The Provisional Government Essay Research Paper 1

The Provisional Government Essay, Research Paper

`1) a) The provisional government was devised from revolutionary duma members

who refused to disband at the Tsar? request. It was not an elected body, and

therefore did not necessarily have the support of the people. The provisional

government would be judged purely on the performance of national matters.? The provisional government also lacked an

official partnership with the Petrograd soviets, which were one of the big

parties in Russia. The soviet order number 1 states that: The orders of the military commission of the state duma Are to be obeyed only in such instances when they do not Contradict the

orders and decrees of the soviet. This order from the soviets

left the provisional government in a very precarious position. Basically this

order meant that the provisional government did not have the support of the

army. At the time the soviets were working with the provisional government and

did not undermine their power, this was probably due to the whole euphoria

surrounding the revolution. No one wanted to end the initial national

contentment so at first this wasn?t a problem for the provisional government.

Military affairs were only binding if approved by the Petrograd soviets, this

eventually cause animosity between the two groups. Originally the soviets had

only wanted to make sure that the workers and military personnel were treated

fairly by the government, but the provisional government moved further to the

right while the soviets moved further to the left, until the communication

broke down totally. With out a non-conflicting leadership over the army the

provisional government could not enforce power, which meant that its fall was

inevitable. The October Revolution 2) a) Lenin, when he returned to Russia in 1917, regarded a second revolution

a necessity. The base for this action was to assert the proletariat into a position

of power. Lenin believed that the first revolution had been a political

bourgeois revolution, and because of his Marxist ideologies this wasn?t good enough

and there had to be a proletariat revolution because they fitted in with his

political beliefs, and the revolution would give him ample opportunity to take

over Russia. At first Lenin used the help of the Petrograd soviets, but he had

no intention of letting them rule with him, as he thought that only his party

alone stood for the proletariat and ruling with other parties would only

undermine the Bolshevik party. The revolution would help him to stick to his

political opinions, while wiping out all the other opposition. b) It seems that in comparison Lenin had a very different conclusion to

the 1917 revolution to his comrade Trotsky. Trotsky says that it was down to

three factors 1) Refusal of Petrograd garrison to side with government 2) Creation of MRC 3) Infiltration by Bolshevik members of key divisions of the army The three factors, which

Trotsky listed, are in fact not a proletarian revolution. All that had happened

is another bourgeois revolution. None of the three factors mention the proletariat

being involved at all with the revolution. The revolution was another re-enactment

of the 1905 revolution. This obviously shows that Lenin was not that bothered

about Marxism. All Lenin seemed to be worried about was whether he could gain

power from this revolt. c) From Trotsky?s account it

obviously seems that the revolution had not gone to Lenin?s plan. The

revolution in October 1917 highlighted the fact that the Mensheviks made about

how there was just not enough proletariat for a full-blown Marxist revolution.

Lenin wanted power as soon as possible, basically he staged a proletariat

revolution for his party. I think this shows that Lenin was not that politically

strong in his ideas, he seems to just want the power, he obviously doesn?t care

that he was already breaking his own idealism?s.??