The nature and causes of the February Revolution

The February revolution is usually called the bourgeois-democratic. This is how all Soviet historians characterized it, and even now historians who were members of the CPSU and continue to experience nostalgia for Soviet times repeat it.

The characterization of the February Revolution as bourgeois-democratic is a synchronous social-democratic, Marxist understanding of what was happening. It was shared as social democrats by the Mensheviks, headed by G.V. Plekhanov and Yu.O. Martov, and the Bolshevik Social Democrats, headed by V.I. Lenin. And in October 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power, quickly cracked down on all other parties and points of view, and the Bolshevik view of February became the only acceptable one. He literally entered the flesh and blood of historians of the Soviet type.

Today, however, fundamentally important non-Marxist questions arise. First of all: what kind of bourgeois-democratic revolution is this, which marked the beginning of the liquidation of the bourgeois system and democracy in Russia? Without February, there would have been no October 1917. No matter how anyone treated Lenin, the “red wheel” rolled not during the coup led by him, but in February-March, when he was in distant Switzerland.

A real bourgeois revolution with a democratic perspective has been taking place in Russia since 1861 as a result of the major reforms of Emperor Alexander II, it has taken place from above. The most painless and fruitful version of transformations that are revolutionary in their meaning, when they are carried out from above by the legitimate leadership of the country. In a matter of years and decades, Russia has turned from a semi-feudal country into a power with a bourgeois market economy, taking first place in the world in terms of economic, including industrial development. The country received an independent court and the State Duma, in which heated discussions took place, received independent parties and a free press. Yes, the bourgeoisie was not part of the tsarist government, but the latter pursued a policy in the interests of the Russian bourgeoisie.

By 1917, the German aggressors were stopped at the distant frontiers, and the Russian army was prepared for a successful offensive together with the allies in April 1917. Our economy was transferred to a war footing, and it developed again. There were no cards in the country. The position of the masses was much better than in Germany. And this despite the inevitable hardships of war. But nothing out of the ordinary, terrible happened. The country was on the verge of victory in the war and becoming the most powerful military and economic power in the world.

The revolution that took place in February-March 1917 would not have happened if it were not for the politicking of specific leaders of the State Duma, if not for A.I. Guchkov and P.N. Milyukov, M.V. Rodzianko and A.F. Kerensky. And it happened in February-March precisely because an offensive was coming in April, and a successful offensive is an explosion of patriotic sentiments, the strengthening of the autocracy and the failure of the hopes of the listed gentlemen for the transfer of power into their hands. Therefore, 36,000 workers of the Putilov factory were thrown into the streets and rumors spread that bread was running out in Petrograd. The revolution was provoked, and the ignorant workers and women, the soldiers of the capital's garrison who did not sniff gunpowder, succumbed to the provocation.

There was a Russian revolt, senseless and merciless. The Russian rebellion won, the red turmoil began.

All this can be called a revolution. But what? It is not drawn to the bourgeois-democratic revolution that has taken place. If there was a bourgeois-democratic revolution, it was a failed, unfinished one. But it could not take place, in any case, there was little chance of it. The alternative was much more real: the historically legitimate power of the tsar or the transfer of power into the hands of extreme revolutionaries with socialist views. During the war, the few centre-right Democrats could not hold on to power.

Therefore, what happened was a coup d'état, high treason during the war, repulse of external aggression. What happened was the collapse of historical, thousand-year-old, great Orthodox Russia.

At the same time, everything should not be reduced to a provocation of the revolution. Yes, the revolution was pushed, but it has been ripening for a long time, many years and decades, if not centuries. For example, the abolition of the patriarchate and the refusal to convene Zemsky Sobors by Peter I had far from fruitful consequences for the spiritual, moral and social life of the country. If there were Zemsky Sobors, the State Duma might not be needed. And if a patriarch like St. Hermogenes had sternly addressed the Orthodox in February-March 1917: Come to your senses! I do not bless! .. - a different situation would have been created. Of course, there was also an unresolved agrarian question, and there were other serious problems. But even now the agrarian question has not been resolved, so what of it?

Atheistic historical science has become fascinated by the external, the simplest for perception. Therefore, the revolution was derived from the lack of land, from Lenin's propaganda myths about Russia as the aggressor and the extremely difficult situation of the Russian workers.

However, for people who feel themselves Russian, Orthodox, in the foreground are not external, but internal causes of both revolutions of 1917. And they are primarily in the impoverishment and formalization of the Orthodox faith, in the spiritual and moral crisis of an educated society, in the idealization of Western democracy.

How many outstanding educated people played with passion the revolution, the opposition, the freedom of speech. And the revolution turned out to be not a toy, but bloody and hopeless. As a result, the coming century was largely lost. One hundred years after the February and October experiments, the country faces tasks that were not solved at the beginning of the 20th century.

V.M. Lavrov, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Chief Researcher at the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. (Report at the International Scientific Conference "Russia's Black Year. 1917. The Eve of the Catastrophe" at the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies. Moscow, December 8, 2016)

Chapter I . Causes of the February Revolution of 1917.

1.1 The economic situation on the eve of February.

Attempts by a whole branch of Russian historiography (from the 1920s to the 1980s inclusive) led to the identification of contradictions accumulated by Russian society by the beginning and at the beginning of the 20th century. Without rigidly linking the pre-revolutionary and revolutionary periods, they allow us to assess the degree of disintegration of society in which a revolution could take place.

To analyze the nature and significance of the causes of the revolution, they must be grouped. This will reveal not only the degree of tension in society, but also the scale of the upcoming transformations.

The economic prerequisites were due to the need to overcome the country's dangerous lag behind the advanced industrialized countries.

A sharp reduction in imports forced Russian industrialists to start producing domestic cars. As of January 1, 1917, Russian factories produced more shells than French factories in August 1916 and twice as many as British ones. Russia produced 20,000 light guns in 1916 and imported 5,625.

Russia remained an agro-industrial country, where 70-75% of the population was employed in agriculture, which provided more than half of the national income. The development of industry led to the growth of cities, but the urban population was less than 16% of the total population. A characteristic feature of Russian industry was a high concentration, primarily territorial. Three-quarters of the factories were located in six regions: Central Industrial with a center in Moscow, North-West in St. Petersburg, Baltic, in part of Poland, between Warsaw and Lodz, in the south (Donbass) and in the Urals. Russian industry was distinguished by the highest technical and production concentration in the world: 54% of workers worked in enterprises with more than 500 employees, and these enterprises accounted for only 5% of the total number of plants and factories.

Important positions in the Russian economy were occupied by foreign capital, encouraged by state policy. The main role here was played by loans provided to the government: their total amount reached 6 billion rubles, which accounted for half of the external public debt. Most of the loans were provided by France. But these loans did not affect the development of production. Foreign investment directly into industrial enterprises and banks had a greater influence; they accounted for more than a third of the total share capital in the country. The dependence of the Russian economy on foreign countries was exacerbated by the structure of foreign trade: exports consisted almost exclusively of agricultural products and raw materials, while imports consisted of finished industrial products.

The concentration of production was accompanied by the concentration of capital. More than a third of all industrial capital was concentrated in the hands of about 4% of companies. The role of finance capital increased throughout the economy, including agriculture: seven St. Petersburg banks controlled half of the financial resources of the entire industry.

The revolution grew on the wave of a socio-economic crisis directly related to the war. The war sharply worsened the financial situation of Russia. The costs of the war reached 30 billion rubles, which was three times higher than the revenues of the treasury during this time. The war severed Russia's connection with the world market. The total public debt increased during this time four times and in 1917 amounted to 34 billion rubles. The destruction of railway transport exacerbated the problem of providing cities with raw materials, fuel, and food. For the same reason, industrial enterprises frustrated military orders. There was a reduction in the sown area in the country, caused by the mobilization of more than 47% of the able-bodied male population into the army and the requisitioning of more than a third of peasant horses for military needs. Gross grain harvest in 1916-1917 amounted to 80% of the pre-war. In 1916 the army consumed from 40 to 50% of the grain bread that usually went on the market. The country was simultaneously experiencing a sugar famine (its production was reduced from 126 to 82 million poods; cards and fixed prices were introduced), difficulties in supplying meat (the main stock of livestock in the European part of Russia decreased by 5-7 million heads, meat prices rose by 200-220%).

