The Provisional Government was only a temporary government. Do you think it could have made decisions about the land and war issues facing Russia?

The Provisional Government was only a temporary government. Do you think it could have made decisions about the land and was issues?

The Provisional Government, which was set up after the 1917 revolution, was made up of mostly the Duma. Though the change in rule was a major revolutionary act in Russia, the people of Russia were still not happy. There were many on-going problems and there was no one to solve them. On the other hand, the Soviets were creating problems for the Provisional Government, as they wanted to take control.

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Firstly, there was the First World War. Russia was loosing badly and the public was demanding the government to pull out of the war. There were lack of resources in major cities, lack of workers and soldiers were dying by millions every week. Many people believe that the provisional government didn’t have the power to pull Russia out of the war. They were a temporary and would wait till the elections were held. This to some extent this agreeable as it is a lot of responsibility to take to back out of the war. Russia would be upsetting the Allies and they would also have to pay compensations to Germany to sign a peace treaty. all of this had major consequences and if things didn’t go well, the Provisional Government would be blamed. On the contrary, I personally believe that the Provisional Government had the authority to pull out of the war but they just didn’t want to take responsibility. This was one of the many reasons for the loss of support for the Provisional Government. They were also not willing to hold elections for another year. This too outraged people as the supposedly ‘temporary government’ wasn’t willing to let go of its power nor did it want to take actions to solve problems.

The same goes for the land reforms that the peasants were demanding. Even though implementing the reforms may have taken longer than the Provisional Governments rule, it could have at least initiated it.

In conclusion, even though the problems the Provisional Government was faced with were major ones and required a lot of time and thought, I believe that they could have made the decisions or even initiated small steps towards solving them. if they believed that they didn’t have the right to make the decisions, they should have held the elections sooner and gotten a Government in place that had the authority to do so. In my opinion, the Provisional Government was trying to retain its power and at the same time not take the responsibility that comes with it; in other words, a somnambulistic government.

By Zeena Oberoi