The Dual Authority
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- Category: History: Russian
- Date Submitted: 02/22/2010 01:02 PM
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The Provisional Government led by Prince Lvov was the old Duma in a new form.
An initial weakness of the Provisional Government: it was not an elected body: it lacked legitimate authority: it had no constitutional claim upon the loyalty of the Russian people.
The PG has to deal with the nation's problems in order to continue to exist.
Another initial weakness of the PG: its authority was limited by the Petrograd Soviet: at the beginning, the PS was on good terms with the PG, and some individuals were both members in the PG as well as the PS. Exp: Kerensky.
Also, the Soviet itself preferred not to interfere; rather, it regarded its role as supervisory, checking that the interests of the workers and soldiers are fully understood by the new PG.
Soviet pattern had spread widely after the February Revolution. They were to play an important role in the development of the Revolution. However, at the beginning, they were not dominated by the Bolsheviks, that is why they were not opposed to the PG.
The Soviet already, before the Bolshevik influence became predominant, had powers to restrict the PG authority: the decrees of the PG in regard to military affairs were binding only if they approved by the Petrograd Soviet.
A government needs the loyalty of its army to hold real power, the PG lacked this.
The PG thus had to compromise with the Soviet. Between Feb and April, this worked, but the later the relation between the two bodies collapsed.
The Dual authority between the PG and the Soviet worked for sometime because:
All political groups in Russia had a general feeling that Russia entered a period of real freedom which made cooperation between conflicting groups possible.
There was also a general feeling that the new liberty should not slip into anarchy and so destroy the gains of the revolution.
At the beginning, both PG and Soviet contained a wider range of political representatives: Moderate Socialists had a bigger influence. However, later, the PG moved...
An initial weakness of the Provisional Government: it was not an elected body: it lacked legitimate authority: it had no constitutional claim upon the loyalty of the Russian people.
The PG has to deal with the nation's problems in order to continue to exist.
Another initial weakness of the PG: its authority was limited by the Petrograd Soviet: at the beginning, the PS was on good terms with the PG, and some individuals were both members in the PG as well as the PS. Exp: Kerensky.
Also, the Soviet itself preferred not to interfere; rather, it regarded its role as supervisory, checking that the interests of the workers and soldiers are fully understood by the new PG.
Soviet pattern had spread widely after the February Revolution. They were to play an important role in the development of the Revolution. However, at the beginning, they were not dominated by the Bolsheviks, that is why they were not opposed to the PG.
The Soviet already, before the Bolshevik influence became predominant, had powers to restrict the PG authority: the decrees of the PG in regard to military affairs were binding only if they approved by the Petrograd Soviet.
A government needs the loyalty of its army to hold real power, the PG lacked this.
The PG thus had to compromise with the Soviet. Between Feb and April, this worked, but the later the relation between the two bodies collapsed.
The Dual authority between the PG and the Soviet worked for sometime because:
All political groups in Russia had a general feeling that Russia entered a period of real freedom which made cooperation between conflicting groups possible.
There was also a general feeling that the new liberty should not slip into anarchy and so destroy the gains of the revolution.
At the beginning, both PG and Soviet contained a wider range of political representatives: Moderate Socialists had a bigger influence. However, later, the PG moved...