Thus, we see that the Russian economy has undergone major changes since the beginning of the First World War. By 1917, the tasks of capitalist modernization had not been solved. There were no conditions in the country for the free development of capitalism in agriculture and industry. The state continued to patronize entire branches of industrial production, as a result of which the latter could not conduct economic activities independently in the conditions of market forces. Even the military industry, in its organization and methods, operated not on capitalist, but on semi-feudal and feudal foundations. Semi-serf production relations in the countryside remained dominant. The economic situation of the country deteriorated sharply, which led to crises in the food and transport sectors.

1.2 The political situation on the eve of February.

By 1917, absolute monarchy was preserved in Russia in the absence of a constitutional order, of real political freedoms. The country has not formed a detailed social structure, characteristic of developed bourgeois states. Because of this, the immaturity of the political movement, political parties and public organizations remained. The nobility remained a privileged estate, whose strength was based on large landed estates. The bourgeoisie, including the financial and monopoly, did not have full political rights and were only allowed by tsarism to participate in the management of the state.

Convinced that the tsarist government would not cope with the task of bringing the war to a "victorious end", the bourgeoisie, in the person of its public organizations, set itself the goal of creating a government that would fulfill the historical tasks of the bourgeoisie. For this purpose, an agreement was worked out between various factions of the State Duma and the State Council on the formation of a parliamentary bloc.

In August 1915, most of the Duma deputies - Cadets, Octobrists, other liberals, part of the right-wing nationalist party - united in the Progressive Bloc, headed by the leader of the Cadets P.N. Milyukov. The bloc demanded to strengthen the principles of legality, to reform the zemstvo and local administration, and most importantly, to create a "ministry of public trust" (a government of figures close to liberal-bourgeois circles).

The tsar was convinced that only the monarchy enjoyed the trust of the people and could solve the great tasks of the world war. Feeling an encroachment on his rights, Nicholas II began to appoint dignitaries of the guard regiment to the government and remove ministers who were inclined to make concessions to the Duma. There was a "ministerial leapfrog": for 1915-1916. four chairmen of the Council of Ministers, four ministers of war, six ministers of the interior, four ministers of justice were replaced.

Increasingly less trusting of his inner circle, the tsar, who was at the front, began to entrust important state affairs to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Rasputin gained more and more influence at this time. Dark rumors spread in society about the German sympathies of the Empress - a born German princess, that the government and command fell entirely under the rule of Rasputin and other "dark forces". Milyukov in November 1916 spoke in the Duma with thunderous criticism of the government, ending it with rhetorical questions: "What is this - stupidity or treason?"

Liberal-bourgeois circles were deeply convinced that the tsarist entourage and the bureaucracy, by their inept management, were pushing the country towards revolution. However, they themselves unwittingly brought this revolution closer by publicly criticizing the government. In an effort to “reason” the authorities, public figures began to resort to extra-parliamentary, illegal methods: in December 1916, high-society conspirators led by a prominent right-wing figure V.M. Purishkevich killed Rasputin. At the same time, Guchkov and generals close to him were developing a plan for a military coup: it was supposed to seize the tsar's train and force Nicholas II to sign a abdication in favor of Alexei's heir under the regency, the brother of Tsar Mikhail Alexandrovich. Meanwhile, behind the walls of the Duma and the high-society salons, a mass movement was growing. More and more often there were strikes and unrest in the countryside, there were cases of disobedience of the troops, the anti-war propaganda of the Bolsheviks attracted more and more supporters.

Thus, economic devastation and defeats at the front led to a deepening crisis of tsarism, an aggravation of relations between the government and the State Duma. All this, along with the revolutionary movement, predetermined the isolation of the Russian emperor, completely deprived him of his socio-political support.

1.3 Social prerequisites for the revolution.

The scale of the urgent and partly overripe problems was not the same, the goals and ideals of the struggle were seen as different, the methods and means of achieving them were sometimes used opposite. In general, the "bouquet" of contradictions raised the activity of the most diverse sections of the population, giving rise in the aggregate to a huge tidal wave of social impatience. The war with its mobilization set in motion the broad masses of the people. The political lack of rights of the masses also pushed them to anti-government protests.

With all the variety of matured social and other conflicts, several of them stood out, creating special wide streams of social activity.

The main, by all accounts, for Russia remained the agrarian question, around the solution of which the agrarian-peasant revolution unfolded. It had its own “actors”, its own specific social interests, political organizations (the land issue was considered in the program documents of most parties, but especially the populist, Socialist-Revolutionary direction), ideology and ideals (enshrined in peasant mandates). The intensity of the peasant uprisings ultimately determined the temperature of the opposition moods in the country.

With the industrialization of the country, the organizational and ideological rallying of workers who relied on the poorest strata, hired workers in the countryside, a stream of proletarian-poor people took shape as a relatively independent stream.

The full-flowing national liberation movement, fueled by the struggle of numerous ethnic groups for their political, economic, religious, and cultural rights, was just as quickly breaking through its channel.

During the war years, an anti-war movement was formed, in which representatives of different segments of the population participated.

The most active, offensive, mass, organized (to the extent that this was possible in an atmosphere of autocracy, reaction after the suppression of the first revolution), absorbing the “juices” of parallel opposition and revolutionary movements, was a social movement united under the banner of democratization, change of political regime, establishment of constitutional order. It was the most advanced in terms of the degree of real conquests (the beginnings of a constitution and parliamentarism, the strengthening of zemstvos and city dumas), the theoretical justification, the presence of national leaders (represented mainly in the First - Fourth Dumas).

The economic and political crisis further increased the social discontent of the lower classes. Real wages during the war years (taking into account rising prices) amounted to 80-85% of the pre-war level. The working day was ten hours long. Starting from 1915, the strike movement of the workers in cities and industrial centers became noticeable: in 1915 - 0.6 million people, in 1916 - 1.2 million. The main form of class struggle in these years was economic strikes. Desertion and fraternization increased in the army. By 1917, the peasantry entered the struggle for the transformation of all types of landed property. The number of peasant uprisings (in 280 districts) in 1915 was 177, in 1916 - 290.

Thus, the combination of different types of movements created the possibility of a one-time activation, a one-time burst of accumulated social activity.

Unresolved social contradictions, defeats already in the second war and a decade of functioning in Russia of the institution of legal political opposition, with its inherent tools to influence the masses - the press, the Duma department - have done their job. The current situation explains both the cause of the revolution that began in February 1917, and the specific circumstances that led to the explosion of popular discontent. It also leads to an understanding of a more general problem - the degree of "overheating" of society by social discontent, in which only a pretext was needed to start a revolutionary collapse.

Chapter II . Events of the February Revolution of 1917.

2.1 The beginning and course of the revolution.

All questions left after 1905-1907. unresolved - the agrarian, workers', national, question of power - during the years of severe political and military crisis came to the surface and led to the second revolution in Russia, which, like the first, bore a bourgeois-democratic character. It solved the problems of overthrowing the autocracy, opened the way for the development of capitalism in agriculture and industry, the introduction of a constitutional order, ensuring the political freedoms of citizens, and the destruction of national oppression.

The February-March coup was fleeting in pace, extremely wide in terms of the composition of the participants in the revolutionary uprising, spontaneous, chaotic in terms of the volume of priority tasks being solved, metropolitan in nature of transformations (change of central power).

From its first acts, the revolution that began was characterized by an important feature, which consisted in the absence of organized, cohesive resistance. Not a single social group, not a single region of the country came out openly under the banner of counter-revolution. Supporters of the overthrown regime went into the shadows, no longer playing a significant role in the political struggle in the future. Such an initial ease of victory to the limit expanded the boundaries of possible transformations.

By the second half of February 1917, the food supply to the capital had deteriorated significantly. Along the streets of Petrograd (as St. Petersburg began to be called since 1914) “tails” stretched - queues for bread. The situation in the city was heating up. On February 18, the largest Putilov plant went on strike; he was supported by other enterprises. On February 23 (according to the new style - March 8), the Bolsheviks organized strikes and rallies in honor of International Women's Day. The Bolsheviks and representatives of other revolutionary democratic parties and groups attributed the causes of unemployment and food difficulties to the indifference of the authorities to the needs of the people and called for a struggle against tsarism. The appeal was picked up - strikes and demonstrations unfolded with irresistible force. On February 23, 128,000 workers and women workers of Petrograd took to the streets. An uprising broke out, marking the beginning of the February Revolution of 1917.

