21b: Democracy Fails

On March 15, 1917 Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the Russian throne to the next in line - his younger brother, Grand Duke Mikhail. When Mikhail refused to accept the throne, it marked the end of the Romanov dynasty and the Russian Empire. Later that month, Nicholas II was arrested and imprisoned with his family at their palace at Tsarkoye Selo, southeast of Petrograd. The entire family was ultimately deported to Ekaterinburg, in the Ural Mountains. On July 17, 1918 the entire former royal family was executed by order of Lenin. As a romantic rumor had it, the youngest daughter, Anastasia, somehow survived. In fact, the so-called survivor was actually a middle class Polish woman who merely believed she was Grand Duchess Anastasiya of Russia. On August 14, 2000, Nicholas, Alexandra and their children Olga, Tatyana, Mariya, Anastasiya, and the Tsarevich Alexei, were canonized as saints by the Russian Orthodox Church.

The governmental void was filled by something called "double power." In other words, two institutions fought for real power: the newly established Petrograd Soviet and the Provisional Government. The Provisional Government had evolved from the Tsarist Duma. Foreign powers, therefore, generally recognized it as Russia's legitimate government. Working from the Winter Palace headquarters, the Provisional Government hoped to build a foundation for Russian democracy. Still, its members had no experience in running anything, and waited instead for the election of Russia's very first Constituent Assembly, scheduled for Fall 1917. They might have acted faster had they understood the extent of Russia's problems. A new, democratic, Russian Republic was part of the solution, but just part. The peasants were restless for food and for land, and the urban working class still wanted better living and working conditions. Most of all, everybody was fed up with the war. To be fair, there were no easy answers. But to the Russian people, the Provisional Government stood mostly for good intentions and hot ai Oddly, they shared one prominent leader with their rivals in the Petrograd Soviet: Alexander Kerensky was both Vice-Chair of the Soviet and Minister of Justice in the Provincial Government. He would become more prominent as the year proceeded.

The Petrograd Soviet was built on the model of the 1905 St. Petersburg Soviet, where Lev Trotsky had first come to prominence. By the time of Nicholas's abdication the Petrograd Soviet numbered about 2,500-3,000 deputies elected by the local factory workers and soldiers. As a result, the Soviet enjoyed great influence over industry, transportation, and the military. Soon, similar Soviets sprang up all over Russia, both in urban and rural areas. A national organization of Soviets was established in Petrograd. The Soviets were not always one and the same with the Bolshevik Party. Indeed, the Soviets were first controlled by the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries, who were nowhere near as extreme as the Bolsheviks. But the Soviets' lack of operating rules gave an advantage to whoever yelled the loudest, controlled the most armed supporters, or had the most willpower. Gradually, the Bolsheviks took the lead in all three categories.

Meanwhile, the First World War continued to proceed disastrously, sucking away desperately needed manpower and resources to no apparent purpose. The Petrograd Soviet's "Order #1," which set up soldiers' councils in every unit and the election of officer, hardly helped military effectiveness. The Bolsheviks went the Soviets one better by calling for unconditional peace with the Central Powers of Germany and Austria - that is, peace without annexations or payment of reparations. Meanwhile, the Allies wanted the Provisional Government to continue Russia's role in the war against the Central Powers. Although the Russians were losing the war, they were still tying down German and Austrian troops who would otherwise be fighting the Allies on the Western Front. In the summer Alexander Kerensky, now the Minister of War, unleashed an offensive against the Austrian armies on the Eastern Front. The so-called "Kerensky offensive" was successful at first, but ground to a halt after German troops were transferred from the West to stabilize the front. Again, the Western Allies were saved by Russian bloodshed. This time around, though, the Russian soldiers had been radicalized by Order #1 and by Soviet propaganda. They began to desert in droves rather than die fighting for the Western Allies.

On July 8, 1917 Alexander Kerensky became Prime Minister of the Provisional Government. Desperate to save the Russian army, he put a strict disciplinarian, General Kornilov, in charge. A confusing comedy of errors ensued. General Kornilov assumed that he had been given complete control over the military. When General Kornilov was ordered to dispatch troops against the Petrograd Soviet, he took it to mean that Kerensky had appointed him as co-dictator. Afraid that General Kornilov wanted to be military dictator, Kerensky ordered him to resign. Instead, in September, Kerensky persuaded the Petrograd Soviet to help him fight General Kornilov. On September 15, 1917, Russia was formally declared to be a Republic, under the leadership of Kerensky as President, Interior Minister, and Supreme Commander of the Army and Navy. If you weren't able to follow the confusing story of General Kornilov's revolt, don't feel bad. Nobody else understood what was going on either. But you should have a pretty good idea of just how ineffective the Provisional Government truly was. It turned into the dictatorship of a self-adoring blowhard.