soviet, whose chairman was the leader of the Social Democratic faction of the State Duma, the Menshevik N.S. Chkheidze, and his deputies Trudovik A.F. Kerensky and Menshevik M.I. Skobelev. The majority in the Executive Committee and in the Soviet itself belonged to the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries - at that time the most numerous and influential left parties in Russia. On February 28, the first issue of Izvestia of the Soviet of Workers' Deputies came out (editor Menshevik F.I. Dan).
The Petrograd Soviet began to act as an organ of revolutionary power, taking a number of important decisions. On February 28, on his initiative, district committees of councils were created. He formed military and food commissions, armed militia, established control over printing houses and railways. By decision of the Petrograd Soviet, the financial resources of the tsarist government were withdrawn and control over their spending was established. Commissars from the Soviet were sent to the districts of the capital to establish people's power in them.
On March 1, 1917, the Council issued the famous "Order No. 1", which provided for the creation of elected soldiers' committees in military units, abolished the titles of officers and saluting them outside of service, but most importantly, removed the Petrograd garrison from subordination to the old command. This order in our literature is usually regarded as a deeply democratic act. In fact, by subordinating the unit commanders to soldiers' committees, little competent in military affairs, he violated the principle of unity of command, necessary for any army, and thereby contributed to the decline in military discipline.
The number of victims in Petrograd in the February days of 1917 amounted to about 300 people. killed and up to 1200 wounded.
Formation of the Provisional Government
With the formation of the Petrograd Soviet and the Provisional Committee of the State Duma on February 27, dual power actually began to take shape. Until March 1, 1917, the Council and the Duma Committee acted independently of each other. On the night of March 1-2, negotiations began between representatives of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet and the Provisional Committee of the State Duma on the formation of the Provisional Government. Representatives of the Soviets set the condition for the Provisional Government to immediately proclaim civil liberties, an amnesty for political prisoners, and announce the convocation of a Constituent Assembly. When the Provisional Government fulfilled this condition, the Council decided to support it. The formation of the composition of the Provisional Government was entrusted to the Provisional Committee of the State Duma.
On March 2, it was formed, and on March 3, its composition was made public. The Provisional Government included 12 people - 10 ministers and 2 chief executives of central departments equated to ministers. 9 ministers were deputies of the State Duma.
A large landowner, chairman of the All-Russian Zemstvo Union, Cadet, Prince G.E. became the Chairman of the Provisional Government and at the same time the Minister of the Interior. Lvov, ministers: foreign affairs - the leader of the Cadet Party P.N. Milyukov, military and naval - the leader of the Octobrist party A.I. Guchkov, trade and industry - a major manufacturer, progressive, A.I. Konovalov, communications - "left" cadet N.V. Nekrasov, public education - close to the Cadets, professor of law A.A. Manuilov, agriculture - zemstvo doctor, cadet, A.I. Shingarev, Justice - Trudovik (since March 3 Social Revolutionary, the only socialist in the government) A.F. Kerensky, on the affairs of Finland - cadet V.I. Rodiichev, Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod - Octobrist V.N. Lvov, the state controller - Octobrist I.V. Godnev. Thus, 7 ministerial posts, and the most important ones, ended up in the hands of the Cadets, 3 ministerial posts were received by the Octobrists and 2 representatives of other parties. It was the "finest hour" of the Cadets, who came to power for a short time (two months). The entry into office of ministers of the Provisional Government took place during March 3-5. The Provisional Government declared itself transition period(before the convocation of the Constituent Assembly) the supreme legislative and executive power in the country.
On March 3, the program of activities of the Provisional Government, agreed with the Petrograd Soviet, was also made public: 1) a complete and immediate amnesty for all political and religious matters; 2) freedom of speech, press, assembly and strikes; 3) the abolition of all class, religious and national restrictions; 4) immediate preparation for elections on the basis of universal, equal, secret and direct voting to the Constituent Assembly; 5) replacement of the police by the people's militia with elected authorities subordinate to local self-government bodies; 6) elections to local self-government bodies; 7) non-disarmament and non-withdrawal from Petrograd of military units that took part in the February 27 uprising; and 8) giving soldiers civil rights. The program laid the broad foundations of constitutionalism and democracy in the country.
However, most of the measures announced in the declaration of the Provisional Government on March 3 were carried out even earlier, as soon as the revolution had won. So, as early as February 28, the police was abolished and the people's militia was formed: instead of 6 thousand policemen, 40 thousand people were employed in the protection of order in Petrograd. people's militia. She took under the protection of enterprises and city blocks. Detachments in the native militia were soon created in other cities. Subsequently, along with the workers' militia, fighting workers' squads (the Red Guard) also appeared. The first detachment of the Red Guard was created in early March at the Sestroretsk plant. The gendarmerie and the Okhrana were liquidated.
Hundreds of prisons were destroyed or burned down. The press organs of the Black Hundred organizations were closed. Trade unions were revived, cultural and educational, women's, youth and other organizations were created. Complete freedom of the press, rallies and demonstrations was won by secret order. Russia has become the freest country in the world.
The initiative to reduce the working day to 8 hours came from the Petrograd entrepreneurs themselves. On March 10, an agreement was concluded between the Petrograd Soviet and the Petrograd Society of Manufacturers about this. Then, through similar private agreements between workers and employers, the 8-hour working day was introduced throughout the country. However, a special decree of the Provisional Government on this was not issued. The agrarian question was referred to the decision of the Constituent Assembly out of fear that the soldiers, having learned about the "division of the land", would abandon the front and move into the countryside. The provisional government declared unauthorized seizures of landlord peasants illegal.
In an effort to "become closer to the people", to study the specific situation in the country on the spot and enlist the support of the population, the ministers of the Provisional Government made frequent trips to cities, army and navy units. At first, they met such support at rallies, meetings, meetings of various kinds, and professional congresses. The ministers often and willingly gave interviews to representatives of the press and held press conferences. The press, in turn, sought to create a favorable public opinion about the Provisional Government.
France and England were the first to recognize the Provisional Government as "the spokesman of the true will of the people and the only government of Russia". In early March, the United States, Italy, Norway, Japan, Belgium, Portugal, Serbia and Iran recognized the Provisional Government.
Abdication of Nicholas II
The defection of the troops of the capital's garrison to the side of the insurgents forced the Stavka to begin taking decisive measures to suppress the revolution in Petrograd. On February 27, Nicholas II, through the chief of staff of the Headquarters, General M.V. Alekseev gave the order to send "reliable" punitive troops to Petrograd. The punitive expedition included the Georgievsky battalion, taken from Mogilev, and several regiments from the Northern, Western and Southwestern fronts. General N.I. was put at the head of the expedition. Ivanov, who was also appointed instead of Khabalov and commander of the Petrograd Military District with the broadest, dictatorial powers - up to the point that all the ministers were at his full disposal. By March 1, it was planned to concentrate 13 infantry battalions, 16 cavalry squadrons and 4 batteries in the Tsarskoye Selo area.
In the early morning of February 28, two letter trains, the royal and the suite, set off from Mogilev via Smolensk, Vyazma, Rzhev, Likhoslavl, Bologoye to Petrograd. Upon their arrival in Bologoye on the night of March 1, news was received that two companies with machine guns had arrived in Lyuban from Petrograd in order to prevent the tsar's trains from entering the capital. When the trains arrived at St. Malaya Vishera (160 km from Petrograd), the railway authorities reported that it was impossible to move on, because the following stations Tosno and Lyuban were occupied by revolutionary troops. Nicholas II ordered that trains be turned to Pskov - to the headquarters of the commander of the Northern Front, General N.V. Ruzsky. The tsarist trains arrived in Pskov at 7 p.m. on March 1. Here Nicholas II learned about the victory of the revolution in Petrograd.
At the same time, the Chief of Staff of the General Headquarters, General M.V. Alekseev decided to abandon the military expedition to Petrograd. Enlisting the support of the commanders-in-chief of the fronts, he ordered Ivanov to refrain from punitive actions. The Georgievsky battalion, which reached Tsarskoye Selo on March 1, withdrew back to the Vyritsa station. After negotiations between the Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Front, Ruzsky, and Rodzianko, Nicholas II agreed to the formation of a government responsible to the Duma. On the night of March 2, Ruzsky conveyed this decision to Rodzianko. However, he said that the publication of the manifesto about this was already "belated", because the course of events put a "certain demand" - the abdication of the king. Without waiting for the answer of the Headquarters, deputies of the Duma A.I. were sent to Pskov. Guchkov and V.V. Shulgin. Meanwhile, Alekseev and Ruzsky requested all the commanders-in-chief of the fronts and fleets: Caucasian - Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, Romanian - General V.V. Sakharov, South-West - General A.A. Brusilov, Western - General A.E. Evert, commanders of the fleets - Baltic - Admiral A.I. Nepenin and Chernomorsky - Admiral A.V. Kolchak. The commanders of the fronts and fleets declared the need for the tsar's abdication "in the name of saving the motherland and the dynasty, agreed with the statement of the chairman of the State Duma, as the only one apparently capable of stopping the revolution and saving Russia from the horrors of anarchy." Those uncle Nikolai Nikolaevich addressed Nicholas II from Tiflis with a plea to abdicate.
On March 2, Nicholas II ordered that a manifesto be drawn up on his abdication in favor of his son Alexei, under the regency of his younger brother, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich. This decision of the king was drawn up in the name of Rodzianko. However, its dispatch was delayed until new messages were received from Petrograd. In addition, the arrival of Guchkov and Shulgin was expected in Pskov, which was reported to the Headquarters.
Guchkov and Shulgin arrived in Pskov on the evening of March 2, reported that there was no military unit in Petrograd that could be relied upon, and confirmed the need for the abdication of the tsar from the throne. Nicholas II stated that he had already made such a decision, but now he is changing it and is already abdicating not only for himself, but also for the heir. This act of Nicholas II violated the coronation manifesto of Paul I of April 5, 1797, which stipulated that the reigning person had the right to abdicate the throne only for himself, and not for his own glaciers.
