The tsar makes
one final offer to appoint a new cabinet of ministers. Rodzianko informed him
that, no, the question is now “the dynasty itself.” Having received the same
advice from his marshals, the tsar agreed. But the Provisional Committee did
not insist on getting rid of the whole dynasty. The deputies sent to meet with
the tsar returned with an abdication in favor of his brother the Grand Duke
Michael, as regent for his son Alexei. One of them said, “Long live the Emperor
Michael!” and was promptly arrested.
The Provisional
Committee completed its work for becoming a Provisional Government. Prince Lvov
was made head of state; Miliukov became Foreign Minister; Kerensky became
Minister of Justice. Kerensky was the only minister with any socialist
credentials whatsoever. Many ministers – of agriculture, of labor, for example
– came from among the big landowners and bourgeoisie. In other words, it
resembled Mr. Trump’s cabinet. So much so that the big bourgeois organ, the
Council of Trade and Industry, put its resources at the service of the Provisional
Government.
Meanwhile the
Bolshevik Central Committee resolved that the Provisional Government was
counter-revolutionary, but also not to oppose it.
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