On February 24, the scale of strikes and strikes in the capital began to grow rapidly. On that day, 214,000 workers went on strike. Clashes began with the police and the units of the reserve regiments stationed in Petrograd that supported it. On February 25, the movement developed into a general strike under the slogans: "Bread, peace, freedom!". 305 thousand workers took part in it. On this day, for the first time, there was a partial fraternization of troops with the insurgent people and the transition to their side of individual military units.

The authorities assessed everything that happened as ordinary riots and showed no particular concern. But on February 26, they caught on and moved on to more active actions: in a number of districts of the city, police and troops fired on demonstrators. Members of the Petrograd Bolshevik Committee were arrested. But the executions of the demonstrators heated up the situation even more.

On February 27, a decisive turning point occurred in the course of events: the soldiers of the reserve battalions of the guard regiments stationed in Petrograd, among whom were many recruits, as well as wounded soldiers returning from the front, began to en masse go over to the side of the revolutionary workers. The strike turned into an armed uprising. And by the end of the day on February 27, and especially on February 28, the uprising of workers and soldiers in Petrograd acquired a general character. 385 thousand strikers, united with the soldiers of the Petrograd garrison, captured the Arsenal and the Main Artillery Directorate. Having armed themselves, the rebels freed the prisoners from the prisons, having mastered virtually the entire city. On March 1, the remnants of troops loyal to the government laid down their arms.

Thus, the revolutionary events in Petrograd in February 1917 took place due to the extremely difficult economic situation in the country caused by the war, and the unwillingness to take urgent measures to stabilize the situation. A protracted government crisis, the collapse of central and local government at a time of colossal exertion of forces, and at the same time the stubborn unwillingness of the autocracy and the state apparatus to share the government of the country with the moderate forces of Russian society - such was the situation in the country by the end of February 1917.

The victory of the February uprising brought about radical changes in the socio-political situation in the country. Its main result was that “the development of a revolutionary mood among the proletariat took such forms that it was no longer possible to fight against it without having the support of the armed forces, which, unsettled, refused to obey the State Duma and the Provisional Government.”

Chapter III . Changes in the social and state system after the February Revolution of 1917.

3.1 The fall of the Romanov dynasty.

The victorious uprising in the capital overturned the calculations of the leaders of the liberal community. They did not at all seek to destroy the monarchy, realizing that the fall of traditional statehood would undermine order and cause popular riots. The leaders of the Duma wanted to confine themselves to introducing a "responsible ministry" (that is, a government appointed by the Duma), but the mood of the masses clearly showed that such a measure was no longer enough.

The question arose about the abdication of Nicholas II; All front commanders spoke out for this. On the night of March 2-3, the tsar signed a manifesto on the abdication for himself and for Alexei in favor of Mikhail Alexandrovich, explaining that he did not want to endanger his son. Thus, the law on succession to the throne was violated, according to which each member of the royal family could abdicate only for himself, and it became possible in the future to declare such a renunciation invalid. But this act was too late: Michael did not dare to become emperor, declaring that the question of power should be decided by the Constituent Assembly.

With the abdication of Nicholas II, the legal system that had developed in Russia in April 1906 ceased to exist. No other legal system has been created to regulate the activities of the state and its relationship with society.

The fall of the autocracy laid bare the full depth of the socio-political contradictions in the country. Main negative results the overthrow of the autocracy by the February Revolution in Russia can be considered:

1. The transition from the evolutionary development of society to development along a revolutionary path, which inevitably led to an increase in the number of violent crimes against the person and infringement on property rights in society.

2. A significant weakening of the army (as a result of revolutionary agitation in the army and "Order No. 1"), a drop in its combat effectiveness and, as a result, its ineffective further struggle on the fronts of the First World War.

3. Destabilization of society, which led to a deep split in the existing civil society in Russia. As a result, there was a sharp increase in class contradictions in society, the growth of which during 1917 led to the transfer of power into the hands of radical forces, which ultimately served as the beginning of the Civil War in Russia.

chief a positive result The February Revolution in Russia can be considered a short-term consolidation of society as a result of the adoption of a number of democratic legislative acts and a real chance for society, on the basis of this consolidation, to resolve many long-standing contradictions in the country's social development. However, as subsequent events showed, the leaders of the country, who came to power as a result of the February Revolution, were unable to take advantage of these real chances.

Thus, the announcement of two abdications at once meant the final victory of the revolution - as unexpected as its beginning. The monarchy in Russia fell, and its last representatives died a year later: Nikolai and his family were taken to Siberia and shot in Yekaterinburg on July 17, 1918, while Mikhail, exiled to Perm, was killed by local workers.

3.2 Formation of dual power.

From the very first steps of the revolution, a deep split was revealed between the forces that opposed the old regime. The interests of the “qualified public”, which elected the majority of the Duma deputies, were represented by Provisional Committee of the State Duma, created on February 27 under the leadership of Duma Chairman M.V. Rodzianko. On the same day, side by side with the Committee (in the neighboring halls of the Tauride Palace, the residence of the Duma), Petrograd Soviet- a body that reflected the interests of the masses. At first, the contradictions between the two centers of power were smoothed out: the majority in the Soviet were Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, and they stood for cooperation with liberal-bourgeois circles.

On March 2, in agreement with the Petrograd Soviet, the Provisional Committee of the State Duma created government, named Temporary, because was to exist until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly. At this meeting of representatives of all regions of Russia, it was supposed to resolve the most important issues of the socio-political structure of the country, including the question of the form of government.

The Declaration of the Provisional Government, promulgated on March 3, contained a program of priority reforms. It declared an amnesty for political prisoners, proclaimed freedom of speech, press and assembly, and abolished national and religious restrictions. The Declaration spoke of the forthcoming convocation of the Constituent Assembly and elections to local self-government bodies, the failure to send troops of the revolutionary Petrograd garrison to the front and the granting of civil rights to soldiers, and the replacement of the police by the people's militia. The implementation of this program moved the country far along the path of constitutionalism and democracy.

Simultaneously with the system of state administration created by the Provisional Government both in the center and in the localities, Soviets of various levels became widespread throughout Russia. The Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies predominated among them. In rural areas, Soviets of Peasant Deputies soon began to form.

In the February days, the Soviets actually took power. They were able to start up factories, transport, launch newspapers, fight banditry and speculation, and establish order in the city. Already in March 1917, the number of local Soviets increased to 600. The executive committees of the local Soviets were subordinate to the Executive Committee of the Petrosoviet.

However, formally, legally, state power was in the hands of the Provisional Government. It was in charge of appointments, issued decrees and appeals, which acquired the force of law with the support of the Council. Otherwise, the government would lose its footing. The Socialist-Revolutionary-Menshevik leadership of the Petrosoviet sought to prevent this and ensure the government's full support.

In general, this created a unique situation in the country. dual power of the Provisional Government, on the one hand, and the Soviets, on the other, which lasted from early March to early July 1917.

The main task of the Provisional Government was declared to be the preparation for the holding of the Constituent Assembly, designed to determine the form of the state structure of the new Russia, and, accordingly, all its activities were based on the principles of "delayed decisions". In an atmosphere of dual power, this created a significant threat to the development of Russian statehood after the collapse of the monarchy.

The main issue that required an immediate solution was the problem of continuing the bloody war. The government of G.E. Lvov, proclaiming Russia's loyalty to the allied duty and its further participation in the war on the side of the Entente (Milyukov's note of April 18, 1917), caused a powerful wave of indignation.

The political situation in the country was destabilized. Left forces, primarily representatives of the revolutionary democracy in the Soviets, demanded from the government immediate reforms and peace "without annexations and indemnities." Shortly before this, on April 3, the leader of the Bolsheviks, V.I., returned to Petrograd from exile. Lenin. He put forward the slogan about the development of the "bourgeois-democratic revolution into a socialist one." Under his leadership, the Bolsheviks pushed the Soviets to take power into their own hands and create a truly revolutionary democratic government.