A new version of the abdication of Nicholas II from the throne was adopted by Guchkov and Shulgin, who only asked him that, before signing the act of renunciation, the tsar approved the decree on the appointment of G.E. Lvov as prime minister of the new government being formed, and Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich again as supreme commander in chief.
When Guchkov and Shulgin returned to Petrograd with the manifesto of the abdicated Nicholas II, they met with strong dissatisfaction among the revolutionary masses with this attempt by the Duma leaders to preserve the monarchy. The toast in honor of "Emperor Michael", proclaimed by Guchkov upon his arrival from Pskov at the Warsaw railway station in Petrograd, aroused such strong indignation among the workers that they threatened him with execution. At the station, Shulgin was searched, who, however, managed to secretly transfer the text of the manifesto on the abdication of Nicholas II to Guchkov. The workers demanded that the text of the manifesto be destroyed, that the tsar be arrested immediately, and that a republic be proclaimed.
On the morning of March 3, members of the Duma Committee and the Provisional Government met with Mikhail in the mansion of Prince. O. Putyatina on Millionnaya. Rodzianko and Kerensky argued the necessity of his renunciation of the throne. Kerensky said that the indignation of the people was too strong, the new tsar might die from the wrath of the people, and with it the Provisional Government would die. However, Milyukov insisted on Mikhail's acceptance of the crown, arguing that strong power was necessary to strengthen the new order, and such power needed support - "a monarchic symbol familiar to the masses." A provisional government without a monarch, said Milyukov, is "a fragile boat that can sink in the ocean of popular unrest"; it will not live to see the Constituent Assembly, as anarchy will reign in the country. Guchkov, who soon arrived at the meeting, supported Miliukov. Miliukov, in a temper, even suggested taking cars and going to Moscow, where to proclaim Michael emperor, to gather troops under his banner and move to Petrograd. Such a proposal clearly threatened civil war and frightened the rest of the meeting. After lengthy discussions, the majority voted for the abdication of Michael. Mikhail agreed with this opinion and at 4 p.m. signed the drafted by V.D. Nabokov and Baron B.E. Nolde's manifesto of his renunciation of the crown. The manifesto, promulgated the next day, said that Michael "made a firm decision only if he assumed supreme power, if such was the will of our great people, who should, by popular vote through their representatives in the Constituent Assembly, establish the form of government and the new basic laws of the state Russian". Michael appealed to the people with an appeal "to obey the Provisional Government, invested with full power." Written statements support for the Provisional Government and the renunciation of claims to the royal throne were made by all members of the royal family. On March 3, Nicholas II sent a telegram to Mikhail.
Calling him "Imperial Majesty", he apologized that he "did not warn" him about the transfer of the crown to him. The news of Michael's abdication was received by the abdicated king with bewilderment. “God knows who advised him to sign such a disgusting thing,” Nikolai wrote in his diary.
The abdicated emperor went to Headquarters in Mogilev. A few hours before the signing of the act of abdication, Nikolai again appointed Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich to the post of Supreme Commander of the Russian Army. However, the Provisional Government appointed General A.A. Brusilov. On March 9, Nicholas and his retinue returned to Tsarskoye Selo. By order of the Provisional Government, the royal family was kept under house arrest in Tsarskoye Selo. The Petrograd Soviet demanded a trial of the former tsar and even on March 8 adopted a resolution to imprison him in the Peter and Paul Fortress, but the Provisional Government refused to comply with it.
In connection with the growth of anti-monarchist sentiments in the country, the deposed tsar asked the Provisional Government to send him and his family to England. The Provisional Government asked the British Ambassador in Petrograd, George Buchanan, to ask the British Cabinet about this. P.N. Miliukov, meeting with the tsar, assured him that the request would be granted and even advised him to prepare for his departure. Buchanan requested his cabinet. He first agreed to provide asylum in England for the deposed Russian tsar and his family. However, a wave of protest arose against this in England and Russia, and the English King George V turned to his government with a proposal to cancel this decision. The provisional government sent a request to the French cabinet to provide asylum to the royal family in France, but was also refused, citing the fact that this would be negatively perceived by French public opinion. Thus, the attempts of the Provisional Government to send the former tsar and his family abroad failed. On August 13, 1917, by order of the Provisional Government, the royal family was sent to Tobolsk.
The essence of dual power
During the transition period - from the moment the victory of the revolution to the adoption of the constitution and the formation of permanent bodies of power in accordance with it - the Provisional Revolutionary Government operates, which is entrusted with the duty of breaking 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 the constitution.
The provisional government for the transitional period (until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly) has both legislative and executive functions. This was the case, for example, during the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century. The same way of transforming the country after the revolutionary upheaval was envisaged by the Decembrists of the Northern Society in their projects, putting forward the idea of a "Provisional revolutionary government" for the transitional period, and then convening a "Supreme Council" (Constituent Assembly). All the Russian revolutionary parties at the beginning of the 20th century imagined the path of the revolutionary reorganization of the country, the destruction of the old state machine and the formation of new organs of power, having written it down in their programs.
However, the process of formation of state power in Russia as a result of the February Revolution of 1917 followed a different scenario. In Russia, a dual power was created, which has no analogues in history - in the person of the Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies, on the one hand, and the Provisional Government, on the other.
As already mentioned, the emergence of Soviets - organs of people's power - dates back to the time of the revolution of 1905-1907. and is an important achievement. This tradition immediately revived after the victory of the uprising in Petrograd on February 27, 1917. In addition to the Petrograd Soviet in March 1917, more than 600 local Soviets arose, which elected from their midst permanent authorities - executive committees. These were the chosen people, relying 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 soviets in the country. They arose spontaneously - it was the spontaneous creativity of the masses. Along with this, local committees of the Provisional Government were also created. Thus, dual power was created at the central and local levels.
At that time, representatives of the Menshevik and Socialist-Revolutionary parties, who were guided not by the "victory of socialism", believing that in backward Russia there were no conditions for this, had the predominant influence in the Soviets, both in Petrograd and in the provincial ones, but on the development and consolidation of its bourgeois-democratic conquests. Such a task, they believed, could be performed during the transitional period by the Provisional, bourgeois in composition, government, which, in carrying out the democratic transformations of the country, must be provided with support, 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, for 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 jointly. They even held their meetings in the same building - the Taurida 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, which were mentioned above. However, the solution of a number acute problems inherited from the old government, it postponed until the Constituent Assembly, and among them the agrarian question. Moreover, it issued a number of decrees providing for criminal liability for the unauthorized seizure of landlords, specific and monastic lands. On the question of war and peace, it took a defensive position, remaining faithful to the allied obligations assumed by the old regime. All this caused the growing dissatisfaction of the masses with the policy of the Provisional Government.
Dual power is not a separation of powers, but opposition of one power to 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.
The dual power lasted no more than four months - until the beginning of July 1917, when, in the context of the unsuccessful offensive of the 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 the Bolsheviks were subjected to repression. After the July days, the Provisional Government managed to subdue the Soviets, which obediently carried out its will. However, this was a short-term victory for the Provisional Government, whose position was becoming increasingly precarious. Economic ruin deepened in the country: inflation grew rapidly, production fell catastrophically, and the danger of impending famine became real. In the countryside, mass pogroms of landowners' estates began, the peasants seized not only landowners' lands, but also church lands, and information was received about the murders of landlords and even clergymen. The soldiers are tired of the war. At the front, the fraternization of the soldiers of both belligerents became more frequent. The front was essentially falling apart. Desertion increased sharply, entire military units were removed from their positions: the soldiers hurried home in order to be in time for the division of the landlords' lands.
The February Revolution destroyed the old state structures, but failed to create a solid and authoritative government. The provisional government was increasingly losing 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 orators and publicists, turned out to be unimportant politicians and bad administrators, divorced from reality and poorly aware of it.
In a relatively short time, from March to October 1917, four compositions of the Provisional Government were replaced: its first composition lasted about two months (March-April), the next three (coalition, with "socialist ministers") - each no more than a month and a half . It survived two serious power crises (in July and September).
The power of the Provisional Government was weakening every day. It increasingly lost control over the situation in the country. In an atmosphere of political instability in the country, deepening economic ruin, a protracted unpopular war. threats of imminent famine, the masses longed for a "firm government" that could "put things in order." The inconsistency of the 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, humility and rebellion.
By the autumn of 1917, the power of the Provisional Government was virtually paralyzed: its decrees were not implemented or were ignored altogether. In fact, anarchy reigned 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 the earth and the world. Not abstract, incomprehensible to the masses, socialist ideas attracted them to the Bolsheviks, but the hope that they would indeed stop the hated war and once again give the peasants the coveted land.
“V.A. Fedorov. History of Russia 1861-1917.
Bookseller's Regiment Library. http://society.polbu.ru/fedorov_rushistory/ch84_i.html
Russia in a nationwide crisis
The authority of the royal power was rapidly falling. To a large extent, this was facilitated by rumors about scandals at court, about Rasputin. Their plausibility was confirmed by the so-called “ ministerial leapfrog”: over the two years of the war, four chairmen of the Council of Ministers, six ministers of the interior were replaced. The population in the Russian Empire did not have time not only to get acquainted with the political program, but also to see the face of the next prime minister or minister.
As the monarchist wrote V.V. Shulgin about Russian prime ministers, "Goremykin cannot be the head of the government because of his staleness, his old age." In January 1916, Nicholas II appointed Stürmer, and V.V. Shulgin writes as follows: “The fact is that Stürmer is a small, insignificant person, and Russia is leading world war. The fact is that all the powers have mobilized their best forces, and we have a "Christmas grandfather" prime minister. And now the whole country is in a frenzy.”
Everyone felt the tragedy of the situation. Prices rose, food shortages began in the cities.
