The Provisional government was a temporary replacement. The people of Russia did not elect it. This meant that they lacked the legitimacy and confidence of the people to make long term, important decisions. As the provisional government was only a short-term leader for the country, they could not make long-term decisions and carry them out. The problems in Russia were dreadful and needed solving instantaneously if they were to avoid any kind of revolution. The provisional government made the decision to wait until the Constituent assembly was elected and to let them deal with the problems in Russia. This led to the people of Russia not having confidence in the Provisional Government as they let the country deteriorate and made no effort to try and solve the problems. This would of added extra fuel to the prospect revolution. This point shows that if the provisional government chose to make decisions to try and fix the problems in Russia, they may not have failed and could of survived.
The Petrograd Soviets were a group that shared dual power with the Provisional government. Petrograd was at the time the capital city of Russia. Petrograd soviets represented the peasants, workers and soldiers. They were obviously in the majority in comparison to the middle classes and some nobility that the provisional government represented. The fact that the Petrograd Soviet represented these groups’ interests and the provisional government failed to provide for their needs shows there would have been tension between the two committees. There also would have been a conflict of interests between the two parties. The Provisional government would of wanted to make decisions in favour of the people they represented and it with the Petrograd Soviets. This would lead to a weakening of power due to the conflict when making decisions.
Another group of people that threatened the power of the Provisional Government were the Bolsheviks and in particular Vladimir Illych Ulyanov, otherwise known as Lenin. The Bolsheviks were a political party with an extremely dedicated leader in Lenin. Lenin’s main aim in life was revolution. He was extremely committed to it. Lenin’s dedication to revolution was shown by his April thesis. As soon as Lenin returned from exile one of his first steps was to release a manifesto, which we call the April thesis. In this manifesto Lenin declared that he would end all cooperation with the provisional government. This bold step showed his dedication to revolution aswel as signalling a problem for the provisional government. The manifesto also included an immediate end to the war. This would of pleased many of the soldiers, as they wanted an end to the war. There was also land to be given to the peasants, soviets to take power and in the end a worldwide socialist revolution. All of these points were designed to please the majority peasants, workers and soldiers as to give them land and to end the war is what they want. Where the provisional government failed to please the majority of the population by giving them land, Lenin knew that this was one way to help gain popularity and power, as it would please the masses and unite them against the provisional government. Lenin and the Bolsheviks were also good at propaganda and offered the people of Russia an alternative leadership that would benefit them. They used slogans such as ‘Bread, peace and land’. These were three basic things that the soviet supporters wanted and the Bolsheviks used catchy slogans like such to imply that they could give them it. Lenin joined the support if the Soviet, which included the support of the peasantry workers and soldiers as he knew they made up the vast amount of the population and the vast amount of the revolutionary movement. He knew to keep them happy would be to gain power. The Bolsheviks also had an organised army called the Red Guard. The provisional government’s army was very quickly becoming very corrupt and unorganised so the army of the Bolsheviks offered a huge threat. The fact that the Bolsheviks were dedicated, organised, planned and had an extremely committed leader weakened the position of the provisional government as they did not have as much legitimacy, organisation or dedication as the Bolsheviks. If the Bolsheviks were taken out of the equation it may have been a lot easier for the provisional government to survive as less pressure would of been on them from opposition. This strengthens the point that the provisional government were not doomed to failure from the beginning and were brought down by outside factors.
During the year of 1917 many events occurred that weakened the position of the provisional government but also some that showed its surprising strength.
One of these events was the Kornilov revolt. General Lavr Kornilov was the commander of the Russian army. In August and September 1917 he attempted to overthrow the provision government in order to establish a military dictatorship. However with the support of the Red Guard the provisional government stood firm against the attempted coup. This shows the strength of the provisional government that they survived the coup however it also shows the cunning of Lenin. He knew that if a military dictatorship was to be established, they would be extremely organised and prepared and from then on to take power be extremely hard. It was for this reason that Lenin sent the Red Guard to help the Provisional government fight against general Kornilov.
Another event that had a significant impact on the survival of the provisional government were the July days. During the July day’s factories, shops and banks were overrun. There were many protests and demonstrations against the war and the provisional government. During this time the Bolsheviks attempted to seize power. However the provisional government and its army held out against them and retained power. This again shows that the provisional government had power and organisation so that they could even stand their ground against the determined Bolsheviks. This even led to Lenin going in to exile in Finland due to an order for his arrest being issued.
Another key event in the demise of the provisional government was the eventual Bolshevik coup. By this time the army was almost completely disintegrated, the provisional government completely weakened and extremely deprived of support. In the words of Trotsky, a soviet leader, ‘Power was lying abandoned in the street’, and Lenin knew this was the right time to claim it. Still in exile he wrote to the Bolsheviks commanding them to send an army to take power. Lenin knew that the opportunity needed to be taken as the elections were looming and once they had taken place it would be also harder to take power as the population would be more settled and happy that their needs would be about to be met. The seizing of power was joint between the Bolsheviks and the Soviet, as one could not achieve it without the other. Lenin needed to Soviets name to keep the support of the people and the soviet needed their resources and organisation. Between them they occupied key positions in the capital Petrograd aswel as arresting the provisional government. They forced the Prime Minister Kerensky to escape into exile and took power.
The provisional government took over power at an extremely difficult period in Russian history. The country was in deep social and economic unrest, they were involved in the world first ever war and loosing poorly. They were also faced with a large-scale revolutionary movement that had been brewing for a very long time. The provisional governments job was to keep the country going until the elections in November. However they were unable to do this because of extreme pressure from revolutionaries such as Lenin and the Bolsheviks. This led to its demise in October to the power of the Bolsheviks and soviet. If the Provisional Government was not faced with such pressures and problems it could well have survived the 10 months it was required to however failed during the latter stage of their reign In my opinion this was not a foregone conclusion from the beginning. The provisional government showed their power by holding out from several attempted coups. They could have also taken steps to tame the revolutionary movement by giving peasants more land and catering to their needs, as they were the vast majority of the population. However they did not and the provisional government t came to an end in October and Lenin and the Bolsheviks took power.
