Dual Power

March 17 – March 4, 1917: Dual Government. The Bolshevik Central Committee states its opinion of the dual government shared by the Soviet and the Provisional Government: the latter is counter-revolutionary. But on the same day, the Petrograd committee of the Bolshevik party resolved not to oppose the Provisional Government, contrary to the wishes of the Bolshevik left, including the Vyborg workers.

In the spread of the revolution through the armed forces, officers of the Baltic Fleet were arrested or drowned.

March 18 –  March 5, 1917: Pravda. First issue of Pravda, central organ of the Bolshevik Party. By order of the Executive Committee of the Soviet, the workers printed only those publications approved by the Soviet. That meant no more “right press” for the time being; the decision was reversed some days later under pressure from the bourgeoisie.

Among Pravda’s first editors was the left-Bolshevik Molotov.

Meanwhile, the workers returned to work under conditions, including eight-hour days, proposed by the Soviet. Word of the revolution began filtering through to the soldiers at the front, where the Bolshevik peace policy was not widely accepted.

March 19 – March 6, 1917: A Declaration. The Provisional Government issues a declaration promising to summon a Constituent Assembly and to carry the war through to victory. Trotsky observes that neither promise meant want it seemed to mean, nor indeed anything at all. The Provisional Government hadn’t summoned the Constituent Assembly months later when the October Revolution overtook it. The promise about the war was addressed more to Britain and France than to the people of Russia; the Provisional Government wanted business as usual with its allies of the Entente.

The Soviet voted to appoint commissars to each regiment of the army. The soldiers were gravitating towards the view that they would fight to defend the revolution, but refuse to take the offensive. The defensist position was also that of a majority of the Soviet, but not necessarily of the Bolsheviks.

From Switzerland, Lenin cabled the Petrograd Bolsheviks advice on tactics. His “Letters from Afar,” opposing accommodation with the Provisional Government, began to appear in Pravda during this time.

March 20 – March 7, 1917: A Separate Peace? The war continues to be a problem for the Provisional Government. Making a separate peace is discussed. But just two weeks later, Miliukov, the Foreign Minister, hatched a plot to seize the Dardanelles by betraying Serbia.

March 21 – March 8, 1917: The Tsar Arrested. Kerensky declares the tsar is “in my hands”; he wants to escort him to England. What really happened is that the railroad workers would not let the tsar pass. A Menshevik delegated by the Soviet placed the tsar under arrest at Moghilev, near the front.

Meanwhile, the Provisional Government declared amnesty for political prisoners, most of whom had already been freed anyway.

March 22 – March 9, 1917: Under House Arrest. At the insistence of the Soviet, and against the recommendation of Kerensky for exile to England, the tsar and his family are detained in the Winter Palace. The soldiers would have preferred that he be held in the Peter and Paul fortress.

The Council of the United Nobility put its resources at the disposal of the Provisional Government. This, coming immediately after the arrest of the tsar, completed the realignment of big bourgeoisie and landowning elements from the autocracy to the liberal-bourgeois government.

March 23 – March 10, 1917: Eight-Hour Days. The Manufacturers Association agrees to recognize the union shops and to limit the working day to eight hours. They had little choice, as the Petrograd workers were simply leaving the factories after eight hours of work. The same conditions prevailed in Moscow; the Moscow Soviet there made them official some ten days later.

March 25 – March 12, 1917 Stalin arrives. Bolsheviks released from detention in Siberia arrive in Petrograd by train. Stalin, Kamenev, and Muranov were greeted by the local, mostly younger, leadership of the party. Stalin deposed the local trio Molotov, Schliapnikov, and Zalutsky as senior member of the 1912 Central Committee then named by Lenin.

Meanwhile, the Provisional Government outlawed the death penalty, though it was later restored in the army.

March 27 – March 14, 1917: A Manifesto. The Soviet issues a manifesto “to the people of the whole world” declaring for peace without annexations or indemnities. But until that should happen the war against Germany and her allies was to continue. The manifesto had carried the Soviet unanimously.

Meanwhile Trotsky left New York for Russia on a Norwegian vessel. At Halifax, Nova Scotia, he was detained by officials of the British navy and held with the Germans in a prisoner of war camp. His speeches there won the support of many of the enlisted men, but drew the ire of the German officers, not to mention the British commandant.

The soviets pressured the Provisional Government to secure Trotsky’s release, with the result to be seen in the sequel.

March 28 – March 15, 1917: Pravda Turns Right. Stalin and Kamenev take over as co-editors of Pravda. They adopted, among other views, the defensist position taken by the Manifesto of the Soviet the day before.

This was contrary to Lenin’s views. Lenin considered the defeat of Russia the lesser of two evils, the greater one being participation in an imperialist war, by and for the capitalist classes of the belligerents.

March 29 – March 16, 1917: The Soviet and the Dual Government. Delegates from the fleets to the Soviet announce that they will recognize the Provisional Government as a partner in the dual government. But only if it carries out the program of the Soviet.

In general, soviets in all the principal towns and industrial centers were taking the same position during this time. They also acknowledged the leadership of the Petrograd Soviet in this role.

March 30 – March 17, 1917: Lenin Writes. Lenin writes Pravda criticizing the defensist views published there. He blamed Kamenev, not Stalin.

March 31 – March 18, 1917: “The army is sick.” So it is said at a conference of the high officers in command. Desertions reached 8,000 weekly by mid-April.

April 1 – March 19, 1917: Tseretilli Arrives. The Menshevik émigré Tseretilli, like Stalin a native of Georgia, arrives in Petrograd. He, along with Martov and Dan, took over the leadership of the party in the Soviet, and helped steer the Soviet to the right. He favored sharing the government with the bourgeois-liberal parties the Provisional Government was then made up of, and the defensist position on the war.

April 2 – March 20, 1917: War News. A German offensive obtains a certain degree of success before petering out in the mud of the spring thaw. Trotsky says the bourgeois press of Petrograd made it seem like a threat of military disaster.

Meanwhile Miliukov, the Foreign Minister, hatched his (unsuccessful) plot to seize the Dardanelles by betraying Serbia.

April 3 – March 21, 1917: Eight-hour Day. The Moscow Soviet promulgates the eight-hour day in the factories of the city.

April 7 – March 25, 1917: The United States Enters the War. The United States House and Senate cast votes declaring war on Germany and its allies.

In Petrograd, a funeral march honoring the victims of the February Revolution was held. Some 800,000 filed past the graves.

April 9 – March 27, 1917: Lenin Entrains. Lenin boards a train in Berne, Switzerland, en route for Russia. He and his wife Krupskaya are part of a group of 30 Bolsheviks travelling via Stuttgart, Stockholm, and, partly in horse-drawn sleighs, Finland.

Because he was travelling through Germany, the itinerary appeared vaguely treasonous. The train itself was said to have been sealed, but really Lenin had demanded that it not be subject to the routine intrusions travelers normally suffer. Lenin and other revolutionary emigres had tried without success to obtain passage with the help of the French and British, who had their own reasons to keep them from reaching Petrograd.

April 10 – March 29, 1917: All Russia Conference of Soviets. A conference of all the soviets of revolutionary Russia convenes in Petrograd. Attending Bolsheviks voted along with the rest of the conference in favor of sharing power with the Provisional Government.

The Bolsheviks also discussed reunification with the Mensheviks, something that was already taking place in the provinces. Some favored reunification without conditions. Molotov objected, as the Mensheviks had taken the defensist position for keeping Russia in the war. Stalin favored negotiating the terms of reconciliation with the Mensheviks. The negotiations continued until Lenin’s arrival the following week.