Another important body was set up on February 27th called the Petrograd Soviet, a council of soldiers and workers. This body had control of the major installations in Russia and effectively had power but no authority whilst the PG had authority but no power (dual power). This was achieved through Order No. 1 issued by the Soviet, which stated that any military command issued by the PG had to be authorized by the Soviet, in effect, the PG did not have control over the army which was still locked in a sapping war.
The Soviet, more powerful than the PG, yet it decided not to seize power as it was divided and lacked any coherent policy as it was drawn from various groups such as Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries. The Soviet co-operated with the PG with no qualms, until the leader of the Bolsheviks, Lenin, returned from exile and issued his April thesis, which stated that the Soviet would not work with the PG and its aim was to overthrow the PG in a revolution for the workers. This shows that there were some who wanted to seize power in the name of the Soviet already by April.
The main concern of the peasants was the redistribution of land. They had already seized land by their own will which went against the wishes of the PG whose stance was that this was a matter for the Constituent Assembly to decide but had they not feared a Prolatarian revolution, the PG would have suppressed the Peasants as many in the PG were wealthy land owners so they had conflicting interests. This was evident once Chernov was made Agricultural Minister and tried to make land reforms but was blocked by other PG members. Thus, due to a clash of interests and secretly unwilling to let go of land, the PG failed to resolve the land problem which caused them to have no support amongst the Peasantry.
The majority of Russians wanted a Constituent Assembly in which they could have the chance to express their opinions, like any other democratic state. The PGs stance on the Constituent Assembly was that it could only happen after the war and as they felt there was more to be lossed by surrendering rather than carrying on fighting, they prolonged the war hence delayed the formation of a Constituent Assembly. Once again the PG was unable to take immediate action which was made out to be by others that the PG wanted to rule Russia like the Tsar did and that they were no different. Thus with the use of hindsight, if the PG had allowed a Constituent Assembly to form it might have survived, hence being unsuccessful however they were faced with great problems which were extra ordinary for any new authority to deal with.
The war was a major problem which led to the downfall of the Tsar and arguably, the downfall of the PG. The PG and Soviet agreed that Russia would still participate in the war but only to protect her land borders, not to gain anything by annexing land outside of Russia. This was a dilemma to Russia’s allies and she was bound by treaties to come to the aid of her allies such as Britain and France against Germany. The foreign minister at the time, Milyukov (leader of the Kadets) sent a note infamously known as the ‘Milyukov note’ which re-assured the allies that Russia would continue to fight an offensive war. Once this note was leaked it greatly damaged the integrity of the PG. The consequence of the note was that Milyukov and Guchkov were forced to resign, Chernov (Social Revolutionary) and Tseretelli (Menshevik) became ministers whilst Kerensky was promoted to War Minister. Each party was represented apart from the Bolsheviks, who decided they did not want to be in the same lot as those which brought about the ‘Bourgeoisie revolution’, Lenin felt there should be another revolution, a workers revolution. This was significant in that now any failings of the PG would be cast upon the Menshevik and Social Revolutionary parties and the Bolsheviks could use this in a propaganda war to win the hearts of workers, soldiers and peasants.
Kerensky initiated the June offensive, in a last ditch effort to turn the war in Russia’s favour. This failed miserably which resulted in the July Days, when soldiers and workers rioted on the streets of Petrograd. They were put down by forces loyal to the PG and