The war demanded colossal expenses. Budget expenditures in 1916 exceeded revenues by 76%. Taxes were drastically increased. The government also resorted to the issuance of internal loans, went to the mass issue of paper money without gold backing. This led to a fall in the value of the ruble, a disruption of the entire financial system in the state, and an extraordinary increase in the high cost.
Food difficulties that arose as a result of the general collapse of the economy forced the tsarist government in 1916 to introduce a compulsory grain allocation. But this attempt failed, as the landlords sabotaged the government's decrees, hid the bread in order to later sell it at a high price. The peasants also did not want to sell bread for depreciated paper money.
Since the autumn of 1916, food supplies to Petrograd alone accounted for only half of its needs. Due to the lack of fuel in Petrograd, already in December 1916, the work of about 80 enterprises was stopped.
The sharply aggravated food crisis in the autumn of 1916, the worsening situation on the fronts, the fear that the workers would go out to demonstrate, “just about to break out into the streets”, the government’s inability to lead the country out of the impasse — all this led to the raising of the question of the removal of Prime Minister Stürmer .
Octobrist leader A.I. Guchkov saw the only way out of the situation in a palace coup. Together with a group of officers, he hatched plans for a dynastic coup (the abdication of Nicholas II in favor of the heir under the regency of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich).
Positions of the Kadet Party expressed by P.N. Milyukov, speaking in November 1916 in the IV State Duma with sharp criticism of the economic and military policy government, accusing the tsarina's entourage of preparing a separate treaty with Germany and provocatively pushing the masses to revolutionary actions. He repeatedly repeated the question: "What is it - stupidity or treason?". And in response, the deputies shouted: "stupidity", "treason", accompanying the speaker's speech with constant applause. This speech, of course, was forbidden for publication, but, having been illegally reproduced, it became famous at the front and in the rear.
The most vivid description of the political situation in Russia on the eve of the impending national catastrophe was given by one of the leaders of the Cadets, V.I. Maklakov. He compared Russia to “a car speeding along a steep and narrow road. The driver can’t drive because he doesn’t own the car at all on the slopes, or he is tired and no longer understands what he is doing.”
In January 1917, under pressure from public opinion, Nicholas II dismissed Stürmer, replacing him with the liberal Prince Golitsyn. But this action could not change anything.
February 1917
1917 began in Petrograd with new workers' speeches. The total number of strikers in January 1917 already amounted to more than 350 thousand. For the first time during the war years, defense plants (Obukhov and Arsenal) went on strike. From mid-February, revolutionary actions did not stop: strikes were replaced by rallies, rallies - demonstrations.
On February 9, Chairman of the IV State Duma M.V. Rodzianko came to Tsarskoye Selo with a report on the state of the country. “The revolution will sweep you away,” he said to Nicholas II. "Well, God willing," was the emperor's reply. “God does not give anything, you and your government ruined everything, a revolution is inevitable,” M.V. Rodzianko.
Two weeks later, on February 23, unrest began in Petrograd, on February 25, the strike in Petrograd became general, the soldiers began to go over to the side of the demonstrators, and on February 26-27, the autocracy no longer controlled the situation in the capital.
As V.V. wrote Shulgin, “in the whole huge city it was impossible to find a hundred people who would sympathize with the authorities.”
On February 27-28, the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies was formed. (Reader T7 No. 13) It was made up of socialists, the majority - Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks. The Menshevik N.S. became the chairman of the Executive Committee of the Soviet. Chkheidze, and his deputies - A.F. Kerensky, one of the most radical orators of the Fourth Duma, and M.I. Skobelev.
Almost simultaneously with the formation of the Soviet, the State Duma, at an informal meeting (on February 26, it was dissolved by decree of the tsar for two months), created, as a governing body of the country, a “Provisional Committee for the Restoration of Order and for Relations with Persons and Institutions.”
two powers, born of the revolution, were on the verge of conflict, but, in the name of maintaining unity in the fight against tsarism, they went to a mutual compromise. With the approval of the Executive Committee of the Council, the Duma Provisional Committee formed the Provisional Government on March 1.
The Bolsheviks demanded that a government be formed only from representatives of the parties included in the council. But the Board rejected this proposal. The Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries, who were members of the Executive Committee, had a fundamentally different point of view than the Bolsheviks on the composition of the government. They believed that after the victory of the bourgeois-democratic revolution, power should be formed by the bourgeoisie under the control of the Soviet. The leadership of the Council refused to participate in the government. The support of the Provisional Government by the Executive Committee was accompanied by the main condition - the government would pursue a democratic program approved and supported by the Soviet.
By the evening of March 2, the composition of the government was determined. Prince G.E. was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister of the Interior. Lvov, cadet, minister of foreign affairs - leader of the cadet party P.N. Milyukov, Minister of Finance - M.I. Tereshchenko, cadet, military and naval minister - A.I. Konovalov, Octobrist, A.F. Kerensky (representative of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet) took over as Minister of Justice. Thus, the composition of the government was mainly Kadet.
Informed of these events, Nicholas II received a proposal to abdicate in favor of the brother of the Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, and on March 2 he handed over the text of the abdication to two emissaries of the Duma, Guchkov and Shulgin, who arrived in Pskov, where the emperor was. (Reader T 7 No. 14) (Reader T7 No. 15) But this step was already too late: Michael, in turn, abdicated the throne. The monarchy in Russia fell.
In fact, a dual power has developed in the country - the Provisional Government as an organ of bourgeois power and the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies as an organ of the working people.
The political situation in Russia (February - October 1917)
"Dual power" (February - June 1917)
The provisional government did not set itself the goal of carrying out a revolutionary change in the economic and social order. As the representatives of the government themselves stated, all the main issues of the state structure will be decided by constituent Assembly, but for now it is “temporarily”, it is necessary to maintain order in the country and, most importantly, win the war. There was no talk of reforms.
After the collapse of the monarchy, for all political classes, parties and their political leaders, for the first time in Russian history opened the possibility of coming to power. The struggle for the period from February to October 1917 was carried out by more than 50 political parties. A particularly prominent role in politics after February 1917 was played by the Cadets, Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries, and Bolsheviks. What were their goals and tactics?
Central location in cadet program occupied the idea of Europeanization of Russia through the creation of a strong state power. They assigned the leading role in this process to the bourgeoisie. The continuation of the war, according to the Cadets, could unite both the conservatives and the liberals, the State Duma and the commanders in chief. The Cadets saw the unity of these forces as the main condition for the development of the revolution.
Mensheviks considered the February Revolution as a nationwide, nationwide, class-wide. Therefore, their main political line in the development of events after February was the creation of a government based on a coalition of forces not interested in the restoration of the monarchy.
Similar were the views on the nature and tasks of the revolution among right SRs(A.F. Kerensky, N.D. Avksentiev), as well as the leader of the party, who occupied centrist positions - V. Chernov.
February, in their opinion, is the apogee of the revolutionary process and the liberation movement in Russia. They saw the essence of the revolution in Russia in achieving civil accord, reconciliation of all strata of society, and, first of all, reconciliation of the supporters of war and revolution in order to implement a program of social reforms.
The position was different. left SRs, its leader M.A. Spiridonova who believed that the popular, democratic February in Russia marked the beginning of the political and social world revolution.
Bolsheviks
The Bolsheviks, the most radical party in Russia in 1917, viewed February as the first stage in the struggle for a socialist revolution. This position was formulated by V.I. Lenin in the "April Theses", where the slogans "No support for the Provisional Government" and "All power to the Soviets" were put forward.
The April Theses also formulated the party's economic platform: workers' control over social production and distribution of products, the unification of all banks into one national bank and the establishment of control over it by the Soviets, the confiscation of landed estates and the nationalization of all land in the country.
The relevance of the theses became more and more obvious as the crisis situations in the country grew in connection with the specific policy of the Provisional Government. The mood of the Provisional Government to continue the war, delaying the solution of social reforms, created a serious source of conflict development of the revolution.
First political crisis
During the 8 months that the Provisional Government was in power, it was repeatedly in a state of crisis. The first crisis broke out in April When the Provisional Government announced that Russia would continue the war on the side of the Entente, this caused a mass protest of the people. On April 18 (May 1), the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government, Milyukov, sent out a note to the Allied Powers, which confirmed that the Provisional Government would comply with all the treaties of the tsarist government and continue the war to a victorious end. The note aroused indignation among the general population. Over 100,000 people took to the streets of Petrograd demanding peace. The result of the crisis was the formation first coalition government, which consisted not only of bourgeois, but also of representatives of the socialist (Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries) parties.
Ministers P.N. Milyukov and A.I. Guchkov, the leaders of the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries V.M. Chernov, A.F. Kerensky, I.G. Tsereteli, M.I. Skobelev.
The crisis of power was temporarily liquidated, but the causes of its occurrence were not eliminated.
Second political crisis
The offensive undertaken in June 1917 at the front also did not meet with the support of the masses, who more and more actively supported the slogans of the Bolsheviks about the seizure of power by the Soviets and an end to the war. It was already second political crisis Provisional government. Demonstrations under the slogans “Down with 10 capitalist ministers”, “Bread, peace, freedom”, “All power to the Soviets” were attended by workers and soldiers in Petrograd, Moscow, Tver, Ivanovo-Voznesensk and other cities.
Third political crisis
A few days later, a new (July) political crisis broke out in Petrograd in Russia. It was already third political crisis, which became a new stage on the way to a nationwide crisis. The reason was the unsuccessful offensive of the Russian troops at the front, the disbandment of the revolutionary military units. As a result, on July 2 (15), the Cadets withdrew from the Provisional Government.
