Dual power in Russia (1917): table, causes and results

The February revolution completely changed both the social and political systems of the former Russian Empire. Many power structures were abolished, a serious reformation of the bureaucratic apparatus began. At first, all this sometimes led to very remarkable, strange forms of government. The dual power in Russia in 1917 is an ideal example. It is necessary to speak separately about its causes and results.

What it is?

As a result of the revolution, Russia began to be ruled by a very peculiar apparatus, which was formed by the Provisional Government and the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies. By that time, the Government consisted of ten people: four Cadets, two Octobrists, one progressist and Socialist-Revolutionary, one representative from the Zemsky Council and one non-partisan member. The composition of the Council consisted mainly of Social Revolutionaries and Mensheviks. They believed that their body was completely unprepared for governing the state, and therefore should limit itself to oversight of the actions of the Government.

So, the dual power in Russia in 1917 is a system of government, in which power was distributed between two bodies: the Provisional Government and the Council of Workers 'and Peasants' Deputies. Purely theoretically, such a scheme assumed mutual control and the prevention of “excesses” that would benefit only certain social strata. In practice, everything turned out not so good.

Causes

By the way, why did dual power appear in Russia in 1917? The reasons for this are pretty commonplace. First, we have already noted that all the political forces in Russia at that time longed for power, but they resolutely did not succeed in negotiating with each other.

In addition, there was a complete reluctance to bear responsibility for their actions. Isn't that a familiar situation? For example, no one could decide to lead the country out of the war, although its futility has long been understood by all sectors of society. While the dual power in Russia in 1917 existed, practically nothing was done for the real transfer of land to the peasants, which they had been waiting for since 1861. Naturally, all this set the people against the Provisional Government and the Council.

Relations between the Council and the Government

The Government prevailed two points of view on the attitude towards the socialist Council. Both of them were similar: in the first case, the deputies believed that it was impossible to make concessions at all, in the second - that all managerial initiatives should be gradually intercepted. But in reality, it was completely impossible to ignore the Council, since it relied on the support of the armed people.

Therefore, the declaration, which was adopted on March 3, 1917, together with it approved a complete political amnesty, proclaimed civil liberty and the abolition of capital punishment, prohibited class and class discrimination, and also announced the convening of the Constituent Assembly.

Contradictions in the March Declaration

The gross mistake made by the dual power in Russia in 1917 was that the members of these governing bodies did not say a word about either ending the senseless war or confiscating the land of the landowners. In addition, the promised proclamation of a democratic Republic also did not happen. Not least of all, this was due to the fact that the Provisional Government sought at all costs to concentrate all state power in its hands.

What was the state structure in the first time after the February Revolution?

Initially, the old management staff was completely retained. In place of the governors, the commissioners of the Government were seated. Legislation has fully remained the same. The police were replaced by the people's militia. At first, the people trusted the Provisional Government, as people believed that its members would finally end the war and lead the country out of the crisis.

So, dual power in Russia. The year 1917 is in the yard, in the country there are a lot of unresolved social and economic problems. There were resources for their solution, almost all social strata were for the new authorities, since the tsarist government did nothing at all in recent years, quickly and decisively bringing the country to a crisis. But why did the Provisional Government fail?

Management errors

The solution of the most pressing issue of land was postponed until the last, until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly. Therefore, one should not be surprised that for the majority of the population the Government has again become hostile and alien. The tension grew, after which the crises of the Provisional Government began.

On April 18, P. N. Milyukov, who at that time was the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in a message to the Allies, said that Russia, in spite of everything, intends to “fight to the bitter end”. Thousands of people went out to protest, not wanting to send their near and dear ones to the war disgusting everyone. Milyukov and Minister of Defense A. I. Guchkov were immediately dismissed. Already in early May, the Provisional Government included several Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries.

Coalition government

This is the time of coalition rule, when the country was ruled by “10 capitalists” and “six socialists”. However, even this could not solve all the problems. Under such conditions, extremely favorable conditions arose for the people to support Bolshevism. On June 3, 1917, Lenin V.I. spoke at the First All-Union Congress of Soviets, who by that time had already returned from exile.

He said that his party, seeing the mess in the country, is ready to take all power into its own hands and put things in order. Thus, the dual power in Russia in 1917 more and more rapidly began to lose the support of all segments of the population. No one liked the policies of the Government and the Council.

The direction is to dictatorship!

The Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries were especially hard hit, as they "collaborated with the bourgeoisie" in the person of the Provisional Government. In the working environment, the Bolsheviks have more and more supporters. The events of June 18 demonstrated this particularly vividly. On this day, the Council planned an action in support of the Provisional Government. The Bolsheviks immediately reacted to such a clear threat by convening workers for a "spontaneous" rally.