The April crisis forced P.N. Milyukov and A.I. Guchkov, revealing the weakness of the socio-political base of the Provisional Government, and led to the formation on May 5, 1917 of its first coalition composition. The new government included 6 socialists, including the leader of the Socialist-Revolutionaries V.M. Chernov, Menshevik leader I.G. Tsereteli. Kerensky took over as military and naval minister. However, despite this, it was not possible to stabilize the situation. The unresolved labor and agrarian issues in the country, as well as the aggravation of national separatism on the outskirts of the former empire, seriously weakened the position of the cabinet, which was still headed by G.E. Lvov. The first coalition government lasted about two months (until July 2). In June, it experienced a political crisis, which was associated with a strike of workers from 29 factories in Petrograd.

The Bolsheviks with their simple, accessible slogans noticeably increased their influence among the masses. At the First Congress of Soviets in June 1917, Lenin openly declared that his party was ready to take full power immediately. This was reinforced by powerful demonstrations in support of the Soviets, where by that time the Bolsheviks had gradually begun to dominate.

As a result, in the summer of 1917, Russia faced a choice: either the Constituent Assembly, which was being prepared by the Provisional Government, or the Soviets. The July crisis erupted on July 2 with the withdrawal of the Cadets from the government in protest against concessions to the Ukrainian "separatists". It acquired extreme severity on July 3-4, when thousands of armed demonstrations of soldiers, sailors, and workers took place in the capital in order to put pressure on the All-Russian Central Executive Committee to create a Soviet government. However, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee declared the demonstration a "Bolshevik conspiracy" and rejected the demands of the masses. The Commander-in-Chief of the Petrograd Military District ordered the junkers and Cossacks to disperse the demonstrators. For the same purpose, troops numbering 15-16 thousand people arrived from the Northern Front. The commander of the Baltic Fleet was ordered to send warships to the capital, but he did not obey the order. Members of counter-revolutionary organizations fired on the demonstrators. 56 people were killed and 650 wounded. Petrograd was declared under martial law. The arrests of the Bolsheviks, the disarmament of the workers, the disbandment of the "rebellious" military units began. On July 6, Kerensky ordered the arrest of V.I. Lenin, who managed to escape. He was accused both of organizing an "armed rebellion" and of espionage for the benefit of Germany. At the same time, the leaders of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee recognized for the Provisional Government "unlimited powers and unlimited power."

Thus, the dual power ended with the defeat of the Soviets. It was the main feature of the February bourgeois-democratic revolution.

The abdication of Nicholas II from the throne created a vacuum of political power, into which many political parties and movements poured. The struggle for power became one of the main features of the political development of Russia in 1917.

At the same time, the rapid collapse of the old political system and the inability of the new political forces to establish effective public administration predetermined the collapse of a single centralized state. These two trends were leading in the political development of the country in 1917.

3.3 Changes in the activities of political parties.

The rivalry between the Provisional Government and the Soviets reflected the struggle between the main political parties: the Kadets, Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries and Bolsheviks.

Mensheviks considered the February revolution as an all-people, all-national, all-class. Therefore, their main political line in the development of events after February was the creation of a government based on a coalition of forces not interested in the restoration of the monarchy.

Similar were the views on the nature and tasks of the revolution among right SRs(A.F. Kerensky, N.D. Avksentiev), as well as the leader of the party, who occupied centrist positions, V. Chernov. February, in their opinion, is the apogee of the revolutionary process and the liberation movement in Russia. They saw the essence of the revolution in Russia in achieving civil accord, reconciliation of all strata of society and, first of all, reconciliation of the supporters of war and revolution in order to implement a program of social reforms.

The position was different. left SRs, its leader M.A. Spiridonova, who believed that the popular, democratic February in Russia marked the beginning of the political and social world revolution.

This position was close to the most radical party in Russia in 1917 - Bolsheviks. Recognizing the bourgeois-democratic character of the February Revolution, they saw the enormous revolutionary potential of the masses of the people, the enormous possibilities arising from the hegemony of the proletariat in the revolution. Therefore, they regarded February 1917 as the first stage of the struggle and set themselves the task of preparing the masses for the socialist revolution. This position, formulated by V.I. Lenin, was not shared by all Bolsheviks, but after the VII (April) Conference of the Bolshevik Party, it became the general direction of its activity. The task was to attract the masses to their side by deploying agitation and propaganda. In the period from April to July 1917, the Bolsheviks considered a peaceful path to the implementation of the socialist revolution possible, but the political situation in the country that changed in July reoriented their tactics: a course was taken for an armed uprising.

Not without interest in this regard is the point of view on the February revolution of L.D. Trotsky - a prominent political figure in revolutionary Russia. He viewed the February Revolution as an episode on the road to the dictatorship of the proletariat.

So, the political positions of individual parties in February 1917 looked ambiguous. The most moderate - the Cadets, Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries occupied centrist positions in their theoretical views, and in politics they were inclined to compromise with the Cadets. The left radical flank was occupied by the Social Revolutionaries, the Bolsheviks, Trotsky and his supporters.

Conclusion

The second bourgeois-democratic revolution in the history of Russia ended in victory. Starting in Petrograd, by March 1 the revolution won in Moscow, and then it was supported throughout the country. After the victory of the February Revolution, Russia turned into one of the most democratic countries in Europe. However, the most important political question of power did not receive a complete solution in the course of the revolution. The formation of dual power did not consolidate, but even more split Russian society. All this, along with the delay in solving the main tasks of the bourgeois-democratic transformations, led to the deepening of the revolutionary process in the post-February period.

February 1917 drew a line under the history of the Romanov dynasty. After the collapse of the monarchy, for the first time in Russian history, the possibility of coming to power opened up for all political classes, parties and their political leaders. To a certain extent, the February Revolution of 1917 opened the state of civil war in Russia not in the military sense, but in the socio-political sense, i.e. struggle for political power between parties and classes.

So, were the Bolshevik revolution and civil war inevitable? February gave the peoples of Russia a chance for peaceful development along the path of reforms, but for many reasons: the unwillingness and inability of the Provisional Government and the classes behind it to solve the tasks of the bourgeois-democratic revolution, the refusal of the Petrograd Soviet and the parties that made up the majority in it, from the actually taken state power, finally, the absence of any tradition of political democracy in all sectors of society and the obsessive belief in violence as a way to solve all problems - this chance remained unrealized.

1. How did the war affect the socio-economic situation in the country, the theory and practice of the leading political parties, and the alignment of political forces?

The industry of Russia rather quickly reorganized in a military way. A system of Special Conferences has been created (organizations for the mobilization of all resources for the needs of the front). The rise of Russian defense industry was one-sided. It occurred due to a decrease in the output of consumer goods, which caused an increase in prices for them. Interruptions in the supply of food to large cities led to a new phenomenon - queues appeared, which became a kind of political clubs (according to police reports). Inflation. The government introduced a mandatory norm for the delivery of bread to the state - a surplus appraisal (the peasant was in no hurry to bring bread to the market). The war changed the psychology of people. Huge sacrifices. Who needs them? Anger, hatred for those who continued the war-slaughter.

Social instability, the movement of large masses of people, cut off from their usual life, the population is subject to panic, unpredictable actions. Wearyness from the war, vague anxiety, fear of hunger, irritation against the authorities accumulated and manifested itself.

The war made adjustments to the activities of the parties. Liberals and monarchists created public organizations to help the front. The defeats of 1915 led to disappointment. There was an idea - treason! The Cadets put forward the idea of ​​creating a government of people's confidence. Most of the Duma factions rallied around this idea, except for the extreme right and left. An inter-party coalition, the Progressive Bloc, is being created.

Parliamentary attack on the government - a speech by the leader of the Kadets Milyukov, which contained sharp criticism and the repeated question “What is this? Stupidity or treason? The speech was a resounding success. By their actions, the liberals pushed public opinion to the idea of ​​the complete worthlessness of the regime.

The camp of revolutionaries was divided into three currents (in relation to the war) - patriotic (defensive), centrist, defeatist.

Defenders (Plekhanov) - to defend the Fatherland, postponing all revolutionary actions.

Centrists (Martov, Chernov) - the immediate conclusion of peace by all the warring powers.

Defeatists (Lenin) - for the defeat of their government and the transformation of the imperialist war into a civil one.