By this time, the socio-economic situation, especially the food situation, had deteriorated sharply. Neither the creation of land committees, nor the introduction of a state monopoly on bread, nor the regulation of the food supply, nor even the distribution of meat with a double increase in purchase prices for basic foodstuffs, could alleviate the difficult food situation. Import purchases of meat, fish, and other products did not help. About half a million prisoners of war, as well as soldiers from the rear garrisons, were sent to agricultural work. For forced withdrawal bread, the government sent armed military detachments to the village. However, all the measures taken did not give the expected results. People stood in queues at night. For Russia, the summer and early autumn of 1917 were characterized by the collapse of the economy, closing enterprises, unemployment, and inflation. The differentiation of Russian society has sharply increased. On the problems of war, peace, power, bread, conflicting opinions clashed. There was only one unanimity: the war must be ended as soon as possible.
Under the circumstances, the Provisional Government was unable to maintain the level of political dialogue and July 4 - 5, 1917. turned to violence against the workers' and soldiers' demonstration in Petrograd. A peaceful demonstration in Petrograd was shot and dispersed by the armed forces of the Provisional Government. Following the execution and dispersal of a peaceful demonstration, a government order was issued to grant the Minister of War and the Minister of the Interior broad powers, giving them the right to ban meetings and congresses and to organize severe censorship.
The newspapers Trud and Pravda were banned; the editorial office of the Pravda newspaper was destroyed, and on July 7 an order was issued to arrest V.I. Lenin and G.E. Zinoviev - leaders of the Bolsheviks. However, the leadership of the Soviets did not interfere with the actions of the government, fearing the increased political influence Bolsheviks against the masses.
By the end of 1916, Russia was gripped by general discontent caused by war weariness, rising prices, government inaction, and the obvious weakness of imperial power. By the beginning of 1917, almost everyone in the country was waiting for inevitable changes, but they began as unexpectedly as in 1905.
On February 23, 1917 (March 8, according to a new style - International Women's Day), groups of women workers began to gather in different districts of Petrograd, taking to the streets demanding bread. There was enough bread in the city (in any case, there was a two-week supply of it), but the rumors that leaked to the masses about the supply reduced due to snow drifts (171 wagons of food per day instead of the norm of 330) caused panic and rush demand. Many stocked up on bread and crackers for the future. Bakeries could not cope with such an influx. There were long queues at the bread shops, in which people stood even at night. The government was blamed for what was happening.
In addition, on February 23, the management of the Putilov factory announced a lockout (the reason was the exorbitant economic demands of the workers of a number of shops). Putilov workers (and later workers from other factories) joined the women's demonstration. Spontaneous pogroms of bread shops and grocery stores broke out. The crowd overturned trams (!!!), fought with the police. The soldiers were persuaded not to shoot. The authorities did not dare to prevent this somehow.
The order of Nicholas II to use weapons to restore order in the capital was received by the commandant of Petrograd, General Khabalov, only on February 25, when it was too late. There was no organized suppression. The soldiers of some units (mainly the reserve battalions of the guards regiments stationed at the front) began to go over to the side of the demonstrators. On February 26, the elements of the riot got out of control. However, the parliamentary opposition hoped that the creation of a "responsible (to the Duma) ministry" could save the situation.
Rodzianko telegraphed Nicholas II to Headquarters: “The situation is serious. Anarchy in the capital. The government is paralyzed… Public discontent is growing… It is necessary to immediately instruct a person enjoying the confidence of the country to form a new government.” The tsar's only response (obviously unaware of the true scale of events) to this appeal was the decision to dissolve the Duma for two months. By noon on February 27, 25,000 soldiers had already crossed over to the side of the demonstrators. In some parts, officers loyal to the tsar were killed by them. On the evening of February 27, about 30,000 soldiers come to the Tauride Palace (the seat of the Duma) in search of power, in search of a government. The Duma, which dreamed so much of power, hardly dared to create a Provisional Committee of the State Duma, which declared that it would undertake "the restoration of government and public order."
The Provisional Committee of the State Duma included: chairman - Mikhail V. Rodzianko (Octobrist), V.V. Shulgin (nationalist), V.N. Lvov (center), I.I. Dmitriev (Octobrist), S.I. Shidlovsky (Octobrist), M. A. Karaulov (progressive), A. I. Konovalov (labor group), V. A. Rzhevsky (progressive) P. N. Limonov (cadet), N. V. Nekrasov (cadet), N S. Chkheidze (S.-D.). This choice was based on the representation of the parties united in the Progressive Bloc.
A few hours before the creation of the Duma Committee, the first Council is organized. He addresses the workers of Petrograd with a proposal to send deputies by the evening - one for every thousand workers. In the evening, the Soviet elects the Menshevik Nikolai S. Chkheidze as chairman, and leftist Duma deputies Alexander F. Kerensky (Trudovik) and M. I. Skobelev (right Menshevik) as deputies. There were so few Bolsheviks in the Soviet at that moment that they were not able to organize a faction (although the Bolshevik A. G. Shlyapnikov was elected to the Executive Committee of the Soviet).
At the time when two authorities arose in Petrograd - the Committee of the Duma and the Executive Committee of the Soviet - the Russian emperor was traveling from Headquarters in Mogilev to the capital. Detained at the Dno station by rebellious soldiers, Nicholas II signed on March 2 the abdication of the throne for himself and his son Alexei in favor of his brother - led. book. Mikhail Alexandrovich (declared his unwillingness to accept the throne until the decision of the Constituent Assembly on March 3). Nicholas made this decision after his chief of staff, General Alekseev, supported by the commanders of all five fronts, declared that abdication was the only way to calm public opinion, restore order and continue the war with Germany.
Alexander I. Guchkov and Vasily V. Shulgin accepted the abdication from the Provisional Committee. Thus, the thousand-year-old monarchy fell rather quickly and imperceptibly. On the same day (March 2), the Provisional Committee of the State Duma creates a Provisional (that is, until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly) government, headed by Prince Georgy E. Lvov, the former chairman of the Zemsky Union (Lvov on March 2, at the request of the Provisional Committee, Nicholas II approved at the head of the Council of Ministers; this was probably the last order of Nicholas as emperor). The leader of the Cadets Pavel N. Milyukov became the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Octobrist A. I. Guchkov became the Minister of War and the Navy, Mikhail I. Tereshchenko (a millionaire sugar producer, non-party, close to the Progressists) became the Minister of Finance, A. F. Kerensky became the Minister of Justice (a lawyer who participated in sensational political trials (including the trial of M. Beilis), and as a deputy of the III and IV State Dumas (from the Trudoviks faction). So, the first composition of the Provisional Government was almost exclusively bourgeois and predominantly Cadet. The Provisional Government declared its goal to continue the war and convene a Constituent Assembly to decide the future structure of Russia.In fact, on this, the bourgeois parties considered the revolution completed.
However, simultaneously with the creation of the Provisional Government, the Petrograd Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies were united. N. S. Chkheidze became the chairman of the united Petrosoviet. The leaders of the Petrograd Soviet did not dare to take full power into their own hands, fearing that without the Duma they would not be able to cope with public administration in conditions of war and economic disruption. The ideological attitudes of the Mensheviks and, in part, the Socialist-Revolutionaries, who prevailed in the Petrosoviet, also played their role. They believed that the end of the bourgeois-democratic revolution was the business of the bourgeois parties united around the Provisional Government. Therefore, the Petrograd Soviet, which at that time had real full power in the capital, decided on the conditional support of the Provisional Government, subject to the proclamation of Russia as a republic, a political amnesty and the convening of the Constituent Assembly. The Soviets exerted powerful pressure "from the left" on the Provisional Government and by no means always took into account the decisions of the Cabinet of Ministers (which included only one socialist, Minister of Justice A.F. Kerensky).
So, despite opposition from the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, on March 1, 1917, Order No. 1 of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies was adopted, calling on the soldiers to create soldiers' committees in all divisions of the garrison, subordinate to the Council and to transfer to them the right to control the actions of officers . By the same order, all the weapons of the unit were transferred to the exclusive disposal of the committees, which from now on “in no case” (!!!) should have been issued to officers (in practice, this led to the seizure of even personal weapons from officers); all disciplinary restrictions outside the ranks were canceled (including saluting), soldiers were allowed to join political parties and engage in politics without any restrictions. The orders of the Provisional Committee (later - the Provisional Government) were to be executed only if they did not contradict the decisions of the Council. This order, which undermined all the basic foundations of army life, was the beginning of the rapid collapse of the old army. Published at first only for the troops of the Petrograd garrison, he quickly got to the front and similar processes began there, especially since the Provisional Government did not find the courage to decisively oppose this. This order placed all the troops of the Petrograd garrison under the control of the Soviet. From now on (that is, from its very creation!) the Provisional Government became its hostage.
On March 10, the Petrograd Council concluded an agreement with the Petrograd Society of Manufacturers and Breeders on the introduction of an 8-hour working day (this was not mentioned in the declaration of the Provisional Government). On March 14, the Council adopted a manifesto "To the peoples of the whole world", which declared the rejection of predatory goals in the war, from annexations and indemnities. The manifesto recognized only a coalition war with Germany. Such a position in relation to the war impressed the revolutionary masses, but did not suit the Provisional Government, including Minister of War A. I. Guchkov and Minister of Foreign Affairs P. N. Milyukov.
In fact, the Petrosoviet from the very beginning went far beyond its city status, becoming an alternative socialist government. A dual power developed in the country, that is, a kind of intertwining of powers: real power in a number of cases was in the hands of the Petrograd Soviet, while in fact the bourgeois Provisional Government was in power.
The members of the Provisional Government were divided over questions of methods and relations with the Soviets. Some, and primarily P. N. Milyukov and A. I. Guchkov, believed that concessions to the Soviet should be minimized and everything should be done to win the war, which would give credibility to the new regime. This meant the immediate restoration of order both in the army and in enterprises. A different position was taken by Nekrasov, Tereshchenko and Kerensky, who demanded the adoption of some of the measures demanded by the Soviet in order to undermine the authority of the workers' and soldiers' organ of power and to provoke the patriotic upsurge necessary for victory in the war.
