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.??