There was an urgent need for public consent, but Nicholas II did everything to deepen the gap between power and society. He, having assumed the duties of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, assumed responsibility for the catastrophic situation at the front. Proximity to the royal family of Rasputin strengthened the negative attitude towards the monarchy, the divine halo of royal power was rapidly disappearing.

2. List the factors that influenced the aggravation of the revolutionary situation in the country in 1917.

Fundamental class contradictions of an objective nature

The preservation of landownership, the impoverishment of the many millions of peasants in connection with the unresolved agrarian question.

Lack of social adaptation of the population to the new realities of industrial capitalism, exacerbation of contradictions between workers and capitalist industrialists.

The formation of a national bourgeois elite in the absence of real political power among the bourgeoisie; lack of developed parliamentary traditions

Controversies of a temporary nature associated with the First World War

Failures at the front

Huge military spending, colossal public debt

Social deprivation (devastation, famine, death of many soldiers)

Growing disproportions in economic development

Disruption of transport, decline of agriculture and industry

Increased liberal criticism of the tsarist government, as well as a sharp increase in hostile propaganda from Germany

Paralysis of tsarist power against the background of the activation of revolutionary forces in the army and society

Reasons for the sharp increase in mass discontent in February-October 1917

The collapse of traditional structures of power and control from top to bottom

Real multi-authority in the center and in the regions

Strengthening the ambitions of the leaders of political and national movements

Continuation of the war and associated social deprivation

Fall of discipline in the army and military defeats in June 1917

Deterioration of living standards of the population (since the summer of 1917)

The collapse of the relative socio-political consolidation of Russian society

Populism of radical political leaders

Delaying socio-economic reforms until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly

3. Was the social explosion in February 1917 accidental or natural?

Natural. Various political forces intended to overcome the deepest crisis of power through violent forms of political struggle. An explosive situation was formed in the country and all that was needed was an occasion that would have a positive moral assessment in the eyes of the public. In February 1917, women's protests in connection with the difficulties in supplying Petrograd with bread became such an occasion. Initially, the protest did not have a political goal, but received support in society. The food shortages that arose in the capital were mainly caused by the inability to organize the food supply of the city. Endless queues, rumors that food will be even worse - all this caused spontaneous actions of discontent. For the first time these days the slogan "Bread" was put forward. In the political and state aspect, the starting point for the development of events was the convocation of the State Duma on February 14, 1917. Her criticism of the existing government, the monarch, the empress in particular, created a favorable background for the start of the strike movement. The emperor's decree on the dissolution of the State Duma officially opposed it in the eyes of the public to tsarism, thereby giving a certain legitimacy to popular discontent. As for the labor movement, it began in connection with the lockout at the Putilov factory. The protest action of the Putilov workers grew into a general political strike. The desperate situation of the population led to an avalanche-like growth of the movement. It began to pour into thousands of demonstrations under the slogan "Down with the war." With general dissatisfaction with the policy of power, such speeches are able to absorb heterogeneous political movements, parties and political currents, which, having different political tasks and interests, end up together, because they have one goal - the overthrow of the existing political power. The society turned out to be captured by one idea. It sought to achieve a single goal - to overthrow the hated and discredited Rasputin-Nikolaev regime. If we evaluate the situation in general from February 24 to February 26, 1917, then we can say that manifestations of mass psychosis were observed in Petrograd, which arose on the basis of the threat of famine and the inability of the central government to oppose a tough alternative to revolutionary actions by force.

4. Describe the composition, the proclaimed goals, the amount of real power in the center and in the localities of the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet.

provisional government

Compound(Cadets, Octobrists, Socialist-Revolutionaries, etc.)

Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister of the Interior - Prince G.E. Lvov. Minister of Foreign Affairs - P.N. Milyukov. Minister of War and Marine - A.I. Guchkov. Minister of Railways - N.V. Nekrasov. Minister of Trade and Industry - A.I. Konovalov. Minister of Finance - M.I. Tereshchenko. Minister of Education - A.A. Manuilov. Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod - V.N. Lvov. Minister of Agriculture - A.I. Shingarev. Minister of Justice - A.F. Kerensky.

Goals

· Full and immediate amnesty for all political and religious cases, including: terrorist attacks, military uprisings and agrarian crimes, etc.

· Freedom of speech, press, unions, meetings and strikes with the extension of political freedoms to military personnel within the limits allowed by military technical conditions.

· Cancellation of all class, religious and national restrictions.

· Immediate preparations for the convocation of a Constituent Assembly on the basis of universal, equal, secret and direct voting, which will establish the form of government and the constitution of the country.

· Replacing the police with people's militia with elected leaders subordinate to local self-government bodies.

· Elections to local self-government bodies based on universal, direct, equal and secret suffrage.

· Non-disarmament and non-withdrawal from Petrograd of military units that took part in the revolutionary movement.

· While maintaining strict military discipline in the ranks and in the performance of military service - the elimination for soldiers of all restrictions in the use of public rights granted to all other citizens.

The Committee, however, did not possess the fullness of actual power, since the rebellious soldiers of the Petrograd garrison (170,000) and the workers tended to support the Petrograd Soviet.

Petrosoviet

Compound(Socialists)

Members of the Executive Committee could only be representatives of specific socialist parties. The initial composition of the Executive Committee included 15 people. Leaders: chairman - N. S. Chkheidze, comrades of the chairman - Menshevik M. I. Skobelev and Social Revolutionary A. F. Kerensky (all three members of the IV State Duma).

Goals

· Tracking the policies of the Provisional Government

5. Describe the domestic and foreign policy of the Provisional Government after coming to power

In the declaration of the Provisional Government of March 3, 1917, civil liberties were proclaimed, extended to military personnel, an amnesty for political prisoners, the abolition of national and religious restrictions, etc. At the same time, the arrest of Nikolai I, a number of senior officials and generals was sanctioned. On March 4, an Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry was established to investigate their actions.

By agreement with the Petrograd Soviet, a radical democratization of the army was promoted. It was carried out on the basis of Order No. 1 of the Petrograd Soviet in March 1917 for the garrison of the Petrograd Military District. The Petrograd Soviet decided to elect soldiers' committees in all divisions, units and on ships, to elect one representative from each company to the Council of Workers' Deputies, stressed that military units in all their political speeches are subordinate to the Council and their committees, and all orders of the military commission of the State Duma were subject to execution only in that tea, if they did not contradict the orders and resolutions of the Council. Soldiers were required to observe strict military discipline in the ranks and during the "dispatch of official duties", and outside the service they could not be "diminished in those rights with which all citizens are entitled." Order No. 1 abolished the title of officers who were not allowed to issue weapons that were at the disposal and under the control of company and battalion committees. One of the members of the Petrograd Soviet, I. Goldenberg, later admitted that Order No. 1 “is not a mistake, but a necessity,” since “we are t::. that if the old army was not destroyed, it would spread the revolution.”

Despite the fact that the order applied only to the troops of the Petrograd garrison, it became widespread in the active army and in the rear, causing the troops to disintegrate and their combat capability to decline. In the army, the military field institute of commissars was abolished to control the activity of officers, and about 150 officers were transferred to the reserve, including 70 division chiefs. By decree of the 1st Vol., the government abolished the death penalty, and more established revolutionary military courts.

The provisional government believed that fundamental reforms in all areas of the country's life were possible only after the election of the Constituent Assembly. Therefore, it was limited to the adoption of temporary laws, adhering to the idea of ​​"non-decision" of the will of the Constituent Assembly.

On March 17, the Government's Declaration was published on its consent to the creation of an independent Poland in the future with the inclusion of German and Austro-Hungarian Polish lands in it, provided that it was in a "free military alliance" with Russia. On March 7, the Provisional Government restored the autonomy of Finland, but opposed its complete independence. However, on July 5, the Seimas of Finland adopted the "Law on Power", which limited the competence of the Provisional Government to questions of military and foreign policy. This law was adopted in accordance with the resolution of the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets, but the Provisional Government responded to it by dissolving the Sejm. In May-June, there was a sharp struggle between the Russian government and the Central Rada of Ukraine, created on March 4 in Kyiv. In the First Universal of the Central Rada of June 10, contrary to the wishes of the Provisional Government, the autonomy of Ukraine was proclaimed. After negotiations between the ministers A.F. Kerensky, M.I. Tereshchenko and I.G. Tsereteli with the Central Rada, on July 2, the Provisional Government adopted a Declaration, which recognized, with some reservations, the autonomy of Ukraine.

