How far was Kerensky responsible for the collapse of the provisional

government?
Essay by: farhana jaidi (BE02) and Nadiah (BE10)

Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky was a Russian lawyer, politician, and statesman. Between
March and October 1917, He was one of the key political figures. Kerensky played a
prominent role in the Russian Revolution,  He holds several ministerial positions in the
provisional government which was created following the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, he
was a minister of Justice and he belonged to the Socialist Revolutionaries, the Petrograd
Soviet and was a member of the Duma. He was therefore seen as a solid representative of
the working class and in July 1917 became the Prime Minister of the Russian Provisional
Government. He was Russia’s last leader before the Bolshevik revolution and Russia’s last
prime minister before Vladimir Lenin. He was responsible for the collapse of the Provisional
Government.

Firstly, His decision to continue World War 1. In May 1917, Kerensky was appointed as
minister of war. Kerensky supported the continuation of the war against Germany in hopes
that they would gain land from Turkey if they were to win the war. Furthermore, the
Provisional Government relied on loans and investments from Britain and France so he was
afraid that by not joining the war they would not get financial support. This decision was
unpopular amongst the Russian people as it was no different than the Tsar’s Government.
Kerensky's decision to continue war weakened the power of the Provisional Government.

Secondly, Kerensky created a war offensive and thought that it would encourage patriotism.
Moreover, if they were to win an attack against Germany they would gain a lot of support
from the Russian people and then they would force to make peace with Germany. ”He
speculated that a victory would rally the Russian people behind the Provisional Government
and also force the belligerents to make peace” However, war-weariness and a lack of
military discipline caused heavy defeats. Kerensky’s June Offensive was a failure. This led to
an estimated 2 million soldiers left the army.

John Reed claimed that Kerensky made a serious mistake. The Provisional Government
under him did nothing to stop the war. In fact, as desertions increased, it set up death
squads to hunt down and execute deserters; "The Cossacks entered Tsarskoye Selo,
Kerensky himself riding a white horse and all the church-bells clamoring. There was no
battle. But Kerensky made a fatal blunder. He sent word to the Second Tsarskoye Selo
Rifles to lay down their arms  At seven in the morning. The soldiers replied they would
remain neutral, but would not disarm. Kerensky gave them ten minutes in which to obey.
This angered the soldiers; for eight months they had been governing themselves by
committee, and this smacked of the old regime. Cossack artillery opened fire on the
barracks, killing eight men a few minutes later. there were no more 'neutral' soldiers in
Tsarskoye from that moment. The government also could not guarantee enough grain,
ammunition, or weapons for troops fighting in the war. The soldiers came to hate the
Provisional Government.

The dual power (Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviet) also made the provisional
government under Kerensky collapse. The Provisional government could not take full control
of soldiers and the army only obeyed the Petrograd Soviet due to the issue of army order
no.1 which was introduced on the 14th of March. When the Provisional Government wanted
to continue the First World War they could not rely on the support of the army because the
Soviets did not encourage their army to fight in the war. The Soviets had considerable
power, with its control over the postal service and railways in Petrograd, to the extent that it
was difficult for the Provisional Government to do anything without its support. Kerensky
failed to gain any real level of trust from the Soviets and had little choice but to tolerate it.
 

Next is the decision to delay the Constituent Assembly. The calling of a constituent assembly
or Parliament is to legitimize peasants’ powers and to introduce land reform. Although the
rights of peasants to the great landed estates were recognized in principle, the government
was in no position to implement this. The complaints about land had long been a concern to
peasants and many were reluctant to wait any longer. Many of those peasants who had
deserted the army had returned home and used their weapons to seize lands from the
nobility. Properties were burnt down and in some cases, wealthy landowners were
murdered. Kerensky and the Provisional Government issued warnings but were powerless to
stop the redistribution of land in the countryside. The government‘s failure to take a lead on
reform lost its valuable support from the peasantry. 

The Kornilov affair which happened in August 1917 when general Kornilov, commander-in-
chief of the Russian army tried to take over power from Kerensky, leader of the Provisional
Government. Kornilov moved to suppress and rest in Petrograd but at the last moment,
Kerensky ordered his arrest and had to call on the Soviets to help defend the city against
what seemed like an attempted coup by Kornilov. Kerensky then asked help from Bolsheviks
by releasing them from prison and providing them weapons so that they could create their
own Red Guards. When Kornilov was defeated, Kerensky also tried to take over power but
also failed due to the return of Bolsheviks leader,  Lenin that made them even stronger to
fight against Provisional Government later in October/November 1917 revolution 

Economic and social problems were faced by the population. There were continued
shortages of food and a shortage of fuel in the cities throughout 1917. The situation in
Petrograd, far removed from the main food-producing areas, was particularly grim. Only one-
tenth of the prewar milk supply was reaching the city whose population had swollen owing to
the influx of refugees and soldiers. As the price of food rose much faster than wages,
desperation hits many citizens that food riots became common. The shortage of fuel made
living conditions unbearable, especially during the harsh Russian winter. The failure to tackle
these major problems meant that the Provisional Government lost support. The problem of
food supply thus delegitimized the Provisional Government, much as it had the tsarist
government. The Kornilov revolt meant it was relying on its enemies, the Red Guards, to
defend it. By the autumn of 1917 few people were prepared to fight to defend Kerensky and
his ministers.

The Provisional Government issued a number of reforms after February, they abolished the
Okhrana which is the tsarist secret police in Russian society which was set up in 1880. The
Okhrana was identified by the revolutionaries as one of the main symbols of Tsarist
repression and its headquarters were sacked and burned on 27 February 1917. The newly
formed Provisional Government then disbanded the whole organization and they released
most of the political prisoners who had been held by the Tsarist regime. Another reform that
the Provisional Government under Kerensky issued was they allowed the freedom of
speech, they abolished the death penalty, they removed Tsarist Governors and they gave
amnesty to opponents of the Tsar. although the changes were popular, they made it easier
for enemies such as Lenin's Bolsheviks the freedom to attack and criticize them the
government for the problems it was not solving. There was little the government could do to
prevent it. 

The rise of the Bolsheviks. Lenin used non-violent methods to gain support for his
Bolsheviks party to gain power by using slogan newspapers and speeches. Lenin introduced
‘Peace, Bread, and Land’ to Russian people meant that Lenin promised to pull Russia out of
the continuing First World War, promised to solve food and land shortages. He also
introduced ‘All Power to the Soviets’ in order to gain the support of the Soviets by promising
to transfer all power to the Soviets. 

On the night of October 24–25 (November 6–7) the Bolsheviks acted. They met with very
little resistance, and by the following evening, the capital was in their hands. The Provisional
Government had been swept aside, and power passed to the Second All-Russian Congress
of Soviets this marked the end of the provisional government under Kerensky.  Kerensky
was responsible for the collapse of the Provisional Government due to his decision to
continue World War 1, the war offensive, the dual power, the Kornilov affair, The decision to
delay the constituent assembly, the rise of the Bolsheviks, the number of reforms they
issued that made the enemies easier to attack and criticize the government under him and
economic and social problems that the government under him failed to address.