In St. Petersburg alone, at least five hundred thousand people took to the streets, who “carried to the masses” the slogans known to everyone: “All power to the Soviets!”, “Down with the capitalist ministers!”, “Down with the war!”.

Failures at the front

The crisis of the Government was not far off, but at that time the offensive of Russian troops on the South-Western Front began. Just ten days later, it completely drowned, Russia's losses were enormous. According to scattered archival reports, we can conclude that about 60 thousand soldiers died. A new political crisis is coming .

On July 8, the Cadet Central Committee decided to completely withdraw from the “collaborationist government”, which at that time was already in full swing negotiating with the nationalist parties of Ukraine, agreeing on the conditions for this newly-fledged country to leave Russia.

Soon, thousands of demonstrations raged on the streets of St. Petersburg again under the slogans of transferring all power to the Bolsheviks. This time the situation was complicated by the fact that among the people there were many armed soldiers and sailors. In general, dual power in Russia in 1917 existed largely due to the people's belief that their deputies would be able to end the war. When this did not happen, the trust of the electorate was immediately lost.

Dual power sunset

The government made a fatal decision on the need to use force. At least 700 people were killed, and public administration gradually begins to slide into a banal dictatorship. Martial law was introduced , military units were hastily withdrawn from the capital, almost all radical newspapers were completely closed.

Second Coalition Government

A decree is issued on the early arrest of V.I. Lenin and G.E. Zinoviev, who at that time headed the Bolshevik party. On July 24, a “second edition” of the coalition government was formed, which this time included eight “capitalists” and seven “socialists”. The well-known A.F. Kerensky becomes the Prime Minister of the new authority.

What caused the social upheaval that ended the dual power in Russia in 1917? The table briefly describes both the three crises that had occurred before that time, and the reasons that led to them.

Comparative table of reasons for popular performances

Comparison Objects	April crisis	June crisis	July crisis
Reasons for what happened	Contradictions between different political forces in government	The plight in all areas of the economy, industry and agriculture	South-West Offensive Failure
Formal occasion to start demonstrations	Statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs “On the war to a victorious end”	Preparation of offensive operations "for the rise of patriotic identity"	Huge losses, the beginning of the separatist movement in many subjects of the former empire
Form of "popular protests"	Anti-war demonstrations	Demonstrations involving soldiers and sailors	Armed demonstrations
The main slogans	“Down with Milyukov,” that is, the Minister of Foreign Affairs	“Down with the war”, “All power to the Soviets”	"All Power to the Soviets"

In fact, the dual power in Russia in 1917 ended there, since after the creation of this government, the state was actually headed by the Mensheviks. Simply put, there was no talk of any kind of separation of power. So, what did diarchy in Russia in 1917 lead to? The results were disappointing:

• A grand social crisis was brewing in the country.
• The army and navy were clearly not on the side of the government.
• Nobody decided to withdraw the country from the war.
• Land was not handed over to the peasants.
• The people did not wait for the necessary social and economic reforms.

In general, the dual power in Russia in 1917, the scheme of which has been repeatedly cited above, is a fine example of how weak and insecure political forces, which “seized” themselves to power, find themselves unable to do something really useful. The Bolsheviks captivated people's hearts because they preferred not only to rant, but also acted.

It was they who stopped the participation of Russia in the war, although they did it through the “Shameful Brest Peace,” which Lenin himself directly spoke about. However, the onset of relative calm and respite for the country was worth it. We hope you learned about the factors that forever ended the dual power in Russia in 1917. The table that we presented above describes the main reasons.

The Kornilov rebellion

After the dual power was eliminated, an attempt was made to rally all the political forces in the country in order to prevent its creeping into the chaos of the civil war. In mid-August, the Big State Assembly was held, in which all the political forces of the country took part. Except the Bolsheviks. Alas, the attempt to come to an agreement failed once again: the Mensheviks advocated real reforms and coexistence with the Soviet, while the bourgeoisie insisted on the dictatorship and the final elimination of all socialists.

Under these conditions, a military coup became possible, “at the helm” of which stood General L. G. Kornilov. His program provided not only the complete elimination of the leaders of Bolshevism, but also mobilization measures in the economy, the restoration of the death penalty in the navy and in the army. The latter was necessary in order to stop the rapidly developing decomposition of troops. Kornilov miscalculated: almost all political parties rose up against him, who were not at all impressed by the restoration of the tsarist dictatorship. Within a week, the rebellion was suppressed.

If you carefully read the first part of the article, then you probably remember that the dual power in Russia in 1917 ended as a result of the indecision of the deputies of the Soviets and the Provisional Government. The following events are also caused by this: having finally received real power, all political parties fell into apathy. Their members no longer needed anything, and therefore the Bolsheviks easily seized state administration in their own hands, using the full support of people tired of all this.