Political parties after February
After the February Revolution, the party-political system of Russia clearly shifted to the left. The Black Hundreds and other far-right, traditionalist-monarchist parties were crushed in the course of February. The center-right parties of the Octobrists and Progressives also experienced a severe crisis. The only major and influential liberal party in Russia were the Cadets. Their numerical strength after the February Revolution reached 70 thousand people. Under the influence of revolutionary events, the Cadets also "turned to the left." At the VII Congress of the Cadet Party (end of March 1917) there was a rejection of the traditional orientation towards a constitutional monarchy, and in May 1917, at the VIII Congress, the Cadets spoke in favor of a republic. The "Party of People's Freedom" (another name for the Cadets) took a course towards cooperation with the socialist parties.
After the February Revolution, there was a rapid growth of socialist parties. The socialist parties clearly dominated the all-Russian political arena both in terms of the number of members and in terms of influence on the masses.
The Socialist-Revolutionary Party grew significantly (up to 700-800, and according to some estimates even up to 1200 thousand people). In the spring of 1917, sometimes whole villages and companies were enrolled in the AKP. The party leaders were Viktor M. Chernov and Nikolai D. Avksentiev. The Socialist-Revolutionary Party attracted with its radical agrarian program close to the peasants, the demand for a federal republic and the heroic aura of long-standing and selfless fighters against the autocracy. The Socialist-Revolutionaries advocated a special path for Russia to socialism through a people's revolution, the socialization of the land and the development of cooperation and self-government of workers. The left wing was strengthened in the AKP (Maria A. Spiridonova, Boris D. Kamkov (Kats), Prosh P. Proshyan). The leftists demanded decisive steps "toward the elimination of the war", the immediate alienation of the landowners' lands, and opposed a coalition with the Cadets.
After February, the Socialist-Revolutionaries acted in a bloc with the Mensheviks, who, although inferior in number to the AKP (200 thousand), nevertheless, due to their intellectual potential, exercised "ideological hegemony" in the bloc. The Menshevik organizations remained divided even after February. Attempts to eliminate this disunity have not been successful. There were two factions in the Menshevik Party: the Menshevik-internationalists headed by Julius O. Martov and the “defencists” (“right” - Alexander N. Potresov, “revolutionary” - Irakli G. Tsereteli, Fyodor I. Dan (Gurvich), who were leaders not only of the largest faction, but in many respects of the entire Menshevik Party). There were also the right-wing Plekhanov group "Unity" (Plekhanov himself, Vera I. Zasulich, and others) and the left-wing "Novozhiznensky" group, who broke with the Menshevik Party. Part of the Menshevik-internationalists, led by Yu. Larin, joined the RSDLP(b). The Mensheviks advocated cooperation with the liberal bourgeoisie, provided conditional support to the Provisional Government and considered socialist experiments harmful.
The Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries declared the need to wage war with the German bloc in order to defend the revolution and democratic freedoms (the majority of the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries declared themselves "revolutionary defencists"). Because of the fear of a break with the bourgeoisie, because of the threat of civil war, they agreed to postpone the solution of cardinal socio-economic problems until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, but tried to implement partial reforms.
There was also a small (about 4 thousand people), but an influential group of the so-called. "interdistricts". The group occupied an intermediate position between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. After returning from emigration in May 1917, Lev D. Trotsky (Bronstein) became the leader of the Mezhrayontsy. While still in the United States in March 1917, he spoke in favor of a transition to a proletarian revolution in Russia, relying on the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies.
The Bolshevik Party, active at the beginning of 1917, was by no means a cohesive, effective organization. The revolution took the Bolsheviks by surprise. All the Bolshevik leaders known to the people were either in exile (Lenin and others) or in exile (Zinoviev, Stalin). The Russian Bureau of the Central Committee, which included Alexander G. Shlyapnikov, Vyacheslav M. Molotov and others, could not yet become an all-Russian center. The number of Bolsheviks throughout Russia did not exceed 10 thousand people. There were no more than 2,000 of them in Petrograd. V. I. Lenin, who had been living in exile for almost ten years, was then in Zurich by the time of the February Revolution. Even in January 1917, he wrote: "We old people, perhaps, will not live to see the decisive battles ... of the coming revolution ...".
Being far from the epicenter of events, Lenin, nevertheless, immediately came to the conclusion that in no case could the Bolshevik party be satisfied with what had been achieved and not use the incredibly good moment in full. In Letters from Afar, he insisted on the need to arm and organize the working masses for an immediate transition to the second stage of the revolution, during which the "government of the capitalists and large landowners" would be overthrown.
But among the Bolsheviks there were "moderates" who rejected almost all of Lenin's main theoretical propositions and political strategy. These were two major Bolshevik leaders - Joseph V. Stalin (Dzhugashvili) and Lev B. Kamenev (Rosenfeld). They (like the Menshevik-Socialist-Revolutionary majority of the Petrosoviet) adhered to the position of "conditional support", "pressure" on the Provisional Government. When on April 3, 1917, Lenin (with the assistance of Germany, who understood that his activities would be destructive for Russia) returned to Petrograd and called for an immediate socialist revolution, not only moderate socialists, but even many Bolsheviks did not support him.
Politics of the Provisional Government. End of dual power
On April 4, 1917, Lenin presented to the Bolshevik leaders his "April Theses" ("On the tasks of the proletariat in this revolution"), which determined a fundamentally new, extremely radical political line of the RSDLP (b). He unconditionally rejected "revolutionary defencism", a parliamentary republic, put forward the slogan "No support for the Provisional Government!" and spoke in favor of the taking of power by the proletariat in alliance with the poorest peasantry, the establishment of the Republic of Soviets (in which the Bolsheviks were to prevail), called for an immediate end to the war. There was no demand in the article for an immediate armed uprising (because the masses are not yet ready for it). The immediate task of the party, Lenin saw the discrediting of power in all possible ways and agitation for the Soviets. The idea was extremely simple: the further, the more all the parties that took part in the government (that is, all up to the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks inclusive) would be guilty in the eyes of the people of the deterioration of their position. Their former popularity will inevitably fade, and it is here that the Bolsheviks will come to the fore. G. V. Plekhanov responded to Lenin's theses with a devastating article "On Lenin's theses and why nonsense is sometimes interesting." The "Theses" were also met with bewilderment by the Bolshevik leaders of Petrograd (Kalinin, Kamenev, and others). Nevertheless, it was this extremely extremist program chosen by Lenin, coupled with extremely simple and understandable slogans (“Peace!”, “Land to the peasants!”, “All power to the Soviets!”, etc.) that brought success to the Bolsheviks. In the spring and summer of 1917, the membership of the party increased significantly (by May 1917 - up to 100 thousand, and by August - up to 200-215 thousand people).
The provisional government already in March-April carried out broad democratic transformations: the proclamation of political rights and freedoms; the abolition of national and religious restrictions, the death penalty, the abolition of censorship (during the war!); a general political amnesty was declared. On March 8, Nicholas II and his family were arrested (they were in the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo), as well as ministers and a number of representatives of the former tsarist administration. An Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry (with meager results) was set up with great fanfare to investigate their illegal actions. Under pressure from the Soviets, the Provisional Government carried out the so-called. "democratization" of the army (in line with "Order No. 1"), which had the most devastating consequences. In March 1917, the Provisional Government announced its agreement in principle to the creation of an independent Poland in the future. Later it was forced to agree to the widest possible autonomy for Ukraine and Finland.
The Provisional Government legalized the factory committees that had arisen at the enterprises and were given the right to control the activities of the administration. To achieve "class peace" the Ministry of Labor was created. At plants and factories, workers implicitly introduced an 8-hour working day (under conditions when the war was going on!), although it was not decreed. In April 1917, land committees were created to prepare an agrarian reform, but the solution of the land issue was postponed until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly.
In order to gain local support, on March 5, 1917, by order of the head of the cabinet, instead of the dismissed governors and other leaders of the former administration, provincial and district commissars of the Provisional Government were appointed locally. In May-June 1917, a reform of local government was carried out. The network of zemstvos was extended to the whole of Russia, their electoral system was democratized, volost zemstvos and district city Dumas were created. However, local zemstvos soon began to be pushed aside from power by the Soviets. From March to October 1917, the number of local soviets increased from 600 to 1,400. At the fronts, soldiers' committees were analogous to soviets.
During these two months, the Provisional Government did a lot to democratize the country and bring it closer to world standards of democracy. However, the unpreparedness of the population for conscious freedom (which implies responsibility), the feeling of weakness in power and, consequently, impunity, and, finally, the ongoing war with the inevitable deterioration of life led to the fact that the good undertakings of the liberals rapidly undermined the foundations of the entire old Russian statehood, and the new principles of arranging life never got used to it. In this sense, we can say that February gave birth to October.
At the same time, the Provisional Government did not want to resolve the issues of liquidating landownership, ending the war, and immediately improving the material situation of the people before the Constituent Assembly. This caused a quick disappointment. The dissatisfaction was aggravated by the lack of food (from the end of March bread cards were introduced in Petrograd), clothing, fuel and raw materials. Rapidly rising inflation (over the year the ruble has fallen in price by 7 times) has led to a paralysis of commodity flows. The peasants did not want to give their crops for paper money. Wages, which had already fallen by the beginning of 1917 by about a third compared with the pre-war level, continued to fall at an unprecedentedly high rate.
The work of transport and, consequently, the supply situation has deteriorated. Increasing shortages of raw materials and fuel forced business owners to reduce production, which led to an additional increase in unemployment due to mass layoffs. For many, dismissal meant conscription into the army. The attempts of the government to take the situation under control in the conditions of revolutionary anarchy did not lead to anything. Social tension in the country increased.