From February to October 1917, socio-economic problems were solved very carefully, especially the issue of land. Most public organizations were unanimous in that the land should pass into the hands of the working people, and the Constituent Assembly should decide on the legislative issue of land reorganization. However, in determining the very essence of the land reform, irreconcilable contradictions arose: liberal circles defended private ownership of land, while the radicals demanded that all land be transferred to the common public property for equal use without any redemption.

In March, the Provisional Government transferred cabinet and specific lands to the state, and in April established land committees to carry out land reform. In addition, acts were issued aimed at unauthorized seizures of landowners' lands, which acquired significant proportions.

The country continued to deepen the food crisis that arose back in 1915. In January - February 1917, the population of Russia received only about 25% of the planned amount of food, and the army - no more than 43%. In order to overcome the food crisis, the Provisional Government formed pro-government committees in March, and on March 25 introduced a grain monopoly and a food rationing system (1 pound a day). All grain, with the exception of the stock necessary for the food and household needs of the owner, was subject to sale at fixed prices to the state. In order to interest the peasantry in the delivery of grain, Mr.--; On June 7, the military government adopted a resolution "On the start of organizing the supply of the population with fabrics, shoes, kerosene, soap and other food products and essentials." However, the supply of industrial goods to the countryside was not going well. In August, the Ministry of Food had an estate of 26 million poods, which could only last for one month at a rate of 0.75 pounds per day. Therefore, the government raised the price of bread, but this did not help either. Of the 3,502.8 million poods of grain harvested in 1917, the state received 250 million poods each.

The situation in industry was no less difficult. The First World War laid a heavy burden on the economy, since the army absorbed 40-50% of all material values ​​created by Russia. The collapse of the industry was aggravated even more after the February Revolution, when the structure of the day was broken in connection with the mass expulsion of technical personnel. In his place, fabzav-nnnn appointed people who did not have special training, implicitly introduced an 8-hour working day, fettered the initiative of the rest of the managers and specialists, overstated wages compared to 1914. All this led to a drop in production, the closure of enterprises, dismissal of workers. Despite this, the army and navy had sufficient material resources, mainly due to old stocks.

Transport was also in a difficult position, where elected councils and committees were widely planted. By a Circular of the Ministry of Railways of May 27, they were given the power of public control over the railway authorities, which disorganized the management of the railways. The All-Russian Executive Committee of the Railway Trade Union, created at the First All-Russian Constituent Congress of Railway Workers (July 15 - August 25, 1917), insisted that "the railway union should be completely autonomous."

The First World War led to a huge increase in government spending from 5 billion rubles in the second half of 1914 to 18 billion in 1916. After the February Revolution, spending in the seven months of 1917 reached 18 billion rubles. This growth was due to many reasons, including a decrease in the gross domestic product, an excessive increase in wages, subsidizing enterprises, a decrease in land tax revenues, and a tax on urban real estate. All this led to the depreciation of the ruble. In order to change the financial system on a democratic basis, direct taxation of the propertied classes was introduced, and in August indirect taxation was intensified and a monopoly was established on tea, sugar, and matches. Credit operations yielded 9.5 billion rubles in the first half of 1917, while ordinary income was assumed to be no more than 5.8 billion, which did not cover expenses. Therefore, the government increased the issuance of credit notes. If in 1916 they were issued in the amount of almost 3.5 billion rubles, then in the six months of 1917 the issue amounted to almost 4 billion rubles.

One of the complex problems that the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet had to solve was the question of Russia's participation in the world war.

On March 14, 1917, the Petrograd Soviet adopted a manifesto "To the peoples of the whole world", which declared the rejection of predatory goals in the war, from annexations and con-77: Walk, but recognized the revolutionary war with Germany. In the appeal of the Provisional Government to the citizens of Russia dated March 27, it was noted that it would fully comply with its obligations towards the allies, defend against the enemy invading Russia, and seek lasting peace on the basis of self-determination of peoples.

6. What are the reasons for the establishment of dual power in the center of the country and, often, multiple power in the regions? How did the abdication of Nicholas II affect the situation with power?

With the abdication of Nicholas II from the throne, the legal system that had developed since 1906 ceased to exist. No other legal system regulating the activities of the state was created.

Now the fate of the country depended on political forces, the activity and responsibility of political leaders, their ability to control the behavior of the masses.

After the February Revolution, the main political parties operated in Russia: the Cadets, Octobrists, Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks and Bolsheviks. The policy of the Provisional Government was determined by the Cadets. They were supported by the Octobrists, Mensheviks and Right SRs. The Bolsheviks, at their VII (April 1917) conference, approved the course for preparing a socialist revolution.

In order to stabilize the situation and alleviate the food crisis, the interim government introduced a rationing system, raised purchase prices, and increased the import of meat, fish and other products. The bread apportionment, introduced back in 1916, was supplemented by a meat appropriation, and armed military detachments were sent to forcibly seize bread and meat from the peasants in the countryside.

7. What are the causes of the crises of the Provisional Government? Why did the Cadet Party fail to cope with the crisis of power?

The government declaration of March 3, developed jointly with the Executive Committee of the Council, proclaimed civil liberties, political amnesty, the abolition of the death penalty, the cessation of class, national and religious discrimination, and the convening of the Constituent Assembly. However, it did not speak about the attitude towards the problem of ending the war and the confiscation of the landlords' land. A democratic republic was not proclaimed either. The provisional government saw its main task in concentrating all power in its hands. The old state apparatus was preserved with minor changes. The places of the governors were taken by the commissars of the Provisional Government. Tsarist law was in effect. The police were replaced by the people's militia, subordinating it to the zemstvos and city dumas. The masses of the people at first trusted the government, supported by the Soviets, hoping that it would lead the country out of the crisis. However, the solution of the most pressing questions about land and peace was postponed until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly. Because of this, the government became "bourgeois" and hostile to the general population. Social tension in the country was still high. This resulted in crises of the Provisional Government. On April 18, Minister of Foreign Affairs P.N. Milyukov, in a note to Russia's allies, assured them of his determination to bring the war to a victorious end. This caused powerful protest demonstrations that took place in the capital and other cities. Milyukov and Minister of War A.I. Guchkov were forced to resign. In early May, representatives of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks entered the Provisional Government. The first coalition government arose - 10 "capitalists" and 6 "socialists". However, the coalition was not able to solve the problems.

8. Briefly describe the composition of the three coalition governments.

1 - The bourgeois parties had 10 seats, the socialists had 6. G.E. became the chairman of the government. Lviv

2 - 7 Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, 4 Cadets, 2 Radical Democrats and 2 non-Party people. A.F. became the chairman of the government. Kerensky.

3 - 4 Cadets, 2 Social Revolutionaries, 3 Mensheviks, 1 Trudovik, 1 "independent" and 2 military specialists. Prime Minister - A.F. Kerensky

9. Why was an attempt to establish a military dictatorship made in August 1917, and what are the consequences of this event?

