Question by : Why did Kerensky try to stop the Bolshevik Revolution?
So, Kerensky’s action was he tried to stop the Bolshevik takeover and persuade loyal soldiers around Petrograd to stop the revolution. But what are the reasons he did this?
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Answer by gee bee
February Revolution of 1917.
When the February Revolution broke out in spring of 1917, Kerensky was one of its most prominent leaders: he was a member of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma and was elected vice-chairman of the Petrograd Soviet. He simultaneously became the first Minister of Justice in the newly formed Provisional Government. When the Soviet passed a resolution prohibiting its leaders from joining the government, Kerensky delivered a stirring speech at a Soviet meeting. Although the decision was never formalized, he was granted a de facto exemption and continued acting in both capacities.
After the first government crisis over Pavel Milyukov’s secret note re-committing Russia to its original war aims on 2–4 May, Kerensky became the Minister of War and the dominant figure in the newly formed socialist-liberal coalition government. On 10 May (Julian calendar), Kerensky started for the front, and visited one division after another, urging the men to do their duty. His speeches were impressive and convincing for the moment, but had little lasting effect. Under Allied pressure to continue the war, he launched what became known as the Kerensky Offensive against the Austro-Hungarian/German South Army on 17 June (Julian calendar). At first successful, the offensive was soon stopped and then thrown back by a strong counter-attack. The Russian army suffered heavy losses and it was clear from the many incidents of desertion, sabotage, and mutiny that the army was no longer willing to attack.
Kerensky was heavily criticised by the military for his liberal policies, which included stripping officers of their mandates (handing overriding control to revolutionary inclined “soldier committees” instead), the abolition of the death penalty, and allowing various revolutionary agitators to be present at the front. Many officers jokingly referred to commander in chief Kerensky as “persuader in chief”.
On 2 July 1917, the first coalition collapsed over the question of Ukraine’s autonomy. Following July Days unrest in Petrograd and suppression of the Bolsheviks, Kerensky succeeded Prince Lvov as Russia’s Prime Minister. Following the Kornilov Affair at the end of August and the resignation of the other ministers, he appointed himself Supreme Commander-in-Chief as well.
Kerensky’s next move, on 15 September, was to proclaim Russia a republic, which was quite contrary to the understanding that the Provisional Government should hold power only until the Constituent Assembly should meet to decide Russia’s form of rule. He formed a five-member Directory, which consisted of himself, minister of foreign affairs Mikhail Tereshchenko, minister of war General Verkhovsky, minister of the navy Admiral Dmitry Verderevsky and minister of post and telegraph Nikitin. He retained his post in the final coalition government in October 1917 until it was overthrown by the Bolsheviks.
Kerensky’s major challenge was that Russia was exhausted after three years of war, while the provisional government offered little motivation for a victory outside of continuing Russia’s obligations towards its allies. Russia’s continued involvement in the world war was not popular among the lower and middle classes and especially the soldiers. They had all believed that Russia would stop fighting when the Provisional Government took power, and now they felt deceived. Furthermore, Vladimir Lenin and his Bolshevik party were promising “peace, land, and bread” under a communist system. The army was disintegrating owing to a lack of discipline, leading to desertion in large numbers. By autumn 1917, an estimated two million men had unofficially left the army.
Kerensky and the other political leaders continued their obligation to Russia’s allies by continuing involvement in World War I, fearing that the economy, already under huge stress from the war effort, might become increasingly unstable if vital supplies from France and the United Kingdom were cut off. The dilemma of whether to withdraw was a great one, and Kerensky’s inconsistent and impractical policies further destabilized the army and the country at large.
Furthermore, Kerensky adopted a policy that isolated the right-wing conservatives, both democratic and monarchist-oriented. His philosophy of “no enemies to the left” greatly empowered the Bolsheviks and gave them a free hand, allowing them to take over the military arm or “voyenka” of the Petrograd and Moscow Soviets. His arrest of Kornilov and other officers left him without strong allies against the Bolsheviks, who ended up being Kerensky’s strongest and most determined adversaries, as opposed to the right wing, which evolved into the White movement.
Answer by Spellbound
Kerensky was in no position to prevent the October Revolution: he had few loyal troops even less support amongst the workers of Petrograd and was, politically, finished.
The troops in and around Petrograd were, mostly, Menshevik, Bolshevik or Socialist Revolutionaries, and were well represented in the Petrograd Soviet of of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies. The troops in the front lines were mutinying, and refusing to obey orders – the Bolsheviks agitation and propaganda offensive was picking up new members amongst the troops. Soldiers and sailors were becoming more and more radical. The sailors on the island fortress of Kronshtadt were dedicated Bolsheviks.
As September drew on the Bolsheviks found themselves besieged by workers who were demanding that they seize power, in their name. The workers were aware that Kerensky, although he was a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, was a conservative – they wanted radical solutions to their problems, not a counter-revolution.
After the Kornilov Affair, when Kerensky asked General Kornilov to bring his army to the capital to seize power, a coup which was put down by the Bolsheviks, Kerensky, and the Provisional Government, was finished. The Government became more and more conservative, reinstating the death penalty in the military, refusing to hold elections and slowly reversing many of the reforms that the February Revolution brought in. The longer the government held out, the more radical the people were becoming.
The Petrograd Soviet was seen by many as a genuinely democratic institution, as it’s members were elected to it from the garrisons and factories of the capital. When the Bolsheviks seized power, they seized it not just in the name of the workers, but, also, in the name of the soviets.
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