It soon became clear that the desire of the Provisional Government to continue the war did not coincide with the desires of the masses of soldiers and workers who, after the February events, became the actual owners of Petrograd. P. N. Milyukov, who believed that Russian democracy needed a victory to strengthen its international prestige and resolve a number of important territorial issues in favor of Russia - the capture of Galicia, the Austrian and German parts of Poland, Turkish Armenia, and most importantly, Constantinople and the Straits (for which Milyukov was nicknamed Milyukov-Dardanelles), April 18, 1917 addressed a note to the allies of Russia, where he assured them of their determination to bring the war to a victorious end.
In response, on April 20 and 21, under the influence of Bolshevik agitation, thousands of workers, soldiers and sailors took to the streets with banners and banners, with the slogans "Down with the policy of annexations!" and "Down with the Provisional Government!". The crowds of demonstrators dispersed only at the request of the Petrograd Soviet, openly ignoring the government order to disperse.
The Menshevik-Socialist-Revolutionary leaders of the Petrograd Soviet obtained official clarifications that the "decisive victory" in Milyukov's note meant only the achievement of a "lasting peace." A. I. Guchkov and P. N. Milyukov were forced to resign. To emerge from the first government crisis since the revolution, several of the most prominent socialist moderate leaders were coaxed into ministerial positions. As a result, on May 5, 1917, the first coalition government was created. Menshevik Irakly G. Tsereteli (one of the recognized leaders of the Bolshevik-Socialist-Revolutionary bloc) became the Minister of Posts and Telegraphs. The main leader and theorist of the Social Revolutionaries, Viktor M. Chernov, headed the Ministry of Agriculture. Companion Tsereteli Matvey I. Skobelev received the post of Minister of Labor. Aleksey V. Peshekhonov, founder and leader of the People's Socialist Party, was appointed Minister of Food. Another People's Socialist, Pavel Pereverzev, took over as Minister of Justice. Kerensky became military and naval minister.
At the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets (June 3-24, 1917) (out of 777 delegates, 290 Mensheviks, 285 Social Revolutionaries and 105 Bolsheviks), a new line of behavior of the Bolsheviks first appeared. The best orators of the party - Lenin and Lunacharsky - "rushed to the offensive" on the question of power, demanding that the congress be transformed into a "revolutionary convention" that would assume full power. To Tsereteli's assertion that there is no party capable of taking all power into its own hands, V. I. Lenin declared from the rostrum of the congress: “Yes! Not a single party can refuse this, and our party does not refuse this: at any moment it is ready to take full power.
On June 18, an offensive began on the Southwestern Front, which was supposed to cause a patriotic upsurge. Kerensky personally traveled around a huge number of soldiers' rallies, urging the soldiers to go on the offensive (for which he received the ironic nickname "chief-persuader"). However, the former army after the "democratization" no longer existed, and the same front, which just a year ago made a brilliant Brusilovsky breakthrough, after some initial successes (explained primarily by the fact that the Austrians considered the Russian army to be completely decomposed and left only very insignificant forces) stopped, and then took to flight. The complete failure was obvious. The socialists completely shifted the blame for it to the government.
On the day the offensive began in Petrograd and other large cities of Russia, powerful demonstrations were organized by the Petrograd Soviet in support of the Provisional Government, but, in the end, took place under the Bolshevik slogans: “All power to the Soviets!”, “Down with ten capitalist ministers!”, “Down with war!" The demonstrators numbered approx. 400 thousand demonstrations showed the growth of radical sentiments among the masses, the strengthening of the influence of the Bolsheviks. However, these trends were still pronounced only in the capital and a number of large cities. But even there the Provisional Government was losing support. The strike resumed and reached a wide scope. Entrepreneurs responded with lockouts. Minister of Industry and Trade Konovalov was unable to reach an agreement between entrepreneurs and workers and resigned.
Having learned about the German counter-offensive on July 2, 1917, the soldiers of the capital's garrison, mostly Bolsheviks and anarchists, convinced that the command would take the opportunity to send them to the front, decided to prepare an uprising. His goals were: the arrest of the Provisional Government, the priority capture of the telegraph and railway stations, the connection with the sailors of Kronstadt, the creation of a revolutionary committee under the leadership of the Bolsheviks and anarchists. On the same day, a number of Cadet ministers resigned in protest against a compromise agreement with the Ukrainian Central Rada (which declared Ukraine's independence on June 10) and in order to put pressure on the Provisional Government to toughen its position in the fight against the revolution.
On the evening of July 2, rallies were held by soldiers from 26 units who refused to go to the front. The announcement of the resignation of the Cadet ministers further inflamed the atmosphere. The workers expressed their solidarity with the soldiers. The position of the Bolsheviks was quite contradictory. The members of the Central Committee and the Bolsheviks who sat on the Executive Committee of the Soviet were against any "premature" speech and held back the demonstrations. At the same time, many leaders (M. I. Latsis, N. I. Podvoisky, and others), referring to the mood of the masses, insisted on an armed uprising.
On July 3-4, Petrograd was engulfed in demonstrations and rallies. Some parts openly called for an uprising. V. I. Lenin reached the Kshesinskaya mansion (where the headquarters of the Bolsheviks was located) by the middle of the day on July 4th. 10,000 sailors from Kronstadt, with their Bolshevik leaders, mostly armed and eager to fight, surrounded the building and demanded Lenin. He spoke evasively, not calling for an uprising, but not rejecting this idea either. However, after some hesitation, the Bolsheviks decide to join this movement.
Columns of demonstrators marched towards the Soviet. When Chernov tried to calm the demonstrators, only Trotsky's intervention saved him from death. Fights and skirmishes broke out between the Kronstadt sailors, rebellious soldiers and part of the demonstrators, on the one hand, and on the other hand, regiments loyal to the Soviet (not the government!). A number of historians, not without reason, consider these events to be an unsuccessful attempt at a Bolshevik armed uprising.
After the events of July 4, Petrograd was declared under martial law. Minister of Justice P. Pereverzev published information according to which Lenin not only received money from Germany, but also coordinated the uprising with the Hindenburg counteroffensive. The Government, supported by the Council, called for the most resolute action. Lenin, together with Zinoviev, hid near the border of Finland, in the village. Spill. Trotsky, Kamenev, Lunacharsky were arrested. The units that took part in the demonstration were disarmed, and Pravda was closed down. The death penalty was restored at the front. Lenin these days wrote that the slogan "All power to the Soviets!" should be removed from the agenda as long as the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries, the break with which was complete, remain in the leadership of the Soviet.
After the July events of 1917, Prince Lvov resigned and instructed A.F. Kerensky to form a new government. Negotiations between various political forces were difficult: the government crisis lasted 16 days (from 6 to 22 July). The Cadets, who considered themselves victorious, put forward their own conditions: war until victory, struggle against extremists and anarchy, postponing the solution of social issues until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, the restoration of discipline in the army, the removal of Chernov, who was blamed for the unrest in the countryside. Kerensky supported the "muzhik minister" and threatened that he himself would resign. In the end, the Cadets decided to enter the government, hoping to steer it in the right direction.
The second coalition government was headed by A.F. Kerensky (G.E. Lvov resigned on July 7), retaining the posts of military and naval ministers. Most of the posts in the new government were given to socialists. The danger of growing chaos and the need to curb it became clear to the leadership of the Council, which declared the new government the "Government for the Salvation of the Revolution" and endowed it (!) with emergency powers. The power was actually concentrated in the hands of the government. It is generally accepted that after the events of July 3-5, the dual power was over.
July 26 - August 3, the VI Congress of the RSDLP (b) was held at which a resolution was adopted on the need to seize power through an armed uprising, preparation for which should be the main task of the party. At this congress, Trotsky's "mezhrayontsy" joined the Bolsheviks and elected a Central Committee, which included V. I. Lenin, L. B. Kamenev, G. E. Zinoviev, I. V. Stalin, L. D. Trotsky.
Speech by General Kornilov and its consequences
On July 19, in the wake of the reaction to the events of the beginning of the month, Kerensky appointed General Lavr G. Kornilov (a popular combat general in the army, known for his toughness and adherence to principles) as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief instead of the more "liberal", "soft" Alexei A. Brusilov. Kornilov was entrusted with the task of restoring the discipline and combat readiness of the troops as soon as possible.
On August 3, Kornilov, explaining that the growing economic paralysis jeopardized the supply of the army, presented Kerensky with a program to stabilize the situation in the country, which was based on the idea of "an army in the trenches, an army in the rear and an army of railway workers", all three of which were to be subordinated to iron discipline. . In the army, it was planned to fully restore the disciplinary power of commanders, to sharply limit the powers of commissars and soldier committees, and to introduce the death penalty for military crimes for soldiers in the rear garrisons. In so-called. The "civil section" of the program provided for the announcement railways and factories and mines working for the defense under martial law, the prohibition of rallies, strikes and interference of workers in economic affairs. It was emphasized that "the indicated measures must be carried out immediately with iron determination and consistency." A few days later, he suggested to Kerensky that the Petrograd Military District be subordinated to the Headquarters (since the Headquarters controlled only the Army in the field, while all the rear units were subordinate to the Minister of War, that is, in this case- Kerensky) for its decisive cleaning of completely decomposed parts and putting things in order. Consent to this was obtained. Since the beginning of August, the transfer of reliable military units to the vicinity of Petrograd began - the 3rd cavalry corps of the gene. A. M. Krymov, Caucasian Native ("Wild") Division, 5 Caucasian Cavalry Division, etc.
An attempt to consolidate the forces of the socialists and the liberal bourgeoisie in order to stop the slide into chaos was made at the State Conference in Moscow on August 12-15 (the Bolsheviks did not participate in it). The meeting was attended by representatives of the bourgeoisie, the higher clergy, officers and generals, former deputies of the State. Dumas, leadership of the Soviets. State. The meeting made evident the growing popularity of Kornilov, who on August 13 the Muscovites arranged a triumphal meeting at the station, and on the 14th the delegates of the meeting stormily welcomed his speech. In his speech, he once again emphasized that "there should be no difference between the front and the rear regarding the severity of the regime necessary to save the country."