The impending government crisis was interrupted by the beginning of the offensive of the Russian army on the southwestern front. After 10 days, the offensive bogged down. Russian losses amounted to 60 thousand killed and wounded. A new political crisis was approaching. On July 8, the Central Committee of the Kadet Party decided to withdraw from the government in protest against the latter's negotiations with the Central Rada of Ukraine on the issue of its complete separation from Russia. The crisis of the coalition government caused a half-million demonstration in the capital, which took place on June 4 under the slogans of the transfer of power to the Soviets. Among the demonstrators were armed soldiers and sailors. The provisional government decided to use force. As a result, up to 700 people were killed and wounded. After that, the government takes steps towards dictatorship. Martial law is declared in Petrograd, some military units are disarmed and withdrawn from the city, radical newspapers are closed, an order is signed to arrest the leaders of the Bolsheviks V.I. Lenin and G.E. Zinoviev. On July 24, the second coalition government is formed (8 "capitalists" and 7 "socialists"). A.F. becomes prime minister. Kerensky. Now the Socialist-Revolutionary Menshevik leaders were at the head of the government and the Soviets. The dual power in the country was actually eliminated. The bourgeoisie is losing faith in the ability of the Provisional Government to restore order in the country and sees the only way out in the establishment of a military dictatorship. In this endeavor, she was supported by monarchist organizations. On August 12-15, the State Conference was convened in Moscow. “Government for the Salvation of the Revolution” (as the Socialists who formed its basis now called the Provisional Government) headed by A.F. Kerensky tried to use this meeting "for the purpose of uniting state power with all the organized forces of the country." Opening the Meeting, Kerensky assured that he would crush all attempts to resist the government with "iron and blood". The ideological preparation for the transition to a policy of "firm order", a "strong hand" was carried out by the Cadets, and the army and military and paramilitary organizations took over the organizational work. Financial and industrial circles provided financial preparations for the establishment of a military dictatorship in the country; a candidate for military dictatorship was found - General L.G. Kornilov, former commander of the military district. The military coup that was being prepared was initially supported by the head of the Provisional Government A.F. Kerensky, who hoped with the help of the army to balance the precarious position of his government. Through the efforts of Kerensky L.G. Kornilov at the end of July was appointed Supreme Commander. Kornilov's program provided for the creation of three armies: "an army in the trenches, an army in the rear, and an army of railroad workers." The death penalty was envisaged not only at the front, but also in the rear. The Soviets were to be liquidated, the same was supposed to apply to the socialist parties, and ultimately to the Provisional Government. On August 24, 1917, the rebel troops under the command of General Krymov began to move towards Petrograd. Under these conditions, the danger to the revolution made it necessary for the time being to put aside all political differences and create a united revolutionary-democratic front of all socialist parties. In a few days, the Committee of the People's Struggle against the Counter-Revolution was formed from representatives of the Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries and Bolsheviks. The Committee organized the distribution of weapons and ammunition among the parts of the Petrograd garrison, mobilized railway workers and postal and telegraph employees in order to prevent the advance of the rebellion participants to the capital. By the end of August 1917, the threat of a military mutiny was eliminated.

Effects

Kerensky's victory in this confrontation was the prelude of Bolshevism, for it meant the victory of the Soviets, which were increasingly captured by the Bolsheviks, and with which the Kerensky government could only pursue a conciliatory policy. As a result of the appeal of the Bolsheviks from the Government tribune to counter the Kornilovites, the Bolsheviks were given the opportunity to arm themselves completely legally. According to Uritsky, up to 40,000 rifles fell into the hands of the Petrograd proletariat. Also during these days, in the working districts, an intensified formation of Red Guard detachments began, the disarmament of which after the liquidation of the Kornilov uprising was out of the question. This weapon was used by the Bolsheviks against the Provisional Government in less than 2 months - in October 1917.

10. Why, in your opinion, the country's most pressing problems have not been resolved?

(Remake from your own face! Because you need to express your point of view)

From the book of General Denikin “Essays on Russian Troubles”: “The power of the Provisional Government in itself bore signs of impotence ... It also included a “hostage of democracy” - Kerensky, who defined his role in this way: “I am a representative of democracy and the Provisional Government must look at me as a spokesman for the demands of democracy, and should especially take into account the opinions that I will defend "...

Finally, ... the government included elements of the Russian advanced intelligentsia, who completely shared its good and bad qualities, including the complete absence of volitional impulses ... ".

This "complete absence of volitional impulses" is connected with two things. The peasants dreamed of land, they lived on a tiny plot on which they could not feed their children. They dreamed of land - this was the age-old dream of the peasantry, which is solved by any bourgeois revolution. First of all, the Decree on Land. Bourgeois, not socialist. They howled for lack of land. And they rotted in the trenches. They were given the freedom to continue to rot in the trenches for no reason at all, and the freedom to see their hungry children and not have access to the land. Now, if two issues were resolved - land and war, there would be a Provisional Government and there would be everything else. But they were devoid of will...

(All this can be expressed as follows: The Provisional Government did not have the will - necessary to meet the historical needs of the people. And so they failed.)

But most importantly, the second question. The leaders of the Provisional Government dragged out the war, and their most important party shouted: "War to a victorious end." And this question was also put to a standstill.

After February 1917, the possibility of a normal, full-fledged, calm life opened up before Russia, which would undoubtedly lead our country to prosperity. But, unfortunately, nothing is created in one minute. Normal time was needed to solve those problems that had been accumulating for decades, or even centuries. But the impatience took over. Impatience - as it sometimes seizes us here in this hall. And this impatience ruined Russia. It pushed to the fore the force that promised to solve everything in one day. They decided one day. But how did you decide? Then disentangled for many decades.

11. Describe the relationship between the Bolsheviks and the Left SRs. What united the parties, and on what issues did their positions differ?

On the main issues of the revolution, both parties (Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries) pursued a coordinated policy, but the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries opposed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and after its ratification they declared themselves free from the obligations of the agreement with the Bolsheviks and withdrew their representatives from the Council of People's Commissars. The Left Socialist-Revolutionaries opposed the Leninist plan for socialist construction, the Kombeds, and the food detachments. They did not support the fight against the kulaks, the development of the revolution in the countryside. More and more anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda were carried out, accusing the Bolsheviks of betraying the ideals of October. Many representatives of the Left Socialist-Revolutionary Party participated in the creation of the Red Army, in the work of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (VChK). At the same time, on a number of fundamental issues, the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, expressing the interests of the prosperous peasantry and petty bourgeoisie, from the very beginning disagreed with the Bolsheviks, not accepting the extremes of the dictatorship of the proletariat and generally rejecting its necessity.

12. What problems did the Bolsheviks manage to solve with the help of the PLSR, and is it fair to characterize the Left SRs as “allies for hire”?

February revolution Causes and causes of the revolution

The reasons for the revolution were the whole mass of problems facing Russian society, which were not actually resolved after the First Russian Revolution and became significantly aggravated during the First World War (agrarian, labor and national issues, the preservation of the estate and autocratic system, the fall in the authority of the government, which lost support even Dumas and nobility, the economic crisis and the social deprivations associated with it, dissatisfaction with the continuation of the unsuccessful war, the rapid growth of the mass movement, etc.).

Three reasons for the February Revolution:

• grain shortages that began in the second half of February 1917 in Petrograd (due to transport difficulties and rumors of a sharp aggravation of the food crisis, which led to a significant increase in demand for bread);
• the strike of workers at the Putilov factory in Petrograd, which began on February 18, 1917, demanding higher wages;
• February 23, 1917 - spontaneous demonstrations of workers, timed to coincide with International Women's Day, demanding a solution to food problems, an end to the war and the return of their husbands from the front.

Main events of the February Revolution

1. February 23-26, 1917 - a strike at the Putilov factory and a women's demonstration turned into citywide strikes and clashes with the police, army and Cossacks (red flags and slogans "Down with the tsar!" and "Down with war!" appeared at the demonstrations, as a result of clashes people are dying). Nicholas II, who was at that time at the headquarters of the supreme command in Mogilev, gave the order to stop the unrest in the capital.
2. February 27, 1917 - a turning point in the course of the revolution:

• armed uprising in Petrograd: several government regiments killed their officers at night and went over to the side of the rebels, after which during the day the rebels throughout the city freed prisoners from prisons, seized weapons, occupied the Tauride Palace, where the State Duma met, and arrested the tsarist government;
• the emergence in the Tauride Palace of two bodies of new power: the Provisional Committee of the State Duma (from representatives of the Progressive Bloc, led by the Octobrist M. V. Rodzianko) and the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies (created on the model of the Soviets of 1905, headed by the Menshevik N S. Chkheidze). Advice

relied on mass support and real military force in the form of the Petrograd garrison 1 . However, the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries who dominated it believed that they should not take power, since the revolution is of a bourgeois nature and the bourgeois parties should rule, while the task of the socialists is to control them.

On the night of March 1-2, the creation of the Provisional Government headed by G. E. Lvov (by agreement between the Provisional Committee of the State Duma and the Petrograd Soviet). Leading posts in the government were occupied by representatives of the liberal parties—P. N. Milyukov, A. I. Guchkov, M. V. Rodzianko, and others. The Socialist-Revolutionary Minister A. F. Kerensky was the only socialist. Dual power immediately arose between the Provisional Government (“power without power”, since it did not have authority and trust in society) and the Petrograd Soviet (“power without power”, since it had broad social support from workers, soldiers, peasants, relied on the Petrograd garrison );

Abolition of the monarchy: on the evening of March 2, under pressure from the high military command, Nicholas II signed the Manifesto on abdication in favor of his younger brother Michael, but on March 3, Michael also abdicated in favor of the Constituent Assembly (the question of the future form of government was to be decided at the Constituent Assembly).

Causes and character of the February Revolution.

The February revolution was caused by the same reasons, had the same character, solved the same tasks and had the same balance of opposing forces as the revolution of 1905-1907. (See paragraph "The First Russian Revolution of 1905 - 1907). After the first revolution, the tasks of overthrowing the autocracy (the question of power), introducing democratic freedoms, solving agrarian, working, and national issues continued to remain unresolved. The February Revolution of 1917, like the revolution of 1905-1907, had a bourgeois-democratic character.

Features of the February Revolution.

Unlike the first Russian revolution of 1905-1907, the February Revolution of 1917:

It took place against the backdrop of the devastation caused by the First World War;

Active participation in revolutionary events of soldiers and sailors;

The army almost immediately went over to the side of the revolution.

The formation of a revolutionary situation. The revolution was not prepared in advance and broke out unexpectedly both for the government and for the revolutionary parties. It is noteworthy that V.I. Lenin in 1916 did not believe in her imminent arrival. He said: "We old people may not live to see the decisive battles of this coming revolution." However, by the end of 1916, the economic devastation, the aggravation of the needs and calamities of the masses caused social tension, the growth of anti-war sentiment and dissatisfaction with the policy of the autocracy. By early 1917, the country was in a social and political crisis.

The beginning of the revolution. In February 1917, the supply of bread in Petrograd worsened. The country had enough bread, but due to the devastation of the transport, it was not delivered on time. There were queues at the bakeries, which caused discontent among the people. In this situation, any act of the authorities could cause a social explosion. On February 18, the workers of the Putilov factory went on strike. In response, the management fired the strikers. They were supported by the workers of other enterprises. On February 23 (March 8, NS) a general strike began. It was accompanied by rallies with the slogans "Bread!", "Peace!" "Freedom!", "Down with the war!" "Down with autocracy!" February 23, 1917 considered the beginning of the February Revolution.

At first, the government did not attach much importance to these events. On the eve of Nicholas II, having assumed the duties of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, left Petrograd for Headquarters in the city of Mogilev. However, events escalated. On February 24, 214 thousand people were already on strike in Petrograd, and on the 25th - over 300 thousand (80% of the workers). Demonstrations expanded. The Cossacks sent to disperse them began to go over to the side of the demonstrators. Commander of the Petrograd Military District General S.S. Khabalov received an order from the king: “I command you to stop the unrest in the capital tomorrow.” On February 26, Kha-ba-lov ordered to open fire on the demonstrators: 50 people were killed, hundreds were wounded.

The outcome of any revolution depends on which side the army ends up on. The defeat of the revolution of 1905-1907 in many respects it was due to the fact that, on the whole, the army remained faithful to tsarism. In February 1917, there were 180 thousand soldiers in Petrograd, who were being prepared to be sent to the front. There were many recruits from workers mobilized for participating in strikes. They did not want to go to the front, they easily succumbed to revolutionary propaganda. The execution of the demonstrators aroused the indignation of the soldiers of the garni-zone. The soldiers of the Pavlovsky regiment seized the arsenal and handed over the weapons to the workers. On March 1, there were already 170 thousand soldiers on the side of the rebels. The remnants of the garrison, along with Khabalov, surrendered. The transition of the garrison zone to the side of the revolution ensured its victory. Tsarist ministers were arrested, police stations were destroyed and burned down, and political prisoners were released from prisons.

Creation of new authorities. Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies (February 27, 1917). The Petrograd Soviet consisted of 250 members. Chairman - Menshevik N.S. Chkheidze, deputies - Menshevik M.I. Skobelev and Trudovik A.F. Kerensky(1881-1970). The Petrosoviet was dominated by the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries, at that time the most numerous left-wing parties. They put forward the slogan of "civil peace", the consolidation of all classes, political freedoms. By decision of the Petrograd Soviet, the royal finances were seized.

« Order No. 1» was published by the Petrosoviet on March 1, 1917. Electoral Sol-Danish committees weapons were placed at their disposal. The titles of officers and saluting them were abolished. Although this order was intended only for the Petrograd garrison, it soon spread to the fronts. "Order No. 1" was destructive, undermined the principle of unity of command in the army, led to its collapse and mass desertion.

Creation of the Provisional Government. The leaders of the bourgeois parties in the State Duma created on February 27 "Provisional Committee of the State Duma" under the leadership of the Chairman of the IV Duma M. V. Rod-zyanko. March 2, 1917. The Petrograd Soviet and the Provisional Committee of the State Duma formed Provisional Government composed of:

Chairman - Prince G. E. Lvov(1861-1925), non-party liberal, close to the Cadets and Octobrists:

Minister of Foreign Affairs - Cadet P. N. Milyukov(1859-1943);

Military and Naval Minister - Octobrist A. I. Guchkov(1862-1936);

Minister of Communications - a tech-style magnate from the Ivanovo region, a member of the Progressive Party A. I. Konovalov(1875-1948);

Minister of Agriculture - A. I. Shingarev (1869-1918);

Minister of Finance - sugar breeder M. I. Te-reschenko(1886-1956);

Minister of Education - liberal populist A. A. Manuilov;

King's abdication. Nicholas II was at Headquarters in the city of Mogilev and did not understand the danger of the situation. On February 27, having received news of the beginning of the revolution from the chairman of the IV Duma, M.V. The tsar placed responsibility for the unrest in the capital on the Duma and ordered its dissolution. Later, he ordered to send punitive troops to the capital under the command of General N. I. Ivanova, appointed commander of the Petrograd garrison instead of Khabalov. However, information about the victory of the revolution in Petrograd and the transition to its side of the troops forced General Ivanov to refrain from punitive actions.

On February 28, the tsar and his retinue went to Petrograd, but the tsar's train could not get through to the capital and turned to Pskov, where the headquarters of the commander of the Northern Front, General N.V. Ryuzsky. After negotiations with Rodzianko and the commanders of the fronts, Nicholas II decided to abdicate in favor of his 13-year-old son Alexei, under the regency of his brother Mikhail. On March 2, representatives of the Provisional Committee of the Duma arrived in Pskov A.I. Guchkov and V.V. Shulgin. They convinced the king to "transfer the burden of government to other hands." Nicholas II signed a manifesto on abdication in favor of his brother Michael. The tsar made an entry in his diary: "There is treason and cowardice and deceit all around!"

Subsequently, Nicholas was with his family under house arrest in the Tsarskoye Selo Palace. In the summer of 1917, by decision of the Provisional Government, the Romanovs were sent into exile in Tobolsk. In the spring of 1918, they were moved by the Bolsheviks to Yekaterinburg, where they were shot in July 1918, along with their entourage.

Guchkov and Shulgin returned to Petrograd with a manifesto on the abdication of Nicholas. The toast in honor of the new Emperor Mikhail, proclaimed by Guchkov, aroused indignation among the workers. They threatened Guchkov with execution. On March 3, members of the Provisional Government met with Mikhail Romanov. After heated discussions, the majority voted for Mi-hail's abdication. He agreed and signed the abdication. The autocracy has fallen. It has come dual power.

The essence of duality. During the transitional period - from the moment the victory of the revolution to the adoption of the constitution and the formation of new authorities - the Provisional Revolutionary Government usually operates, whose duty is to break the old apparatus of power, to consolidate the gains of the revolution by decrees and convocation Constituent Assembly, which determines the form of the future state structure of the country and adopts the constitution. However, a feature of the February Revolution of 1917 was that there was an unparalleled history dual power represented by the socialist Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies (" strength without power”), on the one hand, and the liberal Provisional Government (“ power without power"), with another.

The meaning of the February Revolution of 1917:

There was an overthrow of the self-power;

Russia received maximum political freedoms.

The revolution won, but it did not solve all the problems. Cruel trials awaited the country ahead.