Returning to Headquarters after the Moscow meeting, Kornilov, encouraged by the "right" Cadets and supported by the Union of Officers, decided to attempt a coup. Kornilov believed that the fall of Riga (August 21) would be an excuse for pulling troops to the capital, and demonstrations in Petrograd on the occasion of the six-month "anniversary" of the February Revolution would give him the necessary pretext to restore order.
After the dissolution of the Petrograd Soviet and the dissolution of the Provisional Government, Kornilov proposed to put the People's Defense Council at the head of the country (chairman - General L. G. Kornilov, deputy chairman - A. F. Kerensky, members - General M. V. Alekseev, Admiral A. V. Kolchak , B. V. Savinkov, M. M. Filonenko). Under the Soviet there was to be a government with a broad representation of political forces: from the tsarist minister N. N. Pokrovsky to G. V. Plekhanov. Through intermediaries, Kornilov negotiated with Kerensky, seeking to achieve a peaceful transfer of full power to him.
On August 23, 1917, at a meeting at Headquarters, an agreement was reached on all issues. On August 24, Kornilov appointed Gen. A. M. Krymov commander of the Separate (Petrograd) army. He was ordered, as soon as the action of the Bolsheviks (which was expected from day to day), immediately take the capital, disarm the garrison and workers and disperse the Soviet. Krymov prepared an order for the Separate Army, which introduced a state of siege in Petrograd and the province, Kronstadt, Finland and Estonia; ordered the establishment of courts-martial. Prohibited rallies, meetings, strikes, appearance on the streets from earlier than 7.00 and later than 19.00, publication of newspapers without prior censorship. Those guilty of violating these measures were to be shot on the spot. The introduction of this entire plan into action was expected from 29 August.
So, since August 23, Kerensky knew about Kornilov's plans, but distrust and personal ambitions broke this tandem. On the evening of August 26, at a meeting of the Provisional Government, Kerensky qualified Kornilov's actions as a rebellion and demanded emergency powers, which he was granted. On August 27, an order was sent to Headquarters to remove Kornilov from office, in which he was recognized as a rebel. Kornilov did not obey this order and on the morning of August 28 broadcast a statement on the radio: “... Russian people! Our great Motherland is dying. The hour of her death is near. Forced to speak openly, I, General Kornilov, declare that the Provisional Government, under the pressure of the Bolshevik majority of the soviets, is acting in full accordance with the plans of the German General Staff ... killing the army and shaking the country from the inside. The heavy consciousness of the imminent death of the country commands me ... to call on all Russian people to save the dying Motherland. ... I, General Kornilov, the son of a Cossack-peasant, declare to everyone and everyone that I personally do not need anything other than the preservation of Great Russia and I swear to bring the people - by defeating the enemy - to the Constituent Assembly, at which they will decide their own destinies and will choose the way of a new state life. To betray Russia... I can't. And I prefer to die on the field of honor and battle, so as not to see the shame and shame of the Russian land. Russian people, the life of your Motherland is in your hands!”
While Kornilov was advancing his troops towards Petrograd, Kerensky, deserted by the resigned Cadet ministers, began negotiations with the Executive Committee of the Soviet. The threat of rebellion turned Kerensky once again into the head of the revolution. Railway workers began to sabotage the transportation of military units, hundreds of Soviet agitators went there. Armed detachments of the workers' Red Guard were formed in Petrograd. Bolshevik leaders released from prison; The Bolsheviks took part in the work of the People's Defense Committee against Counter-Revolution, created under the auspices of the Soviets. By August 30, the rebel troops were stopped and dispersed without firing. General Krymov shot himself, Kornilov was arrested (September 1).
Kerensky turned to attempts to consolidate his position and stabilize the situation and the country. On September 1, Russia was proclaimed a republic. Power passed to the Directory of five people under the leadership of Kerensky. He tried to strengthen his position by creating the Democratic Conference (which was supposed to be the source of the new statehood), and then the Council of the Republic.
The Democratic Conference (September 14-22) was to make two important decisions: expel or leave the bourgeois parties in the government coalition; determine the nature of the Council of the Republic. The participation of the bourgeoisie in the third coalition government, finally formed on September 26, was approved by a small majority. The meeting agreed to individual participation in the government of leaders of the Cadet Party (because, on the whole, the meeting excluded parties from the government that had compromised themselves by participating in the Kornilov speech). Kerensky introduced Konovalov, Kishkin, Tretyakov into the third coalition government.
The Bolsheviks considered this a provocation, saying that only the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, scheduled for October 20, had the right to form a "genuine government." The meeting elected the permanent Democratic Council of the Republic (Pre-Parliament). But the situation in the country, the balance of power after the defeat of Kornilov fundamentally changed. The most active right-wing forces, which had begun to consolidate, were able to withstand the threat of Bolshevization, were defeated. Kerensky's prestige, especially among the officers, plummeted. Support for relatively moderate socialist parties also fell. At the same time (as, by the way, Lenin had supposed back in April) the popularity of the Bolsheviks rose sharply, and they again had to be legalized. In September, they take control of the Petrograd Soviet (Trotsky was elected chairman) and a number of soviets of other large cities. On September 13, in the “Historical Letters” addressed to the Central Committee of the RSDLP (b), Lenin calls for an early armed uprising. By the beginning of October, the position of the Provisional Government was becoming hopeless.
Much later, Winston Churchill wrote: "Fate was not so merciless to any country as to Russia. Her ship went down when the pier was already in sight. She had already endured a storm when the wreck came. All the victims had already been was completed. Despair and betrayal overcame the authorities when the task was already completed ... "
wiki.304.ru / History of Russia. Dmitry Alkhazashvili.
The mood in the capital is exceptionally alarming. The wildest rumors circulate in society, both about the intentions of the government authorities (in the sense of taking various kinds of reactionary measures), and equally about the assumptions of groups and sections of the population hostile to this government (in the sense of possible and probable revolutionary undertakings and excesses).
Everyone is waiting for some exceptional events and performances from both sides. They are equally seriously and anxiously awaiting various revolutionary outbreaks, as well as the undoubted allegedly in the near future "palace coup", the forerunner of which, according to common belief, was the act against the "notorious old man" (meaning the murder of Rasputin).
Among such chaotic judgments, gossips and rumors, the repeated talks and talks about terror as a phenomenon not of a party character, but of a general one, draw special attention to themselves everywhere and everywhere. In this respect, rumors about the possible manifestations of terror are usually associated in progressive public circles with the question of the final dissolution of the State Duma, which is probable under the present situation.<…>
It should be noted that if the workers have come to realize the necessity and feasibility of a general strike and the subsequent revolution, and the circles of the intelligentsia have come to believe in the salvation of political assassinations and terror, then this clearly enough shows the oppositional mood of society and its thirst to find one way or another way out of created politically abnormal situation. And this situation is becoming more and more abnormal and tense every day, and that the masses of the population, nor the leaders of the political parties, see no natural peaceful way out of it - there is no need to talk about it.
FROM A LETTER FROM THE EMPRESS ALEXANDRA FYODOROVNA TO NICHOLAS II
The strikes and riots in the city are more than provocative.<…>This is a hooligan movement, boys and girls run around and shout that they have no bread - just to create excitement, and workers who prevent others from working. If the weather were very cold, they would all probably stay at home. But all this will pass and calm down if only the Duma behaves well. The worst speeches are not published, but I think that anti-dynastic speeches must be immediately and very severely punished, especially since now war time. The strikers must be told directly not to strike, otherwise they will be sent to the front or severely punished.
TELEGRAM S.S. KHABALOVA TO STATE
I report that on February 23 and 24, as a result of a lack of grain, a strike broke out in many factories. On February 24, about 200,000 workers went on strike, forcibly removing those who worked. The movement of the tram was stopped by the workers. In the middle of the day on February 23 and 24, part of the workers broke through to the Nevsky, from where they were dispersed. Today, February 25, the attempts of workers to penetrate the Nevsky are successfully paralyzed. The broken part is dispersed by the Cossacks. In addition to the Petrograd garrison, five squadrons of the 9th reserve cavalry regiment from Krasnoye Selo, a hundred of the Life Guards of the consolidated Cossack regiment from Pavlovsk, and five squadrons of the guards reserve cavalry regiment were called to Petrograd.
(S.S. Khabalov - Commander of the Petrograd Military District, Lieutenant General)
"DONT BE DELAYED".
TELEGRAM OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE STATE DUMA M.V. RODZIANKO TO NICHOLASIIFEBRUARY 26, 1917
Your Majesty!
The situation is serious. Anarchy in the capital. The government is paralyzed. Transport, food and fuel fell into complete disorder. Growing public discontent. There is indiscriminate shooting in the streets. Parts of the troops fire at each other. A person who enjoys the confidence of the country should immediately be instructed to form a new government. You can't delay. Any delay is like death. I pray to God that at this hour the responsibility does not fall on the crowned bearer.
"TOMORROW MAY BE LATE"
FROM A TELEGRAM TO M.V. RODZIANKO TO NICHOLASII 27 FEBRUARY 1917
The government is completely powerless to suppress the disorder. There is no hope for the troops of the garrison. The reserve battalions of the guard regiments are engulfed in mutiny. Officers are killed. Having joined the crowd and the popular movement, they go to the house of the Ministry of the Interior and the State Duma. The civil war has begun and is flaring up. Order to immediately call for a new government on the basis that I reported to Your Majesty in yesterday's telegram. Order the cancellation of your royal decree to convene the legislative chambers again. Announce these measures without delay with the highest manifesto. If the movement is transferred to the army, the German will triumph and the collapse of Russia, and with it the dynasty, is inevitable. On behalf of all Russia, I ask Your Majesty to fulfill the foregoing. The hour that decides your fate and the fate of your homeland has come. Tomorrow may be too late.
RODZIANKO ON HIS POSITION IN FEBRUARY 1917
In 1919, the former chairman of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma wrote: “Of course, the State Duma could have refused to lead the revolution, but we must not forget the complete absence of power that has arisen and the fact that if the Duma were to abolish itself, complete anarchy would immediately set in and the fatherland would perish immediately. .. The Duma had to be protected, at least as a fetish of power, which would still play its role in a difficult moment.
TELEGRAM S.S. KHABALOV IN THE NAME OF M.V. ALEKSEEVA
I ask you to report to His Imperial Majesty that I could not fulfill the order to restore order in the capital. Most of the units, one after the other, betrayed their duty, refused to fight against the rebels. Others fraternized with the rebels and turned their weapons against the troops loyal to his majesty. Those who remained true to their duty fought all day against the rebels, suffering heavy losses. By evening, the rebels had captured most of the capital. Faithful to the oath remain small units of different regiments, pulled together at the Winter Palace under the command of Major General Zankevich, with whom I will continue to fight.
(M.V. Alekseev - Chief of Staff of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Adjutant General of the General Staff, General of Infantry)
THE FIRST SOLDIER OF THE REVOLUTION
On February 27, 1917, at 5 o’clock in the morning, the senior sergeant major of the training team of the Volynsky regiment, Timofey Kirpichnikov, raised the soldiers subordinate to him, fed, armed and built before the arrival of the authorities. The day before, their commander, staff captain Lashkevich, led a team into the city - to shoot at unarmed demonstrators who were indignant at the lack of bread in the stores; at the same time, Lashkevich personally killed several dozen civilians. At night, Timofei Kirpichnikov persuaded his assistants, "platoon leaders", to refuse to participate in the executions of the inhabitants of Petrograd. Arriving at the location of the unit, the officer argued with his subordinates, as a result, he tried to escape and was shot dead.
The insurgent training team, with weapons in their hands, moved to the reserve battalion of their regiment and dragged it along. Then Timofey Kirpichnikov led the soldiers further - to raise the neighboring regiments. Overcoming the resistance of sentries and officers, they were able to bring many thousands of armed people into the streets within a few hours. At some point, Kirpichnikov himself ceased to control the actions of the crowd, which arbitrarily opened fire, stormed the objects occupied by the gendarmerie, and eventually prompted state institutions, including the government, to curtail their activities, and later completely scatter.
Thanks to the abilities of Timofey Kirpichnikov, the riots organized with the participation of the Chief of Staff of the Headquarters M.V. Alekseev, commander of the troops of the Petrograd Military District S.S. Khabalov and other high-ranking officials, got out of control of any authorities.
The deputies of the State Duma tried to form a new government, the activists of the left parties began to create Soviets - they called for sending representatives from each part and from every thousand workers for the election of the Executive Committee. In parallel, A.I. Guchkov and V.V. Shulgin, with the support of the top generals, forced Nicholas II to abdicate. The power in the country was weakening more and more (especially after Order No. 1, which contributed to the collapse of the army). This did not prevent the new commander of the troops of the Petrograd Military District, L.G. Kornilov, from presenting an award to Kirpichnikov - the St. George Cross of the 4th degree. The hero of February was also promoted to ensign.
The leaders of extremist political organizations gathered in Petrograd and were already trying to take power into their own hands - the "April crisis" arose. At the same time, Timofey Kirpichnikov stood up for the Provisional Government. He again brought an armed demonstration to the streets, which paralyzed the actions of the revolutionaries. In April, they had to abandon their plans.
After October 25, 1917, when P.N. Krasnov was advancing on Petrograd captured by the Bolsheviks, Kirpichnikov tried to repeat his signature move with a riot of soldiers of the garrison. However, the uprising of the cadet schools did not evoke a response among the soldiers - the plan fell through.
In November, Kirpichnikov was able to escape from the capital to the Don. He arrived at A.P. Kutepov, who in February was just on vacation in Petrograd and tried in vain to restore order (the soldiers assigned to him fled) at the time when Kirpichnikov was destroying it. A very short conversation took place between the two heroes, recorded by A.P. Kutepov in his memoirs: “Once a young officer came to my headquarters, who very cheekily told me that he had come to the Volunteer Army to fight the Bolsheviks “for the freedom of the people”, which the Bolsheviks trample on. I asked him where he had been until now and what he had been doing, the officer told me that he was one of the first "fighters for the freedom of the people" and that in Petrograd he took an active part in the revolution, speaking out among the first against the old regime. When the officer wanted to leave, I ordered him to stay and, calling the officer on duty, sent for the outfit. The young officer became agitated, turned pale, and began to ask why I was detaining him. Now you will see, I said, and when the squad arrived, I ordered that this "freedom fighter" be shot immediately.
ORDER #1
OF THE PETROGRAD COUNCIL OF WORKERS' AND SOLDIERS' DEPUTIES FOR THE GARRISON OF THE PETROGRAD DISTRICT
Order No. 1. March 1, 1917. According to the garrison of the Petrograd district, to all soldiers of the guard, army, artillery and navy for immediate and precise execution, and to the workers of Petrograd for information.
The Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies decided:
1) In all companies, battalions, regiments, parks, batteries, squadrons and individual services of various military directorates and on ships of the navy, immediately select committees from elected representatives from the lower ranks of the above military units.
2) In all military units that have not yet elected their representatives to the Soviet of Workers' Deputies, elect one representative from the companies, who will appear with written certificates in the building of the State Duma by 10 o'clock in the morning on March 2.
3) In all its political actions, the military unit is subordinate to the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies and its committees.
4) The orders of the military commission of the State Duma should be carried out, except in cases where they contradict the orders and resolutions of the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.
5) All kinds of weapons, such as: rifles, machine guns, armored vehicles, etc., must be at the disposal and under the control of company and battalion committees and in no case be issued to officers even at their request.
6) In the ranks and in the performance of their duties, soldiers must observe the strictest military discipline, but outside the service and in the ranks in their political, general civil and private life, soldiers cannot be diminished in any way in those rights that all citizens enjoy. In particular, rising to the front and the obligatory salute outside the service are canceled.
7) The title of officers is also canceled: Your Excellency, Nobleness, etc., and is replaced by the appeal: Mr. General, Mr. Colonel, etc.
Rough treatment of soldiers of all military ranks and, in particular, addressing them as “you” is prohibited, and any violation of this, as well as all misunderstandings between officers and soldiers, must be brought to the attention of the company committees.
Read this order in all companies, battalions, regiments, crews, batteries and other combat and non-combat teams.
Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies
DECLARATION OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
Citizens!
The Provisional Committee of the members of the State Duma, with the assistance and sympathy of the metropolitan troops and the population, has now achieved such a degree of success over the dark forces of the old regime that it allows it to proceed to a more stable organization of executive power.
For this purpose, the Provisional Committee of the State Duma appoints the following persons as ministers of the first public cabinet, the confidence in which the countries have been ensured by their past social and political activities.
Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister of the Interior Prince G.E. Lvov.
Foreign Minister P.N. Milyukov.
Minister of Military and Naval A.I. Guchkov.
Minister of Railways N.V. Nekrasov.
Minister of Trade and Industry A.I. Konovalov.
Minister of Public Education A.A. Manuilov.
Minister of Finance M.I. Tereshchenko.
Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod V.N. Lvov.
Minister of Agriculture A.I. Shingarev.
Minister of Justice A.F. Kerensky.
State Comptroller I.V. Godnev.
Minister for Finnish Affairs F.I. Rodichev.
In its present activities, the Cabinet will be guided by the following principles:
1. Full and immediate amnesty for all political and religious cases, including terrorist attacks, military uprisings and agrarian crimes, etc.
2. Freedom of speech, press, unions, meetings and strikes with the extension of political freedoms to military personnel within the limits allowed by military technical conditions.
3. Cancellation of all class, religious and national restrictions.
4. Immediate preparations for the convocation of a Constituent Assembly on the basis of a universal, equal, secret and direct vote, which will establish the form of government and the constitution of the country.
5. Replacing the police with people's militia with elected leaders subordinate to local governments.
6. Elections to local self-government bodies on the basis of universal, direct, equal and secret suffrage.
7. Non-disarmament and non-withdrawal from Petrograd of military units that took part in the revolutionary movement.
8. While maintaining strict military discipline in the ranks and in the performance of military service - the elimination for soldiers of all restrictions in the use of public rights granted to all other citizens. The Provisional Government considers it its duty to add that it does not at all intend to take advantage of military circumstances for any delay in the implementation of the above reforms and measures.
Chairman of the State Duma M.V. Rodzianko.
Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Prince G.E. Lvov.
Ministers: P.N.Milyukov, N.V.Nekrasov, A.N.Konovalov, A.A.Manuilov, M.I.Tereshchenko, Vl.N.Lvov, A.I.
ON THE REFUSAL OF GRAND DUKE MIKHAIL ALEKSANDROVICH
FROM THE PERCEPTION OF THE SUPREME POWER TO THE ESTABLISHMENT
IN THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY OF THE IMAGE OF BOARD AND NEW
BASIC LAWS OF THE RUSSIAN STATE
A heavy burden has been placed on me by the will of my brother, who handed over to me the imperial all-Russian throne in a time of unprecedented war and unrest of the people. Encouraged by the same thought with all the people that the good of our Motherland is above all, I made a firm decision in that case to accept the supreme power, if such is the will of our great people, which should establish a form of government and new basic laws by popular vote through its representatives in the Constituent Assembly. Russian state.
Therefore, invoking the blessing of God, I ask all citizens of the Russian state to submit to the Provisional Government, which, at the initiative of the State Duma, has arisen and is invested with all the fullness of power, until it is possible to convene
As soon as possible, on the basis of universal, direct, equal and secret suffrage, the Constituent Assembly, by its decision on the form of government, will express the will of the people.
